“And I would have likely stuck a sgian dubh in your heart,” she said. Wed him and kill him. Was that how Kenneth thought she should do the deed? With a thrust to the heart? Her eyes squeezed shut at the pain the thought brought.

She sniffed. Dammit. She was the chief and did not need to follow Kenneth’s orders.

Cain pulled his thick targe to set in front of her. “My shield is not puny like yours. I would have survived.”

For a moment she couldn’t remember what they were talking about. Stabbing him. She inhaled past the lump in her throat. “Tell me more about you, my betrothed,” she said as they continued across the moor.

“Hmmm…” he said, pulling her in to his chest. “I have a herd of one hundred and twenty-eight horses, I have never lost a game of chess since I was sixteen years of age, and I hate wearing the crown my father had made for me.”

He shifted behind her. “Tell me something about ye.”

“I love sweet pies,” she said, squinting to make out a few men walking in the pastures up ahead. “My heart hurts for any injured animal, so I tend to have many about my home.” She glanced up at him. “I will be bringing a pack of dogs to the marriage.”

“Boudica may not suffer that well,” he said.

“And I like to carve. Kenneth showed me how.”

“So ye can hollow out a knight without harming the outside.”

She stared outward. “Yes.”

“Perhaps ye could make some better chess pieces than my brothers and me.”

Her mouth relaxed. “I likely can.”

Looking back out, she saw several guards walking along the perimeter of the castle wall, torches set to light up Girnigoe. “Will your brothers be waiting to talk with you?” There were plans to be made about how to take Varrich Castle.

“Not until the morn,” he said.

“Joshua did not seem like he would wait.”

“They know I will not see them tonight.”

“Why not?”

“I go to the loch to clear my thoughts and devise the best plans. When the stars come out, I watch them above, tracing the shapes. They help me stay calm and wise.”

“You learned to stay away because your father bellowed a lot?” she guessed.

He chuckled. “Aye. At first, he would rage that I was not there, thinking I was running away from responsibility. But when I returned, I had plans he could use, strategies he felt were wise. His fury would calm, and it became my way.”

“Joshua does not seem to appreciate your way.”

“He storms like our father, but he knows I will devise a plan to conquer and find us victory. Every attacking foe has fallen to the Sinclairs. We have taken territory from ye, the Mackays, and the Campbells, expanding our dominion with little loss of life. It is what I was raised to do.”

Her smile faded.