Epilogue

One Month Later

“Please, raise yer goblets tae me sister on her new husband. Bran and Ilyssa.” Tad raised his goblet in the air.

The whole great hall erupted in cheers and toasts as goblets were clattered together.

Ilyssa laughed at the sheer delight in the room as she turned to face Bran beside her. The ceremony had been a beautiful thing, but Ilyssa was happier here now that they were celebrating as the pipers struck up with fresh music and people toasted their names.

Bran bent down toward her and whispered in her ear.

“Nae long now until we can celebrate alone.”

She smiled up at him, impatient for that moment.

Since they had returned home from the Grant clan, after Cillian’s arrest by the king’s forces, she and Bran had not been allowed a minute alone together. She had a feeling Tad was taking his responsibilities as a protective elder brother a little too seriously. Now, she was impatient to explore Bran’s body as she had done in the Grant clan. He winked at her, and she giggled, wriggling in her seat for the want.

“Well, our marriage seems tae have made everyone happy, doesnae it?” Bran asked, nodding away from the table and down at the dancers.

Laird Alec and his wife were dancing sweetly together, and he was being especially gentle as Kira was carrying a child, not that she had yet begun to show. However, Alec seemed to want to wrap her up in cotton wool.

Bran’s other brothers were all dancing. Dunn was back from his recent scouting mission, looking quite delighted to be home. He laughed eagerly, his ice-blue eyes flashing with delight, the same eyes that often scared people away due to the sharp and jagged white scar that crossed them. Evander had returned too and was dancing with his betrothed, a young woman called Enna. They, however, did not look as happy as the rest.

I am nae sure Evander is marrying fer love.

Her thoughts were dragged elsewhere as she watched Catreena and Tad near the floor.

“Ye want tae dance with me?” Catreena laughed. “Am I a way tae bide time until the next woman comes along?”

“Perhaps.” At his teasing words, she elbowed him in the stomach. Before she could object anymore, he took hold of her hand. “One dance, Cat. Ye can kill me afterwards.”

The pair went to dance together as Bran and Ilyssa laughed.

“Well, we could sneak away fer a very quick moment,” Bran whispered to her. “There is something I wanted tae say tae ye, but nae here.”

Ilyssa took a quick sip of mead and looked around the room. Seeing everyone was caught up in the celebrations, she nodded, eager to escape with him.

They slipped out of the great hall and out of the castle too. They crept across the grounds in the dead of night, moving to the open lawn where, when they were children, they had so often played hide and seek together.

“Where are we going?” Ilyssa asked, straining through the moonlight to see where they were.

“Ye’ll recognize it when we are there.” He led her down to the trees near the loch and took her to the tree where they had hidden together years ago, where he had saved her from being found. “Remember it?” he whispered, pulling her into the hollowed-out center of the tree. They climbed together, up and up until they were balanced in the branches.

“I’ll never forget it,” she whispered as he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her into him, the two of them balancing as they gripped the twigs around them.

She placed her lips to his in an eager kiss. It started sensual, an exploration of one another’s lips, then turned full of need and passion. When their lips broke apart, they were both panting, quite breathless. They smiled at one another.

“Ye have just made me happier than I could have ever thought of being, Ilyssa,” he whispered, his lips so close he practically said the words against her skin. “If I had kenned what would happen when we climbed up and hid in this tree all those years ago… well, I am nae sure I would have believed being so happy was possible.”

“Me too.” She trailed her hands up around his neck. “It is a good place tae hide, isnae it?”

“Oh, aye, it is.” He bent down toward her again. “What do ye say we hide here fer a little longer? Nay one would find us out here in the darkness, nae when everyone is inside celebrating. We can celebrate alone fer a few minutes.” One of his hands reached down and squeezed her rear through the gown.

She rocked her hips against his and they both moaned at the sound.

“Maybe we could,” she said breathily.” Her agreement caused sudden movement. They dropped down the tree from the branches and instead stood in the alcove of the hollowed-out section. Her back was planted to the inside of the tree as Bran bent down before her. She giggled in mischievous excitement as he lifted her skirt and hid beneath it. “Some game of hide and seek this is,” she whispered.

“Oh, the best kind.” He playfully nipped the inside of her thigh, his fingers curling in what were increasingly damp curls. She gripped the bark of the tree behind her, bracing herself, just as his tongue found her very center.

As he rocked her into new worlds of pleasure, her cries muffled by the darkness and their isolation in the grounds, she thanked the lord above for this tree being here all those years ago. Since the day that Bran had saved her from discovery, he had saved her many other times.

He always kept his promise. He has always kept me safe.