Free Boyett-Compo Charlotte - Wind Tales 01 by Windfall

favorite,” Elga answered. “My choice will not be to his liking, so I will have to come
    up with a way to ensure the betrothal will be impossible to break."
    Duncan's brows drew together in a puzzled frown. “Who is the lucky bridegroom?"
    “I'll keep that to myself for now,” Elga replied. She looked toward the Keep. “But it won't be Kaelan
    Hesar."
    * * * *
    Kaelan felt the cool hand slipping into his own and felt a moment of comfort. Although he had not loved
    his father—nor, if truth be told, respected him—he had loved his little brother dearly. Standing beside
    their caskets listening to the priest prattling on and on about the hereafter, he had been lost and alone in
    his grief.
    But when Gillian slipped up beside him and placed her little hand in his, he drew solace from the touch
    and returned the light squeeze she gave him.
    “Unto the soil from which you sprang,” the High Priest was chanting, “we deliver your worldly body.
    May your spirit rise up with the Wind to the Great God, Alel."
    Gillian glanced up at Kaelan's strong profile and her heart swelled with love for the man. It had been
    over a year now since she had first seen him strutting so self-importantly down the hallway to his
    chambers and waylaid him. Over a year since she had discovered in his gaze a kindred spirit. Over a
    year since she began to have strange, breathless dreams about the brown-eyed warrior who slept only
    three doors away.
    “May the Wind be with you!"
    The young girl ignored the High Priest's words, but zeroed in on Kaelan Hesar's echoing response. His
    voice was bleak with misery and his eyes sad, but the words he spoke were soft and lilting despite the
    gruffness of his grief. She drew his hand against her side, instinctively knowing he needed the closeness.
    Elga Cree frowned as she saw her stepdaughter's actions. Perhaps there was something in what Duncan
    had intimated, after all. It had been three months since the two of them had had their rendezvous on the
    hillside above the Keep and she had yet to speak with Gillian. Making up her mind that today would be
    as good a time as any, she swung her gaze from the child to the man standing beside her.
    Can he not know? Elga wondered. When Kaelan draped an arm around his young companion and
    pulled her to him, Elga sucked in a shocked breath. “Aye,” she said beneath her breath. “He knows full
    well what he's about!"
    “Do you see?” Duncan whispered.
    “Hush!” Elga cautioned, looking around, but those gathered were intent on their shows of grief for the
    dead Jarl and his young son.
    “Something must be done!” the new Jarl stressed.
    “And will be,” Elga said.
    The crowd was beginning to disperse. A few had stayed close to the caskets, watching as sleek
    mahogany boxes were being lowered into the hillside. Kaelan, Elga noticed, had turned away, Gillian at
    his side as he walked away from the others.
    “Where does he think he's going?” Duncan gasped.
    “Do not, I beseech you,” Elga snapped at him, “create a scene, Duncan. ’Tis unseemly for a Jarl to
    behave so at his father's funereal!” She put a hand on his arm. “Go! Allow the mourners to comfort you!”
    Turning, she sought out her husband, leaving Duncan to grumble his way back to the Keep.
    Gillian sensed he seemed to need her close to him. “Are you all right, milord?” she asked.
    “Aye,” he answered absently. His gaze was on the far distant Serenian Alps which were capped with a
    fresh layer of snow from the night before.
    “I am sorry about Anson,” she said.
    “He was a good child,” Kaelan replied.
    “And loved you very much,” she told him softly. She looked up when he stopped abruptly. Tears
    formed in her eyes when she saw his own spilling silently down his cheeks.
    Kaelan threw back his head and glared up to the heavens. “WHY?” he shouted. “WHY?"
    Gillian was stunned when he snatched his hand from hers and dropped to his knees. She bit her lip to
    keep from