Captivated by a Highlander

Chapter 8 - Awake

I woke up with a splitting headache. A small groan left my lips as I opened my eyes. I rubbed my eyes warily, trying to clear my vision, but my eyes widened as I felt bandages on my forehead. My eyes narrowed in bewilderment as my fingers followed the bands, and I soon learned that they wrapped around the circumference of my head.

I sat up slowly. This was strange. I had no clue where I was. Wasn't I just in a field somewhere in the middle of nowhere? And now that I thought about it, I didn't know at all what was going on! I looked around frantically, felling anxiety creep into my veins, thus causing my hands to shake.

I was in an exceptionally large bed against one wall of a large room, a window to my left and the door to my right. The mattress was surprisingly soft, the four bedposts sprouting up like pillars. I noticed curtains hanging from a pole that connected the four poles, closing me in. I reached out, my fingertips brushing over the surface of them. They were thin, but seemed to be thick enough to keep out the view of those on the outside. I pushed aside the covers, which I noticed were heavy and thick with fabric and wool. Gently, I moved aside the curtain and slid my bare feet onto the cold ground. I noticed then that I wasn't in the same clothes that Alan had given me, but softer ones that weren't so tight around my middle. Also ones that exposed every single bruise on my body from Alan's vicious attacks. Panic and shame spread through my chest as I tried to figure out what was happening to me. Sunlight shone from the window, bringing warmth to my clammy, cold skin.

The doorknob jiggled a bit before twisting and sliding open. I spun around and saw two figures on the other side of the curtain. One was obviously a man: he was tall and muscular with broad chest and shoulders. The other must have been a woman because she was starkly shorter and much more...plump.

"Now Kain, I have told ye' multiple times that ye' cannot see the lass while she recovers!" The woman snapped in a hushed voice. "You may be laird but I am still yer mother's sister and the lass' nurse. Now leave before I call yer father up here."

"Ye' shall not threaten me, woman," the man growled in an angry response. "There is something different about this lass that I must know."

It seemed then that they realized I was awake because even though I didn't have the strength to speak, I managed to knock something over when I was slowly and discretely backing away. The woman's eyes widened as the two of them came into my view.

"Lass, ye're awake? Thank heavens!" The woman cried, clasping her hands together on her chest in relief. She was a petite woman with long honey colored hair that was pulled back and braided, kind hazel eyes, and skin so pale it almost seemed grey. She was a bit on the heavier side, her fingers were long and thin, and obviously easy and nimble for sewing. Her cheeks, in contrast with her skin color, were naturally pink. Everything about this woman screamed "motherly".

The man, Kain, was a complete other story. If the woman hadn't said so, I would have never guessed they were related. He was tall, built like a professional body-builder, and had a strikingly amazing collarbone. His arms were huge and the muscles in his calves seemed like they were carved from stone. He stood with a straight back and his arms crossed over his chest. His hair was the color of dark chocolate, almost black, and to his shoulders, but his eyes were as bright and intense as polished turquoise. His skin was tanned and sun-kissed, looking like the light caramel candies my friends from Florida and I would get from a store in the heart of downtown. There wasn't a single wrinkle or blemish on his face, but on his arms I noticed the slight indents from scars that, since their origination, had faded. Some of them were on his chest, though I only saw the start of them before his clothes hid them from my sight. For a moment I noticed something in his eyes. Why did they seem so sinister, so...cold?