Chapter 12
Elodie knew Scott was just being kind, but his words affected her.
All this time, she had kept telling herself that she had to go into the bedroom.
What if she didn’t? What if Scott was right?
What if she could face the past in another way?
The relief that filled her was so great that she grew dizzy.
“Are you all right?” he asked, concern in his deep blue eyes.
She was all too aware of the very masculine, very handsome man talking to her. Elodie couldn’t stop thinking about the warmth of their touch. Had it been her imagination? Or had it really happened? Would it occur again if she reached out and brushed her fingers against his?
Did she even want to know the truth?
What was the worst that could happen? Maybe she had imagined it and was back to feeling nothing for everyone around her.
On the other hand, what would it mean if she had felt something—and did again?
She didn’t need to add a man or sex into the mix with everything else she was dealing with.
It would only complicate an already thorny situation.
“Elodie?”
Bloody hell. Even her name on his lips sounded pretty. She stirred herself to force a smile. “I’m fine.”
“You doona look it.”
She folded her hands in her lap and shrugged. “I will be. As soon as I finish here and leave.”
“You returning to Edinburgh?”
“I don’t know where I’m going.” She hadn’t felt as if she belonged anywhere for fifteen years.
She might have lived in some beautiful places, but the shiny newness of it wore off quickly, and she was soon back to trying to make a life in a place that felt as foreign to her as going through life without magic.
Scott leaned forward and propped his forearms on his knees. “No’ everyone on Skye holds a grudge. There are those who would welcome you.”
“Like you?” she asked with a grin.
He glanced down, chuckling. “Aye. I like it here. A lot.”
“It’s your first time on Skye?”
“I’m sad to admit that it is,” he replied.
She shrugged. “Then stay. If you can handle everyone being in your business, you would enjoy the Druid community.”
“I like the idea of such a society. We only have a small one in Edinburgh. I wish you would’ve found us while you lived there.”
Elodie regretted turning their conversation to the Druids. She wouldn’t tell him that she had lost her magic, but she also didn’t want to lie. If she wanted to prevent questions, then she had to lie.
As if sensing they had turned to a topic she didn’t want, Scott asked, “Does your sister know how you feel about the bedroom?”
“She knows. She offered to clean it.”
“You’re no’ going to let her, are you?”
Elodie found herself smiling as she met his gaze. “Is it that obvious? My father always said my pride would get in my way.”
“I doona think it’s pride. Perhaps think of it as your way of tackling the past. It’s one of various ways. Maybe you do it. Maybe you doona. I think returning to the cottage—and sleeping here—was a bigger step than going into their room.”
She didn’t know why Scott was being so kind. It could be just who he was, but she wasn’t that trusting anymore.
“Do you want me to tell you what it looks like?” he asked.
Elodie twisted her lips as she shook her head.
“I know it was scrubbed once the police came and took Mum away. Corann and his deputies arrived after that and cleaned the bedroom again. They told Edie and me that everything was fine, but there’s a mark on this house now.
Not exactly evil, but… I don’t know how to describe it. ”
“Dark.”
“Yes. That’s it. The cottage has a dark feel to it. Someone took a life here. I don’t think any amount of cleaning or magic can get rid of such a thing.”
Scott shrugged as he leaned back. “I doona know. I think laughter, love, and happiness could do it. You said your family was content here once.”
“I viewed things through the eyes of a child. As I got older, I went back through some memories and remembered how often Da and Elias fought. Mum kept telling Elias to leave things alone. I think my brother knew what was happening.”
A frown furrowed Scott’s brow, but he didn’t ask the question she knew burned on his tongue.
Elodie glanced at Filip to see him still sleeping.
His snores were low, his mouth open, and his head tilted at an angle that would likely give him a neckache by the time he woke.
She returned her attention to Scott. She wasn’t sure why she’d told him that last part.
She didn’t discuss her father’s murder with anyone—not even her sister.
And yet, she suddenly wanted to tell someone. Well, not just anyone. She wanted to tell Scott.
