She caught herself having to fight back a giggle as she headed down to the breakfast room, where she found her sisters all sitting together as if they had been waiting just for her.
“Well, well, well,” said Vaila with a wicked gleam in her eye. “Look who it is.”
Oh. So theyhadbeen waiting just for her.
“Good morning,” she said, hoping she seemed casual and unbothered.
Evidently, she did not, judging by the way Eilidh clapped her hands in glee.
“Oh my, you are positivelyglowing,” she cooed excitedly. “Tell us everything.Everything,” she repeated.
Beside her, Davina’s mouth fell open in shock. “Eilidh Donaghey!” she chided. “Be proper!”
Eilidh looked decidedly unbothered.
“We aren’tEnglish,” she complained, as if this were synonymous with propriety. “Besides, it’s only us sisters. I don’t need to be proper with my sisters.”
She said this with a tone that suggested it was perfectly obvious and, frankly, Davina should know better. Despite herself, Ailsa smiled at this. Goodness, she adored them. No matter what happened, this marriage had been worth it to protect them. Anything would have been worth it to protect them.
“It was very nice,” Ailsa said before Davina could retort, and a true argument could break out. “Ewan was very considerate. And,” she added firmly when Eilidh looked argumentative, “that’s all I have to say on the matter.”
Eilidh looked disappointed, but Davina was clearly thrilled, and not just because she’d won the argument.
“You’re happy,” she said, smiling sweetly.
Ailsa paused. She’d spent so much time worrying about the sudden changes, and the practical ways to help her people, and the fear that she wouldn’t be able to have a happy future, that she hadn’t even really taken the time to examine how she felt in the present.
But the warm glow inside her couldn’t be denied.
“I… am,” she said, as surprised as anyone to find that it was true. “Who can say where things will go from here, but yes. For now, I am happy.”
“None of us can ever know the future,” Davina advised with more wisdom than a little sister should possess. “That leaves us with no other option for happiness to enjoy what we have now.”
“Ugh,” Vaila complained, leaning her head back against her chair. “I simply cannottakeall thisoohing andaahing over aman.” She tilted her head to give Ailsa a look that was a touch of apology, but mostly exasperation.
Ailsa didn’t take offense. Vaila was Vaila and she loved her for it.
“You are hardly bound to your chair,” she offered mildly to her scowling sister. “Feel free to leave.”
“You’ll see things differently when it’s your turn,” Davina said, far less mildly.
“You’d see it differently now, if we were talking about a certain cap—” Eilidh broke off with a yelp as Davina, perhaps sensing that this would go too far, kicked her under the table.
Vaila’s glare focused on her youngest sister. She’d clearly seen where that comment had been going. Instead of dignifying it with a response, however, she swept to her feet.
“I wash my hands of all of you,” she proclaimed grandly. “Mairi has asked me to teach her how to wield a sword, so I am off to do that.”
“Do you know who is probably going to be down at the training field?” Eilidh asked Davina in the loudest whisper ever uttered.
This time, Ailsa thought that Davina pinched Eilidh. It was impressive, honestly, that she did so without even glancing in Eilidh’s direction.
“I want to learn how to use a sword,” she told Vaila instead.
This grabbed everyone’s attention.
“You do?” Vaila asked, forgetting to put on her aloof demeanor in her surprise.
Davina shrugged. “It has been a very strange few days,” she explained. “It has impressed upon me that it might be prudent to know how to defend myself.”
