Page 47

She looked at me, looked at Edan, then looked back at me. “Oh!”

“Have ye forgotten every other word?” I asked. “How’s my niece? Matthias?”

“They’re well.” She flicked her fingers dismissively, then leaned closer to me to hiss, “Her bairn is green.”

I grinned. “Aye. ‘Tis generally a requirement for an orc.”

Issa made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a squeal, and the commotion finally brought my brother from the direction of the island. Vrogul didn’t run. Chiefs didn’t run, apparently, although the speed of his stride suggested he was making a noble attempt at it without embarrassing himself.

He threw his arm around Rowena and stared at the bairn as I shifted closer to Cataline to lend her my strength.

For once in his life, my older brother had nothing to say. His gaze settled on Edan, and his eyes began to glow softly with joy.

The crowd quieted around us, and I suddenly became aware that I hadn’t actually introduced anyone. Cataline stood beside me, tired and wary and clutching our son to her breast while half my clan stared at her. I reached for her free hand, and she let me take it.

“This is Cataline. She’s my⁠—”

Mate.

My Mate. The female chosen for me by the gods, the mother of my son, the female my Kteer had somehow known belonged with me long before my fool mind understood it.

But Cataline didn’t know what that meant yet. Not truly. And I had promised her she could leave in the spring if she wished. I wouldn’t take that promise from her now simply because everyone I loved was watching us.

So I squeezed her hand instead. “She’s mine.”

Beside me, Issa hummed. “Yers, eh, big brother?”

I didn’t look at her when I pleasantly threatened. “I will throw ye in the loch.”

“Ye wouldnae dare,” she scoffed.

“I’ve done it before,” I reminded her.

“I was twelve!”

This time I did grin at her. “And ye’re even more annoying now.”

Cataline made that little sound again, half laugh and half disbelief, and my chest warmed.

I drew Ewan slightly forward, my hand on his head. “And these are my sons. This is Ewan⁠—”

Cataline sucked in a breath beside me.

I heard it, but I didn’t understand it, and it might not have mattered, because the lad stared up at me with wide hopeful eyes. His grip on my kilt tightened.

“—and this is Edan,” I finished. “Our wee firebrand.”

For one heartbeat there was silence. Then the entire gathering erupted.

Someone clapped me on the back. Another warrior shouted congratulations. Issa began laughing. Rowena covered her mouth, and somewhere behind us a male called, “He was gone only a little more than a moon!”

Another one called, “Aye, but Vrogul sent him off in the spring, remember?”

My brother was laughing now too, but his attention settled on Ewan. He crouched so they were closer to eye level, although he was still large enough to make Ewan lean against me.

“So ye are Ewan,” Vrogul said. When the lad didn’t speak—I’d never known him to be overwhelmed enough not to speak—my brother nodded. “Maardok has told us about ye.”

“He has?” Ewan finally whispered.