Her Savage Scot: 1 (Highland Warriors) by Phillips Christina

Author:Phillips, Christina [Phillips, Christina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-11-19T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Aila sat on the edge of her bed, a paralyzing numbness seeping through her limbs. Connor’s face, carved into a mask of furious disbelief as he had caught sight of her in the war chamber, haunted her fractured mind. She hadn’t expected his reaction to be so…primitive.

She dug her fingernails into her palm and tried to ignore the crushing pain in her heart. Her heart that ached with every ragged beat, every shallow breath, every anguished thought.

When she had seen him waiting for her by the stream, it had taken every last shred of resolve she possessed to stop from rushing into his arms. He’d been enraged and she’d said—God, she had said the stupidest things. She didn’t mean them. Everything had become twisted and instead of improving an impossible situation, she’d made things worse.

But nothing she had said could compare to Connor’s brutal parting shot.

Her betrothed was his half brother.

Connor had mentioned his brother, during one of their many conversations. And while his anecdotes had made her giggle, as she knew had been his intention, she had also been aware of words left unsaid. Of the thread of cruelty in the older brother toward his younger half sibling.

She’d dreaded the marriage before. But now it revolted the fundamental core of her soul, as though by taking Connor’s brother as her husband she was somehow committing an act of incest.

“But why does Aila have to move so far away?” Finella’s plaintive voice penetrated her thoughts and she dragged her attention back to the present. As Floradh and a couple of other servants went through her clothes and the personal effects she would be taking with her to Dal Riada, her grandmother and Elise sat with her on her bed, while her mother sat on a stool beside Finella, who curled around Drun on the floor.

“Because,” their mother said, showing no signs of her true feelings on the matter, “that is where the Scot prince lives. Just imagine. Your sister will help civilize their savage ways.”

Her grandmother leaned toward her, clearly not wishing Finella to overhear. “This feels wrong, Aila. Something is terribly amiss. But I cannot fathom what.”

Aila stared at their entwined hands. She, her grandmother and Elise. “You said yourself I was a founding stone.” The words mocked her. What a different meaning she had placed upon them earlier that day. “It seems you were right.”

“You are. But this doesn’t sit well with me. The goddess—retreats.”

Elise also leaned forward. “Grandmamma, I feel this too.” She sounded relieved. “I thought it was only because of—of the circumstances.” She shot Aila an anxious glance. “But the darkness has returned. It hovers over the Scots and now Aila too—yet doesn’t touch any of them.”

Eerie shivers prickled over Aila’s arms and she snatched her hands free from her cousin and grandmother.

“Of course there is darkness,” she hissed, glancing at Finella to ensure she was still occupied with both Drun and arguing with their mother. “A political marriage is the last thing I desire.

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