The man up front remained on his one knee. “My sword is your sword,” he said, his voice strong with conviction. He thumped a fist against his chest over his heart as he rose, nodded to all four Sinclair brothers and returned to his place in the crowd as the next warrior stepped forward.

Kenneth had orchestrated a similar oath-taking ceremony for her after she’d passed the tests thrown out to her by various men in the ranks. Her friend and steward must be worried about her. Would Cain let her send word that she was at least alive?

She chewed slowly, as a nervous man came forward to swear his allegiance. Cain gave no indication of softness or care. He was completely the cold-blooded lord of conquest.

Hannah leaned in to her ear. “They are near the end. These things take hours.”

“I had the same ceremony as chief of the Sutherlands.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, her eyes widening a bit. Ella could almost see the questions forming behind her eyes. But for a woman who’d been treated as inferior and invisible, it was no doubt an incomprehensible concept. “I forgot,” Hannah said. “It is so odd to think of a woman as the chief.”

“How about a queen? Like the powerful one sitting right now on the throne of England?”

Hannah nodded, her cheeks pink. “Aye, ye are right. It is just so different here at Girnigoe.”

Ella ducked her head to meet her downcast eyes. “You can be free of the legend now. Even leave Girnigoe if you wish. Who knows, perhaps all four of your brothers will die in battle, and you will become the chief.”

A bubble of laughter came from Hannah, and she held her fingertips over her mouth.

A Sinclair hurried down the narrow aisle to Cain, talking close to his ear. “Aye,” Cain answered, and the man hurried away. Cain stood up from his seat, sword in hand. From the doorway came two men, striding in side by side.

Ella nearly dropped her milk and stood. “Kenneth,” she whispered. Good Lord. Her advisor was walking into the holding of their fiercest enemy, no doubt looking for her.

She blinked back the pressure of tears when she noticed that he wore the spectacles that she’d brought him from Edinburgh after her father’s death, having journeyed there to hand deliver the letter about the succession of the Sutherland clan. Kenneth caught her movement, his face snapping her way, a look of relief mixed with anger tightening his weathered face.

The other man was half Kenneth’s age and wore the colors favored by the Mackays. Randolph Mackay, Hew’s advisor, caused a shiver to tease Ella’s nape.

They stopped before Cain. “Chief Sinclair, I am Randolph Mackay, councel to our chief, Hew Mackay, who is still locked in your dungeon. With the change of power into your hands, I come to request his release.”