“But they’re noble. We’re just peasants,” Katryne pointed out.
“You’re my friends,” Liam smiled. “I will ask my family to help, and they will. They know you’re important to me.”
“Elene is, not us,” Katryne corrected.
“You are. You’re Elene’s brother and sister, which makes you important to me. But I like you both in your own right. You’re brave, loyal, funny, hardworking. Shall I go on? I can. There is a lot that I admire about you both that has naught to do with my friendship with your sister.”
Katryne cocked an eyebrow; the twelve-year-old understood there was more than mere friendship between the pair. But ten-year-old Johan nodded his head enthusiastically. Janet came to stand beside them, a burlap bag overflowing with food. Liam graciously accepted, proffering a kiss on Janet’s cheek and a one-armed embrace. Janet opened her arms, and the children didn’t hesitate. Liam wondered which of his aunts would take them under her wing. He suspected they would take turns.
But as the thought entered his mind, another jostled for its own place. It was his mother who he envisioned helping to care for them. He realized it was Varrich that he saw in the background of his musings, not Dunbeath. He reminded himself that it wasn’t his decision. Elene would choose where they would make their home. However, it suddenly felt urgent that she know she was just as welcome at Varrich as she would be at Dunbeath. He wasn’t sure how to communicate it, but he knew he had several days of hide-and-seek from Gunter to figure it out.
CHAPTER11
Elene wanted to pace. She wanted to peer over the rail and look toward land. She wanted to swim ashore and demand to know what was taking so long. She’d watched Liam walking away, then recognized Androw when he joined Liam. Her heart dropped to her toes when she watched in horror as her mother approached the men. She could only imagine what Inburgh said, the accusations she lobbed. She’d been beside herself when she watched Androw drag her mother to the stocks. Her mother had humiliated her many times over the years, but knowing Liam watched her mother being dragged away—for whatever she said to him—was beyond the pale.
As her horror morphed to anger, she searched the village center and along the coast for any hint of her siblings’ whereabouts, but she saw nothing. She watched Liam change course, assuming he’d likely approached her home in hopes that Katryne and Johan were there. She realized he headed to Androw and Janet’s croft. She wished to tell him he was wasting time, that he needed to search in the fields or at the loch, but she breathed a sigh of relief when Liam looked toward the ships and nodded. Her hands fisted in frustration when Liam entered the croft, and she could no longer see what he did.
“He’ll bring them soon enough,” Dermot said in broken Norn. “He’d sooner die than disappoint you.”
“Thank you. I know he’s trying. I’m scared and impatient.” Elene kept her sentences simple, hoping Dermot could understand. When he nodded and offered her a sympathetic smile, she knew he had. He offered her dried beef and cheese, along with a waterskin. She was still tucked away, but she had a clear line of sight to Androw’s home. She nearly burst into tears when she watched Liam leave Androw and Janet’s home with a sack in one arm and Katryne in the other. Elene’s brow furrowed as she wondered why he carried her sister. Katryne waved to Janet, who stood in the doorway. Elene waited for someone to sound the alarm, for her mother to caterwaul from the stocks. But no one seemed to bat an eyelash as Liam led the children to the curragh or when they stepped in. She watched Androw help Albert shove the rowboat into the surf as Henry took up the oars.
She eased away from her hiding place, her head still covered by the cloak’s broad hood. She glanced out to sea in all directions, but she saw no sign of any boats approaching. She was nervously shifting her weight when the curragh bumped the birlinn’s hull. Dermot tossed a rope ladder over the side. When Johan’s head popped up level to the deck, she dashed forward and pulled him into her embrace. She waited for Katryne, but when her sister didn’t appear, she looked over the side.
“Dear God! Katryne!” Elene’s voice croaked as she took in the sight of her sister’s battered face. She leaned forward to take her from Liam’s outstretched arms, but Cadence eased her aside. The young warrior lifted the girl with ease and carried her to a corner where the bulkhead buffered the wind. Elene opened the cloak and her arms, inviting her siblings to sit with her once she arranged herself in the corner. They both sagged against her, as though they were too exhausted to keep themselves upright. Elene looked at both children, finding their eyes closed. She stroked their hair and kissed both of their heads before shifting her focus to Liam. She read the concern in his eyes, and her heart melted to see he worried for her siblings as much as he did her. He hadn’t exaggerated when he said Johan and Katryne were important to him.
Liam nodded to Elene once he saw her brother and sister settled against her. He fetched his bedroll and Dermot’s, taking the spare plaids and wrapping them around the three Isbisters. He cupped Elene’s cheek in his massive hand. She closed her eyes and leaned against it, releasing a shuddering sigh. When she flickered her eyes open, there were fat tears threatening to fall. Kneeling on one knee, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. He would have done more, but there were far too many people watching.
