“Alec Sutherland never knew he had a son, did he?” Cain asked.

She shook her head. “Kenneth, Florie, and I raised him as Florie’s son. To keep him safe so he would not be turned into a monster like our father.” She kept his stare, her heart thumping wildly. “She pleaded with me to tell my father that Jamie had died during birth. Kenneth and I buried another newborn who had died in the village.”

“Yet ye kept the boy hidden after your father died. Why?”

Ella wet her dry lips and swallowed. “Kenneth thought we should go to King James first to tell him of Alec Sutherland’s male heir. Once the king swore to support Sutherland leadership when Jamie turned seventeen, we decided that we should teach Jamie to be a good chief while keeping his identity still a secret. For his safety. Introducing him to the clan a little at a time.”

Cain walked across the distance, stopping before her to grab her arms. She let him, her body numb. “And ye fear I will slaughter a child, one of your own blood?”

The ache of unshed tears made her blink. “I very much hope not.” Her face pinched as the tension mixed with the relief that he now knew. If he wasn’t holding her arms, she would sit before she fell.

“You would marry me with this secret between us?”

“I…I have wanted to tell you. So many times this week, the words have been on my tongue.” She breathed fully until her head swam and sparks glittered in her periphery. “I wanted you to meet him first. To see what a thoughtful, intelligent person he is.”

Cain turned away from her, releasing her arms, and she wobbled. “Cain, it is a secret I have lived with for twelve years. A promise to my mother. It was not an oath I could easily throw away. You have always said you care only for conquest, winning at all cost.”

Anger straightened her spine and gave strength to her tingling limbs. “Dammit, Cain,” she said, her voice rising. “I do not know you completely. Before three weeks ago, I have not seen you since that festival years ago. You do not even remember me. I was merely a despised Sutherland. Your face…”

He turned around to study her as one stupid tear leaked out. She slashed a hand across her cheek to rub away the evidence. “Your face…” She shook her head. “You looked on me with disgust because I was a Sutherland. In the darkest of nights, when I helped care for my baby brother, I thought of that look and what it could mean for him if our enemies found him. I couldn’t be certain, Cain. If you remember me at all, it is only because I was someone who disgusted you.”