HopingForTheBest44
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- Parts 9
Sorcha MacAlasdair, daughter of a proud Highland laird, is like the wild heather that carpets the hills of her homeland-resilient, and impossible to uproot. Betrothed since childhood, her marriage was arranged to secure an alliance and strengthen two powerful clans. She asked for nothing from the union, though once she allowed herself to hope that love might follow.
Calum MacRae resented the duty forced upon him. To him, Sorcha was obligation made flesh, a political bargain that stole the future he believed he deserved. His heart remained with Elspeth, the childhood friend who promised him choice instead of sacrifice. Against his father's warning, Calum turned his back on the woman he had taken as wife, meeting her loyalty with scorn.
But war does not wait for wounded pride.
When Calum rides to battle, he returns to a keep scarred by conflict and to a clan no longer looking to him for strength. The loyalties he once took for granted have shifted, and the bride he dismissed now stands at the heart of Strathloch.
Now the man who once sought to break her must prove himself worthy-or risk losing his clan, his legacy, and the only woman strong enough to stand beside him.
Content Warnings:
Public hangings, period-appropriate violence, emotional infidelity, referenced stillbirth, betrayal/treachery within the clan, emotional cruelty, and themes of loyalty, duty, and power imbalance.