The anger in his eyes faded to some emotion she could not name. He rubbed both his hands down his face. “Thistles,” he said. “Scottish thistles.”

“What?” She shook her head, not understanding.

“At the Beltane Festival. Ye wore a blue dress and held a bouquet of purple thistles. I picked it up when I ran into ye, making ye drop it. I thought…here is a lovely lass who has the heart of a warrior. All the other lasses at the festival picked the weak flowers to tie together, but not ye. Ye bound together thistles, both bonny and a spikey weapon if needed.”

He stood before her, but he did not touch her. “The flower suits ye. Prickly in nature, but with the heart and beauty of a Scottish lass.”

The tiniest of hope sprang up in her chest. “Will you let Jamie be the chief of Sutherland clan?” she asked.

He towered over her, and his inhale seemed to fill him with more unstoppable power. “I have oaths, too, Ella. To my father, to my brothers, and my clan.” He shook his head. “I will not slaughter an innocent boy because he was born to be a Sutherland chief, but I cannot break my oath to conquer the weaker clans, pulling them into our own to make a stronger Scotland.”

Turning away, she spotted a chair and sat in it before her legs gave way. “Are we still wedding tomorrow?” she asked, not sure how she wanted him to answer. Wed him and kill him. Should she even reveal the plan if she meant never to go through with it? Certainly not right then.

“We have made oaths to each other, too, Ella Sutherland. This wedding is the most peaceful way for me to take over Dunrobin and Sutherland territories.”

“What about King James?” She watched his expression harden.

“I will strategize with Gideon about how to handle James.”

Would he bring her into the discussions? Or had mistrust replaced anything that had grown between them?

Cain pivoted and strode out of the hall without another word. Ella stood up, watching him walk away, leaving her alone in the massive room.

Alone in the cold great hall of Girnigoe and painfully alone in her heart.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Ella felt numb, except for the twisty ache in her stomach.

“Quickly now,” Merida said, beckoning her. “Ye already have the smock on and stays.” She nodded her approval at the fresh white smock with lace edging the low neckline, the stays laced to push her breasts upward.

“And the stockings,” Hannah said, lifting the lace hem where Ella stood by Cain’s large bed. She had tossed and turned there the night before, trying to sleep, but Cain had not come up to join her.

“Now for the gown,” Merida said.

“Ye’ll be as pretty as a summer rose, but without the thorns.” Hannah’s eyes went wide. “Ye are not armed, are ye?”