you loved me, then jumped out of my bed to go to my sister’s. And you want me to be reasonable? I have been reasonable. I haven’t fucking killed you.”
“Moira,” Lizzie gasped. “Your language.”
“Sod off, Lizzie. Maybe Aidan keeps playing your games, but I won’t. I haven’t used a word yet I haven’t thought countless times. You’ve mocked me, scorned me, abused me. I have hated you for most of my life, and it feels wonderful to tell you finally. That you didn’t die alongside Dónal will always be Aidan’s greatest error.”
“You spiteful bitch,” Lizzie hurled at Moira, but Moira just shrugged.
“Yes,” Moira responded before turning back to Aidan. “You’ve told me you killed my brother. You have my sister, and she isn’t trying to escape. You’ve done what you had to. Sail away.”
“I’m not sure I care for this side of you, Moira,” Aidan grumbled.
“Good thing you don’t matter, O’Flaherty,” Kyle cut in. “I, on the hand, do matter. And I enjoy my wife’s spunk. Apparently, I enjoy quite a lot more of her, since I know what I’m doing.”
Aidan scowled at Kyle but forced his attention back to Moira. “Your clan wishes you to return. I’m taking Sean with me once I return, and they need a chieftain.”
“The bluidy hell you’re taking Sean anywhere. I’ll have him before I let you breathe long enough to touch him again. He could have just as easily been my child as Lizzie’s, and I’m the one who’s raised him. Touch him, and I will make sure your death is more painful and drawn out than anything the Red Drifter, the Scarlet Blade, the Dark Heart, and the Blond Devil could ever conceive of together. Sean is mine to raise.” Moira snapped her mouth shut. She’d issued a demand that affected Kyle as much as her, and she hadn’t paused for a breath to consider whether he would agree.
“Sean comes with us,” Kyle confirmed when Aidan opened his mouth to disagree. “Neither you nor Lizzie care for the lad. Moira’s the only real mother he’s known. If he’s Dónal’s heir, then Moira will raise him until he can take his rightful place as chieftain.”
Moira’s heart thudded in her chest as she listened to Kyle affirm her declaration. But even though she’d heard Kyle say “us,” he’d said Moira would raise the boy. She glanced up at Keith. His firm mouth and set jaw made his expression difficult to read, but she saw the encouragement in his eyes. He would defend her decision, and he would help her gain custody of Sean.
“I told you, the MacDonnells want you to return.” Aidan didn’t put up a fight for Sean, and Lizzie said nothing. Moira would never understand how a mother could be so ambivalent to her own child, only interested in using him to manipulate men. “They don’t want a child for a chieftain, and since you’re Dónal’s sister and married, your children would be legitimate.”
“Are you saying they wish for me to be chieftain?” Moira asked in disbelief. When Aidan and Lizzie nodded, Moira snorted. “That’s rich. They wish for me to come back now, so they can continue to use me. The council thinks to control me and use me as a puppet. No.”
“But Moira,” Lizzie whined.
“You have no say,” Moira snapped at her sister. “You’re older than me. They could have chosen you, but they don’t want you. From Aidan’s expression every time you open your mouth or touch him, he doesn’t want you either.”
“What?” Lizzie gasped and spun toward Aidan, catching his expression of disgust pointed toward her, not Moira.
“If I go back, then it’s as the chieftain with all the power that any man would have,” Moira asserted. “If I go back, my husband comes with me. Otherwise, I sail away with him and Sean, never to look back.”
“And what? Will the Red Drifter be Lady of Clan MacDonnell?” Aidan snickered.
Looking bored, Kyle shrugged. “I’m a decent cook, and I’ve been sewing sails and my clothes for nearly twenty years. I can manage a ship. I don’t see why I can’t learn to manage a keep.”
Kyle gave Moira’s hand three quick squeezes, and she returned them with a long one. She knew he jested about his tasks, but Kyle was serious in his support of her. She leaned past Kyle and looked at Keith, who’d remained silent throughout the exchange. If she went to Dunluce, it meant Kyle would join her. That left Keith to sail alone. He grinned