Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Elaina woke slowly, as though surfacing from something deep and fragile, unwilling to break whatever stillness held her there.
She simply breathed. Warmth surrounded her, comforting in a way she had not felt in years. The weight of it pressed gently against her back, grounding her and holding her in place.
Then she became aware of him. Her breath faltered slightly as the memory of the night before returned in full, vivid clarity: the way he had looked at her, the way he had touched her.
Elaina closed her eyes briefly. Then she opened them again. Carefully, she turned her head. He lay beside her, still asleep.
The sharp lines of his expression had softened, the tension that so often defined him gone in sleep. He looked… younger, less like a laird who carried the weight of an entire clan on his shoulders, and more like the man beneath it.
Her gaze lingered too long, but she could not seem to look away. Her eyes traced the familiar lines of his face, then lower, to the rise and fall of his chest, steady and even.
Then, her gaze moved to his arm. The bandage she had wrapped the night before stood out stark against his skin, the edges faintly darkened where blood had seeped through. It was not a bad wound, that much she knew. His body bore the marks of far worse.
But this one… this one had been for her.
Elaina’s breath grew shallow, and she felt something heavy and unwelcome in her chest. He had been hurt because of her, because she had gone there, she had brought danger with her, whether she wished it or not.
A quiet ache settled beneath her ribs. That was exactly what she had tried to avoid. But men like Duncan, men who carried duty the way he did, would bleed for what they chose to protect.
Elaina swallowed hard, feeling her throat tightening. She could not bear the thought of him being drawn further into something that had never been his burden to carry.
Her gaze returned to his face. He was still peaceful. Carefully, so carefully she barely dared to breathe, she shifted away from him. The loss of his warmth was immediate, not just in her body, but deeper. She pushed it aside.
Slowly, she slipped from the bed, in movements that were as deliberate as they were silent. The floor was cool beneath her feet, grounding in a way she needed.
This was the right thing to do. It had to be.
She reached for her clothes, dressing quickly, her hands moving with practiced precision. Each movement felt heavier than it should have, as though something inside her resisted every step she took away from him.
She ignored it. She had learned long ago how to ignore what she felt when it did not serve her. One by one, she began to gather her things. She gently took her herbs, then the few tools she had brought with her. Those were the small pieces of herself she had carried with her.
Her fingers stilled briefly over one of the bundles, her thoughts drifting back to the night before, the way he had looked at her, the way he had said her name as if it mattered.
Elaina closed her eyes tightly.
That was the danger. It was not the men who hunted her, not her father, not Lachlan Mackenzie. It was him and the way he made her feel, the way he made her want…
She exhaled slowly, forcing the thought away. If she stayed, he would be dragged further into her past and into the violence that followed her whether she wished it or not.
Because he would not step back. She knew that now. He would fight. He would bleed. He would risk everything for her.
Her chest tightened painfully. She could not allow that. She would not become the reason he lost anything more, not when he had already lost so much.
Her fingers moved again, quicker now, as if urgency alone might silence the doubt clawing at her.
The soft rustle of fabric sounded too loud in the stillness of the room, each fold and movement breaking the fragile quiet she had tried so carefully to preserve.
She did not look back at the bed. She could not, because she knew that if she did, she might not leave.
“Elaina?” The sound of her name stilled her instantly. His voice was low and rough with sleep.
Her breath caught. Slowly, she turned.
Duncan had pushed himself up, with one hand braced against the mattress, and the other already reaching instinctively toward his wounded arm. His gaze found her immediately and then dropped to the small pile of belongings gathered in her hands. Understanding came too quickly.
“What are ye daein’?” he asked.
There was no anger in his voice.
Elaina forced herself to meet his eyes. “I’m leaving.”
The words felt heavier spoken aloud than they had in her thoughts. Duncan went still.
“Why?”
It was not loud. It did not need to be.
Elaina’s grip tightened around the fabric in her hands. “I have tae leave, Duncan,” she insisted, her voice steadier than she felt. “If I stay, he will come. He already has. Ye saw it yerself.”
Her gaze moved briefly to his arm before she forced it back to his face.
“Mackenzie is looking fer me. And if I remain here, he will nae stop until he finds me. And next time…” Her voice faltered slightly, but she pushed through it. “Next time, it may nae end the same way.”
Duncan’s expression hardened, though his eyes never left her.
“So ye think the answer is tae walk away?” he sounded incredulous. “Tae put yerself directly in his path?”
