Chapter 7

Aweek passed before Elayne could find the right moment to speak about the things Dunn had told her with Isobel in a public place, where not only servants, but even her father and Laird McCoy could hear them. It had been a torturous week, one she had had to spend with Dunn while at the same time trying to deny her attraction to him, to push her feelings as deep down as they would go. Sharing a bed proved to be a more difficult task than she could have ever imagined, and though she did her best to keep her distance from him while they slept, it soon became apparent that they both tended to drift towards each other in the middle of the night. In the past three days, they had woken up with their limbs tangled together, holding onto each other.

They had never spoken about it. She was glad that Dunn didn’t tease her or try to provoke her, at least, and that he was kind enough to let it all slide.

That morning, her father had called Dunn to the training grounds. Naturally, Dunn had had no choice but to accept the invitation, and as much as Elayne feared the training session would go terribly one way or another, she also recognized the opportunity that it was. Laird McCoy had stayed with them for the entirety of the week and didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving, so Elayne could tell Isobel everything in his presence now, as they sat by the training grounds and watched the men spar.

It was a nice day, albeit a little chilly. The sun shone through fluffy clouds, illuminating patches of earth beneath their feet. Elayne and Isobel sat on a bench as the two lairds, Dunn, and Blaine sparred among the other soldiers, all of them pretending that the aggression they were exhibiting towards each other was normal.

Only Blaine seemed to have a firm handle on the situation, stepping in whenever Laird Macgillivray or Laird McCoy became too violent towards Dunn, and even in the rare occasions Dunn seemed to forget himself and didn’t hold back. Without him, Elayne was certain Dunn would end up injured at best.

Though Elayne had already told Isobel everything in private to prepare her for this conversation, she now recounted everything once more, making sure to give all the details Dunn had instructed her to give. As she spoke, her gaze kept drifting to him, to her father, and to Laird McCoy, watching them and their reactions.

She had no doubt they could all hear her. Even if they couldn’t catch everything of what she was saying, they would hear enough to form their own versions of the event in their heads. It would be enough. Anything they missed, they would surely hear from the servants sooner or later.

“An’ then I… took him in me mouth,” said Elayne quietly when Laird McCoy came close enough to hear them. Elayne knew he had heard her when she saw the blood rush to his face, turning his complexion a deep crimson. His lips curled back into a snarl as he turned to look at Dunn, eyes narrowing, fingers tightening around the handle of his blade to the point that his knuckles turned bone-white.

Elayne could only hope those weapons were dull enough to cause no damage. Laird McCoy was murderous as he advanced towards Dunn, who assumed a fighting stance, preparing himself for the inevitable.

Neither Dunn nor anyone else in the training grounds had expected Laird McCoy to march up to him and swing his fist, catching Dunn by surprise. The muffled sound of the impact had Elayne standing on her feet, rushing towards Dunn with Isobel close behind, her eyes wide with horror as she saw Laird McCoy try to deal blow after blow to him. The only thing that stopped him were Dunn’s arms, protecting his head and torso against the vicious attack.

“Enough!” Blaine shouted as he grabbed the laird and shoved him back, stepping between him and Dunn. “Forgive me, Laird McCoy, but this has gone too far. Dunn is our guest just as much as ye are an’ I will have tae ask ye tae show him the same courtesy that ye would show any o’ us.”

Laird McCoy spat crudely on the ground. “He doesnae deserve the courtesy. If yer laird had any sense or any regard fer me, he would have already had his head.”

Before Laird Macgillivray could react to that, Laird McCoy stomped off the training grounds, followed by a few of his men who were there. His absence didn’t allow the tension to dissipate, though. Even if he wasn’t there, Elayne’s father was and he was glaring at her with such cruelty that she couldn’t help but think he was weighing his option to kill her against the benefits of keeping her alive.

Would he dae such a thing? Would he kill his own daughter?

