Page 108 of Once Upon A Haunted Castle
Gavin gave her a plaintive look. “I’ve made my decision.”
Edana issued forth an exaggerated grunt of her displeasure and spun on her heel.
He ought to let her go and discover the news on her own. Then again, doing so later would deprive him of the pleasure of seeing her face.
“Do ye wish to know what will become of Senara?” he asked.
Edana’s hand paused at the handle on the door. “I dinna care.”
Ire pricked Gavin’s patience. He was all the gladder to be sharing this news. “She’s been recently orphaned by a family who loved her and will no longer be employed, without much more than the earnings she’s received these past few months. Ye dinna care?”
Edana turned back toward him, slow and purposeful. Her lip curled to bare the line of her teeth. “I dinna care.”
Gavin steepled his fingertips against one another. “Well, if ye dinna care, then ye willna mind what I’m about to say.”
She stalked toward him with intent, her face violent with malice. He could have laughed at the ridiculous expression, at what she actually thought herself capable. “What have ye done, ye daft lad?” she growled.
“I’m going to offer Senara the position as lady of the castle.” He watched her over his fingers and waited.
Edana did not disappoint. A flash of confusion, then a shine of understanding before her face colored to the very red of a beetroot plucked fresh from the earth. “Ye dinna mean—”
“Aye, I do.” Gavin lowered his hands and sat back in his chair to better observe his aunt’s show of displeasure. Delight filled Gavin’s chest with a happy warmth. “I intend to make Senara my wife.”
It was the first time he’d said it out loud, but it would not be the last. Perhaps it would have been better to ask Senara first, but the timing could not have been more perfect to inform his aunt.
He, himself, had wrestled with the decision for several months, long before he’d even had Senara. He went back to the conversation they’d had when he met her time and again. And she was right; no amount of money could buy what they had.
He’d been a fool to not see that sooner.
Now his decision was a special kind of victory. More than just his overall happiness, and that of Senara’s, but also watching Edana stand in front of him, her mouth gaping open and closed like a fish tossed from the water.
“What of Colina MacKintosh?” Desperation pitched her voice into a squeak. “A union with them would bring peace. We’d have the wealth from Dalmunzie Castle and all its lands. We’d—”
“They dinna want a union.” Gavin stood now. Aye, an alliance through marriage with the MacKintosh would have been the optimal position for his clan. It’d be an end to fighting and greater wealth than they’d ever seen.
In hindsight, he was glad for having his proposed betrothal to Colina MacKintosh rejected by her father. The alliance would be too great an opportunity for him to turn down, even for Senara.
“Ye mean they dinna want ye.” Edana stabbed her finger into Gavin’s chest. “And it’s easy to see why when ye make such foolish mistakes as the one ye’re about to. Ye’ll ruin us all.”
She ran from the room before he could stop her.
And it was his turn not to care.
