Sisters Three (Completed)

27. Morna (1/2)

Morna closed her eyes as the carriage swayed over the bumpy road back to Glenfarrow House. Her head lolled gently against Afton's shoulder, his chin pressing into her hair and his chest slowly falling and rising against her back. His arms circled her in the front, and she entwined her fingers with his, still enraptured with the sheer amount of joy she could feel even after a week of being married.

The cold part of spring had finally given into the warmth of coming summer, and Morna basked in the sunlight and breeze that came through the open carriage window. The honeymoon at the borrowed estate of one of the Anjeluund nobles had been perfect, with flowers blooming and the first lambs of the season being born in the fields out back. Morna had felt more alive than ever, and even a lack of a body of water nearby hadn't seemed to do much more than give her the occasional headache.

The fact that she was married to Afton, that she could have him forever, still seemed like a fantasy that she'd dreamt up one night. She'd come to terms with never being able to get closer to Afton than stolen kisses in hidden corridors, but now she'd been bound to him with a silver ring and a blessing from the priest. The memory still fizzed in her like a warm bath, easing all her worries and replacing everything with a lazy content.

Almost no one came to their wedding, except for their siblings who stood in disapproving anger at the back of the room while the priest said a few words and blessed them. There was no feast, no celebrations by the people, nothing to mark the occasion of the heir of the throne marrying. But neither of them cared much. Morna had felt terrible that her sister seemed to be aggressively angry at her, but even that paled in comparison to the flood of rapture she felt at being Afton's wife. To Morna, the wedding was perfect in its simplicity, and not having to endure the stares of the nobles loyal to the Glenfarrows was an added bonus.

For the first time in a week, Morna's mind wandered toward the inevitable reaction when they returned to Glenfarrow House and their responsibilities. Now that she was married to Afton and he was the head of the Glenfarrows, she'd be involved with his planning on fighting Revours. The nobles would all look to them to bring the dream of finally gaining control to life. The struggle had dragged on long enough, and now was the time to act. A new head of the family, a new wife, a new dawn.

Blinking her eyes open, Morna felt the tinge of anxiety mar her happiness. She knew Robbin and Brenna were angry about her marriage to Afton, but would the nobles be as well? The generals weren't happy, thinking on Robert's line of logic that he should have married a woman who would bring them some advantage in the fight.

Now that she'd let herself dwell on it, the first doubts over whether she and Afton were right or not entered Morna's mind. She chewed on her lip and tilted her head back to address Afton.

"Do you think maybe we should have waited a bit longer to get married? The generals already doubt your ability to lead them, and eschewing any favorable match to wed the sister of your brother's wife will only strengthen-"

Afton cut her off by gently squeezing her middle in a hug and kissing her hair. "I wouldn't be able to go any longer without marrying you. So you can see that was out of the question since the start. As for my generals, they need to learn that I am the heir to the throne. I may need their help or risk having to find others to pledge men, but without me they have no support from the people for the throne." He loosened his hug and Morna felt him sigh. "I will make decisions they don't like. It's inevitable. I might as well get them used to it now."

Morna still wasn't sure that antagonizing the men who held the majority of their troops was the best idea, but her mind slowly slipped away from the worrying thoughts. The closeness of Afton and the gentle rock of the carriage combined to make her too content to want to entertain anxieties. She leaned into his embrace and closed her eyes again until her drowsiness turned to sleep.