Forbidden Fate (Sisters of Danu Book 1)

by Mia Pride

  Out of maternal reflex, Gwynn splayed both hands protectively over her barely swollen abdomen and backed away, closer to Duncan’s protection. As Baine was readying himself to stand up again, pushing his loose hair away from his face, he stopped in mid-stride and looked aghast at Gwynn. Paying closer attention, he noticed the slight changes in her body, the changes that only someone intimate with her could have possibly noticed. Her belly was slightly rounder than he remembered it being and her breasts were straining against the fabric of her dress. His words came rushing back to his mind. “You look lovely, glowing even,” he had said.

  His mind started reeling, frantically putting details together as his palms became clammy. “Gwynn is with child? Is it m-my child?” He spoke softly and placed his hand on his heart, his face transforming into one of wonder. His mind started calculating the facts and counting the days since he had last lain with her.

  It had to be his, he concluded to himself. She had only been with Liam for a fortnight. She would not be showing any physical signs yet, if it were Liam’s. Baine broke out into an all body sweat as he contemplated the possibility of being the father of Gwynneth’s child, at last. He had thought, after several attempts to impregnate her that she could not bear a child. He had tried relentlessly for the last three years with no success, or so he had thought.

  Baine cringed to think how she had never reciprocated his love. Knowing she had remained stubbornly loyal to Liam fueled him with a lust-filled jealousy that he often took out on her body, forcing her to love him physically, if she would not emotionally. Getting her with child was the one thing, he had hoped, that would unite them forever as a family, forcing her to always be his and to forget Liam.

  Tears started to choke him as he reached out to her and tried to come closer. “Mo leanbh, Gwynn, you have my child,” Baine choked feebly as he tried to take a step toward her. Liam put a foot out in front of him to stop him from coming closer and Duncan stepped in front of Gwynn with his arms crossed like a warrior ready to fight to the death.

  “How dare you try to stop me from coming near her?” He scoffed at Liam and shoved him aside. “That is my wife and she is carrying my child.” He took a step closer and Liam shoved him back hard, making Baine stumble, however slightly.

  “How dare YOU act like you have a claim to her after you tried to kill her!” Liam shoved Baine harder, forcing him to back away from Gwynneth as she stared in confusion at the two men fighting to stake claim over her and the child.

  “I most certainly did not!” Baine had the nerve to look offended at his accusers, turning his back on Liam. “Gwynneth, this is all I’ve ever wanted, all we both ever wanted, to be a family.” He put his hand out to her and smiled, nodding in encouragement. “Please come back home with me. I have been looking all over for you.”

  Liam saw Gwynn’s face alter from fear to sympathy and confusion as she contemplated Baine’s plea. He startled her with a booming shout, “Nay, Gwynn! Do not listen to him. He is a wicked man. He has always used you. Used you as a trophy, used you to spite me. He married you for gain and to make me suffer in silence. I will not keep my silence any longer…” Liam strode over in three quick steps and grabbed her hands in his, beseeching her with his eyes to come with him.

  Raising her right hand up high in the air, she slapped Liam across the face with all the strength left in her body. “You beast! You lied to me, all this time? You are not my husband?” Her voice was shaking, but increasingly rising in volume as her anger boiled in her veins. “Who are you? Are you even the father of my child?” Silence lingered between them and it felt like an eternity. “Answer me, Liam! Are you my husband or the father of my child?”

  Never feeling more ashamed or distressed in his life, Liam was left speechless. All he could do was stare into her glistening green eyes and watch the tears start to roll down her face. Knowing he did not even deserve the honor of her gaze or touch, he lowered his eyes and released her hand, watching her arm limply fall to her side. He had no defense. Nothing he could think to say would make her understand why he had lied, at least not with her still lacking some knowledge of her past.

  His silence was all the admission she needed and the weight of his deceit bore down upon her, making her dizzy as her ears buzzed in her head. Balling up her fists, she repeatedly punched Liam in the shoulder. “You liar! How could you? How could you tell me all those lies about our past? Was none of it true? Is this man my husband?” She was screaming and hitting him with no mercy. Liam stood up straight with hurt pride showing on his face, but he had a look of warning that stopped her fists in midair, before they came down for their next battering.