“He beat her.” The words came out in a rush. Elodie closed her eyes as a flurry of emotion filled her. “He beat her.” She repeated the words, her eyes burning as she thought of how her mother had suffered. “And I never knew. Edie never knew.”
“But your brother did.”
Elodie nodded and peeled open her eyes. She blinked to hold back the sudden tears. “Mum could’ve used magic to stop Da from hurting her. She could’ve shown him that she was stronger, but she didn’t.”
“Because she loved him.”
“That wasn’t enough in the end. She endured years of it and then one day lost it? Mum was like Edie. Compassionate, tolerant, and generous to a fault.”
Scott was silent for a long moment. Then, “Something must have happened to push your mother that day.”
“Enough to kill him?” Elodie shook her head. “I can understand hurting him. Even kicking him out and divorcing him—her family never liked Da anyway. But to kill him? To destroy our family in such a way that I lost both parents that day?”
Scott gave her a sad smile. “Have you asked her?”
“I’ve not spoken to her since the police took her away.”
“You know your mum. You speak about her as being kind and bighearted. I also imagine she was the type of mother who would protect her children above everything. Including herself.”
Elodie stared at him as a cold chill spread through her body. “What?”
“Am I right? Would she have given her life to protect you and your siblings?”
She nodded. “Absolutely.”
Scott held her gaze without replying. Elodie’s mind frantically searched her memories. “Da never laid a hand on either of us girls. I never saw him touch Elias either.”
“You said they argued.”
“Aye. I argued with him, too.”
“The same way as your brother?”
Elodie’s chest grew tight. “No.”
“How much older is Elias?”
“There are three years between him and Edie. Four between him and me.”
Scott shrugged again.
Elodie struggled to breathe. “Are you saying that…?” She couldn’t even get the words out.
“That your brother was home at times when you and Edie were no’? That he and your father might have had a row? That maybe your father hit him? It could be all of that. It could be none of it.”
Elodie wasn’t a mother. She couldn’t say if that had caused her mum to snap that day or not. But she knew someone she could ask—Edie.
“Have you asked your brother about it?”
Scott’s voice dragged her back to the present. “I’ve not spoken to Elias in years. I know he checks in with Edie, but he’s never reached out to me.”
“You’ve no’ reached out to him either.”
“You’re not pulling any punches, are you?” she said in a harsher tone than intended.
Scott’s lips twisted. “I told you there are other ways to face the past. I get the feeling you doona talk about this much.”
“Never.”
“Sometimes, getting it out makes all the difference. I’m looking at things from a perspective you’ve no’. I wasna there. It isna my family.”
She nodded. “You’ve made some valid points. I never would’ve thought about some of the things you’ve pointed out.”
“Do you want to let go of the past?”
“I don’t think we can ever fully let go. What happens in the past shapes and defines us. What I want is to no longer feel as if the past controls me.”
Scott shot her a bright smile. “You’ll get there.”
“How can you say that with such certainty?”
“Because I see you.”
He said it with such honesty that she was at a loss for words.
“I see your pain,” he continued, his gaze boring into hers. “You do a valiant job of hiding it, but it’s there. It’s difficult to miss. I doona blame you. I’m certain I’d be weighed down by such a past, too. Yet it sounds like you’re ready to move on. Maybe that’s why you’re back.”
“You make it sound easy.”
Scott snorted, his lips curving into a grin. “It willna be.”
She looked at Filip. “He’s struggling, too.”
“Aye. Kevin’s murder weighs on him.”
“Tell me about it. All of it. Please.”
“Kevin was murdered because he was a Druid.”
Her brow puckered. “You’re serious.”
“As I said, there’s a small community of Druids in Edinburgh. And some who doona want us there—they doona want any Druids.”
“And you think that’s why Kevin was killed?”
“We know it.”
“How?” she asked with a shake of her head.
Scott looked at the fire and then swallowed. He paused before saying, “There was a message left with the body. The same one that has been left with every Druid—mie or drough—killed.” He looked at her, his blue eyes blazing with anger. “Bàs ort. Death to you.”