As they mounted, Ailith wondered two things.Was that orange-haired woman really a voyager like her?And, if Mairi listened to and shared gossip like that, what might she be thinking and saying about Ailith?
When William returned, the keep was bustling with preparations – both happy and sad, as some were arranging for Brian’s funeral and others readied the keep for William’s wedding ceremony.Clansmen carried armfuls of peat and slabs of mutton and pork to the kitchens.Young clan lassies, with their hair tied back with kerchiefs, swept and scrubbed and wiped.Fresh linens were brought down to the warriors’ sleeping quarters beneath the main hall, and to the tower for those highborn enough to sleep in proper quarters.
Cormag’s wife, Caitir, stood in the main hall, directing their efforts and greeting guests with the ease and comportment of any military general.Truly, she was a force to be reckoned with, her slender arms clad in a creamy léine under a flowing yellow kirtle, heruisge-beatha-shaded eyes sharp and focused on the task at hand.
She lifted a hand at him when he entered the main hall.
“William.A word if ye may?”
With a quick bow, he crossed the wide hall towards her.
“Do ye have many duties this day?”she asked as she pointed a lass toward the tower.
William shook his head.
“Excellent.Might ye greet our visitors as they arrive?I have duties I must attend, and I believe they would rather be greeted by our guest of honor, aye?”
“Understood,” William said with a side smile.
Though she was handling both duties beautifully, ‘twould be far easier on Caitir if he were to take a bit of the load from her skilled hands.
She rested her hand on his arm.“Thank ye, William.I will see ye later in the day.”Her smile was wide with genuine thanks as she departed the hall, calling after another lass who had ascended the stairs.
William watched her leave, then turned his attention to the open main door.Greeting guests?He was a warrior, set to play the man of the hour.‘Twas not something with which he was accustomed – a sword in the hand was more familiar than smiles to guests – yet he could not deny the truth of Caitir’s words.Visitors were coming for his wedding, after all.
The midday meal was set on a table against the wall, and he picked at a meat pie as he watched men and women scrambling across the yard outside.‘Twas early in the day, and only a few visitors had arrived, while more would show up later tonight and on the morrow.The scrambling around the keep was in preparation for feeding and housing all those guests, for the large evening meal tomorrow night, and the giant wedding feast the next day.
One more night alone in his chambers.Though it was contrary to custom, he’d make sure Ailith was in his bed tomorrow night after she arrived, and never sleep outside those chambers again.His blood burned hot, and his cock throbbed at the mere thought of Ailith in his bed and by his side.
“As I live and breathe, I never thought I’d see the day,” a familiar voice carried through the hall.William looked up from his pie at the speaker.
“Eoghan!Man!”William tossed the pie onto the table and rushed to the doorway.Eoghan stood next to a mousy young woman, his brown hair loose and wild.William clasped the man’s arm with his hand and slapped his shoulder.“’Tis been far too long, my cousin!”
Eoghan Grant was of the same clan as Rudy, the young man who had died at the hands of the kin and close friends with the MacDougals.Both cousins to William, Eoghan had often visited with Rudy, and as a result, William and Eoghan had become as close as brothers.
“I had to see it for myself,” Eoghan said as he released William’s arm.“With everything regarding the mad king, the Grants have been a bit sequestered, but when news of your wedding reached James’s ears, I told him neither wild horses nor the Good Lord Himself could keep me from your nuptials.”
“James’s caution is reasonable, given the harsh treatment by the mad king Donald and the loss of so many men.Now that the king is gone, we can hope James feels more comfortable with his clan’s presence in the Highlands.”
A subdued Eoghan leaned close to William.“I had heard that ‘twas your quick thinking that came up with the strategy and means by which ye were able to seize the impenetrable stronghold, thanks be to God.Ye have proven yourself quite the warrior.”
“Aye, my idea, but only as a result of my bride-to-be.She made a comment about a plant of all things that struck me in such a way as to seize the opportunity.”
At this, the woman with Eoghan raised her head.She seemed familiar to William.
“And where is Ailith?”Eoghan looked around.“I would congratulate her for her loss of wit in marrying ye.”
William socked Eoghan in his brawny upper arm.“She is yet at Glenbervie.She returns on the morrow, permanently.”
He then shifted his gaze to the lass next to Eoghan and bowed.
“Where are my manners?”Eoghan announced.“William, do ye recall my sister, Betris?Ye mayhap haven’t seen her in years.She kept away from many of our cousins when they visited, preferring the company of women and not drunken men.”
William took the woman’s milky hand – her skin was so pale it was translucent, showing every blue vein at the back of her hand – and kissed it.“And oh, were we drunken.I dinna blame your absence.It must have been many years.I would have recalled such a beauty if I had seen ye recently.”
The words slid off his tongue with ease, but they weren’t as truthful as they sounded.Her mousy brown hair hung flat against her cheeks, held in place by a plain bronze circlet around her head.Her brown eyes held no sparkle.They were flat and uncompromising.Her face was pretty enough if only her hard eyes and pale skin didn’t detract from her features.Frail-looking and wan, she disappeared into the shadows of Ailith’s brilliant, colorful light.William would not have remembered her at all.
The lass believed his mannered greeting, however, and huffed out a brief, biting laugh as he stood upright.“William, had I known ye were a flatterer, I would have no’ minded ye in your drunken state.”