The thing that frightened her the most was that she truly didn’t know the answer to that question. Her father had made it perfectly clear that she only had value for as long as she was useful to him, and the moment he could get rid of her, he would do so. Perhaps now she was more trouble than she was worth and he wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of her in a way different from giving her away for marriage.

“Dunn!” Elayne cried, grabbing his shoulders to take a better look at him. “Did he hurt ye?”

“I’m fine,” Dunn said. Elayne could see the last few traces of rage leave his body as he relaxed against her, letting her brush her hands over his jaw and cheekbone as if she could divine his injuries just from touch alone. “Dinnae fash. I’ve been hurt worse.”

There was already a bruise forming on his cheek and Elayne knew it would soon turn black and achy. A roiling rage at Laird McCoy’s actions gripped her, too, and she turned to her father to demand reparations, but her gaze fell on an empty space. He was gone without saying a word, and perhaps, in retrospect, that was for the best.

“I can only ask fer yer forgiveness,” Blaine said, standing a respectful distance away from the two of them. “I should have kent Laird McCoy would become violent but I hoped he wouldnae show it in front o’ so many people.”

“It isnae ye who should apologize, Blaine,” said Dunn as he poked his bottom lip with his tongue. Blood bloomed over it and he winced, the cut deep enough to hurt. “But it’s fine. I wasnae expectin’ anythin’ better from such a man.”

As Elayne stepped away from him, Dunn seemed to vibrate once more with barely concealed rage. He looked towards the castle, where Laird McCoy and her father had disappeared, and his fists clenched tightly as though he could barely control himself.

“Excuse me,” he said, as he started to walk away. “I will be in our chambers, Elayne.”

For a few moments, Elayne, Blaine, and Isobel watched him walk away. As necessary as the performance had been, Elayne couldn’t help but be alarmed now, her stomach twisting with guilt.

If I had answered the laird’s question at dinner… if I hadnae spoken with Isobel about this here, then this wouldnae have happened.

“Perhaps I should make sure Dunn doesnae meet with the lairds,” Blaine said, pushing past the two women to follow him into the castle. Elayne was quick to stop him, though, placing a hand on his arm.

“I will go,” she said. “I’ll stay with him an’ I shall find ye both later.”

As much as Blaine wanted to help, Elayne doubted he was the right person to be around Dunn now. She didn’t fear Dunn would lash out at him—he wasn’t that brash and he seemed to like Blaine well enough—but she was certain he would rather see her than him.

By the time she made it to their chambers, Dunn was already there, his shirt discarded as he tried to take a look at a wound on his back in the small looking-glass that stood on top of her dresser. He seemed to be having some trouble with it, and once Elayne closed the door softly behind her, she approached him to take a better look.

“Can I help ye?” she asked as she reached for the damp cloth Dunn had in his hand. He gave it to her easily, turning his back to her so she could begin to clean the shallow wound. Elayne worked carefully, wiping the traces of blood from his skin, her movements gentle so as to not hurt him further. “How did this happen?”

“While trainin’,” said Dunn. “I didnae even realize I had it until I saw the blood.”

Elayne said nothing more on the matter. She didn’t want to provoke Dunn, to remind him of Laird McCoy’s viciousness and her father’s dismissal of the event. If she could calm him, even for a while, then she would be happy.

For a while, they fell silent, but with nothing to distract Elayne from the sight of Dunn’s muscles, the smooth planes of his back, all she could do was stare and touch, her fingers brushing over his skin. There were a few raised bumps on his flesh, old scars from injuries he must have sustained in battle, and Elayne followed them with her gaze and her touch, transfixed.

She stopped when she heard him gasp as her fingers trailed over one of those wounds. It wasn’t a sound of pain, that much was certain.

This cannae happen.

She had to distract herself in any way she could. The more she allowed herself to explore Dunn’s body, the more she risked taking this too far, just like they had that night a week prior.

“Tell me about yer family,” Elayne said, just so they had something they could talk about, something to take her mind off his body. “If I am tae be yer wife, I should ken about yer family, dinnae ye think?”

