Her eyes sparked with unexpected mischief. “I thought you said that you were mine as much as I am yours.”
Relief flooded Caelis. If she could tease, she was not too devastated.
He would never again allow himself to be surprised by the depths of his mate’s strength.
“He’s your mate, then?” the Balmoral asked.
Caelis took a deep breath, surprised at the tension filling him that he had to force himself to ignore. The time had come to declare his intentions before her family.
Shona looked up at him, her emerald gaze questioning.
He leaned down and kissed her forehead before stepping back and facing Lachlan. “You are her closest kin, are you not?”
The Balmoral stood, clasping his hands behind his back. “Aye.”
“Shona is mine.”
The laird did not reply, but his expression challenged Caelis’s claim without words.
“I will marry her.”
Vegar made a snorting sound and turned away. Caelis glared at him, only to shift that scowl to Thomas when a sound very much like a laugh came out of his mouth as well.
“Will you?” the Balmoral asked, the challenge in his tone unmistakable.
Caelis opened his mouth to set the man straight when he caught sight of Shona in his periphery. He was doing this for her, to show her she had value in his sight.
“I am declaring my intent to you to make Shona both my mate and my wife.”
The Balmoral inclined his head, but did not answer. Instead, he turned to Eadan. “Is this MacLeod soldier your father?”
“No.”
Caelis felt that word with the power of a dragon’s blow. He had to lock his legs in place, or he would have stumbled from the pain of it.
“He is not?” Lachlan asked, surprise in his tone.
“He is not a soldier. He is laird, and soon the whole clan will know it.”
“Ah…and is this soon-to-be laird your da?”
“Yes.” Eadan crossed his arms, his mouth set in a stubborn line. “He and Mum are mates.”
Lachlan nodded, his own expression thoughtful. He focused his attention on Marjory. “What of you, little princess, do you call Caelis ‘Da’?”
“I calls him Daddy,” Marjory said in her high-pitched little girl’s voice. “He’s a big dog.”
Caelis found himself smiling at her view of his conriocht, though they would have to teach her discretion in how she referred to him.
Still ignoring Caelis, Lachlan turned to Shona. “You are my cousin, a Balmoral by blood if not by birth.”
“Thank you,” Shona said.
What did that mean? Why was she thanking him? Did she want to be a Balmoral? She’d said she would marry him. She would not go back on her word. Even if he had six years ago.
He would freely admit to himself, if no one else, that Shona was made of stronger stuff than even a Chrechte warrior could lay claim to.
“There is a story behind a Chrechte of honor who did not know he had a mate, or a son, much less a daughter to claim, the last time I saw him a month ago.”
Shona nodded. “There is.”
“That this same man I have considered both friend and courageous warrior somehow executed the bond between sacred mates and then allowed you to become separated is an unarguable truth.”
Caelis would not deny it. “Aye.”
“He intended to marry me,” Shona offered, surprising Caelis. “Our laird denied Caelis’s request for permission to do so, however.”
“And rather than leave with you, he stayed with the Fearghall.” Lachlan gave Caelis a look that made him feel like squirming.
But nothing compared to that moment he thought his son had denied him.
“Aye,” Caelis answered, though the question was not for him. “By my own stupidity, I lost my true mate for six long years.”
It got no easier to admit upon repeating.
“That would explain your celibacy. I wondered if you were not simply a more dedicated warrior than most,” Lachlan mused.
Shona made a small sound of distress. He looked down at her. “What is the matter?”
“That time is over. We are to be wed now. This is the matter of importance, not the past.”
“Is it?” Lachlan asked.
Shona nodded most earnestly at the Balmoral laird. “It is.”
“You would accept his suit for your hand?”
“I already have.”
“And yet he still brought his intentions before your family.”
Shona looked up at Caelis, her eyes shining with gratified pleasure. “Aye.”
Finally, he had done something right.
Lachlan nodded and met Caelis’s gaze. “You have shifted from Fearghall to Cahir, embracing every sacrifice necessary, training with total dedication to protect all Chrechte. Your plans and destiny are to serve our people with your life, but none of that justifies dismissing the needs of your mate. Remember that.”
Lady Emily nodded, giving her husband and true mate a loving look.
Caelis could not disagree with the sentiment, but questioned his true dedication to it. Shona had agreed to marry him, but she had also made it clear she had no desire to return to the MacLeod clan.
Could he turn away from one destiny for the sake of another?
The simple answer was that if he honestly intended to put Shona’s needs foremost in his mind, if he were to honor the sacred mating he had been blessed with, Caelis did not have a choice.
“No!” Shona spun to face him. “Stop thinking in this manner, Caelis. I insist!”
“What are you talking about?” Audrey asked, looking askance at both Caelis and Shona.
Shona was wringing her hands and frowning. “He believes that in order to serve our mating best he must give up his destiny to take the MacLeod clan from Uven, but that is not true.”
Caelis expected Lachlan to get angry that he would even consider such a thing, but the older laird merely asked, “Why do you believe this?”
“Shona does not want to return to the MacLeod.” And finally, he must stop ignoring that truth.
“That is not true,” his mate immediately and vehemently disagreed.
Caelis turned to her in shock. He had never known her to lie, but she’d made no secret of her feelings. So, how could he believe her words now, no matter how his senses told him she spoke the truth?
“I did not wish to return to the clan with Uven as laird. Even in my own mind, I had not made that distinction until now, but Caelis, you must believe me. I loved our clan, I love our people and I would serve them with you, by your side.”
“So, you would marry this man despite a past that left you alone with a child by him?” Lachlan pressed.
Caelis would knock the laird back on his ass, but for the fact he appreciated Shona’s newly discovered family showing such protectiveness toward her.
Shona nodded, her small, feminine body held tight with sincerity. “I would.”
“Our priest will bless your union before the evening meal,” Lachlan announced.
Caelis expected Shona to balk. Tradition dictated marriage Masses be performed in the morning. She was one who liked to make her plans and she’d been appalled by the speed and lack of ceremony associated with Audrey and Vegar’s wedding.
But she smiled wide. “That would be lovely. Will the priest speak a blessing over Vegar and Audrey’s wedding as well, do you think?”
Audrey sucked in an excited breath. “Oh, would he?”
Lady Emily smiled, her brown eyes sparkling. “I am sure he would. He is quite accustomed to unorthodox weddings.”
Both Shona and Audrey showed delight at this answer.
“Why do we need a blessing?” Vegar asked, looking bewildered.
Audrey crossed her arms and gave a glare that no doubt did Shona proud. “So we can tell our children about something other than a laird’s words while you stood ready to come to blows on the stairway.”