Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
N ever before had Kathleen seen that look on her father’s face. She had seen him angry in the past, of course; furious even. Most of those times, the sentiment was directed at her, so she was terribly familiar with it.
However, the rage she saw at that moment was nothing like those times. It was as though her father had transformed into someone else—a stranger, someone she had never even seen before. His face was a dark shade of red, so deep that she feared something would happen to him if he didn’t calm down. His features were contorted into a mask of fury, but when he spoke, his voice was perfectly level, devoid of any emotion.
That was what scared her the most, that dissonance between his expression and his voice that sent a chill down her spine .
“What is this?” he asked.
“Faither—”
“I’m speakin’ tae Blaine,” her father said, holding up a hand to silence her. It struck her as odd—not just the fact that he was addressing Blaine at all, but also the fact that he referred to him by his first name.
Were they familiar with each other? It was likely, Kathleen supposed. Perhaps they had met before at a clan gathering.
Blaine said nothing in response, but he also didn’t cower under her father’s gaze. Anyone else would have withered by then, shrinking away from the man, but Blaine still stood tall, his shoulders squared back and his mouth set in a firm line.
“Does it mean ye have ruined her?” her father asked him, and Kathleen’s heart sank to her stomach. She wanted to say something, anything, that could get them out of that situation. She wanted to point out that she had asked for it, that Blaine was not to blame, and that she was tired of vilifying her desires. But she knew her father would listen to none of it. He had never listened to her in the past and he wouldn’t start listening to her now.
It was her mother she feared the most, though. Once she found out, she was bound to lock her up in a turret in the keep and hold her there forever.
If the anger and disappointment dinnae kill her first.
“Tell me!” her father roared when Blaine once again remained silent. Kathleen flinched at his booming voice, but Blaine remained calm, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.
“It daes,” he admitted. “I have fallen in love with Kathleen. I didnae… I shouldnae have done it. But I didnae touch her because o’ a whim. I love her.”
Kathleen’s heart skipped beat after beat. She stared at Blaine, partly in disbelief and partly in elation, her stomach twisting itself into a hundred knots, just like it did the first time she had heard him speak those words to her.
Her father was angry, it was true, and he had good reason to be. They had gone behind his back, when they could have simply waited and asked for his permission to wed. Had he known they loved each other, though, Kathleen was certain he would have allowed it. The only thing that may have given him pause was the difference in age between them, but that was something that could easily be overlooked.
But at least now the truth was out in the open, and Kathleen could ask for his blessing to marry Blaine. They could truly be together as man and wife instead of simply dreaming of it.
“In what part o’ yer mission, exactly, did I say ye could touch me daughter?”
All the joy that had coursed through Kathleen at Blaine’s confession was now overshadowed by confusion. She turned to look at her father, a frown knitting her brows together.
Mission? What mission?
“As I said,” Blaine responded, “I shouldnae have done it. I wasnae plannin’ on ever touchin’ her but… I lost me self-control.”
“What mission?” Kathleen demanded, ignoring whatever argument was brewing between the two men. “Faither, what dae ye mean?”
“I’ll explain everythin’ tae ye,” said Blaine as he approached Kathleen. If he looked pale before, now he resembled a ghost, as if all the blood had been drained from his face. Concern tinted his tone as he spoke, and though at first he reached for her arm, in the end he let his hand fall by his side again as if he was afraid to touch her. “But I need ye tae remember that all me feelings fer ye, everythin’ I’ve said, it’s all real. I promise ye, Kathleen. I never lied tae ye about any o’ this. ”
A knot formed in Kathleen’s throat and she had to swallow around it, her stomach churning at the thought that even if Blaine claimed to not be lying about his feelings, he was indirectly admitting he had lied to her about other things.
What has he done? What has me faither done?
“Blaine here told ye he’s from the Farquharson Clan, did he nae?” her father asked, finally turning to address her. “That he’s a noble attendin’ this weddin’ because nae one else from his clan could make it.”
Kathleen nodded slowly, wondering what that had to do with anything. A cold pit opened up in her stomach and fear crept out of it, sinking its fangs into her.
“Mr. Farquharson here is naethin’ but a hired sword,” her father said, his voice harsh as he glanced at Blaine. Kathleen glanced at him too, and for the first time she saw him avert his gaze in embarrassment, as if his humble origins were far more shameful than his lies. “I hired him tae protect ye because yer cousins told me ye’d try tae leave. I told him tae befriend ye an’ keep ye close, nae tae bed ye!”
Kathleen had never heard her father speak like this before, but the shock of hearing those words from his mouth was nothing compared to the shock of finding out the truth. She thought back to every interaction she had had with Blaine throughout their travels—the way he found her, the fact that he had suggested they travel together, the fact that he had known where she was going before she even told him.
“But the men… the Campbell men…”
“I sent them too,” her father admitted. “They were our men in disguise. I wanted ye tae see how dangerous it is out there an’ I suppose it worked.”
Kathleen blinked a few times as she tried to process everything she had learned. For a few moments, her mind couldn’t catch up to the truth and she felt numb, all of her emotions subdued by the shock of her father’s confession. But then it was as though a dam opened and it all flooded into her; the pain, the grief, the embarrassment. And most of all, the sense of betrayal, from her father and Blaine.
