“Aye, me Laird,” they answered without slowing down.
Lady Bryden reached the twins first. “One each,” she said.
Bettie and Katie lit up as if she had handed them treasure. They bit and spoke through crumbs at once, then reached again.
Lady Bryden lifted the tray high with a small shake of her head. “Now, now. The last thing we need is the two of ye running around the castle all day.”
“I doubt even Grandmamma could handle that,” she added, with a glance toward the tree.
“I cannae,” the old woman said, her voice dry as dust.
Laughter rippled through the closest knot of men as the twins grinned like they had been praised.
Lady Bryden turned away from them and went straight to Alex. She held the tray out so he could not pretend not to see it. “Pick one.”
“Nay,” he said. “I am nae hungry.”
She laughed once, soft and certain. “Are ye afraid ye will be running around the castle next?”
He opened his mouth to give the answer that would close the matter. She did not give him time.
“Pick one,” she said, firmer now. “Now.”
He looked at her for a beat, then at the tray. The bannocks were still hot, edges browned right, a brush of honey shining on top. He took the smallest one and stepped aside.
“Thank ye.”
“Good lad,” he heard her mutter under her breath before she moved on.
He watched her carry the tray to a small table near the steps, where Erica sat.
Erica reached out to lift a cloth and check the cups set out with it. Her mother leaned in and said something that made her mouth curve. Leah laughed.
The twins wove around their skirts and tried to steal another bannock. Lady Bryden tapped both hands with the flat of her palm and herded them back with a look that had raised children long before this yard knew their names.
“Like maither, like daughter,” Grandmamma murmured.
Alex turned. “What does that mean?”
Grandmamma shrugged one shoulder. “Nothing.”
He narrowed his eye. “It sounded like something.”
“It doesnae matter anyway,” she said.
He let it sit because arguing with her in public never paid. He took a bite of the bannock to give his hands purpose. It was warm and simple. He did not realize he had finished it until he looked down and saw nothing left.
Across the yard, Calum dismissed the runner. The man trotted to the gate with a nod. The rest of the men went to coil the rope and stack the staffs. The twins settled on the step with their feet knocking the stone.
Erica tore her bannock and passed half to Katie without being asked. Bettie shouted something about the balance beam and pointed toward the far corner, where it stood between two posts. Erica shook her head and said they could try it later. The girls groaned and fell back against the step in the same breath, two pieces of one small storm.
Alex took it all in. He felt the ease move through the place like a slow tide. He did not call for more drills. He did not need to.
Lady Bryden crossed back with the tray and paused near Grandmamma’s chair. She bent a touch and said a word he could not catch. Grandmamma’s mouth curled up.
The twins ran over to show her the last crumbs, as if they had made the bread themselves. Grandmamma waved them off and told them to drink water. They obeyed, then tried to hide their cups under the bench. Leah appeared at once and put the cups in their hands. The girls drank like they had been caught and forgiven at the same time.
“Ye see it, do ye nae?” Grandmamma said, voice low enough so that only he could hear.
