her as she entered the room. She looked beautiful in her thin, lace-trimmed nightshift, and he found her scent to be a heady perfume. She also looked delicate, soft, and innocent, and he felt doubt assail him. Surely it was wrong to drag such a warm, gentle soul into his world of shadow and blood.
“Ye cannae change your mind now,” Sophie said as she moved to the table and helped herself to a honey-sweetened oatcake.
“Ye dinnae belong here, locked into the darkness,” he said.
“I belong with ye, Alpin, be it in shadow or in sunlight so bright it makes our eyes hurt.” She looked at the food on the table, then back at him. “Ye cannae eat any of this?”
“Nay. There is nay longer a taste to it for me, and the act of eating it only serves to stir up a strong need for the other.”
“Do ye miss it?”
“Och, aye. I yearn to sit at a table weighted with food of all kinds and eat until I cannae move. I yearn to stand in the sunlight and nay fear the warmth of its light. I yearn to have people look at me without fear, without crossing themselves or making the sign to ward off evil. I yearn to see the flowers grow in the bailey.”
Sophie moved to wrap her arms around his waist and rest her cheek against his chest. “Ye shall have those things again.”
He gently gripped her by the chin and turned her face up to his. “Ye sound so sure of that.”
“One of us has to be.”
Alpin smiled faintly. “When I knelt beside the Lady Margaret, that undying hope of yours was one of the things I thought of. I may ne’er share it, but I wanted it. I thought of smiles, your smiles and your sweet laughter. I thought of how ye dinnae fear me, e’en when I am bellowing and ranting. And when the priest asked me to speak my vows, I looked at my trembling and weeping bride, and realized I couldnae say them to her. She was terrified of me and repulsed. If ye hadnae come into my life, I probably would have accepted that, for ’tis what I have become accustomed to. But ye gave me a thirst for more, Sophie. I suddenly kenned that I yearned to be loved,” he added in a near whisper.
“Oh, ye are, Alpin.” She hugged him tightly and rubbed her cheek against his chest. “I love ye.”
He felt the warmth of those words flow through his veins. Holding her close, he rested his chin on the top of her head. He started to smile when, after a few moments of silence, she began to grow tense. His smile widened to a grin when she slipped her hand inside his robe and pinched his waist. It was probably a little unkind to tease her so, but he was sure that she knew exactly how he felt.
“Alpin,” she muttered crossly.
“I love ye too, Sophie mine. Ye are the sun that warms the cold shadows of my prison.” He frowned slightly when he felt a slight dampness seep between her cheek and his chest. “Are ye crying?”
“ ’Tis just happiness, Alpin.”
“Ah, I thought your arse might hurt.” He laughed at her startled look, picked her up in his arms, and carried her to his bed.
“Time for the wedding night? Or, rather, dawn?” she asked with a smile as he set her down on the bed and shed his robe.
After tugging off her shift, he sprawled in her arms. “With ye in my bed, my wee wife, I think I could actually grow to like the dawn.”
“What are ye doing awake?” Eric asked Nella as she joined him at the table in the great hall.
She cut herself a thick piece of bread. “Hungry. I shall get some rest after I eat.” Nella cut a thick slice of cheese, set it on the bread, and stared at the food in her hand. “Do ye think it will work?”
“Ah, fretting about that, are ye?”
“Arenae ye?”
“Some, aye. It seems as if it ought to, but this trouble has plagued us for so long, I find hope a hard thing to grasp.”
Nella sighed. “So do I. I have heard all the tales of the sad lives of the Galt women and, though it makes sense that this is the answer, it just seems too easy.”
“Ye think there ought to be some spell done, herbs and smoke and magic words?”
“Aye. A ceremony of sorts, I suppose. Ah, weel, mayhap the marriage itself was all the ceremony needed.”
“It has its own power, true enough. Weel, ye eat and then rest, lass. Ye will need your strength.”
“Oh? Why?”
“Because if Sophie is right and this ends the curse, there will be a wild celebration. If it doesnae, if she is wrong, she will be needing a lot of comfort.”
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