Dunn chuckled softly, nodding. “I suppose ye should. What dae ye wish tae learn?”

“Well… how many siblings dae ye have?” she asked. It was something Elayne had always wanted—a brother or a sister, someone with whom she could be so close. The closest thing she had to it was Isobel, but she had been raised by parents who were loving and caring. They had tried to be there for Elayne after her mother’s death, but there was only so much they could do when her father was so cruel and their laird.

“I dae,” said Dunn, and Elayne could hear the smile on his voice, even though she couldn’t see his face. I have three brothers an’ a sister. Me sister an’ I are twins.”

“Twins!” Elayne gasped, her own lips stretching into a soft smile. “What is that like, havin’ a twin?”

“She can certainly be insufferable at times,” Dunn said, but his tone was teasing rather than mean. “But we are very close. Her name is Catreena. Ye must have heard o’ her husband… the Laird MacBean?”

Elayne had, indeed, heard of her husband, but she had always thought Laird MacBean he was much older. If Catreena was Dunn’s twin, then she couldn’t be more than a couple of years older than Elayne, who was only twenty-one.

“I can hear ye thinkin’,” said Dunn with amusement. “What is it?”

“I was only thinkin’, the Laird MacBean must be younger than I thought.”

“Ach nay,” said Dunn. “He is simply older than Catreena. Me an’ me brothers were certainly nae very happy about it at first but they seem happy, so we cannae complain.”

“I see,” said Elayne. She could imagine Dunn, along with three men resembling him, trying to intimidate Laird MacBean into abandoning his plans to marry Catreena. “An’ yer bothers?”

“Alec, Bran, an’ Evander,” said Dunn. “Alec an’ Bran are recently married an’ Evander has been engaged since the beginnin’ o’ the year.”

“So, ye’re the only one who is still single?” asked Elayne as she finished cleaning the wound. With a smile, Dunn turned around, and for the first time Elayne realized just how close they were standing now that they were face to face.

“I’m wedded tae ye, am I nae?” he teased. Elayne rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn’t help but respond with a smile of her own. “I never thought Alec would wed, but he proved us all wrong.”

“Why did ye think he would never wed?” asked Elayne.

“Well, we always thought he was incapable o’ jestin’,” said Dunn. “He’s a very serious man. Too serious, in fact.”

“Very much unlike ye?”

“Very much so.”

“An’ Bran an’ Evander?” asked Elayne.

“Bran was like a father to us all when we were bairns,” Dunn said, his smile turning warm and fond. “An’ now he is married tae his best friend, so I would say everythin’ went well fer him. Evander, like I told ye, is engaged, but that is all politics, unfortunately. I can only hope he an’ his wife will have a happy marriage.”

“It must be nice tae have such a big family,” Elayne said with a wistful sigh as she perched herself on the edge of the mattress. “I never had that. It was always me an’ me parents, an’ after me mother’s death… well, I hardly ever saw me faither at all.”

She wouldn’t have wanted to see him anyway, not with how merciless he was. Every day she had spent with him after her mother’s death had been torture and she would often try to avoid him for as long as she could, pretending to be ill or busy.

“It must have been lonely,” Dunn said as he came to sit next to her. Once again, as they tended to do now, he kept his distance, sitting at the other end of the bed. Elayne didn’t know if she was thankful for it or if she would rather feel the warmth, the tenderness of his touch, consequences be damned.

“It was,” she said. “It still is.”

Without Isobel, she didn’t know what she would have done. Any time Isobel was too busy to be with her, Elayne had spent her days in her chambers or in the library, shutting herself off from the world, lost in a book for hours. It’s why she loved visiting her aunt so much. With her, not only did she have company, but she could also be away from her father.

Silently, Dunn reached over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. It was more comforting than any words could ever be, and Elayne leaned into it, allowing herself a moment of weakness.

It occurred to her suddenly that with Dunn there, she had yet to feel lonely. She wondered what would happen once their ways parted. She wondered if she would be just as lonely as before, with no one to turn to.