The brothers exchanged a nervous glance.
“Heard from whom?” Lochlan asked.
“From me, you worthless lick-spittle. So tell me what miracle dragged the three of you from your holes and got your lazy hides all the way here. And a day early no less.”
Everyone in the hall froze at the cold, harsh words.
No one with any sense would ever dare insult a single MacAllister, never mind the three of them at once.
Gasping, Callie turned her attention to the entranceway where Sin stood, dressed in his armor, with his arms crossed over his chest. She could read nothing in his features. He merely stood there stoically as he regarded the three men he’d just insulted.
Aster bellowed in rage. “How dare you insult my guests!” He turned to her with a glower. “You see the peace he brings?”
The three MacAllisters rose slowly to their feet. Like a giant wall, they moved in unison around the table, toward her husband.
Callie swallowed while she saw Dermot’s amused smile. Her brother was looking forward to this confrontation.
She crossed herself.
As soon as the brothers were in arm’s reach of Sin, they laughed and swarmed him.
She stood in stunned shock as the MacAllister brothers grabbed Sin into hugs and he bristled, cursed, and slapped at their hands.
“Ow!” Sin snapped. “Let me go, you damned ogres.”
“Have your burns not healed?” Lochlan asked with a worried frown.
“Aye, they have, but I’ve a new wound throbbing and if you don’t stop, you’ll have it bleeding again.”
“New one how?” Braden’s frown mirrored Lochlan’s as he pulled at Sin’s clothes as if looking for the wound. “What happened? Have you seen a physician for it?”
A loud whistle rent the air.
The men stopped talking and everyone turned to look at Aster.
Her uncle cleared his throat. “Would someone please tell me what is going on here?”
Ewan passed a disgruntled glare to her uncle. “We happen to be saying hello to our wayward brother. If you don’t mind, we don’t get to see him much.”
Callie’s jaw went as slack as her uncle’s and Dermot’s. Nay...
Had she heard that correctly? If it were true, why had Sin never bothered mentioning it to her?
Why on earth would he hide something like that?
Crossing the room, she confronted her husband. “You’re a MacAllister?”
There was a pain so profound in his eyes that it made her breath catch.
Lochlan stiffened. “Of course, he is.” Then he saw the look on Sin’s face too and under his breath she heard him speak to him. “Regardless of the past, you have always been and will always be a MacAllister.”
A tic started in Sin’s jaw and when he spoke, his tone was equally as low. He cut a harsh glare to Lochlan. “If you recall, I was very publicly denounced. Twice.”
She saw the shame on Lochlan’s face as he dropped his troubled gaze to the floor.
Aster approached them. “Are you telling me this lad is a Highlander? Henry married my niece to a MacAllister?”
“You married her?” Braden gasped in disbelief. “You?”
