“But I do nothing to attract their attention.”
“And when Aidan replaces my seat at his left withye?” Domelch scoffed, continuing as if she’d not heard Ethne. “I see yer tricks.”
Ethne was beside herself. She wasn’t sure how to respond. Especially since she was more than willing to be replaced by Domelch at Aidan’s side. “I do not wish the attention, Domelch. Surely, ye see that?”
But Domelch wasn’t listening. “Does Aidan not remember my long line of royalty?”
Everyone remembered Domelch’s lineage. A direct line to a powerful Pictish queen. She never let them forget it. But this was the first Ethne had heard about Aidan.
“Ye should be at his side.” Her desperation made her voice tight. “As ye said, ye are royalty. I am…nothing.”
Domelch rolled her eyes. “Ye are a stupid lass who does not appreciate Aidan’s power.” She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. After a moment, she turned her bright green eyes on Ethne. “My brother comes to take ye to wife. Today.”
The fat little man who had been with Domelch at the fair?
“No!” Ethne squeezed the single word out of her tight chest. When she stood, the rest of the branches that had rested on her lap dropped to the floor.
She would never allow that man to touch her, and she refused to be cowered by the woman’s scathing look. “I will not be his wife.”
“Ye will do as ye are told.” Domelch’s tone was the same one she used with Finn, but Ethne was not a child to be ordered about, and this woman was definitely not her mother.
“I will not.”
The sounds in the room seemed to get louder. The constant drip at the back of the cave sounded like it was dripping right onto her head. The distant roar of the ocean and the birds above it could have been right here in the cave with them. Panic was taking over.
“I will obey when it has to do with Finn. Or with the food. Or how ye want me to wash yer back. But I will not obey when it has to do with me. I do not wish to be with a man in that way.” Ethne’s voice cracked, tears welling in her eyes. She had to stop speaking.
“Are those tears, Ethne?” Domelch pursed her lips. “They will not work on me.”
She took a quivering breath, but held her head high. “They are not meant to work on ye. I will not be ordered to take yer brother as my husband. Or to lay with him. If ye force me in this way, I will not remain here. Doubt me not.”
Her voice had remained strong. Ethne squared her shoulders.
Domelch measured her resistance before she finally replied, “If ye run away, we will find ye. And then we will keep ye tied up.”
Ethne’s mouth fell open. She did not doubt it, which left her with no choice except to leave and not get caught.
“Ethne! We found more red berries.” Finn burst through the door ahead of his father. His excitement quickly diminished as he sensed the tension in the room. He faced his mother. “What is amiss?”
Malcolm came in more quietly, dropping his sack beside the fire before glancing between the two of them. His expression revealed nothing. Ethne held Domelch’s gaze, her jaw tight. The sound of Malcolm helping himself to the ale filled the tense silence. He said nothing. Instead, he smacked loudly, enjoying the taste, then settled in his spot against the wall. Finn remained standing. Watching.
“Ethne?” Malcolm began, and Ethne’s stomach dropped. She knew that tone.
No. He could not be insisting as well. Did he not care at all for her? She refused to turn to him. She refused to acknowledge she had no one in this whole world who cared about her or what she wanted.
“Look at me.”
She shook her head, her gaze remaining steady on the bull painted on the wall in front of her. An outline really, in a bright blue that had lasted many years in the cave.
“Now.” His voice remained calm.
When Domelch’s ugly red lips curled up at the corner, a sob slipped from Ethne.
“Poppa, what is wrong with Ethne?” Finn moved to stand in front of his father. His concerned question broke the dam, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “Why is she crying?”
“Because she doesn’t listen.” Domelch’s clipped words hung in the air.
Ethne’s quiet sobs blended with the sound of the crackling fire. Finn came to stand beside her, his little hand taking hers.
