Chapter Twenty
–Tavish–
SINCE I WAS UNABLE to sleep for the better part of the night and only dreamt of Ellie wrapped up in my arms and her soft flesh against mine when I did, I gave up and left my chamber.
Instead, I spent the evening standing on the tallest MacLeod battlement, awash in falling snow, with my eyes fixed on the north, ready to fly at a moment’s notice if Ellie needed me.
Not if she needed me, but when, so I could return to her.
Save her.
Keep her safe always.
Until then, all I could do was wait and long for her into the wee hours of the morn. Be there in her mind as she settled into Sutherland Castle, comforting her as much as I could. Loving her with every ounce of my being, so she felt it all around her. Deep within her.
The entire family had sat silently in the War Chamber, following her every move once she arrived at the Sutherlands’. Each of us there for her in our own unique way, hoping we wouldn’t lose our connection with her, once she shifted.
Something, we were shocked to find out, would happen tonight.
The Sutherlands wanted to handle this properly, hoping to be welcomed back into the king’s good graces, resuming their rightful position as one of his most trusted and powerful clans.
So they requested King Robert’s presence again, as well as Broderick’s, so the MacLeod and Sutherland lairds might see the pact fulfilled and peace restored once and for all.
While that was better news than we expected, the things we’d learned about Dugal’s plans for Ellie made every moment, every single breath, that I left her in his clutches a struggle.
How else could it be when he’d provided her with a lovely chamber for when the king or other important people visited, yet had a far more sinister chamber prepared below the castle, built for his own perversions?
A place without light, large enough for them to shift if need be, and as close to Hell as one might witness on earth, according to what Lilias divulged.
“Go, sister,” Lilias had urged Ellie as my lass bathed.
Tears trickled down Lilias’ cheeks as she pleaded with her.
“I can get ye out of this place, so go and never look back.
Run as fast as ye can because Dugal will break yer spirit into a thousand pieces.
‘Tis what he craves most. The only thing that truly satisfies him.”
“Yet you’re still whole after all these years,” Ellie reminded softly, harnessing incredible strength as she’d looked her sister in the eyes. “And I will be too because inner strength runs in the family, does it not?”
After that, I remained with Ellie every step of the way as she was forced to dine with Elspet and Dugal and endure his lewd looks and cruel comments along with his wife, Lilias, who sat across from her.
All the while, the four trees painted by Malcolm stood as silent sentinels, tethering our castles and the warped circumstances of a pact meant to bring peace.
However, in the end, or at least for Ellie and me, it would only ever bring heartache.
“I thought I might find ye here,” my brother said, joining me on the battlement. He rested a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“Aye,” Lucas said, falling in on my other side, resting a comforting hand on my other shoulder. “’Tis where we come when our lasses arenae with us, yet we dinnae give up hope.”
“Never,” Sloan agreed, falling in beside Broderick.
He looked at me with the same encouragement he had shown me many times before when we fought together at the border.
“Nor will we this time because I dinnae doubt yer ending will be as happy as ours, and ours can only truly be happy if ye and yer fated mate are both with us.”
“How, though?” I wondered, knowing Ellie would never risk breaking the pact, nor should she, all things considered. “We can only hope Malcolm Sutherland shows up and knows something we dinnae, because even Lilias believes Ellie is doomed to suffer a lifetime at Dugal’s hands.”
“Yet hope is hope,” my brother reminded. “No matter what, that is what ye need to hold onto and keep alive in Ellie’s heart, too.”
“Aye,” Lucas agreed. “For ye are her greatest hope as she is yers, and together ye will keep one another strong.”
“Yet if we lose this small tether left to us across the distance,” I said softly, sensing Dugal would take it from us sooner rather than later, “what hope can I offer her then?”
“Let's pray it doesnae come to that,” Sloan said, “because I know firsthand when it seems like all hope is lost, it isnae.”
As the morning wore on, I could only pray what they said was true, so I spent every moment I could right there in Ellie’s mind, telling her that we would find our happy ending.
As did her sisters and my kin, a solid wall of support, trying to be of comfort, the best we could, as she navigated her first full day at Sutherland Castle.