  He grabbed her upturned wrists tightly in his hands and got so close to her that their noses were touching. The sun had set and the air had a chilling bite that was sinking into her bones. Liam’s breath escaped him in smoky tendrils, his mouth just an inch from hers.

  With an authority that even she could not deny, he resolutely spoke the one truth he could think to say, “I did not lie about our past. We were in love. We are in love still. I was your betrothed. Your father forced you to marry Baine instead, for position and power. Nay, Gwynn, I am not your husband and I am not the father of your child. I would have been, had life not been so cruel. I was only trying to protect you…” his voice was horse and cracked, but before he could continue to explain, he was interrupted by Baine’s gasp of exasperation as he pieced it all together.

  “Gwynneth cannot remember who she is? Well, that was a hard fall, indeed…” Turning to look at her as he rubbed his hands back and forth over the dark blonde stubble of his chin, his eyes blazed into hers as he considered his options. His face softened slightly as he saw her confusion. This was a gift from the gods, Baine decided. He could convince Gwynneth to come back to him and she would have no memory of his abuse or infidelity.

  They could start over, have a family, and hopefully she would be so angry at Liam, she could finally grow to love him instead. He would not have to force himself upon her or seek pleasure in other women. All he ever wanted was for Gwynneth to willingly love him and to have a child. Both were suddenly within his grasp and he was thankful that he had not succeeded in drowning her, after all.

  Baine was filled with new confidence and determination. “I am your husband, Gwynn, not this man.” Baine pointed accusingly at Liam. “He is nay more than the man that always followed you around like a lost puppy, ever trying to steal you away from me with his lies. He took advantage of you, nothing more. As soon as he saw his chance, he told you he was your husband and tried to steal you and the child from me. I came out here in search of you. I have been so distressed while he has been keeping you away and filling your head with lies!”

  Baine’s expression turned dark as a thought crossed his mind. “He had better not have laid a finger on you!” the look he shot Liam was so full of heat it could have started a fire. “You are mine, your babe is mine, and you will accompany me back to our home.” Baine started forward with an aggressive stride of his powerful booted legs, but he was quickly stopped by Liam’s authoritative grasp. “If you lay one hand upon that woman, Baine, I will kill you.”

  Both men stared at each other, pure loathing dripping from their prostrate bodies. Gwynn looked back and forth between them. She was not sure who either man was anymore, but both staked a claim to her and the child and her heart started to pound wildly. One was her husband in truth, but she feared he had tried to hurt her and was not sure if she could trust his plea.

  The other man, the man she thought was her husband, was kind and gentle, and would never hurt her, she was certain. But, he had lied to her in a most foul way, a lie she could never forgive. Feeling no trust for either man, and with no more than the instincts of a woman to protect herself and her child, Gwynn did the only thing she could think to do. She pulled out of Duncan’s grip with a strong jerk of her shoulder, hiked her dress up above her ankles, and ran into the night, as fast and far away from the two men fighting o
ver the right to keep her as she could.

  Chapter 5

  The night was cold. Howling wind was whipping Gwynneth’s hair around her neck and over her eyes as she ran as fast as she dared into the woods. The sun had set long ago, but the half moon was hanging proudly in the sky supplying Gwynneth with a soft blue light to guide her steps. It was a welcomed help, especially with her memories of the moonless nightmare fresh in her mind.

  She wanted to stop running and find somewhere to rest. Exhaustion was taking over her body and she needed a moment to think. She had no way of knowing just how far she had run, how long she had been running, or if anyone had followed her. Her heart betrayed her as the hope that Liam was coming for her rose in her chest, but her rational consciousness quickly pushed that hope out of her mind.

