Page 36 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Chapter Ten
The ride backto Dunstaffnage Castle was painful, to say the least.
At least Beiste had cleaned himself by the river. The only blood on his person was the invisible blood of the woman’s heart he’d broken—and that of his own shredded soul.
Elle sat pillion on his horse, her arms encircling his waist, her breasts to his back, her face pressed to his spine. She clung to him and though it was mostly because they were riding hard back to the castle, he also hoped it was because sheneededhim.
Och, but, nay! How could he want such a thing? Especially after her confession, how he’d smashed her offer, her gift as though he were the worst kind of monster alive. A true beast.
Shelovedhim?
Beiste tried to grapple with that admission.Love. Love. Love.
What was love?
What did it mean?
Did he deserve it?
Could he return it?
Lord, help him, but he already knew he loved her. With every fiber of his being. His heart sung to hear her words, his body had literally tingled. And then his mind had laid a cracking whip against his chest, laying him open, exposed and wounded.
Everyone he loved perished.Died. Did he really want that for her? Was it too late for her, because he loved her so deeply? Was she already doomed to a terrible fate? Or had she already escaped that fate right before his eyes? Hell, he’d just battled the very devil himself who’d taken her—and she was still living and breathing. They had won. She was not dead, but alive and breathing behind him.
Was it possible, truly, that whatever terrible curse he’d been punished with had been lifted?
Beiste glanced down at her hands pressed to his middle, his own arms holding on to those precious limbs. She’d think that he simply held on to her for practicality’s sake, but it wasn’t. He liked touching her. Wanted to touch her. Didn’t know what the bloody hell he was going to do about it.
Was that what Beiste’s father was trying to tell him when he sent him after her? What had his father wanted to tell him before he’d been sucked back into Purgatory? Or wherever he was…
There was a storm of questions and worry plunging around inside him. Planning and executing a battle was easier than figuring out what to do about the woman he loved.
The ride back to the castle only took an hour. As soon as they were through the gates, he helped Elle down from her horse. Her waist was warm and tiny in his hands. It was hard not to bury his face in her hair. He settled for breathing in the floral scent of her, for grazing his lips over her temple. She avoided his gaze; her eyes focused somewhere near her feet.
Beiste licked his lower lip, prepared to speak. The words teetering on the tip of his tongue.I love ye, too. But he couldn’t risk it. Who was to say if her not being harmed wasn’t just a coincidence? How could he risk her life for his own selfish reasons?
Blast it all, he couldn’t live with her, but he couldn’t live without her either.
“Elle—” he started, but was cut off by young Erik calling out to his sister at the same time.
Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open, and the color drained from her face. “Erik?” she whispered, then squeezed her eyes shut, murmuring something about a ghost.
Had his father been to see her, too?
Erik threw himself against his sister, knocking her off balance. Beiste steadied them both, feeling his chest swell with emotion at their reunion.
“Surprise,” Beiste said. “Your brother.”
Elle wrapped her arms around Erik. “Why did ye not tell me?” she asked. Then shook her head. “Never mind. I’m just glad he’s safe.” She kissed the lad’s head. “Ye’re not harmed? Bjork did not hurt ye?”
“He never found me.” Erik beamed. “I presented myself to Laird MacDougall and returned to Dunstaffnage upon his insistence. Had I known ye were here…”
“Never mind that,” she said. “We’ll not speak of regrets when there is so much to celebrate.”
“Aye, sister, we have survived.”
“Aye. Against all odds.”
