Love's Blazing Ecstasy by Kathryn Kramer Page B

eyes pleaded with him to believe her and his eyes stared back at her as he thought long and hard about what she had said—weighing her words carefully..
    Brenna’s shrill laughter broke the spell as Adair took his eyes from his daughter’s face to look upon his wife. “Darkness cult? They have long been gone from this land. Now I fear that Wynne ahs been partaking of the yarrow leaf, for what else would bring such fantasies to her mind?”
    “It’s true. I saved a Roman from their bonds!” Wynne cried in desperation, regretting her words as soon as they had passed her lips.
    “A Roman? A barbarian!” Her father was incredulous. “Is it he who has become your loved?” When she nodded, Adair raised his eyes toward the heavens. “Better that you would bed a serpent than one of our hated enemies; enemies who even now seek to strangle us, to tear our dignity from us. I will not rest until every Roman has been pushed into the sea. They will not do to us what they did to the Queen of Iceni.” He clenched his fists and began to beat his breast  in the age-old gesture of mourning.
    Grieved by his lack of understanding, Wynne put her arms around his shoulders, once more trying to explain.  “Father, please listen to me.  I saw the Roman in a dream…then when I rode out on Sloan, I saw that…..”  Angrily Adair shrugged her arms off his shoulders.  “They were going to burn him alive.  I couldn’t let that happen….and he..he is not like the others.”
    “They are all alike.  Animals!” he exclaimed. “And now you have defiled yourself with the filth of such a beast.” At the sight of the tears misting her eyes he felt a pain of remorse, and reached a hand out to her.
    “A Roman!” Brenna shrieked, seeing that Adair was softening. He quickly withdrew his gesture. “May the gods be merciful to us. May they protect us as the full moon descends upon us.” At her reminder that the summer solstice was nearly upon them, a time of purification, Adair’s anger returned in full.
    “Get out of my sight. I cannot bear to look at you,” he said to Wynne.
    She stared at him in horrified disbelief. Never had her father talked to her this way. Looking from her father to her gloating stepmother she could see that Brenna held him in the palm of her hand.  Shaking her head sadly, she walked towards the door, wondering what she could do to regain her father’s love. Gathering her courage, she turned toward him again.
    “I have done no wrong,” she said, “I have saved a human life and given shelter to one who was in need.  And I have loved. I can find no shame in that. Be he Roman or Celt or heathen Pict, I still would love him, do love him.”
    “Go to your cousin’s lodge until I decide what must be done,” Adair ordered, moved by her speech but not wanting to discuss the matter any further. “I will confer with the council to decide how we will proceed.”
    Somewhere deep inside her soul, Wynne had the feeling that although she suffered anguish at this moment, all would be well on the morrow. The gods would not turn their backs on her as her father had just done.  At the door she hesitated and looked back at him. He would not meet her eyes, but she could tell that he was as grief-stricken as she at their angry parting. Still, being a man of pride, he would not call her back.
    Feeling as if her heart had stopped beating, as if she were one of the dead, Wynne walked out into the dark of the night.
    Perhaps it would be better if I were dead , she thought. Then I could return again quickly to this earth and not have to bear this sorrow.
    The fresh air revived her spirits as she made her way to the lodge of her mother’s sister’s son. She took a deep breath, determined to face tomorrow with bravery. Whatever happened, she would show courage, just like a warrior.
     
    Wynne spent three nights in the dwelling of Tyrone, her cousin. It seemed as if her father had forgotten her, for he sent no word to her