Ariella let out a slow breath. “That seems a cruel sort of mercy.”
“It is,” Iona said, her voice softening. “But it is also a gift. We are the only ones who can do it.”
They spoke for some time after that. Of small things at first. Of remedies Erin had taught her. Of what helped and what did not. Of how to sit when the weight grew too heavy and how to breathe when the body forgot how.
It felt strange, but also easy, in a way that she had not expected.
Ariella listened without judgment. She did not probe where it was not wanted. And she treated her as though she were equal, instead of someone to be measured or approved. Eventually, the conversation shifted.
“Me braither might be a hard man, but he has carried too much for too long,” she said quietly.
Iona stilled.
“Me father left him with debts and expectations that would have crushed most men,” Ariella continued. “Frederick took it all on without question. He would nae allow me maither or me to take any of it from him, though we tried.”
Iona listened, the coiled spring in her chest tightening.
“He rebuilt everything,” Ariella said. “Piece by piece. Alone, when he thought he had to be.”
Iona’s gaze dropped briefly to her hands.
Why are ye telling me this?
As if hearing the question unspoken, Ariella met her eyes again. “He is nae an easy man,” she said. “He will never speak of his worries. He will carry them until they break or are resolved. And he will expect to do so without help.”
Iona cleared her throat but still managed to stumble on her reply, “That sounds…exhausting.”
“It is,” Ariella said simply. “For him. And for anyone who cares for him.”
The words sat between them, untouched for a while.
Then Ariella leaned back slightly, her hand returning to her belly.
“But he will protect ye,” she added, her voice steady now. “Ye and yer bairn. Of that, I have nay doubt. Nae in this lifetime or the next.”
Iona’s throat tightened unexpectedly because she did not know what to say to that.
Before she could find the words, the door opened.
Frederick stepped inside.
His gaze found her immediately.
Relief flickered there, brief but unmistakable, before his expression settled once more into something controlled.
“I was beginning to think me sister had stolen ye entirely,” he said.
Ariella smiled. “Only for a moment.”
Iona rose, smoothing her hands down her skirts, suddenly aware of the space between them again.
Frederick crossed to her side without hesitation.
“Come,” he said quietly.
She nodded.
And as they walked back toward the hearth together, the tension did not ease. It shifted instead, settling into something quieter, no less present.