Myrna snorted. “And if I say aye?”
“Me heart will break,” Jonah replied solemnly.
“Do ye flirt with all the women ye meet like this?” she asked.
“Only those who win me heart with a glance,” Jonah replied.
Myrna’s heart pounded in her chest. She felt almost guilty for the joy she was feeling. It didn’t seem right, knowing her family and most of her clan lay dead, that she should feel anything resembling happiness. And yet, whenever Jonah looked at her with those eyes, she felt safe.
I’m only five and ten. I dinnae want to marry yet, and I’m in mourning. But gods above does he make me heart sing.
Myrna looked into Jonah’s eyes, and he looked into hers. Suddenly, she realized – it was about to happen. She was about to be kissed for the first time. She closed her eyes, her heart pounding, and then—
“Miss Myrna?”
She and Jonah jumped apart as the servant entered the library, breaking the spell.
“Ah…yes?” she asked, flustered. “Can I help ye?”
The servant smirked, giving them a knowing look, but then she smiled at Myrna. “Well, miss, I thought ye’d like to ken that yer sister’s here.”
Chapter Seventeen
The Arrival
Eithne waited in the entrance hall, Ivor sitting by her side, the dirty, bloody boy and his puppy on the mercenary’s lap. She was in the home of her uncle, of family, and she should feel safe at last – but for some reason that she could not understand, she had never felt so nervous.
“Dinnae worry,” Ivor told the lad. “The Laird will come down to meet us soon, and once he’s convinced of who Eithne is, then we’ll get ye a nice bath.”
“And Mossie?” Callum asked.
“Aye, Mossie too,” Eithne told him with a smile. She opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted at the sight of a young woman walking into the room.
She looked very much like Eithne, or maybe more like their mother. The main difference between the girls was only that her eyes were a paler blue than Eithne’s own. But Myrna, though it had only been a few days, was the most beautiful sight Eithne had ever seen.
“Ennie!” Myrna yelled, running across the hall without a care for anyone else.
Eithne was no better, on her feet and racing toward her sister, calling her name over and over. The two girls crashed into each other, clinging for dear life and crying hard, and Eithne felt the ache of their family’s loss open fresh.
“Oh, Ennie, I kent ye’d make it here,” Myrna told her after a while, sniffing. “I’d hoped that Mammy or Daddy…or maybe Killian…”
Eithne shook her head, wiping her eyes. She pulled back from the embrace, but the sisters still held hands. “Did they tell ye…?”
Myrna nodded, and Eithne saw her own pain reflected in her wee sister’s own eyes. “Aye. It’s…terrible. Like nothing I ever imagined. I cannae believe…”
“She died in me arms,” Eithne said quietly. It hurt like a hot knife, but something told her that Myrna needed to know. “Mammy, I mean. Our faither and Killian were together at the end. Mammy and Neal…they were both with me.”
“Oh, Eithne,” Myrna whispered. They embraced again, more tightly this time, and wept.
Eventually, they pulled back once more, and Myrna looked over Eithne’s shoulder to see her companions.
“Who have ye brought?” she asked, astonished.
Eithne smiled and beckoned to Ivor to approach. He did, Callum walking at his side while carrying Mossie. “This is Callum and Mossie,” Eithne said, “A wee lad we met on our way here and his pup. They’re both in sore need of a bath and a rest, and we can discuss everything else later. Do ye think…?”
“Aye, of course,” Myrna said before Eithne could even finish. She nodded to a servant that Eithne hadn’t even noticed was hiding in the shadows.
Callum looked distrustful at first, but at an encouraging nod from Ivor, he followed the maid out of the room. Ivor moved closer to the sisters only when the lad and his dog were gone.
