The door slammed behind him with enough force to rattle the walls, leaving Fiona alone with her fury and the terrible suspicion that perhaps Connor wasn't entirely wrong.
***
FIONA DIDN'T SEE HIMagain until the evening meal, and then only from across the Great Hall.Connor sat with his men, his expression closed off and distant.When their eyes met briefly, the hurt she saw there made her chest ache.
Beside her, Horas hovered to ask if she needed more wine.The innocent gesture that she would have thought nothing of that morning now felt loaded with meaning she didn't want to acknowledge.
The evening dragged on endlessly.After the meal, Fiona retreated to their chamber, hoping Connor would follow.She sat by the fire, mending one of his shirts, a peace offering, perhaps, something to keep her hands busy while she waited.
But the hours passed, and still he didn't come.
The keep had grown quiet around her, the sounds of daily life settling into the peaceful rhythm of night.Where was he?Surely, he wouldn't sleep elsewhere, it was too cold.Then she had thoughts of him seeking out comfort with another, perhaps a leman.She immediately shook that unwelcome notion out of her head.
Perhaps Connor was still in the Great Hall, drinking with the men.Or maybe he'd gone to Ewan's chambers to discuss clan business.The thought of him avoiding their room—avoiding her—made her chest tight with hurt and frustration.
Fiona was just rising from her chair, determined to find him and force a proper conversation, when a sharp knock echoed through the chamber.
"Connor?"she called, moving quickly toward the door, relief flooding through her.
But when she lifted the latch and pulled the door open, it wasn't her husband who stood in the corridor.
Teàrlag and Horas pushed past her into the room, slamming the door shut behind them with enough force to rattle the frame.The sound echoed like a death knell in the sudden silence.
Fiona took an instinctive step backward, her heart beginning to race.Something was wrong, terribly, horribly wrong.She could not understand why Teàrlag was there but the woman had an evil glint in her eye.Fiona turned to Horas and shuddered with fear.This wasn't the careful, solicitous Horas she'd known since childhood.This man's eyes held a wild gleam that made her blood run cold, and there was something in his posture, in the way he moved, that spoke of barely contained violence.
"Horas?"she whispered, backing toward the fire."What are ye doing?"
"I’m making everything right.Yer husband belongs with Teàrlag, and you belong with me!”
The look he gave her—hungry, possessive, triumphant—told her everything she needed to know.
She was in terrible danger.
***
Chapter 12
