Chapter 13
The floor of the cabin was cold, but Keir had never experienced such fiery heat as that which Elin’s roaming hands left in their wake.
His breath came unsteadily and hers in little gasps, and when he moved his lips at last from her mouth to find her neck, she sighed out his name in a way that neatly undid him then and there.
His hand trailed up her side, settling on the curve of her breast, feeling her heave with need and longing beneath him.
She pulled her fingernails down his bare back, exquisitely painful, claiming, demanding, and Keir knew he couldn’t wait long before he had her.
But…
With more effort than he knew he possessed, he pulled back. Elin made a soft, uneven sound of question. He leaned down and pressed a feather-light kiss to her lips, then rolled off her, lying next to her with his back on the cold floor, trying to soothe his own racing heart.
Elin propped herself up on her elbow to look at him, and when he met her gaze, he saw that she had turned pink from embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Sorry? For what?” he asked, genuinely perplexed.
“I… I ken ye like Briana. I’ve seen the way ye look at her. It must be hard, kennin’ yer brother and she are together while ye—”
Keir sat up. “Briana?” he asked, then laughed.
A defiant look of annoyance crossed her face. Elin stood and retreated to the bed, obviously offended by his laughter. The idea was so ludicrous that it took him a few moments to collect himself. He stood and turned toward the bed, sitting down at the other end, giving her plenty of space.
“Elin, I dinnae like Briana. Nae in the way ye mean. Honestly, I’m sorry for laughin’, I just—it was the last thing I ever expected ye tae say.
Briana’s a sister, nothin’ more, nothin’ less.
At least she is now.” The amusement in him ebbed at his own last words, lost in the tide of shame that his memories always brought when he allowed them to resurface.
“Nae that I deserve even that honor after what I almost did.”
Elin frowned. She didn’t move closer from where she sat by the pillow, but she did lower her guard a little, relaxing the barrier she had built between them with her arms and legs. “What do ye mean?”
He allowed the shame to engulf him. This would be the first time he’d said it all outright.
Theon knew most of it, of course, and the others had an idea, but none of them had ever made him say word for word what had happened that night.
It was an understanding between them and a barrier with Briana that he had never been able to cross.
Perhaps he had never wanted to. He didn’t want to say it—didn’t want to destroy forever the admiration he saw occasionally in Elin’s eyes—but he knew that she deserved the truth.
And, perhaps, he deserved to speak it fully at long, long last.
“I almost let her get taken by the McFarlanes. Almost gave her up to the mercy of her father and brother in the Cameron clan or the rage of brutality that Malcolm McFarlane would have brought upon her. I kent how much Theon loved her, and I kent how much she meant tae Noah. I kent that Graeme had grown fond of her and that she’d come tae consider us her home.
But I watched them take her, and if I hadnae changed me mind at the last second and sent Theon after her, she could well be dead by now.
Or worse.” He shook his head. “Ye must think me a monster.”
Elin stared at him, her lip still swollen and full from their kiss, slightly parted in surprise. Her lovely brow furrowed. “I dinnae understand. What would the McFarlanes want with Briana? And why would Laird Cameron wish tae punish her?”
So Keir told her. He told her everything—how Briana had been betrothed to Malcolm, how Theon had captured her to try to secure the freedom of the Blades and their people, and how the two had fallen in love.
“A blind man could have seen how they adored one another, but tae me it was like poison. When Theon refused tae let us ransom her off, it was the last straw for me. In my anger, all I could see was me brother betrayin’ me for the sake of a daughter of the clan who—”
He cut off and looked away, fighting off the images that flew through his mind.
The bodies of his mother and father watched him, blank-eyed, across the decades, never even given the honor of their graves.
Flames engulfed them, just as they had in life, and Keir squeezed his eyes shut as thunder roared.
A soft hand pulled him from the spiral. He opened his eyes to see Elin had moved closer and now knelt beside him on the bed, her hand placed reassuringly on his upper arm.
“What happened between the clans?” she asked softly.
“That night, the night the alliance fell apart. I’ve heard the tale of the traitors again and again from Eamon and from men of his ilk. But that’s not the full story, is it?”
Keir shook his head.
“Then tell me. Let me understand.”
“All right,” he said, voice hoarse. “I was just a lad, back then. I woke tae the sound of me father snarlin’ at me tae hide. It was the last word he ever said to me.”
He told it all then. How the Camerons and their other so-called allies had betrayed them. How his clan had been destroyed. How the world had ended.
“I hid under the bed. Me father was brave but desperate. He begged that me mother be spared. Said she wasnae even his wife, just a commoner he had taken as a lover. Said there was no sense in killin’ her.
” Keir closed his eyes. “The assassin laughed. The next thing I heard was me mother screamin’ in pain.
Then silence. Then me father’s roar, cut short as it turned intae a gurgle when the assassin cut his throat. ”
Elin’s eyes were wide. “Keir…”
He shook his head. He had to finish. “I crawled out from under the bed when I was sure he was gone. The castle was aflame and I was coughin’ in the smoke, but I had tae see.
They lay side by side, hand in hand, their eyes still open.
I dinnae ken how long I stood there, starin’, before Theon found me.
I dinnae even remember how he convinced me tae flee.
Perhaps he carried me. Perhaps he dragged me.
I dinnae ken. All I do remember is that he’s been both brother and parent tae me since.
Noah joined us, and we found Graeme later on, half-dead.
And dinnae ever tell Graeme this, but I think that’s what truly saved me from goin’ mad.
Even when he was at his weakest while recoverin’, he saw a boy in shock and mournin’ and did everythin’ tae cheer me.
