He held the two carved chess pieces in his hand, the queen she had made and the white knight that she had hollowed out earlier in her fury. “And ye were right. I was hollow without knowing I was.” He set the knight in her palm and tucked her queen back in his sash. “And I do not want to be only about conquest and war and taking. Love requires giving. I have never had the need before.”

Ella’s eyes had gone wide with the word, her hand closing around the white knight.

“Is…is this a game?”

“Nay, lass. No game.” Cain inhaled deeply. He must finish his words and leave before his discipline deserted him and he grabbed her up to carry her back to Girnigoe.

“I want ye, Ella, more than land and horses and castles. If this is a game, I forfeit it all.” He stared hard into her eyes, gray with little flecks of blue, and his throat constricted. He kept his hands fisted so he would not reach for her. “I want ye in my life for now and always. I could carry ye away right now.” He watched her lips part, their softness drawing him in. But he held back and shook his head. “But my whole life has been about taking. I will not take ye. The choice, Ella, is yours to make.”

His chest felt tight enough to burst, and he inhaled to prevent himself from flying apart as he stared into the depths of her eyes. “Do ye understand?”

“Cain,” Gideon yelled, his voice full of barely contained fury. No doubt both of them would end up needing stitches by the end of the night. Right now, Cain welcomed the promise of physical pain as his heart struggled to beat in his clenched chest.

With one last look into Ella’s wide eyes, he turned Seraph and touched his heels to the horse’s sides. The horse moved forward in his usual gait, and Cain closed his eyes, every muscle in his body tense.

Thunder rumbled over the sea in the distance as if his father bellowed down from the heavens. His brothers came up to ride alongside him in their birth order as they had always done. Horses all around him pivoted in tight circles to leave the moor, parting the clans as allies instead of conquered and conquerors. His warriors closed in behind him while he rode through their lines, bridles jingling, ready to follow him back to Girnigoe.

He was encircled, and yet he had never felt so alone.

…

Ella watched Cain’s broad back until his warriors surrounded him.

The choice, Ella, is yours to make. Do ye understand?

A small sob escaped her as she repeated his words in her head and in her heart. Yes, she understood. Cain Sinclair was showing her he loved her.