“You saw a woman coming down a hill near a village where many women and girls live. That hardly surprises me.”
“A woman walking with three Highlanders. Did your people take to wearing blankets?”
“That was my cousin, Cristen,” Michail spoke up. “She was gathering medicinals when we arrived. Albert and Cadence stayed behind with me, and we waited until she finished before we walked back with her.” Michail knew his cousin would defend any story Michail told. She knew he would only lie to save someone. They’d grown up together at Dunbeath before she moved to Dingieshowe with her Orcadian husband. They’d been as close as siblings since his parents raised her after illness killed her parents.
“Cousin?” Gunter sneered.
“Shall I fetch her?” Michail offered.
“Send someone,” Gunter ordered Ninian. The chieftain merely cocked an eyebrow. “You play a dangerous game, old man.”
Ninian once more straightened his back. “It is not I who shall lose. This village hasn’t needed to trade with your people in generations. We don’t need to now. We’ve continued out of tradition. We are Orcadians who bow to the Scottish King David. Your brother has no control, which means we do not have to welcome you. The Earl of Caithness is King David’s godfather. The king will take particular exception to trouble toward his godfather’s grandson. The king and Liam were raised like cousins. If you didn’t know that, you’d do well to remember it now.”
Gunter’s gaze shifted to Liam, who continued to sip his mead as though there weren’t a confrontation brewing merely a yard in front of him. Liam shrugged one shoulder. “My mother and uncles and their Sutherland cousins were all the old king’s and queen’s godchildren. We’ve kept it in the family, I suppose.” Liam took another draw from his mug before swirling the contents, blithely sharing that the five Sinclair siblings and their three Sutherland cousins were all King Robert the Bruce’s and Queen Elizabeth de Burgh’s godchildren.
“That’s why the king gave your doddering grandfather the earldom,” Gunter mocked.
Liam turned his head ever so slightly before lifting his gaze to Gunter, puffing a disdainful breath. “I told you before, the last time my grandfather was here a few months ago, someone confused him for my Uncle Tavish. He received the earldom because he’s the Sinclair. A Norse surname isn’t the most common one in Orkney. Sinclair is. This has always been our land.” Liam gave another one shoulder shrug. “You just borrowed it.”
Gunter lunged forward, but Liam was quicker. He was on his feet with his sword drawn, the tip beneath Gunter’s chin before the Norseman reached back for his own weapon. Gunter leaned away, taking a step back as Liam approached. He didn’t stop his pursuit until Gunter crossed the threshold. Liam slammed the door in his face and dropped the bar across it. Everyone else watched in stunned silence.
“That went well,” Sonneta stated, as though there hadn’t been a standoff in her home. She bustled around gathering blankets from a chest. She glanced down at the cowhide, then toward the door and shook her head. She handed a blanket to each Highlander. She moved to where she prepared the food and looked out the tiny window. Everyone waited until she nodded, watching Gunter cross the village in a huff.
Liam threw back the rug and yanked the trapdoor open. He reached a hand into the darkness, grabbing hold of Elene’s wrist when he felt her hand. He extended his other arm and grasped her free one before he pulled her from the cellar. With her feet barely on the floor, he pulled her into his embrace, plucking a spiderweb from her hair. Elene wrapped her arms around Liam’s waist and rested her head against his chest, deep shuddering breaths rattling her frame. When she felt composed once more, she nodded and drew away.
“Thank you,” Elene said to everyone. Turning to Liam, she lowered her voice, despite knowing people could still hear her. “I will leave for Isbister the moment the gates open in the morning.”
“You can’t,” Ninian responded before Liam could. “He didn’t believe a word of our stories. He’ll only redouble his search efforts. No one can see you until after Liam and his men leave. My son and I will get you to Isbister.”
Elene stared at Ninian before turning back to Liam. “You told him where my people are from?”
“Elene, I’ve known Ninian since I was born. Sonneta is more like a grandmother to me than a family friend.” He’d lost both his grandmothers long before his birth. Sonneta and his mother’s aunt, Lady Amelia Sutherland, were the two women most like the maternal figure he lacked. “I trust no one on Mainland more than I do them. Besides, Gunter just said your name. Ninian and Sonneta would have recognized it and known your family is from that village.”
“That’s different from telling them,” Elene muttered.
Liam tilted Elene’s chin up and gazed into the shards of sapphire, realizing his conversation with Ninian angered her. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “I’m sorry I betrayed your trust. I didn’t do it on purpose. But I’m not sorry that I trust Ninian and Sonneta. I will do what I must to keep Gunter from finding you. We need help, or my men and I will wind up dead, and you’ll be on a longboat to Norway.”
Elene glanced at Ninian, who’d returned to his chair and chatted with Dermot. The Sinclairs moved near the hearth and rolled out the blankets. Elene watched Sonneta tidy her kitchen and the table in the center of the home. She nodded once she returned her gaze to Liam’s.
“Do they know we’re not married?” Elene murmured as she stretched to whisper into Liam’s ear.
“Ninian hasn’t asked, but he knows Gunter claims I stole you. He must have deduced that we aren’t. But he won’t question it now that he knows Gunter’s intent.”
“But if Gunter tells anyone else in the village that you stole me, then they will know we’re lying about being married.”
Liam clamped his mouth shut before he offered to handfast with Elene and solve the problem of their lacking marriage. If they pledged themselves in a trial marriage, either of them could repudiate it before it would expire after a year and a day. But that wasn’t how Liam wanted to begin his married life, and he didn’t intend to marry more than once. He wasn’t ready to commit to Elene, and he wasn’t certain she would accept except out of desperation. Once more, he didn’t want to act in haste and repent at leisure.
Ninian and Sonneta approached, the older woman speaking first. “Elene, I don’t know all the details, and it’s best that I don’t ask. But Ninian and our son, Steven, will take you to your family. Whenever Liam and his men leave, Gunter will follow. There is no doubt he will try to attack. If you are there, he will force you. One way or another.” She gave Elene a speaking look. “Liam and his men can’t defend themselves properly if they’re also defending you. Traveling with them overland is likely to get them killed. Ninian and Steven can take you by curragh to Isbister faster than Liam and his men can ride. You may be there before they arrive.”
Elene shook her head. “We can’t go there. Gunter knows my family’s name. Now that he’s certain I’m on Mainland, he will go there. I can’t endanger them. I’ve already done that to you.” She turned to Liam. “Take me back to Rousay. It was bad enough when I endangered you and your men without asking. Now I’ve involved more people. I can take my father’s fishing boat and sail to Sanday. From there, I will find a way to Shetland.”
“And go closer to Norway? No.” Liam crossed his arms and stood with his feet hip width apart.
“Give in, lass.” Ninian shook his head. “When the Sinclair and Mackay men stand like that, naught is happening if they don’t let it.”
“Arrogant,” Elene muttered.
“Determined,” Liam countered.
