Cain’s fingers clasped Ella’s. She startled but covered it by pretending to look down at her boot as if her lace was loose. “Ye can walk your horse through,” Cain said, taking Ginny’s lead line from her. There was a wildness to his deep northern accent, as if he’d been raised on the isles off the coast. His face looked relaxed as if he was enjoying the chaotic festival. “Just listen to Hamish and take your place in the procession.” He pointed to the elderly warrior who seemed to be in charge. The corner of his mouth hitched up with a grin. “Try not to get trampled. I have to bring Seraph.” He turned and jogged off, the muscles in his bare calves contracting in obvious strength.

“He doesn’t smile when he is with other women,” Hannah whispered.

Ella’s eyes pinched as she looked to Cain’s sister. “Is he with a lot of other women, then?”

“They flock around him. Always have. Some even sneak into his bed,” she said, flapping her hand toward Girnigoe, but then dropped it, her eyes going wide. “Do not tell him I said that.”

Women sneaking into his bed? Ella frowned at Hannah’s panic. “Are you afraid of him, of your brothers?”

“Oh yes, definitely. Everyone is. Are ye not?” she asked, her face full of bewilderment.

“Get moving or pull to the side,” one of the farmers said as he brought around a donkey to lead between the fires. The press of people increased as they returned from their stables and fenced paddocks. Pastor John, the young clergyman who visited many of the villages in the northern Highlands, coaxed children into groups to lead them through.

“Two lines,” the man whom Cain had called Hamish yelled over the mounting noise, his arms raised high to split the growing group. Children and livestock squealed, horses neighed, and people threw orders and curses around. Gilla waited, her ears flicking as she listened for threats in the throng. She didn’t wear her saddle, only a halter without a bit, but Ella had grown up riding bareback, and Gilla knew the feel of her weight.

“Stand back,” Ella said and gathered her skirt up high with one hand, grabbing a handful of mane with the other. Bending her knees, she leaped upward, swinging her leg up to catch her heel on Gilla’s rump, and pushed against Gilla’s shoulder to lift herself onto her back.

Hannah stared up at Ella with an open mouth. “How did ye do that?”

“Lots of practice.” Ella reached down to Hannah. “I will pull you up, and then you can swing across to your horse.”

“No one else is riding between the fires.”

The people and horses coursed past their group as if Hannah and she were boulders in a stream of humanity. Hamish waded closer, looking up at Ella. “The blessing does no good if ye are sitting.”