Page 92 of The Wolf Laird's Obsession
“I am sorry again,” Gordon said, his voice hoarse. “I am sorry for everything. For the knife. For the threats. For believin’ his lies for so long.”
“Ye were a child.” Rowan’s voice was steady. “I never hated ye.” Rowan pulled him into an embrace, holding him close the way he had held him when they were boys.
Gordon sobbed against his shoulder, his body shaking with the force of it. “I am sorry. I am so sorry.”
“I forgive ye.” Rowan’s voice was low but steady, and he meant every word. “I forgive ye, Gordon. For everythin’.”
Gordon held him tighter, weeping, and Rowan let him, because there were no words for such pain, such loss, such reunion.
The shadows of betrayal lifted, and he stood not as a beast or a monster or the Wolf of the North, but as a brother, a protector, a husband, a father. A man who had reclaimed what was nearly lost and would spend the rest of his life making sure it never slipped through his fingers again.
Sorcha watched him from across the room, Elspeth still in her arms, and she smiled through her tears.
This is me family. This is where I belong. This is everythin’ I never kent I wanted and everythin’ I will fight to keep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The water was hot against Sorcha’s skin, almost scalding, but she welcomed the burn. It was something to feel besides the ache in her throat, the rawness of her wrists, and the hollow place in her chest where fear had been living for hours that felt like years.
She leaned back against the rim of the wooden tub and closed her eyes.
The steam rose around her in gentle curls, carrying the scent of lavender and rosemary, the same oils Flora had been using since the first night she had arrived at the castle.
That night felt like a lifetime ago. The woman who had stood in this same tub, trembling and uncertain, felt like a stranger now.
So much had changed.
Shehad changed.
“Ye are goin’ to turn into a prune if ye stay in there much longer.”
Sorcha opened her eyes to find Flora standing in the doorway, her red hair escaping its pins and her green eyes still red-rimmed from weeping. She was holding a cup of something steaming, and her hands were still shaking, though she was trying very hard to hide it.
“I am nae ready to get out yet,” Sorcha said. “The water is still hot.”
Flora crossed the room and set the cup on the small table beside the tub. “It is chamomile. Morag said it would help ye sleep.”
“I daenae want to sleep.”
“Ye need to sleep.” Flora knelt beside the tub and dipped her fingers into the water, testing the temperature. “Ye have been through more in the past few hours than most women experience in a lifetime. Yer body needs rest.”
Sorcha opened her eyes and looked at her maid, at the tears still clinging to her lashes, at the way her lower lip trembled despite her efforts to keep it steady.
“Flora.” She reached out and took her hand. “I am all right. I am here. Ye daenae need to be afraid anymore.”
Flora’s face crumpled, and the tears she had been holding back spilled down her cheeks. “I was so scared. When I found ye onthe floor, when I saw ye lying there pale and still, I thought… I thought ye were going to die. And then when ye disappeared, when we couldnae find ye anywhere, I thought?—”
“Shh.” Sorcha squeezed her hand. “I am here. I am nae going anywhere.”
“Ye daenae ken that.” Flora’s voice was thick with tears. “Ye daenae ken what it was like, standing in the courtyard, watching the Laird ride through the gates with his face like stone and his eyes like ice. I have never seen a man look so terrifying. I have never seen a man look so… broken.”
Sorcha’s chest tightened. “Broken?”
“Aye.” Flora wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “He wasnae angry, nae really. He was afraid. More afraid than I have ever seen anyone. And when he rode out to find ye, when he left with those men, I thought—” She stopped and pressed her hand to her mouth. “I thought he might nae come back. I thought neither of ye might come back.”
“But we did.”
“Aye.” Flora let out a shaky breath. “Ye did. Because of him. Because he found ye. Because he killed that monster with his own hands and carried ye out of that place.”
