“Lady Greer, cease this nonsense. Ye will gather yer belongings and return to Gunn Castle. Yer betrothed will be there tomorrow. The wedding is after the midday meal.”
She wished she’d said she and Thor were handfasted. She’d been unsure about their future until the moment the words tumbled out of her mouth. She’d not been so certain of anything since the day she and Thor pledged themselves to each other next to the loch that separated Sinclair and Gunn lands. The same place where she’d met Rose so many times. The same place she’d met Thor when he was out hunting with Jamie, the only person who’d known about her and Thor.
Thor continued to look forward, but he spoke to Greer once more. “Do ye truly wish to marry? Nae just handfast?”
“Aye.” She didn’t have to think of the answer. She knew without hesitation. She didn’t know what would happen after they married. She didn’t know what kind of marriage they could have. But she knew she wanted to find out. She wanted to try. It was all she’d wanted for eight years. When Thor spoke next, he made sure everyone in the Great Hall could hear him.
“Lady Greer, do ye wish to marry me?”
Greer answered just as loudly. “Aye.”
“Are ye sure ye wish to marry me?”
“Aye, I wish to marry ye, Thormud.”
“Do ye wish to marry me now?”
“Aye. I wish to marry ye now before all these witnesses present.”
Edgar’s surviving older but illegitimate brother, Samuel, pushed forward. “Greer, cease this moment before I beat ye maself. There’s a priest standing across the chamber from ye. This nonsense willna stand. Ye canna marry by consent with a priest available to conduct the ceremony. Now bring yer whoring self away from that mon before I kill him and lash ye.”
“Rose, take ma wife.Now.”
“Shite,” Rose muttered before she tugged Greer’s arm. It did nothing to get her to let go of Thor. She twisted and wrapped her arms around Greer, using her greater weight to push her friend until she couldn’t hold on to Thor any longer.
“THOR!”
Greer’s panic-stricken cry tempted Thor to look at the floor to see if someone had ripped his heart out the way it felt. But he didn’t allow himself to look back at Greer as she continued to cry out to him as her voice grew farther away. He trusted Rose to get her abovestairs and safe. He didn’t trust his sister not to come back down and kill the man who slighted Greer.
“Leave before ma sister returns. There’s naught I can do that can compare to what she’ll do. I willna stop her either.”
“Ye still need someone to hold yer bollocks, do ye? I hear Greer did a fine job of that every time she spread her legs for ye.”
“She was ma wife. Say another word, Samuel, and I will figure out how to be more heinous than ma sister will be.” Thor stalked forward, a dirk in each hand now that Greer wasn’t attached to him. “I ken ye learned we married.”
“Bah. Ye handfasted, so ye could swive. Yer da and grandda would never accept a Gunn into yer clan. She was yer whore. She was even going to bear yer bastard.”
“Ye are going to die.” Thor had no patience to follow through with his threat to allow Rose to kill the man or to carry out his own torture. He hurled the dirk in his right hand and imbedded it in the man’s left eye. His other dirk flew from his left hand and landed in the man’s jugular, killing Samuel instantly.
The Gunn entourage surged forward, causing the Keith and Sinclair guards present to draw their weapons. None carried their swords inside to prevent a slaughter, but that didn’t prevent the melee that began. Women screamed as they ran for shelter. They swept up children as they fled. Thor drew two more dirks from his belt as he rushed forward.
“CEASE!” Blaine roared. His thunderous voice filled the Great Hall, even over the sound of metal clashing, bodies hurtling into one another, and furniture skidding. Blaine’s sword tip pressed against Matthew’s sternum.
Thor glowered at Blaine. But the tánaiste wouldn’t allow a bloodbath in his home, certainly not when his wife was within the keep.
“Matthew, ye lied aboot the reason for yer arrival. Ye insult ma guest, and ye besmirch a mon’s wife. Ye are lucky that I stopped these men from slaughtering ye all. I certainly wouldnae miss the lot of ye. But I have a duty to ma people to nay endanger them nor make them clean yer blood off the floors ma wife keeps immaculate. Ye remain within the keep. The rest of the Gunns leave through the front gate or accept accommodations in ma dungeon. Decide.”
“Kill another one of us, and all the MacDonnells near and far will descend on ye,” Matthew responded. “They wait outside yer walls. Ye canna winge to the Sinclairs and their fucking kin in time to save yerselves. Ye will return Lady Greer to us, or we will slaughter yer clan.”
Thor and Blaine looked at one another and laughed. Thor already knew what Blaine would say. If Thor weren’t so focused on the continuing argument over Greer, he might have considered how unsettling it was to have a dead man lying before him as though he didn’t exist. The conversation carried on as though Thor hadn’t just killed a member of the Gunn clan council.
“Ye daft bugger. Ye dinna have anyone outside these gates. Ye said they dinna arrive until tomorrow. I kenned ye approached an hour ago. Ma patrols havenae reported anyone within leagues of the keep.”
“We killed them.”
“Nay, ye didna. Ma patrols overlap their areas. The dead men would have already been found, and someone would have already ridden to the keep. Ye canna tell me the MacDonnells hide, waiting to launch an attack because ye canna get to ma land without crossing the Sinclairs’ and Mackays’ first. Now that I’ve married into their family, our alliance is stronger than ever. We expected trouble from ye. Laird Sinclair and Laird Mackay have quadrupled their patrols along our borders to support us. Ye’d be dead if ye came with a force large enough to be a threat.”
“We made it past yer patrols and the Sinclairs’.”