He’s me friend, me brother, me rock. He’s Theon’s best friend for a reason, even though they’re so opposite.
” He smiled, though the pain still echoed through him in waves.
“He may be daft, but he’s far from stupid, ye ken.
I dinnae think any of us would have survived without him.
And then they called us traitors, said we attacked when they slits our throats in our beds… “ He shook his head.
When he finally looked up at Elin again, there were tears running down her cheeks. “I called ye a bastard. A traitor. A monster,” she whispered.
He cupped her cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb. “I’m at least one of those things, Elin. Perhaps more.”
She shook her head, then turned to press her lips against his palm.
Warmth flooded him where the cold of his memories had set in.
“Nay,” she murmured. “Ye’re none of them.
Nae even the first. Yer mother and father may nae have been wed, but they seem to have loved each other deeply.
Who could call the child of such a union a bastard? ”
“Many,” he replied, trying to turn it into a joke so that her words didn’t make him crumble. How was it that this woman was able to shake him to his very core with just the slightest of phrases? “I’ll never be Theon.”
“Nay. Ye’ll always be Keir,” she whispered. “Strong, brave, kind, wonderful Keir MacKenzie. Son of the MacKenzie clan. Master of stealth. Survivor of the worst and protector of the weak. Aye, ye’ve made mistakes, but havenae we all? Ye’re Keir, and I couldnae be happier for it.”
She’d turned to face him again as she spoke, and now she moved closer, her lips only a breath from his. Keir was helpless under her gaze, as willing a servant as any man had ever been to the most powerful queen.
“And,” she murmured, “Ye’re all I want right now. Ye’re all I need. Perhaps all I’ve ever needed.”
Thunder ricocheted across the sky, and Keir closed the gap between them, kissing Elin with such ferocity as to challenge the storm.
She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him in, responding with just as much strength.
Her teeth grazed his lip and he growled, pulling back to claim her jaw, her neck, the curve of her collarbone.
Her fingers dug into his back, encouraging and guiding him, urgent with need.
Keir’s hands found her waist and he lifted her as though she weighed nothing at all, laying her back against the pillow, positioning her exactly where he needed her to be.
He leaned down to kiss her again, his lower half straining with need, but before he could, she slid out from underneath him.
Surprised, he didn’t expect it when she disarmed him, twisting so that now he was the one who lay with his back on the pillow and she now straddled over him.
Her long golden hair brushed his face as she stared down, a devilish smile on her lips.
“Who taught ye that?” he breathed, half laughing even as his body screamed for more.
“Someone brave,” she replied. She bent and kissed him, deep and long, and when she was done he felt she’d taken half his soul with her.
“Someone handsome.” She kissed his cheek, then slid down to his chest. “Someone loyal.” She trailed kisses down his chest and to his belly, and he hissed as she reached the sensitive skin just above his waistline.
“Elin,” he gasped.
“Keir,” she replied. “Let me show ye how sorry I am for all the things I called ye. Let me show ye how grateful I am for the life ye’ve given me now and how ready I am for everythin’ that comes next.”
His breath caught and his cock twitched almost painfully below his trousers. Sweat beaded on his skin and his heart seemed to pulse through his whole body. “Ye… ye dinnae need tae…”
“I dinnae need tae, nay. But I want tae.” Her eyes were hooded as she looked at him, not looking away as her deft fingers loosened the ties on his trousers and then pulled them away.
He lifted his hips to help her, spellbound by her command.
“I’ve learned much from me time. Let me at last put some of the lessons those bad men taught me tae good use. ”
“Elin,” he gasped.
She moved back and knelt between his legs, then lowered her head.
The first touch of her mouth caused a deep groan to erupt from his chest, and when she gripped his hardness and found her rhythm, Keir barely knew who he was anymore.
Her head and hand moved in sync, her hair brushing his oversensitive skin, tickling and teasing and causing him to gasp.
He murmured her name again and again, reaching down to tangle his fingers in her hair with one hand while the other gripped into a fist, barely in control of himself.
She did not stop, taking her time, kissing and licking and exploring, making sure he felt every part of the pleasure as she took all of him in.
She moaned around him, sending vibrations down his length and deep inside him, and he groaned in return, his hips thrusting in time with her hand movements.
She did not relent, and when he felt himself getting close to a climax and he gasped out a warning, he felt the curve of her smile as she only redoubled her efforts.
Keir’s hand tightened in her hair as she moved faster, tighter, with more surety, and when the peak arrived, he roared in time with the storm.
Dazed, spent, he fell back onto the pillow.
He was dimly aware of Elin standing up from the bed and the delicate clinking of the clay water jug as she washed, but his head was so clouded with pleasure he couldn’t even turn to look at her.
At last, she returned to the bed and settled down beside him. He shifted slightly, making room so that she could lie in his arms. They faced each other, and he saw a look of playful victory combined with something warm and everlasting in her eyes.
“Ye’re amazin’,” he whispered. “Do ye want…”
“Aye,” she replied. “But nae now. Now, I just want ye tae hold me.”
He kissed her lightly. “Yer wish is me command,” he told her. He glanced behind her and saw a familiar jacket hanging from the bedpost. Smiling slightly, he reached over her head and unhooked it, then drew it over her shoulders before arranging the bedcovers over them both.
They lay like that, lost in each other’s comfort, for what felt like an eternity. At long last, Keir felt that he should speak.
“Elin?” he whispered.
He was met with only the soft, steady breathing of sleep. Smiling, he held her close and closed his own eyes.
For the first time in over a decade, Keir MacKenzie slept in peace.