He scanned the faces of his relatives for his bride, but if she was there, he could not find her. He had not expected to miss her so badly and regretted not insisting that she be at his side.
Much to his disgust, he saw Madi making her way toward them. He doubted her intentions were good, but knew she would only lie if he inquired as to her true purpose. He greeted her with a curt nod, while Albyn barely glanced her way.
“What is it to be today, my lord?” Madi pressed close to Egan’s side and gazed up at him through provocatively angled lashes. “You have a fine horse. Will there be a race?”
“Raven is swift,” Egan offered agreeably, “but were I to win on his back, he’d doubtless claim he deserved the crown.”
Madi attempted to wrap her hands around Egan’s biceps, but her fingers failed to meet. “I’d not heard you owned a talking horse. Would you ask him to say something to me?”
Albyn turned away, but Egan could see his shoulders shaking from the effort to contain his amusement. He was tempted to swear Raven spoke only to the pure of heart, but making love with Oriana had left him in so generous a mood, he swallowed the insult.
“Nay, my lady,” he responded in a fine imitation of Raven’s whinny, and Albyn erupted in a furious fit of laughter.
Madi stepped back, but if Egan had told a joke, she failed to see the humor in it. As for Albyn’s behavior, she thought him rude to the extreme. “What is it you find so amusing?” she asked pointedly.
“Merely the whimsy of a talking horse, my lady,” Albyn assured her, but the dancing light in his eyes revealed otherwise.
Madi thought him lacking in manners, but she dared not voice a negative opinion to a Druid. Instead, she licked her lips and again focused her attention on Egan. “I wanted only to wish you luck,” she said.
“Thank you, but I doubt that would please Kieran,” Egan replied.
Madi lowered her voice to a suggestive purr. “I no longer care what pleases Kieran. Perhaps we can discuss my current desires more fully after tonight’s feast.”
Astonished she would be so brazen, Albyn’s expression instantly sobered, but Egan’s studied indifference betrayed none of his surprise. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the only desires I’ll fulfill tonight are my wife’s.”
“Surely you’ve not claimed your traveling companion as your wife,” Madi protested loudly, and a hush fell over the surrounding crowd as his curious kin strained to hear.
“Aye, that I have, but here’s Kieran, and we’ve a challenge to set.”
Madi bristled at Egan’s cool dismissal, but holding her head high, she smiled as she moved toward the crowd and hoped everyone would believe their parting had been cordial. As for his taking a stranger as his wife, that was as disastrous a mistake as Kieran’s brutish demand for her body.
After Myrna’s comment, Oriana was surprised to find Kieran a few steps ahead of her as she left the fortress. His step was steady, and if he’d had difficulty leaving his bed, his confident posture hid it well. Had she overtaken him on the stairs, she would have offered a word of encouragement for the future, but with the crowd closing in around them, there was no such opportunity.
After having avoided crowds all her life, she would never have pushed through the gathering to reach the clearing if Egan had not been waiting there. He noted her arrival with a wicked grin, and nodded toward Kieran to urge him to begin.
“It is your choice today, brother,” Kieran announced for all to hear, but there was no mistaking his lack of affection for Egan.
Egan glanced toward the cloudless sky as though he were still contemplating his choice. “It is a fine day for a swim,” he replied just as loudly. “Let’s walk down to the end of the bay, and swim back to the cliffs below the fortress. A boat can await us there.”
Kieran appeared incredulous. “You want to swim?” he asked. “The chill water will turn us to ice long before we reach the cliffs.”
Egan folded his arms over his chest and shot Kieran an indulgent glance. “If you refuse to swim, which is your right, then the challenge ends here.”
Oriana stood facing Egan, but she could tell from the tightening of Kieran’s shoulders that he was not nearly as at home in the sea as was his half brother. Most men avoided water deeper than their ankles, but she had seen Egan swim and thought this a brilliant challenge, until Kieran began to laugh.
“Have you not heard that I put the fishes to shame?” Kieran bragged when he had caught his breath.
Egan gestured toward the sea. “We’ll let the race decide who is shamed.”
Ula stepped to her son’s side and ran her tiny hand over his broad back. “So that there is no misunderstanding the result, the Druids should serve as judges.”
Averse to the i
dea, Egan’s brows dipped menacingly. “I doubt it will be such a close race, my lady, but by Druids, do you mean those loyal to you?”
Ula did not glance toward Garrick, who was already smirking. “There is a Druid by your side as well, and I have no objection to Albyn also calling the winner,” she stated graciously.
Albyn acknowledged her comment with a curt nod, then added a warning. “I am no more impartial than the Druids loyal to you, my lady.”