Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Ye’re fussin’ over those saddles like they’re made of spun gold.”
Elijah didn’t look up from adjusting the leather straps on his stallion’s tack though his jaw tightened at Henry’s observation. His friend was lounging against the stable wall, arms crossed, that insufferable smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
“I’m ensurin’ they’re properly secured,” Elijah said curtly. “The last thing I need is for Lady McMurphy to fall from her horse because of faulty equipment.”
“Aye, that’s what ye’re doin’.” Henry’s grin widened. “Has nothin’ to do with the fact that ye’ve checked those same straps four times already.”
Elijah straightened, shooting his friend a warning look. “Make yerself useful.” Elijah didn’t look up, his tone brooking no argument despite the informal words.
“Oh, now ye want me help?” Henry pushed off from the wall with exaggerated surprise. “Here I thought ye were perfectly capable of handlin’ two horses by yerself, considerin’ ye’ve been doin’ it for the past twenty years.”
“Henry.”
“Aye, aye, I’m comin’.” But Henry’s amusement was clear as he moved to help with the mare’s bridle. “Must say, it’s entertainin’ watchin’ ye get so worked up over a simple village visit.”
“I’m nae worked up.”
“Nay?”
Elijah’s hands stilled on the reins.
“I have important clan business to attend to,” he said instead. “The village disputes willnae resolve themselves.”
“Disputes that are suddenly so urgent they cannae wait another day?” Henry’s voice was carefully neutral, but Elijah could hear the knowing undertone. “Interestin’ timin’, that.”
Elijah turned slowly, and Henry’s grin faltered at the look in his eyes. “Careful, Henry. You’re treading on thin ground.”
“Nothin’ at all.” Henry held up his hands in mock surrender. “Just observin’ how village politics suddenly need the presence of a lady now that yer new wife is here. Pure coincidence, I’m sure.”
“She needs to learn her duties. The sooner she understands what’s expected of her, the better.”
“Aye, duties. That’s what this is about.” Henry’s grin returned full force. “Has nothin’ to do with the fact that ye want to spend the day with her. Keep her close. See how she handles herself when she’s nae covered in garden mud.”
The words hit too close because that was exactly what he wanted. To see Iris in her element, to watch her navigate the complexities of clan politics. To discover if she had the strength and wisdom to truly be the lady this clan needed.
To find excuses to be near her without admitting why.
“Ye’re oversteppin’ yer boundaries,” Elijah warned, his voice dropping to that dangerous quiet that made most men back down immediately.
But Henry didn’t seem intimidated. “Am I? Because from where I stand, it looks like I was just jokin’.”
“It looks like ye should keep yer jokes to yerself before I decide ye’re too comfortable in yer position.”
Henry’s posture straightened slightly. His friend’s expression sobered slightly though the amusement didn’t entirely leave his eyes.
“Aye, me laird,” he said with exaggerated formality. “I was just havin’ a bit of fun. Nae harm meant.”
“Then have yer fun elsewhere. I daenae need a runnin’ commentary on me actions.”
“Understood.” Henry turned back to the horses, but Elijah caught his muttered addition: “Though ye might want to ask yerself why ye’re so touchy about it.”
Knowing it had been more than thirty minutes, Elijah glanced toward the castle, expecting to see Iris making her way across the courtyard.
Nothing.
He waited another few minutes, his irritation growing with each passing moment. Where was she? He’d given her specific instructions, a clear timeline. Thirty minutes wasn’t a suggestion, it was a command.
Maybe she’s still angry about yesterday. Maybe she’s decided to defy me.
The thought sent a spike of something through him that might have been anger. Or anticipation.
“I’ll be back,” he told Henry curtly.
“Where are ye goin’?”
“To collect me wife.”
Elijah ignored the guffaw that followed his statement, striding toward the castle, his mood darkening with each step. He’d been perfectly clear about his expectations. If Iris thought she could make him wait, make him look foolish in front of his own men, she was about to learn otherwise.
He climbed the stairs to their chambers two at a time, already planning the sharp words he’d use to remind her of her place. But when he reached their door, he found the room empty. Her traveling dress was laid out on the bed, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Where the hell is she?
He was about to check the other likely places like the kitchens, perhaps, or Aliana’s room when he heard voices from down the corridor. One of them was unmistakably Iris, her warm laugh carrying through the stone hallway.
Elijah moved toward the sound, his steps careful and quiet. The voices were coming from what looked like a small sitting room, the door slightly ajar.
“... and once I’m back from the village, we can spend the whole afternoon together,” Iris was saying. “I promise.”
Elijah stopped dead, his hand clenching into a fist at his side.
Spend the afternoon with whom?
The thought of Iris making plans with another man, promising him her time and attention, sent a surge of something hot and violent through his veins.
What right does she have to make such promises? She’s me wife, and she’s supposed to be ready to leave with me.
Furious enough to use his sword on the neck of whoever she was making promises to, he took a step forward, intending to push through the door and demand an explanation when another voice responded, young, excited, undeniably familiar.
“Really? Ye promise we can finish the story about Thunder and the sea monster?”
Codie.
Elijah felt his entire world shift, the anger draining out of him so quickly it left him dizzy. His son’s voice—when was the last time he’d heard it sound so bright, so eager?
Even through the door, he could hear the happiness bubbling up in the boy’s words.
