Page 81 of The Changeling

My cheeks flamed, my heart thudding so hard it constricted my throat.

All I could think was, He is no’ yet married.

Then Robbie turned Apollo’s head and galloped back towards me. My stomach lurched. The stallion was brought to a rearing, snorting halt, and he leapt down.

‘Caiti.’

I did not answer.

He strode towards me, seized my shoulders, and tried to kiss me. I strained away from him, averting my face.

‘You have no right,’ I said through clenched teeth. ‘We are no’

handfasted anymore.’

‘Then let us be handfasted again. Here is a ribbon.’ He wrenched it from the end of my plait, and grabbed my arm. Roughly he began to wind the ribbon about my wrist and I tried to unwind it.

‘Stop it! How dare you? It was you who left me! You said you’d prove your love for me but you never came back. I waited! I waited and waited! I thought you must be wed long ago.’

‘I should be! I wanted to be! But you have ruined me for any other lass. None of them are you.’

He yanked me close and kissed me, so hard and so ruthlessly my mouth felt bruised and swollen when at last I managed to wrest myself free. I pressed the back of my hand against it and stared at him.

‘Why, Caiti? Why did you do it? I loved you – I wanted us to be wed. You did not need to drive me mad with longing for you.’

I stared at him in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

‘The poppets,’ he said impatiently. ‘Margrit showed me the poppets you made of us, bound together with black thread. One sewn with your hair and one sewn with mine. And … and blood … and … my … my seed. You ensorcelled me, and that is why I cannot forget you.’

Blood rushed into my face. At once I understood. The love spell had not worked for Margrit, and this was her revenge.

‘She’s lying!’

‘I do not care.’ He seized me with angry hands and kissed me. I had meant to resist him, but my body betrayed me. We kissed as if we wished to devour each other.

At last we broke apart. My whole body thrummed with desire. I rested my head on his chest, trying to catch my breath. His arms held me upright, his heart thundering under my cheek. ‘Caiti, Caiti. Oh, God, I want you so badly. It’s been hell. Please. I need you.’

The Lady forgive me, I wanted him too.

But he was not mine anymore. I was not his. He had chosen his family and his honour over me; he had believed the lies his sister told of me.

I seized his doublet with both hands and shook him. ‘I didna ensorcell you!’

‘I do not care.’ Robbie kissed me with such passionate intensity my knees buckled. He lifted me in his arms and laid me down, and the long golden tresses of the willow were a bower about us, hiding us from view. I could do nothing but clutch his head to me as he bent his mouth to my breast, sucking my nipple so hard through the light cotton of my chemise I groaned aloud at the exquisite pain. ‘Oh, Caiti,’ he murmured. ‘Oh, God. Ensorcell me again. Ensorcell me forever.’

The words penetrated my daze. ‘You think I ensorcelled you? You think our love is a thing of black magic? How can you?’

Robbie drew away from me. His blue eyes were bleak. ‘Caiti, I saw the poppets. I know what you did. When? When did you do it? All those dreams I had of you …’

I shoved him with all my strength. ‘You believe I’d do that to you? You believe that of me? You dinna ken me at all.’

He said my name again, with a kind of anguish, and reached for me. His arms were like steel bands about me. I struggled against him.

‘I will never, ever forgive you. Let me go.’

‘I cannot,’ he stammered. ‘I cannot let you go. You’ve driven me mad. I think of naught else but you, I want naught else but you. I do not care if it’s witchcraft or not, I just want it, I want you. Please. Let me have you.’

He laid me down again, his knee between my thighs, pressing them apart, wrenching down my bodice so my breast was bared to his mouth, his hands sliding up my dress to cup my buttocks and lift me. I was dizzy with desire, weak-limbed with longing.