“Look at that one.” Blake nudged his chin forward. “If he shakes his head any harder, it will tumble from his neck. We could tie it to that corpse’s groin. Then it could have a tongue up its arse and on its cock.”
Thor had hesitated to admit it was Greer’s idea to attach some of the severed heads to the corpse’s arses, but it didn’t take him long to realize his cousins had yet another newfound layer of respect for his wife. The men didn’t think twice to embrace the suggestion, having more than one laugh as they positioned their dead victims.
“They’re turning back,” Wiley observed. He moved his sword to his left hand and waved before giving them an obscene gesture. Some of the other men whistled and cheered, while at least one Sinclair called out the clan’s ancient battle cry, “Girnigoe! Girnigoe!” Not to be outdone, Hamish bellowed, “Bratach bhan chlann aoidh!” The white banner of Mackay!
If they hadn’t known better, they would have thought they had an entire army with them as their calls and shouts carried on the wind. It was enough to persuade the knights to turn back, certain an entire band of Highland demons would soon descend upon them. The Sinclairs and Mackays watched as the English horses kicked up clouds of dirt as they galloped back to the coast and the ships that awaited them.
“I canna believe that’s all it took,” Tor mused.
“Aye, well, I think our reputations may have had a wee influence. Between the displays and our name, I think they realized it wasna wise to carry on.” Thor shrugged, but he wore the same mischievous grin he’d had as a child when he and his cousins found just enough trouble to make their fathers punish them without their mothers actually skelping them within an inch of their lives like the women threatened. It was no secret that Thor and all his cousins—male and female—feared their mothers and aunts far more than their fathers and uncles. The women didn’t need size. They just neededthelook.
“Let’s head back. I’m starving,” Alec complained.
“Rose and Blaine should be there by now. Henry promised to ride late and rise early. I ken Rose will have been on a horse and waiting for Blaine before her poor husband could give Marcus a fare-thee-well and any instructions.” Thor might jest about his sister, but he couldn’t wait to see her. It had only been a few days, but it felt like a lifetime. He prayed his sister and brother-by-marriage would remain at Dunbeath long enough for Thor and Greer to have a brief honeymoon in their chamber and still get to visit with his twin.
Kirk Hartley nudged his horse to ride alongside Thor. He’d remained quiet while his friends bantered. He was a keen observer and a man of few words most of the time. It made him the best strategist of his generation of warriors. Not the best in the clan, since his twin could claim that as the undefeated chess player, but the best of the men.
“I dinna ken how ye can do it.” Kirk kept his voice low. “Ma hope is Keira marries a Sinclair.”
“I’ve kenned ma entire life that ma sisters will leave Dunbeath since they're the tánaiste’s daughters and must marry well. But it doesnae make it any easier to let them go. I ken ye understand. It’s like losing a limb but still feeling as though it’s there.”
“That’s why I dinna ken how ye manage. When we fostered, we kenned we’d be back. Now…” Kirk shrugged.
“Truth be told, I havenae had much time to think aboot it since leaving Ackergill. Ma mind has been filled worrying aboot keeping Greer safe. But now that there arenae any English or Highlanders after us, I’m feeling anxious and sad. I want Rose to be happy, and I ken she is. It’s just hard.”
“Well, she may nae be yer twin, but if ye needatwin to drive ye barmy, I’ll lend ye Keira.”
“I shall tell her ye said that.” Tor leaned forward to see past Blake and Thor to Kirk.
“Stay away from ma sister. Ye dinna need to be telling her aught.” Kirk glowered at Tor, who offered him just as dark an expression in return.
“Dinna let me find ye walking with Maisie again.” Tor notched up his chin. While no true animosity existed between the two men, things had become strained at times since it was clear a fondness existed between both pairs.
“Do ye ken who I’d like to be walking with?” Tate asked, lightening the mood. “Did ye see little Adeline Grant at the last Gathering?”
“Aye. She’s nae so wee anymore,” Alec noted. “Ye nearly lost an eye when Fingal spotted ye ogling his lass. He isnae a da to test.”
“I was just looking. I didna touch.”Yet. Tate would keep that last thought to himself. For all he knew, she might be married by the following summer when the clans met for the next Highland Gathering. But if she wasn’t…
“I’m still hungry. Can we be off?” Alec spurred his horse into a canter, and the others followed. It was after dusk when they returned to Dunbeath, but Thor recognized the horses in the stables when he brushed down his steed. He knew the laird’s table would overflow that evening.
* * *
Greer covered her face with her hand, fearful wine would shoot from her nose as she choked on her mirth. Her sides ached from laughing throughout the evening meal. It hardly felt like she’d watched her husband ride into battle the day before or had spent four days on a mad dash back and forth across the northernmost Highlands. It felt like she’d always belonged at Dunbeath, surrounded by a loving and accepting family.
“Swallow.” Thor thumped her on the back.
“I was trying.” Greer spluttered and took a sip of wine to wash down the last poorly timed gulp. “I canna believe yer aunt just said that.”
“Auntie Mairghread has always had a colorful sense of humor. She’s ever the lady when she isnae with her brothers. When she is…” Thor shook his head. “She’s a horrible influence on Shona and Ainsley.”
“Her daughter is exactly like her. It’s uncanny.”
“Now ye can see why Wee Liam, Alec, and Hamish all have as much gray hair as Uncle Tristan.”
None of the Mackay men had a single gray hair Greer could spy, but the four men all wore the same aggrieved expression when mother and daughter turned their teasing toward Tristan and his sons. They were merciless.
With nearly forty people in Liam’s immediate family, there was no room to add any of their visitors to the dais. Servants had moved the tables off the raised platform and added four more to the enormous rectangle. When the Sinclair and Mackay men, plus Kirk, returned, they not only found Rose and Blaine already at Dunbeath, they discovered Mairghread and Elene had arrived with Elene’s younger brother and sister, and Wee Liam and her two children.