“I promise,” Iris said warmly. “And maybe we can even make some new boats. I saw some lovely broad leaves in the garden that would make excellent sails.”
“Could we make a whole fleet? With different kinds of ships for different purposes?”
“Of course! We could have merchant vessels and war ships and maybe even a few pirate ships for the battles.”
Codie’s delighted laugh rang through the corridor, and Elijah felt his chest tighten painfully.
When was the last time me son laughed like that?
Not the careful, subdued chuckles he sometimes made at appropriate moments but genuine, uninhibited joy.
Yesterday, in the garden. Before ye ruined it.
The realization hit him like thunder bolts.
His son had been happy, truly, completely happy for the first time in longer than Elijah could remember.
And what had he done? Crushed it. Sent the boy away in shame for the crime of behaving like a child.
This was what Iris had tried to tell him, but he’d been too stubborn to listen.
“Will ye tell me more stories about sailin’?” Codie was asking now. “The ones about brave captains and hidden treasures?”
“I’ll teach ye everythin’ I ken,” Iris promised. “And we can make up new stories together. What do ye think Captain Thunder’s next adventure should be?”
Before Elijah quite realized what he was doing, he pushed open the door and stepped into the room. Both Iris and Codie looked up in surprise, and he saw his son’s expression immediately shift from joy to wariness.
There it is. That careful mask he wears around me.
“Faither,” Codie said quickly, straightening in his chair. “I was just... Lady Iris was tellin’ me about...”
“I heard,” Elijah said quietly, and he saw Iris’ eyes narrow as she tried to read his mood. “It sounds like ye’re plannin’ quite an adventure.”
“We were just talkin’,” Iris said carefully. “I was gettin’ ready to leave for the village.”
“Actually,” Elijah interrupted, his decision made before he could second-guess it, “I think Codie should come with us.”
Both of them stared at him in shock. Codie’s mouth fell open slightly, and Iris looked like she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
“Come with us?” she repeated. “To the village?”
“Aye. It’s time he learned more about how the clan operates. How disputes are resolved, how decisions are made.” Elijah kept his voice steady, matter of fact, even though his heart was beating faster than it should. “He’s old enough to observe and learn.”
Elijah looked at his son, who was still staring at him with those wide, uncertain eyes. “What do ye say, lad? Would ye like to come see how clan business is conducted?”
For a moment, Codie said nothing. Then, slowly, a smile began to spread across his face, cautious at first then growing brighter.
“Really? I can come with ye? Both of ye?”
“Aye. But ye’ll need to get ready quickly. We leave in fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll help him,” Iris said immediately, standing up. “Come on, Codie, let’s get ye into yer ridin’ clothes.”
As they moved toward the door, Iris paused beside Elijah. When she looked up at him, there was something in her eyes he couldn’t quite interpret, surprise, certainly, but also something that might have been approval.
“That was... unexpected,” she said quietly.
“Was it a good unexpected or a bad unexpected?” The question slipped out before he could stop it, and he immediately cursed himself for the vulnerability it revealed.
But instead of mocking him for it, Iris smiled, a real smile, warm and genuine and directed entirely at him.
“A very good unexpected,” she said softly. Then, louder, “Come on, Codie! Let’s turn ye into a proper Highland gentleman for yer first official clan outin’.”
As they disappeared down the corridor, Codie’s excited chatter echoing behind them, Elijah found himself standing alone in the empty sitting room, trying to figure out what had just happened.
I invited me son to come with us. When was the last time I did somethin’ like that with him?
He couldn’t remember. Couldn’t recall a single instance when he’d spontaneously included Codie in his daily activities, when he’d thought to share his responsibilities instead of shielding the boy from them.
But it was like scales had fallen from his eyes. And now, hearing his son’s laughter, seeing the way Codie had looked at him when he’d issued the invitation, like Elijah had just given him the greatest gift in the world, made him wonder if his careful distance was really protection at all.
Or if it’s just another kind of damage.
The sound of approaching footsteps broke through his brooding. Henry appeared in the doorway, looking curious.
“Everythin’ all right? Ye’ve been up here longer than expected, and the horses are gettin’ restless.”
“Change of plans,” Elijah said, pushing aside his uncomfortable self-reflection. “Me son. He’s comin’ with us.”
If Elijah had announced he was planning to sprout wings and fly to the village, Henry couldn’t have looked more shocked.
“Codie? Ye’re bringin’ Codie to the village?”
“He’s ten years old. Old enough to start learnin’ about his future responsibilities.”
“Aye, but... are ye sure about this? The lad’s never left the castle.”
“I’m sure.” Elijah’s tone brooked no argument. “We leave as soon as they come down.”
Henry stared at him for another long moment then nodded slowly. “Aye, me laird.”
But as his friend left to make the arrangements, Elijah caught his muttered words: “Well, I’ll be damned. She’s got him makin’ changes already.”
She.
Iris. Who had somehow managed to show him in less than a week what he’d been blind to for years. That his son wasn’t just a responsibility to be managed but a person who deserved to be included, to be treated like he mattered.
Getting’ too attached, carin’ too much. It’s dangerous.
But as he heard Codie’s excited voice echoing from down the corridor, and as he prepared to spend an entire day in the company of both his son and his wife, Elijah found himself wondering if some risks might be worth taking after all.