Cormac held up a fist, halting the men. Seconds later, he called “It’s Illadan!” and took off at a gallop toward the oncoming travelers.
Finn rode after him with Dallan by his side, hoping to hear word of his sister and better formulate his plan. When Illadan came within sight, however, Finn nearly fell off his horse.
Then he got angry.
Illadan satwith his arms around Ethlinn, who looked pretty damned comfortable riding in front of him on his horse. Too comfortable. Finn watched in growing horror as his baby sister looked up at Illadan with an emotion he flat-out refused to name.
Good gods, what had happened?
He swore an oath, riding right up to Illadan and Ethlinn’s horse, barely registering that his parents followed them on a horse-drawn cart.
“What in the name of all the gods do you think you’re doing?” he roared.
Beside him, Dallan choked on a laugh. “Now you know how it feels,” he muttered, clearly not understanding how serious this was.
“Odin’s balls, man,” his father grumbled from the cart, “let your sister have her happiness. Gods know she deserves it.”
Several of the men broke out in laughter at his father’s colorful oath. Finn had forgotten how his father enjoyed those.
Cormac rode up next to Finn and Dallan, beaming at Illadan. “Are congratulations in order, then?”
Did no one see the problem here? Finn felt like everyone was going mad. Hisbaby sisterwas…was…
Gods, he couldn’t even think of it.
“Aye,” Illadan replied, smiling more than Finn had ever seen him do, “Ethlinn is my wife.”
Finn watched his sister turn and hug Illadan, resting her head on his chest just as Eva had done with him that morn.
And then it struck him. Ethlinn had been broken by her interactions with Ernin, far more so than Eva had been by her time as a hostage. But as he looked at her now, beaming in joy and filled with hope, Finn realized that his father was right. Ethlinn did deserve this. Had he not been riding to see to her happiness himself?
So he would do his utmost to let her have it.
Long after everyone else had offered their well wishes and felicitations, Finn sighed. “Congratulations,” he ground out, knowing it sounded forced. “I believe it will take some getting used to, but I wish you both the best.”
Dallan let out a roar of laughter then, not even trying to hold it in. “Illadan, it will please you to know that Finn has just become betrothed tomysister. So he has, in fact, no place at all to comment on the matter.”
“Is that so?” Illadan commented thoughtfully.
“Thanks, best friend,” Finn grumbled tartly.
“Have no fear Ulfsson,” Illadan declared, nudging his horse to continue the journey. “I still request your approval, just as I did your father’s.”
Finn directed his horse to ride alongside them, back in the direction of Caiseal. He had ten thousand questions, but only one really mattered. He captured Ethlinn’s gaze. “Does he make you happy?”
“Aye,” Ethlinn proclaimed, “very much so.” Her bruises had faded, though she looked much changed from the Ethlinn he remembered some nine months’ past. Stronger, more confident, content.
Finn nodded. That was enough. “Then may Frigg bless your union.”
“What of the trouble with the petty lordling?” Diarmid asked, looking reluctant to turn back to Caiseal before resolving the matter.
Finn intended to question Illadan and Ethlinn over it, but as his parents traveled with them, he assumed the family had decided to leave Ath Dara and their troubles behind.
“Did he pay the fine?” Cormac asked, apparently also curious. “If not, we can continue and exact it from him.”
The muscles in Illadan’s jaw twitched, his arm tightening around Ethlinn. “He paid for his crimes with his life.”
“And that,” Cormac declared, slapping Illadan on the back approvingly, “is why you’re the leader of the Fianna. Welcome home.”
