Chapter 16 #3
Dermot stopped before Henry. “I am The Raider you seek. It was I who led my men against you.”
By the look on Henry’s face, Sin knew his thoughts. It was quite a blow to learn he had been thwarted all this time by a half-grown child. “You’re just a boy.”
Dermot nodded. “And a foolish one at that. Still, I can’t allow an innocent man to die for me.”
Henry was flabbergasted. “Are we to honestly believe a child led an army?”
Sin loudly cleared his throat.
Henry shifted in his saddle as he recalled all the battles Sin had fought and won in his name while less than two years older than Dermot.
Henry glanced at Sin, then returned his attention to Dermot. “Well, that explains why Sin wouldn’t name you. He never could stand for a boy to suffer.” Henry gestured toward Sin’s direction. “Release the earl.”
“Sire,” Sin said as one of the guards cut the ropes on his wrists. “You know I can’t let you kill him.”
Henry bristled as if greatly offended by those words.
“We are not so callous a king nor man that we would stoop to slay a child. Dear God, imagine the embarrassment if word ever got out that a mere child perpetrated such?” Henry glanced around to his score of guards.
“If any of you breathe a word of this, we shall have your tongues.”
The guards gulped audibly.
Henry drew himself up and looked back at Dermot. “But he cannot be left to roam the countryside freely.”
“What are you proposing?” Callie moved closer to her brother.
“That he remain under royal custody until he is a score-and-five in age.”
Both Callie’s and Dermot’s faces blanched.
“Simon?” Sin called, knowing of only one way he would agree to Henry’s terms. He rubbed the circulation back into his hands as he walked slowly toward his wife.
What he really wanted to do was run, but even though the crowd was less tense than before, the men around him were still wary and ready to battle, and he didn’t want anyone to mistake his intentions. “Think you Draven would welcome a new squire into his home?”
A slow smile spread across Simon’s face. “Aye, he would.”
Sin nodded in acknowledgment, then turned to face Henry. “Is that agreeable to you, Sire?”
“Aye,” Henry’s eyes filled with relief. “I believe Lord Draven would be quite capable of whipping the boy into shape. And you, Lady Laird, do you find that acceptable?”
Callie smiled. “I do indeed, Majesty.”
“Draven?” Dermot asked. “Who is this man?”
Sin stopped in front of his wife and cupped her face in his hands as he stared into those lush green eyes. “He’s brother to Simon and a friend of mine.” He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs as he dropped his gaze to her lips.
Callie trembled at the look on Sin’s face. His eyes were filled with such love and gratitude to her.
She’d been terrified every moment of his capture that they wouldn’t get to him in time or that Henry would force them to battle.
Now that he stood before her, she felt as if she were the luckiest woman ever born.
She stood up on her tiptoes and leaned toward him.
He took her invitation. Crushing her to him, he kissed her hard and passionately.
A deafening cheer sounded from those gathered.
Callie surrendered her weight to her husband as joy burst through her. He was safe and they had their peace.
Sin savored the taste and feel of her lips. He didn’t care if time stopped at this moment. All that mattered was the love he felt for his wife.
And the fact that at long last, he had a home and a people who accepted him.
His brothers and Simon gathered round as he reluctantly pulled back from Callie’s lips.
Henry dismounted and moved toward them. His eyes amused, he measured Callie with his gaze. “You are a brazen woman, Lairdess. Think you, we were rash in marrying you to such a pig-headed man?”
“Nay, sire. For that I thank you.”
Henry turned to Dermot and shook his head. “The Raider, eh? We see potential in you, boy. Come and let us tell you a story about a man called Malek in Olum.”
Sin cringed as he watched Henry and Dermot walk off. So, it appeared his friend had found another generation to mold and shaoe. He would need to have a long talk with Henry.
But first he had a more important need to see to.
Ewan grabbed him from behind and picked him up in a ferocious hug. “Thank God you’re alive. I thought I’d have to be tearing me some English hides and skinning me one young Scot’s buck.”
For once Sin didn’t protest his brother’s bearish affection. “Aye, I saw the hand you gave poor Dermot. He’s lucky you didn’t break his leg.”
“Me?” Ewan gasped. “I’m innocent.”
Lochlan and Braden removed Ewan from him.
“Sin MacAllister?” Lochlan said. “I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or curse when I heard you announce that.” His eyes grew serious. “It’s been a long time coming, my braither. Welcome home.”
His brothers drew back to give him space with his wife.
Sin pulled her close and just reveled in the feel of her in his arms. “Thank you, Callie.”
“There’s no need to thank me. You didn’t really think I would let the king kill the man I love, did you?”
He took her hand in his and stared at ring he had given her.
His heart pounding at her words, he held it to his heart.
“I love you, Callie ingen Neil, Lairdess of the MacNeelys and wife of a man who is so unworthy of you that he swears he will spend the rest of his life trying to show you just how much you mean to him.”
She smiled at that. “There’s no need to try, Sin. All I have to do is look into your eyes and I know.” She kissed him deeply, then pulled him toward his horse. “Now, come husband and let me take you home.”
Sin closed his eyes at her words. For the first time in his life, he truly had a home and he couldn’t wait to fill it with their children.