Chapter 19
B ethany tossed and turned in her bed for a few hours. She couldn’t sleep - hardly surprising - and she couldn’t stop thinking of what Comgall had said. Should she trust him? Would he really help her? She ran the idea over and over in her mind, but she saw no way that the truth could help her. A mad story about time travel? It was absolutely crazy. Who would believe she’d travelled through time? Time travel hadn’t even been invented yet!
But, however much she tried, sleep would not come.
And she couldn’t stop thinking about Comgall.
The way he looked when he held Matthew. His kindness when he rubbed her feet after the dancing. The warmth and softness of his lips…
She got out of bed. Comgall was a risk, but he was a risk worth taking. She pulled on the nearest dress and wrapped a cloak around her shoulders to keep out the chill of the night. With her feet shoved loosely into her boots, she tiptoed the short distance to Comgall’s rooms .
There was no sneaking in to see the king, of course. This part of the hill fort was the best-guarded corner of Dunadd. To Bethany’s relief, she recognised the man who stood to attention beside the door - he was one of Comgall’s close friends, a man called Ciaran. He raised an eyebrow as Bethany passed him, but he did not move to stop her. She was glad he could not see her blush in the darkness.
Taking a final deep breath to prepare herself, she knocked on the door. For a moment, there was only silence. Then Comgall pulled the door open. His eyes widened in surprise.
“Eithne,” he said, his voice quiet. “What’s happened? Is something the matter?”
Bethany cast a nervous glance over at Ciaran. He kept his gaze straight ahead and avoided looking at her. She was grateful for that.
“There’s nothing wrong,” she said. “But I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in?”
Comgall held the door open a little wider, and Bethany slipped inside. As Comgall shut the door, Bethany turned to him - and all her words evaporate. What could she say? She stared up at him, trying to work out where to begin. How could she tell someone that everything he knew about time was completely wrong?
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “This is all very difficult for me.”
His smile was sympathetic.
“I can see. Would you like to sit down and have a glass of wine? You don’t have to talk straight away.”
They settled into the bench-like chairs on either side of the fire that dominated the middle of the room. Bethany gratefully accepted a cup of spiced red wine. It was slightly warm, with a rich flavour that soothed her instantly. After just a few sips, her body began to relax against the blanket-draped chair back. The warmth of the fire helped even more.
“I wanted to apologise for my anger earlier,” Comgall said, his words soft against the crackling of the fire. “I just really didn’t want you to be hurt. Or Matthew. I like the boy.”
“I understand,” Bethany said. “It was a stupid plan. But I have to ask, were you following me? It seemed like quite a coincidence that you caught us so quickly.”
Comgall groaned.
“You’ve caught me,” he said. “I admit it, I was following you. I’ve been worrying about you ever since the boat incident. And then I heard you had a headache, and I remembered that was your excuse before.”
He leaned forward to look at her more intently.
“What can possibly make you want to run away that badly? Why are you so afraid of telling me the truth?”
Bethany lowered her eyes, focusing on the cup of wine in her hands. The surface of the liquid trembled slightly.
“I actually came here to talk to you about that,” she said. “But I’m afraid of your reaction. I’m scared of telling you the truth.”
Moving slowly, deliberately, Comgall put his wine cup down on the bench. He came to kneel on the floor beside Bethany, grasping her hands as he looked up into her eyes.
“You need not be scared,” he said. “I will help you, no matter what.”
Bethany gazed down into those hazel-green eyes and felt the truth on the tip of her tongue. Somehow, she had come to trust this man. She really did believe that he would do his best to help her, no matter how crazy her story was.
But then his gaze flicked down to her lips. And Bethany couldn’t stop herself .
She kissed him, pressing her lips against his. He froze for a second, then shifted beneath her. She felt his warm breath on her lips as he kissed her back. He gripped her arms and pulled her to her feet, then tugged her close against him. Bethany gasped against his mouth at the sensation of his body touching hers. She could feel the power in his arms, the strength in every inch of his chest. Her hands moved of their own accord, slipping under his shirt to stroke over warm skin and hard muscles. Comgall kissed his way down her neck, leaving her moaning and gasping with delight.
“I want you,” he whispered in her ear.
Bethany knew she should stop this. He thought she was his betrothed - this was wrong. She had to stop him.
Then he kissed the soft spot below her ear, and she was lost. It felt so wonderful that she moaned out loud and clutched his shoulders to steady herself on suddenly weak knees.
Comgall grabbed her and carried her across the room. He kicked open the door to his bedroom and squeezed his way through the doorway to lower Bethany onto his bed. As Bethany panted for breath, he reached for the hem of her dress. In only a moment, he had eased it up and over her head, leaving her in nothing but her thin white under-dress, bunched up around her thighs.
With a wild look in his eyes, Comgall lunged in to kiss her again and again. He rested on his arms above her, his weight pressing hard against her. Bethany could almost have cried from the sheer wonder of it. She should feel shy, should feel awkward, but the wine and the softness of his touch soothed away every worry. She tugged at his shirt and he reared back a little to tug it off. In the faint firelight, he was absolutely beautiful, with thick, dark hair and a body so powerful that it left Bethany breathless. She reached out to trail her fingers over the silvery scars that criss-crossed his torso, but he caught his hands in hers and kissed them tenderly.
He lowered himself to kiss her mouth again, hard enough to bruise, and Bethany forgot everything. He pulled off his loose trousers and boots, tossing them to the floor. Totally naked, he crawled onto the bed beside her, his hand trailing up over her stomach. Bethany gasped and rolled to face him. She stared deeply into his eyes, hardly able to believe that this was really happening. Did he really want her? It had been so long since anyone had made her feel beautiful.
With another kiss, Comgall pulled her close to him, then rolled on top of her. He tugged off her final layer, leaving her just as naked as him. Wide-eyed, she stared up at him as he rested there, balanced between her legs.
“Do you want this?” he whispered.
She should say no. She should tell him the truth.
“Yes,” she breathed. And he thrust, filling her up in one smooth, slick move. Bethany clung to him, kissing him over and over as he thrust so deep that she could feel nothing else. It was as if she was floating, flying off to some distant wonderland that she’d only ever dreamed of.
But when it was all over, and Comgall gently snored beside her, Bethany stared up at the dark ceiling and realised what a terrible mistake she’d made. This would hurt Comgall all the more when he finally learnt the truth. How could he ever trust her after this? She’d had every opportunity to confess who she really was, and instead she’d let this happen. Once again, she’d let her impulses win out, and she’d made the wrong decision.
She found her clothes on the floor and fumbled them back on in the darkness. She probably looked like a mess, but it didn’t matter. Her cloak still lay beside the fire, and she wrapped it around her shoulders before slipping back out into the night.
Ciaran was still on guard, his face illuminated by the flickering light of a torch. He winked at Bethany as she passed him, but she kept her eyes down and pretended not to notice.
It was well after midnight. In just a few hours, Dubnus would surely rip everything apart. How would she be able to bear it?