Highland Chieftain (Book 5)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Two days later, as Larena watched Kendrick ride away, she felt as if a very part of her was being taken with him. Dread creating heavy rocks within her stomach, why did she feel as if he would not return. Well not physically, for he would do as the heir to their nearest allied clan to their own. But she was concerned that he was not going to acknowledge her if he ever came again. Whilst he had been nothing but attentive to her the last few days, she could not help but think she had given him all he could ever want from her and that the next time he saw her, his gaze would be cool and her heart would crack. For it had frozen with the growing panic of his reaction the next time they would meet, the very moment he had swung up into his saddle to ride away from her.

Trying to calm her breathing, she knew she could not lose her calm in front of so many around her. The betrothal would not be announced until Kendrick's return, she suspected her father wanted something from the trade trip in return for her marriage, but she had not been able to confirm that. Nor did she managed to get the details from Kendrick before he left, thought he had managed to smash down her walls as he had promised to do, stealing from her secrets that no one else had ever managed to gain from her in her entire life. But he had stolen them when she was at her most vulnerable and he had promised to keep them safe as he took them with him on his travels. Telling her that he was glad he was the 'only one to know truly what his little bird believed.'

Yet he had not turned to glance at her as he had ridden out of the Keep, talking and laughing with one of his men as they kicked their heels and sped from her life. As if the hounds of hell were chasing him from her and he could not even care that she was being left behind to burn in that fiery depth. So as the last of the hooves beating upon the hard packed earth faded into the distance, and the people around her broke away and headed off in different directions, going on with their lives, she still stood there. Waiting, as if he would return, realise he was making a mistake in going on this trade trip and instead turn around and come back to her. Yet the longer she stood there, everyone else forgetting about their visitors, whilst she could not let go, for if she did, she would realise just how unworthy she was of such a male. So unworthy that he would realise it in the time they spent apart. Which would mean he would not want to see her again, for who wanted what was beneath them? Now she saw herself in such a way, it was only moments before Kendrick thanked the Lord for letting him escape her.

Knowing she would have to move at some point, she heaved a breath to try and centre herself and try and get movement into her body. For she was frozen in her spot, unable to take her eyes from the exit, just hoping for that one last glimpse that she could take with her through the coming months. Whilst that darkness had free rein for the next few months, creeping back into her thoughts after Kendrick had almost burnt it away with the light he brought with him in just his very being.

"How you get away with such...actions...as you do, I have no idea. If I had done as you, my mother would have been utterly shamed. But I supposed that is to be expected of one with no mother to scold them when they do something of shame." Larena had to bite her lip at the poison in Vika's voice, she had tried to make it sound so sweet, yet the venom was bubbling so close to the surface. Did she sound like this when she spoke to Fyfa or Edine, or any number of others who she deemed beneath her? Had she made Vika so harsh? Shaking her head she faced her 'friend'. "Vika I have no idea what you mean." The confusion was perfectly pitched, for she did not truly know, but she could guess what Vika knew. It was how that she did not understand.

Vika sneered in response. "Act that way if you wish, but I thought we were confidants, obviously not with who I saw you sneaking off with." Vika stepped closer, her voice dropping to dangerous whispers. "I told my grandmother that I saw you."