  Nay, she ran from him because she cannot trust him. He lied to her and she did not know if she ever loved him at all...or if he ever loved her. The thought made her stomach flip over with nausea. She did not know where she belonged in this world any longer. She slowed down as she saw a knocked over oak tree. Resting her hands against the rough bark of the gnarly tree, her body heaved as her heart rate slowed and her lungs fill with fresh, cool air.

  If only she could remember something…anything. Who had she been before her accident? Who was her family? Farmers? Ironsmiths? Mayhap her family was noble? She scoffed at herself as she looked down at her muddy, torn dress. She was no noblewoman. Frustration bubbled under her skin and she wanted to scream her fury into the wind, loud enough for the gods to hear her angst. But more than likely it was not the gods that would hear her cry. It would be the very men she hoped to allude. She settled for silently stomping her foot against the soggy forest floor and fisting her hands at her side.

  The night was getting colder and she needed to find shelter, but at the moment, the cool breeze felt like a relief to her overheated, sticky skin. She scooped her long platinum hair off of her damp neck and briefly used it as a fan to cool her face. She then twisted her hair up and tied it into a knot to keep it out of her face, ignoring that one unruly tendril which never seemed to stay in place.

  Deciding it was safe to rest, she carefully sat down on the fallen tree and pressed her hand to her abdomen. It was too soon to feel the quickening of the babe, but somehow, acknowledging its existence comforted her, and she hoped her words could be a comfort to her child as well.

  “We will be alright, mo leanbh. I do not know how…but, we will be.” She realized she had never spoken to her unborn child before. It suddenly made everything seem so real, and so scary. She had no home, no father for the babe and the man she thought she trusted, was not her husband at all. Baine was her true husband but she knew nothing about him, aside from her nightmare.

  She had no way to determine how much of her nightmare was fact or fiction, but the memory of the cold iron dagger still made her heart rate increase. It seemed real enough and she briefly wondered if Baine was stalking her in the woods at this very moment.

  She needed a plan, but without her memory, she could not recall how many other tuatha surround this area, if any did. So much of Ériu was uninhabited for several days’ journey. This was not a welcome thought. Even if she found her own tribe of people, perhaps even her own family, would she recognize them? Did she even have any family?

  Not knowing was unnerving and she started to shiver as a strong wind blew past her. Rubbing her arms frantically over her upper body to provide a warm friction, she heard a twig crack in the woods and her whole body went still. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end in a primal reaction to danger.

  Without standing up from the log, she rotated her body as much as she could, first looking over her left shoulder, and then her right. She could not see anyone, but this did not mean that someone could not see her. Perhaps it was merely a roaming animal, a deer mayhap, looking for a puddle to drink from. Water would, indeed, be a welcome delight to her dry mouth and she resolved to find some as soon as she could.

  Deciding there was nobody around after several moments of silence, Gwynn stood up from the log, rubbing her backside as she stretched. Fallen trees with rough peeling bark did not make for comfortable seating. She started to bend down to re-examine the large tear near the bottom of her dress when a large strong hand wrapped aggressively around her mouth, stinging her with its intensity and prevented her guttural scream from being heard beyond her own ears.

  “Shhhhh! Lady Gwynneth, be quiet before anyone else hears ye.” The voice was one she only just became acquainted with that day, but she recognized it immediately as Duncan. “I am going to remove my hand now, but I need ye to promise not to scream. I am here to help ye. Do ye understand?” Gwynn nodded her head in acknowledgement, and Duncan slowly released the pressure of his hand from around her mouth.

  She rubbed the sore skin around her lips. Duncan had more strength than he knew.

  “What were ye thinkin’, running into the woods like that? Not only are ye defenseless, and in the dark, but ye got a wee leanbh growing inside ye. Are ye mad!?” Gwynn did not know whether to be angry or ashamed, so she settled for insulted.

  “What was I thinking?” she said in a harsh whispering voice. “The man that saved me has been a lying beast for a fortnight! He convinced me we were in love and that we have been together since I was ten years old! Then, he claimed to be the father of my child!” She paused for a moment, giving Duncan a look of scorn, daring him to nay say her, and then continued with the rest of her grievances.