Meanwhile, there was no sign of Adlin or Grant here at MacLeod Castle, but she swore she saw Grant a time or two wandering around Sutherland Castle, keeping an eye on things.
“I’m not sure what he’s doing,” she said at one point, exploring the castle when Lilias was called away. “But it’s comforting, nonetheless. As though he’s keeping a piece of the Hereafter here with me.”
She had been catching glimpses of Grant when she rounded a corner and stopped short at the picture in front of her. “Father.”
“I came across the same portrait when I was there,” Aspen said, referring to a painting of Malcolm when he was younger, with features many a lass claimed to be handsome, with his dark hair and swarthy features. “I was surprised it was still there.”
“I would say that it being tucked back in this darkened hallway is a means to remind people of who would never be chieftain,” Ellie said, seeming to understand.
“To remind all who was stronger and the rightful ruler in the end. Take away all traces of Malcolm Sutherland, and who did Elspet and Dugal truly conquer? What made them so admirable?”
“Verra true,” my mother said, right there in our telepathic chain of support. “’Tis unfailingly the petty and weak-natured that need to remind others of that.”
“King Robert is coming despite the way they treated him last time,” Ellie eventually reported. “It seems he feels his presence is warranted, so he’ll be here tonight.”
“Aye,” Broderick concurred, having just received a missive from one of the king’s men.
He looked at me and Sloan. “It seems he has requested yer presence as well, so ye might return with him to the border afterward. He has men in charge until ye return, but things are growing more volatile with the Sassenach, so ye’ll be needed. ”
“Aye,” I said without hesitation, my chest tightening with emotion.
This gave me a chance to be close to Ellie again, and I couldn’t be more grateful to my king because something told me he’d done it on purpose.
If he called on anyone for aid at the border, it made sense it would be me and Sloan, as I was his strongest leader and Sloan, his diplomat.
Yet he’d requested we join him at Sutherland Castle rather than ordering us straight to the border, which was telling.
This would leave Lucas here to oversee MacLeod Castle as Broderick often asked him to do. He was our strongest warrior and best defender, so our women and clan would be safe under his watch.
“I’m coming, lass,” I said into Ellie’s mind. “I will be there soon.”
I knew it offered her as much comfort as it did me whilst I prepared to travel later that day.
I continually reminded her of my upcoming arrival, hoping to bring her some modicum of comfort while she sat alone in her chamber staring out at the sea, already longing to break out of the cage in which she’d been trapped.
“These colors don’t suit me,” she said softly, speaking of the Sutherland colors she had been forced to wear, trying so hard to stay strong, but I felt her heartbreak because I suffered the same. “They’re not mine...”
“Nay,” I agreed. Trying to take her mind off her woes any which way I could, I brought her thoughts back to our dreams the night before, remembering the feel of her silky skin beneath my fingers.
The taste of her delicious lips and the sweet scent she exuded for me alone.
“’Tis why I took them off you last night.
Do you remember, Ellie? Were you truly there with me? ”
“I was,” she murmured, her emotions as intense and loving as she’d been in my arms, even if only in our dreams. “And I felt every part of you. Felt you love me with your lips and your hands. Felt your kisses and gentle strokes...and then I felt so much more.”
“As did I,” I said, my internal voice rough with arousal as I recalled thrusting deep inside her.
Remembered her arching and crying out with pleasure.
“’Twas...” Beautiful? Perfect? Everything I wanted to feel until the end of my days?
“Forever mine, no matter what. ‘Twill always be my gentle hands on ye. Always be my loving touch that adores ye.”
While it wasn’t much, given everything she faced, I knew she held onto my words and ever-lingering touches, even if only in a dream, and would keep me close always.
I would be the place she went in her mind if all hope was lost. My touch would be what she felt.
My heart would beat within her own, keeping her alive and here rather than allowing her to wither away.
“I’m coming, my love,” I promised her, letting her feel my strong, determined, relentless, and persevering strides as I headed downstairs to join Broderick and Sloan in the courtyard. “I will be there soon.”
“And I’ll be waiting...even if this is the last time,” she swore before becoming distracted by something. I could only hope it was good news of some sort. Something that might make all of this more bearable, but ended up, sadly enough, not being the solution we were hoping for.