It was quiet in the unfamiliar room, the fire crackling the only sound. Within moments, her thoughts began to spiral once more, ever downward, to a place that they absolutely should not be.
Keegan.
The feeling of his lips on hers haunted Willow like a persistent apparition, and she absently drew her fingers up toward them. Dusting the pads over her skin, Willow could not stop herself from picturing the way the laird had looked when he’d regarded her just before she left.
That darkness in his stare was the same as every time he was about to kiss her. She could see that want in his eyes. Why had she let him get that far and done nothing? She should have been moved to strike him, not melt into his touch like she was bewitched.
But I was. It was so…
Willow lacked the words to describe how it had felt, only settling on right. It had feltrightto be claimed by him like that, and a spark went off in the back of her mind that told her it was why she had fought against him so. It had been the outcome she desired.
She shook herself, her eyes opening in the dark. “Nay. Nay, absolutely nae. I wasnae looking for the laird to kiss me or anythin' else for that matter.”
Still, it was only herself that she spoke to and only herself that she sought to convince.
Dammit.
13
Afew days later, Willow was still fighting to convince herself that Keegan was just another man looking to gain something through her existence. And a few days later, it had still not proven effective.
Keegan was consistently cordial to her, even kind, and he had sought to protect her from the clan’s ire—particularly his brother—at every turn, even if he had not been available for much conversation at all. It would have been far easier to hate the man had he been likeherbrother. While Damon reared toward her with an unmistakable aggression, Willow could tell that his heart was not in it. Magnus was a different matter.
And it had always been that way.
Willow walked with Rodrick behind her to her chambers. The path was familiar now, but it was also the only one she knew. They returned to it each day after every meal, and Willow had explored every nook and cranny of the bed chamber. Nothing of interest had been located, but it had given her something to do.
Something that she lacked now.
“Thank ye, Rodrick. I will see ye again at dinner.”
“Of course, me lady.” He turned and walked a ways down the hall, still keeping guard outside as she closed the door.
As she was shut inside once again, Willow walked to the table in the corner where she had taken up sitting and thinking to herself about what to do. Today was no different, except in that her memories of the past were clamoring to the front of her mind instead of an escape plan.
Magnus had hated Willow and Lilith since the moment of their birth, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it was because their mother had died in the act of bringing them into the world.
We were nae but bairns. What guilt could be placed on us?
But it didn’t matter. Magnus had made up his mind that the twins had killed his mother, and her father was distant, to say the least. He never scolded Magnus for his treatment of Willow and her sister, and he never lent a hand to aid them.
“Ye’re better off surviving on yer own skills now that waiting o’er long and being ill-prepared for a cold world,” he would say.
“Aye, I feel so much more prepared thanks to yer ‘help,’” Willow mumbled to herself.
Willow had been told when she was young that she had been the first of the twins to arrive, and from that moment on, though if only by a few minutes, Willow was the older sister. And she would do anything to protect Lilith. Keeping her sister happy and safe from Magnus’s gaze was of the utmost importance. It still was.
And so, Willow had grown accustomed to taking the brunt of his sour moods.
Her armor had become her ability to never let Magnus see how much his words affected her, how much he harmed her with each snide insult and remark. It led to others seeing her as the singular light that shone within Castle MacCallum, and Willow would not let down the people who’d come to believe in her.
It had been the only reason for her agreeing to marry. That and she selfishly wished to live anywhere but where Magnus was. She had a plan to call for her sister once Lilith had settled in and not allowed her to return to his clutches once she arrived.
There seems to be a bit of a wrinkle in that plan. Considerin' I’m nay longer on me way to the weddin', and I have a mind to think the groom may have somethin' to say about that.
And, of course, Willow knew that Magnus was just as responsible for that interruption as Keegan.Hehad kidnapped the man’s sister, and turn around was indeed fair play to a Laird.
Willow sighed. She’d been struggling for days now, wondering if she should tell Keegan what she could about her brother. Itwasn’t much, but knowing that he hated her would certainly change things regarding the exchange.