She had trusted him. She had trusted him with everything and had given him her whole heart, only for him to lie to her again and again.
“Is it true?” Kathleen asked him. She desperately wanted him to deny it, to tell her it was all her father’s lies, but he only nodded, confirming her biggest fears .
How could he have done this tae me? How could he have lied tae me all this time?
Was he even the man Kathleen had loved? Surely, he couldn’t be when everything he had told her about himself was a lie.
Tears stung her eyes as she turned around to leave. She didn’t want to be in her father’s or Blaine’s presence in that moment, not when the wounds were so fresh. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at them without the weight on her chest becoming unbearable.
She didn’t want to yell at them. She didn’t want to cry or do anything that could cause her more hurt. None of it was worth it, and so she simply decided to leave.
But as she reached the door, Kathleen caught movement from the corner of her eye and when she turned around, her father was already halfway to Blaine, his hands balled up into fists. Blaine made no effort to move or defend himself, even as her father reached him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, hauling him close enough to deal a bone-shattering punch to his cheek.
“Nay!” Kathleen shouted as she rushed to them in the hopes that she could put an end to the fight before either of them could get badly injured. Delisted everything, she still cared for them both and seeing her father repeatedly hit Blaine without showing any mercy only served to sadden and terrify her. “Faither, stop! Stop, ye’re hurtin’ him!”
“Stay back!” Blaine said, the words coming out as a groan. His hand reached out as if he was trying to physically hold her back, but he was doubled over, hunching over himself. “Stay back, Kathleen. I deserve this. I deserve all o’ it.”
“What?” Kathleen demanded, furious both at her father and at Blaine for ever thinking like this. “Ye dinnae deserve this! Nay one does!”
“I dae!” Blaine cried, and it seemed to her that he was using all of his strength to lift his head and look at her. “I dae… Yer faither has every right?—”
No more words made it past his lips after the, as Kathleen’s father dealt another punch to his face, rendering him silent. Kathleen gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth, tears stinging her eyes.
If he kept hitting Blaine like this, he was bound to kill him, but Kathleen didn’t know how to get closer to them when her father was in such a frenzy. He wasn’t listening to her or he simply didn’t care; either way, his knuckles were coated in blood and when she looked at Blaine’s face, she found that it was covered in it, too .
“Stop! Please!” Kathleen shrieked, desperate to talk some reason into her father. Just as she thought all hope was lost, though, footsteps echoed around her as her mother and Laird Stewart rushed into the room, summoned by the sound of her voice.
Without hesitation, Laird Stewart grabbed her father and swiftly pulled him off Blaine. Much to Kathleen’s relief, her father didn’t try to fight the other man; he simply surrendered to the fact that the fight—or rather, the assault—was over, and he took a few steps back, his shoulders drooping as he released a breath.
Kathleen was torn between leaving and staying to tend to Blaine. She looked at him, her mouth hanging open wide in shock as she took in the extent of the damage her father had wrought. Bruises were already blooming around Blaine’s left eye and his temple. His lip was split open, bleeding sluggishly. So were several other cuts on his face, his skin ripped open by her father’s golden rings.
At least he was moving. Slowly, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, his hand coming up to wipe the blood off his nose. Even as Kathleen stared at him, though, he avoided her gaze and instead, glued his to the floor. Whether it was because of his shame or because her father was still there, she didn’t know. All she knew was that since he seemed to be alright, she didn’t need to be there .
Turning around, Kathleen headed to the door once more, only for her mother to grab her arm and stop her just as she was leaving.
“What happened here?” she asked her.
Kathleen was in no mood to discuss it with her mother. She already knew what she would have to say to her, and it was nothing she wanted or needed to hear in that moment. Even if her mother loved her, even if she would do anything for her, she was always quick to anger and even quicker to judge Kathleen’s choices. If Kathleen revealed the truth to her, there was no doubt in her mind that she would never hear the end of it.
Instead, there was something else she wanted to ask her mother; something that would either confirm her fears or assuage them.
“Did ye ken Faither had hired Blaine tae be me guard? Did ye ken about his whole plan?”
Her mother stared at her in silence. It wasn’t often that she had nothing to say—if anything, this was the first time in Kathleen’s memory that she didn’t have a response prepared, and that was more than enough for Kathleen to know the truth .
Everyone had known. Everyone had known who Blaine was but her, and she felt like an utter fool.
It wasn’t the fact that her father had hired a man to guard her that bothered her. She had been the one to suggest traveling with guards in the first place, only for her parents to refuse without even taking her suggestion into consideration. Rather, it was the fact that everyone had lied to her about it and had allowed her to make a choice she would have never otherwise made.
Betrayal seemed like too inconsequential of a word for what they had done. She didn’t know how she could ever trust any of them again, let alone anyone else. If her own parents, her own family, were so willing to lie to her like that, then why should she expect anything different from strangers?
There was only one person in all of Castle Stalker who could offer Kathleen any comfort, and that was Fenella. But Fenella had troubles of her own, troubles which seemed bigger to Kathleen than hers. She didn’t want to burden her friend with her problems—and the irony of that was entirely lost to her in that moment.
Kathleen didn’t know where she was going; all she knew was that she couldn’t be in that room anymore, so she pushed past her mother and into the hallway, disappearing around the corner.