"I want to go home."
Stefan finally realized he was there and glanced Macoran's direction just in time to see him inching away. "So does yer mother. She be gathering our things as we speak. Who knows, maybe the stallion has come back."
Kannak wiped the tears off her cheeks and giggled. "Will we finally give him a name?"
"Ye said so yerself. He be a gift from God and deserves a better name than any we can give him. But we will think on it. Kannak, afore we go back I will have yer pledge."
She lifted her head to look at him and wrinkled her brow. "What sort o' pledge?"
"Yer mother took me in when I had nowhere to go and no family. I will not have ye hurting her with yer words o' anger. What happened could not have been avoided."
"Ye cannae know that."
"True, but there must have been something that kept them apart. Ye have seen the way they are. They love each other still."
She decided he was right and tried to smile. Then she reached up on tip-toe, kissed his cheek and started down the path. "Ye are a good brother, Stefan.
For months, he thought of himself as her brother, but somehow hearing her say it this time bothered him. He was beginning to realize he wanted to be more to her than a brother.
*
Macoran had one more woman to deal with and as soon as he arrived he marched into the keep, went up the stairs to her bedchamber and took a firm hold on both of his wife's shoulders. "Ye dare spy on me?"
"Ye have been unfaithful with that lass for years. Do ye deny it?" She tried to get out of his grasp, but he would not let her.
"I do, but if I were unfaithful, whose fault would it be? Ye dinna welcome me to yer bed."
Agnes laughed a cruel, guttural laugh. "As if ye wanted me to. I had to ply ye with strong drink just to conceive my sons."
"Fortunately for me, I dinna recall that night. But dinna change the subject. I will not tolerate yer spying and yer punishment for doing so is this - ye will not see yer father this year." She gasped and he knew his words hit the mark. "Furthermore, if ye breathe a word o' what ye heard, I will bring shame down upon ye the likes o' which ye have never seen. I will swear ye have committed adultery, set this marriage aside and gladly send ye and yer sons to yer father forever. Do ye hear me, Agnes?" She reluctantly nodded and at length, he let go of her and stormed out of her bedchamber.