“Will ye tell me the first owner of the horse now?” Jane asked with a shrug.
“‘Twas my wife,” his voice said—a voice as cold as first snow—before galloping away.
She gaped at him, her mind struggling to comprehend what he’d just said.Darach Robertson had a wife?She was shocked.
“‘Tis the truth.”
She turned in her saddle to look at Lorna. She had a sad smile on her face as she spared her brother a quick glance and then turned back to Jane.
“When he was twenty and three, our faither insisted him to marry Maira Fairchild.”
Jane blinked, trying to follow. Lorna looked down and fiddled with her gloves on her left hands before gripping the bridle once more. “The Fairchilds are well known in Scotland. Indeed, I could say our faither had nae choice. Laird Fairchild wanted tae marry his lass tae a laird, and faither owed him a huge sum of debt.”
“He didnae want it?” Jane asked as Lorna started to lead her mount in a slow walk again.
“At first,” Lorna articulated carefully, “Darach didnae want anything tae do with our faither, even the hereditary title. It was fresh after the death of our maither, and he didnae think marrying was the right thing tae honor her memory.”
She drew out a long sigh and then continued. “He dinnae have a choice for long. Morven was returning from his ugly years in captivity. He was crushed, and Fairchild needed men for a war to reclaim his lands in the east. So faither gave Darach two options.”
Jane’s hand tightened on her horse's bridle. “I beg yer pardon, but ye can hardly mean—”
“I sincerely wish it was nae true, my dear Jane, ” the girl whispered softly, pain obviously showing in her words. “Darach marries Maira Fairchild and he takes nae inheritance—as payment tae her faither—or Morven goes tae fight in Fairchild's battle!”
Jane felt the pain of her heart breaking into a thousand pieces.What kind of faither does that tae his children?“He married her?”
Lorna nodded. “He could never make Morven go tae the battlefield just after he was saved from his torture. He hated Maira at first, of course, but after faither was gone, he realized she was a pawn and started tae love her. Their love grew by the day. He got her the horse as a gift.”
“And where, precisely, is Miss Fairchild?” Jane’s voice sounded feeble.
The girl bowed her head, and when she lifted it, she pointed at a small, dingy cemetery in the distance. “Dead. Her body was laid there at the base of the wood beside our maither.”
Jane squinted. She held her gaze, seeing tears well up in her eyes as she shook her head. “Darach blames himself for her death. They had a fight before in the day when she fell. She died later that night.”
Jane went numb with the words. That was the pain behind the man. It was the darkness that surrounded him. That was the demon he fought daily beyond the trivial wars of men.
“He's never been the same, nae for years. He lost himself that night and had only returned half of the man he was—jaded, with a strong belief he'd inherited our faither’s curse.”
A pang went through Jane. “Faither’s curse?”
Lorna sighed. “I'd rather he told ye himself, and one day, I believe he will. I said enough already.”
Jane didn't share any of her beliefs. At the moment, her mind was tearing itself out at the unfairness of life that Darach and his siblings had lived.
“Jane?”
She looked up. The lass had a bright smile on her face as she spoke.
“These past weeks, I am starting tae see my old brother return, the one who felt emotions and showed it. I think this is yer doing.”
“Nay.” Jane shook her head. “It's nae.”
“My brother has some kind of affection for ye, Jane. Maybe ye are his hope.”
“He doesnae,” Jane shook her head again.
He'd only touched her a few times. That was the only affectionate gesture he'd offeredher, and it might not even be considered affectionate; it was simply him being soft and a little comforting.
A little smile of stubborn belief played on Lorna’s lips. “Then do ye have affection for him?”