“It is nae fer me,” she replied quickly. “It is fer ye, fer yer clan. If I leave, he will follow me. He will have nay reason tae come here again.” She took a small step back, as if distance might make it easier. “Nay one else will get hurt.”
Duncan rose from the bed. The movement was slow and controlled, but there was tension in it now, unmistakable and growing.
“I cannae let ye dae that, Elaina,” he told her as if he were merely confirming that the sun rose in the east.
Elaina shook her head, while a small, frustrated breath escaped her. “Ye cannae stop me, Duncan.”
“I can,” he replied immediately. “And I will.”
There was no hesitation. The certainty in his voice caught her off guard.
“I will nae let ye put yerself in harm’s way fer me sake,” he continued, stepping closer now, his presence filling the space between them once more. “I will nae stand here and watch ye walk intae danger as if yer life means naething.”
“It is nae naething,” she argued, her voice rising despite herself. “It is precisely because it means something that I must go. If I stay, I bring that danger here. I bring it tae ye.”
Duncan stopped just in front of her. She could feel him too close.
“Ye are nae the danger,” he said more quietly now. “Mackenzie is.”
Elaina’s breath trembled, frustration and something far more fragile rising together. “And he will come fer me. Ye cannae deny that.”
“I dinnae,” Duncan said. “But I will face him here, on me land. I will nae allow ye tae face him alone.”
She shook her head again, more urgently now. “Ye dinnae understand—”
“I understand enough,” he cut in. “I understand that ye think leaving will solve this, that it will protect me.” There was a softness to his eyes which only made her feel worse.
“It will nae. Mackenzie has been looking fer a reason tae make war against me clan. Ye just happen tae be an incredibly lucky excuse tae get two birds with one stone.”
Elaina’s chest ached. “Ye cannae ask me tae stay and watch ye get hurt because of me,” she whispered.
“And I cannae ask ye tae leave and face that alone,” he replied.
For a moment, both fell silent. She cared too much about him to be the threat to both him and his clan. And it seemed that he felt the same way.
Duncan moved first. Slowly, as though giving her time to pull away if she wished, his hand lifted and came to rest against her cheek. His touch was gentle, so much gentler than she had expected from a man like him, from hands that knew battle far better than softness.
Elaina stilled beneath it.
The warmth of his palm against her skin unraveled something inside her, something she had been holding together with far more effort than she had realized. For a fleeting, dangerous moment, her vision blurred, and she felt the sting of tears threatening to rise.
She swallowed hard. She would not cry, not when she needed to be strong enough to walk away.
Her breath trembled despite her efforts to steady it, and she turned her face slightly into his hand before she could stop herself, seeking the comfort even as she told herself she should not.
“Why?” she asked quietly, her voice softer than she intended. “Why are ye trying tae keep me from daein’ the right thing?”
Duncan’s thumb brushed faintly along her cheek.
“How dae ye ken it is the right thing?” he asked.
The question settled heavily between them. She held his gaze, though it was becoming harder with every passing moment.
“Because it hurts more than any other,” she answered.
The words left her in a breath, quiet but certain.
And they were true. Every part of her resisted this.
Every instinct she had, every fragile piece of hope she had begun to allow herself, pushed her to stay.
But she had learned long ago that what hurt the most was often what had to be done.
The truth of it sat heavy in her chest, pressing against every fragile piece of resolve she had managed to gather.
Duncan did not move his hand from her face. If anything, his touch steadied with his thumb brushing lightly against her skin, as though he could feel the weight of her thoughts and the war she was fighting within herself.
“Stay,” he urged tenderly.
There was something else in his voice now, something she had not heard from him before. Something that slipped past the laird, past the man who carried duty like armor.
“Just one more night. Let me solve this,” he continued, and she could hear the certainty returning to his voice.
Her breath caught.
Elaina wanted to believe him. She searched his face, as if trying to measure the truth of it, not his ability, for that she did not doubt, but the promise itself.
“Ye cannae promise that,” she whispered.
“I can promise ye I will try,” he replied. “And I can promise ye that I will nae let ye face this alone.”
Her chest tightened painfully. That was the problem. He would not step back. He would not protect himself from her. He would choose to stand beside her, no matter the cost. And she… she did not know how to refuse that without breaking something she could not repair.
Her gaze faltered, dropping briefly before returning to his.
“One night,” she repeated softly, as if testing the words.
Duncan nodded.
Elaina closed her eyes for a brief moment, steadying herself. But the fact that she felt relief frightened he more than anything else. Because it meant that a part of her had already chosen to stay.