  “My true husband, and the real father of my child, is also claiming to love me and wants me to go home with him, yet I know nothing about him, except that he was trying to kill me in a dream…I was running because I want nothing to do with either of them…nor do I want anything to do with YOU.” Her hands were on her hips and she realized her words sounded more like a tantrum than she meant them to, but she was standing by them as she stomped her foot, crossed her arms and turned her body away from Duncan’s aghast face.

  “Listen lass…” Duncan said with a warning tone in his voice. But, as always, his well-bred manners took control and he cleared his throat, changing his tone to something bordering on compassion. “Gwynneth, My lady. Liam is nay a beast. He…”

  Turning around abruptly to face him, Gwynneth put a hand up in front of Duncan’s face to stop him from defending his friend’s honor. “Oh, nay? Just as he claimed my child as his own, he began to claim me as his own, as well!” Embarrassment flooded her as her cheeks began to burn red at her emotional admission. “Well…barely…only a little…I-I thought he was my husband, after all!” she added in quick defense of her wanton behavior.

  Her face turned beet red as she instantly regretted her words. But she was infuriated by his betrayal and could not contain her scalding temper. “What do you have to say for your companion now? If he is not a beast, lying to me when I was my most vulnerable, then what would you call him?” her arms were crossed tighter than ever and her slippered foot soundlessly tapped impatiently into the thick pile of colorful fallen leaves on the forest floor.

  “If he had not lied to me about being my husband, I would never have allowed him to touch me, nor would I have assumed him to be the father! Who does this Liam think he is?” she clenched her fists at the sides of her body and stomped her foot once more in a shockingly petulant display of emotion.

  Duncan sat down slowly on the log, rubbing his fingers back and forth along his crinkled, stressed forehead. His auburn hair was still disheveled, and he did not seem to care one bit. “Liam. Ye want to know who Liam is, aye?” Obvious annoyance was seeping out of every word. “He is the sufferer of a broken heart, because the woman he was betrothed to agreed to marry another man. He is the man who stood back and ached day in and day out, for five years, ruing the day he lost the love his life to that loathsome, worthless piece of shite, Baine O’ Conaill.

  “And now, he is the man that took care of ye, protected ye, and was even willing to raise his enemy’s c
hild, just so he could finally be with the woman he loves and keep her safe!” His voice was cold, filled with the defending loyalty of his lifelong friend, and now, his king.

  Gwynneth took a step back and placed a hand over her mouth in disbelief. “So, they were all true, the stories Liam told me of our childhood? He did not fabricate them.” She went silent, as she reviewed the past several days in her mind.

  Did Liam actually ever say he was her husband? Or had she simply assumed it? She bit her lower lip as she came to an essential realization. Liam never lied. Whenever she asked him about their wedding, Liam would always change the subject. Their wedding never happened and he never said otherwise. She was still angry and hurt, and there was a pain deep down in her gut, but that anger was pacified a little more each time new information was collected about her past.

  He may not have lied, but he also wasn’t very honest, and more questions were arising, waiting to spill out of her one by one. “Why was I married to Baine, if Liam and I were already betrothed?” That was the most important question lingering in her mind. She needed to know why someone would force her into a loveless marriage, when true love was already waiting for her.

  He stopped and scratched his head while he decided how to explain. “Ye see, your father, Doran, well, he was not just a powerful man, he was the king of our tuath, Iverni.” He paused as Gwynneth released a startlingly loud breath, then continued, “He wanted ye to be married to the next king, insisted upon it, in fact, though nobody understood why it was so important to him. He wanted that man to be Liam, but he told the king he had nay desire for such power. He was very stubborn about it, but he did not realize at the time what the king had planned for ye. Baine…well, he was also a very strong, intelligent, and competent man of noble birth. He was just two years older than Liam, the same size, and an equal fighter, so he could protect his people well. If only the king knew the true nature of Baine before he made the match….” his voice trailed off, thinking of all the things that had come to pass since the king made that one vital mistake in judgment.