The Spirit Walker (BOOK ONE): The Ripple

Chapter Forty-Seven: Home

I wear the shirt with the widest cut neckline in my wardrobe and no jewelry, Calum's mark my only adornment. It has healed, significantly- a strange testament to my new abilities- but is still scabbed and surrounded by deep purple-blue bruises. I instruct Maise to dress my hair up, entirely off my neck, to ensure that it is on prominent display.

When we enter the hall, Euna's eyes are glued to the spot, her skin ashen. I reach up and brush my fingertips against it, and then meet her gaze, my lips curling upward into the slightest smirk. Her expression goes murderous, before she dissembles. Beside her, Vanora is solemn and stoic, but I can see how she quietly fumes beneath the facade.

The men, of course, are oblivious to it all.

"My Righ," Laird Cameron greets in Sagwu with a respectful bow. "I must offer you my sincerest apologies- my sister came to me last night and shared-"

"In English," Calum commands, coldly. "This offense was done to my mate. She deserves to understand all that is said. And the apologies are not owed to me, but to her."

The Laird blinks, flounders, before gathering control of himself once more. "My... Lady," he begins, seemingly unsure of how to address me. His eyes linger on the newness of my mark, his brow furrowed with confusion. "You have my deepest apologies for my sister's ill-thought actions. She was gone with drink, and-"

Calum lets out a menacing growl, the sound making the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. My nose twitches at the sudden influx of scents in the room- something like charred garlic wafts off of Calum, something like burnt almonds and sour milk from the Laird.

The Laird lapses into silence.

"I do not want your excuses," Calum's voice is hard and fierce and sharp, his eyes blazing. He looks half-beast, in his anger.

"Calum-" Euna whispers in her sweet, dulcet tones, stepping forward with an arm outstretched, as though to calm him.

Calum snarls. "You no longer have the right, nor the privilege, to call me by my given name."

She stumbles in the face of his fury, and quickly retreats into the safety of her grandmother's embrace, her face stricken, her eyes wet. Elder Vanora bristles.

"Remember whose lands you stand in, Righ. And what's more, remember who gives you your power," she hisses, and Laird Cameron gapes.

"Grandmother!" He barks, but Vanora pays him no heed. She glares at Calum, as though she and Euna were the ones wronged.

"A Righ is nothing without the loyalty of his Lairds," she continues.

"I am the Laird here, Grandmother, not you. Mind your place, or you will lose it!" The generally quiet Laird Cameron explodes, his face red and eyes bulging with anger. Vanora narrows her eyes at him, but falls mercifully silent.

The Laird turns back to Calum and I, obviously shaken.

"Normally I would allow you to keep your misconceptions to minimize your embarrassment, but given the behavior of your women..." Calum says, fixing a quick, withering stare on Euna and Vanora.

"Despite what your sister may have told you, she was entirely within her faculties, last night. She plied me with a drink of her own concoction, which kept my arousal high. She attempted to seduce me and lie with me, in the room adjacent to my mate. And if you have a healer check where she is in her monthly cycle, I am certain you would be told that her womb is at its ripest. I am sure I do not have to explain the implications of all of this to you."

Euna is ashen, her pale lips trembling. "Brother... Brother, I..."

The Laird holds up a hand, his cheeks pale.