‘Well, you should because people are evil, especially those with bonnie faces. And forget the handsome Robert Strachan because you cannot have him since the fool got his head bashed in by Caolan Bannerman.’
‘Aye, and you took sides against Robert. You got him killed,’ wailed Maeve.
‘He shouldn’t have gone up against a Bannerman.’
‘Aye, he shouldn’t have, and he lost, same as you, Jasper,’ sniped Glenna. ‘You went up against a Bannerman over that Brenna wretch? She wouldn’t have you any more than Elene Strachan would.’
Jasper lost his temper. ‘And no one will have you in marriage, Glenna, not even the corpse of Robert Strachan. And as for you, Maeve, I say we marry you off soon before Carstairs realises what a ninny he is getting behind that bonnie face.’
‘Jasper. That is unkind.’ His mother strode into the hall, her pinched face disapproving, as always. ‘Where have you been?’ she snapped.
‘I have been covering myself in glory.’
‘Covering himself in whore’s flesh more like it,’ snapped Glenna.
The smack of his mother’s palm connecting with Glenna’s cheek echoed about the hall. ‘Hold your filthy tongue. I'll have no gutter language from any daughter of mine,’ she shouted. ‘Go to your chamber this instant.’
Glenna rushed off, clutching her face, and Maeve began to wail. ‘Jasper agrees that Carstairs is an oaf, Mother.’
His mother barely glanced at Maeve. ‘An oaf who will be your husband by spring. Now get thee gone unless you want a slap too. I have business with your brother.’
Maeve, easily bullied, scurried out of the hall in Glenna’s wake.
‘You should not talk of the Strachans’ shame with your sisters. Such violent goings-on are not for their ears.’
‘It is about time they learned how the world works. They need to be on their guard for the evil in it.’
His mother’s gaze was unrelenting, piercing his calm. ‘I wonder at you allowing the Bannerman name in your hall after everything that verminous family has cost you,’ she said, always eager to rake over old humiliations.
Jasper sought a change of subject. ‘Can we not find someone who suits Maeve better? She’ll not have Carstairs willingly.’
‘She’ll have who you tell her to have. You are master here,’ she said sweetly.
The hairs on this neck stood up. His mother was clearly loading an arrow to aim at his head.
‘Master? If I was, you wouldn’t all plague me day and night with your demands.’ He sighed and bent to the hearth for warmth. ‘Can we not send Glenna to a convent, for no man on this earth will have her.’
His mother chuckled. ‘She is not the godly type. And, with enough inducement, some man will take her off our hands. Now listen, son. Word came while you were carousing. There is a gathering of the March lords for truce day.’
He felt the arrow’s stab. ‘Where?’
‘The Gunn stronghold. There is grave news to impart, apparently.’
‘Who came to tell us?’
‘Murtaugh Gunn himself.’
‘Is it a trap, do you think? Is he reeling us in with a personal invitation?’
‘Who can tell with Murtaugh Gunn? He would burn his own mother as a witch if he thought there was profit in it.’ She laid her hand on his arm. ‘So will you go, Jasper?’
‘Aye, but I’ll be sure to keep my back to the wall.’
Chapter Seven
The Gunn stronghold was impressive, and its fortifications had been strengthened since his last visit. But in anticipation of which enemy? Since word had come of a truce day when all the March lords set their grievances before the English-appointed Warden, Jasper could not shake the feeling that Murtaugh Gunn knew something he did not. Gunn was not a cunning man, so Jasper was sure he was guided by someone who was. It would all depend on who stuck their neck out in full view at this gathering and who spoke from the shadows.
The Gunns’ hall soon filled with the most powerful men in the West March. Decency, loyalty and kindness did not go a long way in the wild lands at the fringes of Cumbria, so there was a stench of villainy in the air.