“We’re setting sail now. Androw told me they expect Gunter’s return. He said we should sail east, then south, while Gunter likely searches Rousay and Mainland again. We can hide near South Ronaldsay until it’s safe to cross to Dunbeath. It’ll take a few days to be sure he hasn’t followed us, but I doubt he will sail in between the islands. He’s more likely to sail home and cry to his brother, insisting that King Haakon intervene.”
“That’ll just make problems for your family. The Earl of Caithness won’t want to deal with three runaways as his first issue as the new overseer of these islands.”
“This is exactly the type of issue he would make his priority. My grandfather will never condone, never turn a blind eye, to mistreated people. My father taught me that those who are strong have a duty to protect those who are not. It’s why we train warriors and why we value being part of a clan. Life is too harsh without help and protection. I fostered under my grandfather. He taught me how to defend those who cannot defend themselves. He wouldn’t easily forgive me if I ignored your plight, regardless of what you mean to me.” Liam snapped his mouth shut. He prayed Elene wouldn’t pounce on his words. Instead, she gazed into his eyes and nodded.
“Thank you, Liam. You’re the only person I’ve felt safe with since my father died. I don’t know what it is, but no one else—not the men in my village or even your men—makes me feel like I can trust them as much as I’ve already come to trust you. I wish I could offer you something in return. I feel like all I’ve done is take.”
“Elene,” Liam whispered, fairly certain both Katryne and Johan were already asleep. “Part of what drives me is honor and duty, but that’s not all of it. I came on this mission wanting to prove to others than I’m man enough to lead. Being with you makes me see the man I really want to be. Someone others can depend upon. Someone people trust. Someone who sees a wrong and refuses to leave until it’s righted. I want to see you happy and safe wherever you wish to go. I’ll do aught that I can to make that happen.”
“I—I don’t know where that should be.” Elene looked down, her cheeks heating as tears once more burned behind her lids. Liam nudged her chin up and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
“I don’t have all the answers right now, but I know I’m not ready to say goodbye.” Liam’s emerald orbs sparkled as he gazed into Elene’s sapphire ones. He hoped she understood what he couldn’t say aloud. When she nodded and lifted her chin to offer him a kiss, he thought he might float away.
“Let’s get to Scotland, then we’ll figure out what comes next. But I would like to make our home at Dunbeath—or Varrich.” Elene waited, her abdomen clenched.
“You’d like both places,” Liam hedged. “Though I will always think Varrich is the better.”
“Liam!” Dermot’s call drew their attention toward the ship’s captain. He gestured Liam over, forcing him to leave Elene where she sat with her sleeping siblings. He watched as she leaned her cheek against Johan’s head and closed her eyes. He hoped she would at least rest, if not fall asleep. “We need to sail further out to make sure we dinna run aground. But it means making us more visible until we round the island.”
“There’s naught for it. We have to take that risk, since ripping our hulls open willna get us home sooner. We stay as close as we dare until we are on the east side of the island. Then we can sail even farther from the coast in case Gunter somehow crosses the island by land. I trust ye and Alfred.”
Dermot nodded as he looked over his shoulder at Alfred, who was at the helm of the other birlinn. “How are they? The lass looks in a bad way.”
“She’s a brave little thing. Her mother was too drunk to notice she wasna berating Elene. Somehow the woman thought she was yelling at a younger version of Elene while accusing her of things she believes the adult Elene did. She beat Katryne, then tried to hit Johan in the head with a rolling pin when he stepped between them. He ducked and pushed Katryne out of the way. Androw took an axe to the door and rescued them. He and Janet took them in until we arrived. Inburgh came at me with a dirk. That’s what wound her up in the stocks. It was the excuse Androw needed to get her out of the way. She never said a dickeybird as she watched the three of us walk to the curragh. I dinna ken if she doesnae care or if she’s biding her time until Gunter returns. I ken some parents mistreat their children, but it is so far from how I grew up that it’s hard to believe until I see something like this.”
“That’s because Laird Mackay and Laird Sinclair would string a mon up by his bollocks, and he’d have a woman in the stocks for a moon of Sundays, if anyone in either clan thought to hurt their child. But our clan and the Sinclairs are unusual.”
“In just aboot every way. The only other ones like us are the Sutherlands,” Liam mused.
“Aye. But the MacLeods of Lewis and the Camerons are like us now that Lady Maude married into the MacLeods, and Lady Blair married into the Camerons. Their husbands are like yer da, grandda, and yer great-uncle Laird Sutherland.”
