Highland Supplanter (Book 2)

Chapter 57

AN - Only one more chapter and then the epilogue left! A little bitter sweet at the moment, but then I will be starting Aonghus' Story! Az x

Chapter 57

Fyfa was bone weary and ready for this to all come to an end. From leaving MacKay Keep and all that had happened since, she just wanted to lay down her head in their cottage and sleep. The rocking motion of Hamish’s stallion was causing a nauseous sensation, and her head was spinning. It had taken much longer on the road back, as they were bringing half of the camp with them. But as much as she understood that mentally, physically she wanted this ordeal over. Hamish was trying to make it as comfortable as possible for her, but there is only so much that he can do under the circumstances. It did not stop the tears that coursed down her face, even as she tried to stop them. It had caused the riders around them to spread out further. Some to the front and some to the rear, her only constant was Hamish’s solid arm around her middle.

She felt foolish over not being able to control the tears as they flowed freely. But after the hundredth time of Hamish telling her to just let it out, she could hold it in no longer. Not that she had a choice, her body needed this release, yet she just did not want to look weak in front of those who had risked their lives in order to save the mess she had become. A tiny hiccup overtook her, and her embarrassment was complete. Hamish only tightened his arm a moment to remind her that he was still there. Still with her, and would not be releasing her from his embrace for a very long time to come. And rather than seeming cloying, his presence had made her feel safe and secure in the knowledge that he was with her and she did not have to worry about anything anymore. No one was trying to kill her or her bairn, and her protector was back with them, making sure nothing could ambush them or take them by surprise.

Her eyes could no longer stay open of their own volition. She could no longer keep her head up. Slowly, so slowly, she allowed the deep healing darkness to overcome her, for she knew she was far from the hell she had been living in, and heading back to the only home she had ever truly known in years. She may not have been physically harmed, apart from the small cut to her neck, but mentally she was exhausted, and she was close enough to home now that she could finally let her guard down enough to sleep the sleep of the utterly exhausted.

The rocking and swaying of the stallion slowing to a walk beneath her, rather than the punishing canter that had irritated her so much, this much gentler rhythm brought her back to consciousness at her own pace, threatening to send her back to sleep as much as it helped to awaken her. Yet the sight of the imposing stone walls before her had her straightening in but a moment. Blinking her eyes rapidly in order to clear them of the fogginess sleep had left, and smiled widely when the walls never faded or dimmed, but instead became clearer and closer the more she watched. Her breath catching as she recognised the feeling in her chest as hope. She hoped for a future that could only belong here. And for once in her life, she believed she could truly possess that future.

Entering through the Keep entrance, she had never been more pleased to see a clean, well ordered bailey. Never would she have thought such a thing, until she had been through Grant’s bailey and almost wretched at the smell alone let alone the sight of unspeakable piles that had littered the place. Here everything had its place, including Isla who awaited them with the stable boys. The latter rushing forward to take a hold of the reigns. Isla waited with a face of thunder, but as it was her usual expression there was nothing unusual about such, apart from the fact neither Cam nor Aislinn stood with her.