Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1)(22)

It was enough to stutter her forward, her steps shaky and uneven as she followed him out of the hall and to the steps leading down into the courtyard. There she was greeted by the sight of a wooden cart attached to a horse. It was the one her father had fashioned for her when she refused to ever sit a horse again after her accident.

Behind the cart were three horses, two loaded with her dowry. Supplies, spices, jewels. Things that were precious and of great value. And then another cart, loaded with trunks containing all that belonged to her.

It was so final. Every part of her would be erased from her home. As if she never existed. Had never lived here.

Tears clouded her eyes.

Even as she looked forward to the possibility of being a wife and of having the things she’d always thought she’d be denied, she was overcome with grief because she knew she’d rarely if ever see her family again.

Graeme touched her cheek, and it was then she realized he was wiping away a tear that had slid over her skin. She turned to look at him and saw the words forming on his lips.

“Go and bid your family farewell, Eveline. We must be on our way.”

Stiffly she walked away, to where her mother and father and her two brothers lined the path from the steps to where the horses waited.

She hugged Aiden, and he returned her embrace with a quick, fierce hold. He said something, but it was lost as she went to Brodie next. He gathered her gently in his arms and hugged her, holding her there for a long moment.

When he released her, his lips were in a firm line and he was staring coldly in the direction of her new husband.

Her mother and father both gathered her close, the three forming a tight circle as they held her in their arms. Her father kissed her temple. Her mother pressed her cheek to Eveline’s, and Eveline could feel the dampness of her mother’s tears.

Eveline’s own throat was clogged with such sorrow that she could barely swallow. What had seemed a grand adventure before was now startlingly real. It was no fantasy. She was truly leaving the bosom of her family and on her way to an uncertain future with a clan who hated her and everything she stood for.

It was all she could do not to throw herself at her father and put him between her and Graeme.

It was time for her to be strong. She’d spent the last years hiding. If she balked, if she showed any distress or any sign that she refused to leave, it could be disastrous.

Her entire clan would suffer. Lives would be lost. All because she was afraid to face the outside world and her fears.

She purposely turned away, her heart aching with every breath. She took a step toward her husband and then another. Her back hurt from holding herself so rigidly erect. She forced calm onto her face even if within she was a seething sea at the height of a storm.

She would bring no dishonor to her father or her clan. She would make her mother proud. She would not worry her brothers. She would leave this place by her choice and she’d accept her husband because it was her choice, not because it was mandated by her king.

When she was but a step away from Graeme, she stopped and tilted her chin up, pride holding her stiff. She met his gaze and then squared her shoulders, her message clear.

She was ready to depart.

CHAPTER 11

The journey from the Armstrong border to the Montgomery border was merely half a day in good weather, and the weather was spectacular. Spring, mostly warm with just a hint of chill when the wind blew this way or that. The sun shone high overhead and the land was awash with a splash of gold.

It was a day when a younger Eveline would have ridden for the sheer joy of sitting astride a horse. She would have turned up her face to the sun and closed her eyes as she thundered across the terrain.

But that was before a senseless accident. She didn’t blame the horse, but neither could she go beyond the overwhelming terror that struck her at the mere thought of climbing back on one.

Even the smell of horseflesh was enough to bring back the horror of that day and the memory of pain and fear and then waking to a silent world.

It was little wonder her clan had thought she’d gone mad. It was likely true. In those first months, Eveline had been mad. She hadn’t known how to cope with what had happened. She didn’t understand it and she feared what others would do with the knowledge that she was defective.

Years later, it seemed silly, but how could she possibly have gone to her parents now, after so long, and tried to make them understand what was truly wrong? How could she even explain it?

She cocked her head to the side as a soft echo drifted through her ears. She looked around rapidly, trying to discern the source. She wanted more.

What she saw was each warrior in turn, down the line, throw up a fist and it looked as they were bellowing something loudly. Her ears tingled with the vibration, and she imagined she was hearing their cries. It was an almost, like reaching for something unreachable. Like touching a fingertip when trying to grasp a hand.

And then it died as quickly as it had caught her attention.

She bit her lips in frustration, wanting it to happen again. She lived for those moments when she could almost reach out and grasp sound. She didn’t want to forget what it was like, and with each passing day, she feared it would slip away completely, never to return.

The cart bearing her picked up speed. The man astride the horse pulling her urged his mount onward. When they topped the rise, Eveline was able to see into the valley below and it took her breath away.

Armstrong Keep sat atop a rise and it overlooked sloping terrain on all sides. It was built into the side of a large hill, stone and earth put together seemingly and the keep jutting upward from the rise.