Draco A Medieval Scottish Roma - Jayne Castel Page 0,74

I must be in love,” Gavina said finally.

Silence followed these words.

Heather and Aila shared a long look, whereas both Cassian and Maximus wore bemused expressions, as if Gavina had just delivered her news in another tongue and they were struggling to comprehend her.

“It’s that simple?” Maximus finally asked, his tone incredulous.

Draco barked a humorless laugh. “Simple?”

Maximus’s brow furrowed. “Well, isn’t it?”

“No,” Draco replied. He pushed past Cassian and made for the stairs, making it clear he wasn’t going to discuss the issue. “It’s not simple at all.”

And it wasn’t.

Gavina watched him go, her belly twisting.

Feeling gazes upon her, she shifted her attention back to the four people who’d relied on receiving good news from them.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “But some things aren’t as easy as they seem. Ye can compel two people to wed, but ye can’t force them to fall in love.”

Aila’s eyes glittered with tears, while beside her, Cassian’s face turned stony. “Couldn’t ye love him?” Aila asked, the tremble in her voice betraying her disappointment. They’d waited all night for news, and this was it.

Gavina swallowed. Damn this constant lump in her throat. “Aye,” she whispered, the admission tearing from her. “But there are two of us in this union, Aila.”

“How do ye really feel about Draco?”

Heather’s voice made Gavina turn from the window of her solar.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Below them, the ‘Battle Hammer’ was pounding at the door, demanding entrance.

From her window, although she couldn’t see what was happening on the walls, Gavina had a direct view down into the lower ward bailey. She could see the formidable barricade the men defending this fortress had erected there: wagons filled with barrels, bales of straw and hay, and heavy wooden tables from the halls. They’d emptied the keep and surrounding outbuildings of anything that would keep the battering hammer from smashing through the gates.

However, it would only delay the inevitable.

The end was coming—they all knew it.

Gavina drew in a deep breath, but didn’t answer Heather immediately. After her final words to the others before the dungeons, she’d known either Heather or Aila would come looking for her to continue the conversation.

Running her gaze over her friend, Gavina noted that she was dressed for a fight, in a plain woolen kirtle, a dirk buckled around her waist. Her thick brown hair, usually worn loose, was tied back into a long braid.

She looked like a woman who was readying herself for the worst.

Gavina had dressed in her oldest, plainest kirtle, for she’d spent the morning helping Elizabeth in the infirmary. The number of injured men was steadily increasing; soon they’d run out of beds for them all. Meanwhile, the chapel was now full of corpses.

Seemingly unbothered by Gavina’s lack of response, Heather walked over to the window, and together, the pair of them looked down at the gates. It was dangerous to stand here while flaming projectiles sailed over the walls. Smoke wreathed inside, but the pair paid it no mind. Instead, they watched servants scurry around in the lower ward bailey below, putting out fires and gathering up chunks of lead and rock that could be used in the defense’s catapults.

Gavina wasn’t going to cower behind closed shutters. When the gates were breached, she wanted to see it.

“I love him,” Gavina whispered finally, her gaze still focused on the flurry of activity below. A thrill went through her at making the admission aloud, even if her pulse now raced.

“I thought as much,” Heather murmured back. “The moment I set eyes on ye again today, I knew something had changed.”

Gavina sighed, before she glanced at her friend, taking in her proud profile “Aye … but not for Draco. He doesn’t feel the same way.”

Heather’s gaze swung around to meet hers. “Do ye know that for sure?”

“Aye,” Gavina replied, her voice husky now.

Heather’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe ye should tell him how ye feel.”

Gavina shook her head. “What good would that do? Ye think I can ‘guilt’ Draco into loving me?”

“No … but maybe if ye spoke plainly, it might break down his shields.”

“He’d only think I was trying to manipulate him.”

Heather held her gaze squarely, her jaw tightening. “Only if he senses ye are holding back. Sometimes love requires courage … go find Draco and tell him exactly what lies in yer heart.”

Gavina’s breath gusted out of her, panic punching her in the belly. She really was a coward when it came to feelings. Truthfully, after what she’d weathered in her first marriage, she was terrified of being rejected. “What …