“She will do as she is told.” Malcolm’s firm tone was intended to reassure the man, his solemn gaze confirming that belief.
Not likely. She swallowed the lump in her throat. That was the way of this tribe. If a woman was a virgin, she could be taken to wife, but the consummation was performed in front of everyone. The few times she’d been a witness, her own face had heated in sympathy and embarrassment for the poor lass. The eyes of the onlookers glazed over with lust as the woman was bared for their inspection. Thankfully, after Finn was born, she was no longer required to attend and was left with the child so his parents could participate. That suited her fine.
“There is only one first time.” Domelch huffed. “Why waste her on some travelers where we get nothing from it?”
Ethne thanked God she had not told them of her earlier encounter with their “travelers.”
“They were offering to pay for her.” Thomas’s tone had turned combative. He ignored Ethne’s deepening frown. She had considered him a loyal friend, but no longer.
“Better to trade her for something of value.” Domelch gave Ethne a look of disdain before rolling her eyes and settling back on her precious gilded stool, her large bottom nearly hiding the intricate designs of leaves and flowers that ran along the edge. It was the only embellished stool to be found in any of the caves because she had insisted on having one. Aidan had several in his round house perched on the hill and surrounded by high grasses. He enjoyed his wealth and showing it off. And he enjoyed keeping separate from them.
“They had boats!” Thomas countered, unleashing his frustration on the woman.
“We didna know that!” Domelch said.
With a huff, she began brushing her hair with slow, deliberate strokes. The latest tool she and Malcolm had acquired from their travels south, smoothing out her otherwise tangled red tresses and acting like she’d done nothing wrong.
“Piss and wind.” Malcolm’s expression matched his tone. The others shifted around him. “Get yerself to bed, wife. Ye have made enough trouble this night. Ye, too, Ethne. The cleaning can wait until morning.”
Aidan’s gaze followed her, as did the others, when she spread out her pallet. Domelch did the same, but then pulled down the heavy cloth that closed off her small area toward the back of the cave, where the lower ceiling offered privacy. Ethne had no such protection from prying eyes, so she lay down just as she was, covered herself with the coarse wool blanket, and gave them her back.
The room remained quiet except for the occasional popping of the wood as it burned. Ethne began to drift off, memories of her parents flooding her mind, giving her peace. Her father’s kind eyes and his gentle voice reminding her that one day she would become a wonderful wife just like her mother. And her mother’s bright smile, so big her eyes nearly closed.
“Will ye abide by my decision, Malcolm?”
Aidan’s voice came to her, rousing her from sleep, but he made little sense.
“I have waited for ye, hoping ye’d be more comfortable with my plans.”
“I do not take the decision lightly.” Malcolm’s low voice was harder to hear, and she began to drift off again.
“I gave ye time to adjust. The decision will be mine alone.”
“I will not interfere.” Her brother’s tone had sharpened, forcing her to listen. “I ask only that ye wait until the solstice observance.”
The solstice observance at Goats’ Cave. The only creature easily able to access the steep trail to the entrance except when the low tide exposed the path to it.
Ethne yawned; the crackling of the fire soothed her.
The cave could be used for more elaborate ceremonies during certain full moons, and the summer solstice when the tide was at its lowest. That gave them just enough time for their ritual before the ocean rushed back in and cut off their only path of escape. No one knew for certain how high the water reached in the cave since no one had survived a flooding. But she couldn’t remember ever seeing a drowned goat. She yawned again.
The summer solstice was just a few weeks off. The men’s voices dropped, and the quiet lulled her to the edge of sleep.
“Would ye have sold her to them?” Malcolm asked. “I mean, if ye knew of the boats and their wealth?”
Ethne’s eyes jerked open. Fully awake for that question, she held her breath for their chieftain’s answer.
Aidan laughed, and someone else coughed. Talorc or Thomas? She wasn’t certain.
“I wished to witness her reaction,” Aidan said, his voice calm. “My plans remain the same.”
The sound of pouring liquid. “And what did ye see? How did she react?”
“Young Ethne is a child no more. She keeps her emotions well hidden, but I see more than she knows. I may need to take her in hand myself.”
Her stomach tightened. Aidan’s possessiveness tonight could have been him wanting to be her first, taking her in front of all the others as he had his third wife, Moira. That poor lass was as young as her. There had been pain because she’d had no desire for her husband, leastwise that was how Domelch had explained it when they’d brought her to Ethne after the bleeding did not abate.
If Aidan forced her, Ethne would be screaming out since she hated the man.
