Epilogue

Wind tugged at the wreath tied in Sara's hair as Rory MacLeod kissed her. Kenan Macdonald watched the final part of his sister's wedding there on the white sand beach with a mixture of happiness and envy.

After Sara's return to Dunvegan, Rory had asked her to marry him. They'd chosen to say their vows outdoors where they'd met, near water where no fire could threaten them.

Rory's dog, Gus, trotted along the shore, sniffing at the water as it rushed in and out, tumbling pieces of crystallized seaweed. Eliza and Eleri, inseparable since they'd been introduced, laughed and threw barley seeds at the couple for luck. Beatrice had come from Dunscaith to witness the union, and Aunt Morag had left her crows for the day to attend the ceremony.

Cyrus Mackinnon had ridden down to spend a few days in enemy territory, as his father called MacLeod land. He wanted to see Kenan's flying machine, so Kenan had hauled his repaired wings to the top of the hill bordering the sea, Cnoc Mor a Ghrobain, and would demonstrate later. It had survived the flames and Sara's crash landing with minor injury.

A crowd of onlookers cheered when Rory and Sara turned to smile, their clasped hands raised high. The joy on his sister's face warmed Kenan. She would be happy, and so would his twin half sisters. He on the other hand had a castle to rebuild, a resentful brother to guard against, a clan to support, and a life to put back together. Kenan's time at Carlisle Castle in England had done more than steal a year and a half of his life. It had stolen his belief in humanity. Ash MacNicol was right. People were inherently selfish and untrustworthy.

He rubbed the scar on his palm. Their brotherhood was the only thing Kenan trusted.

"Holy Lord!" Rory's red-haired friend, Jok, called, pointing toward the top of Cnoc Mor a Ghrobain.

"What the hell?" Kenan's friend, Tomas, asked, and a gasping murmur rose above the sound of the waves.

"Is it a bird?" Eleri asked.

"Your wings!" Sara called at the same time.

Kenan's gaze snapped to the sky where a large flying triangle surged and dropped with the buffeting wind. "Bloody hell!" he yelled, running into the surf before stopping to watch. "Those are my wings!" Had the wind wiggled them loose from the rocks he'd placed on them? Nay! There was a person clinging to them, hanging underneath. "Someone's stealing my wings!"

The entire wedding party stood along the shore, watching as a small person held onto the bar.

"'Tis a child," Rory called, covering his squinted eyes against the sun.

"Too big," Morag said. "'Tis a woman."

The woman turned the machine toward the land, the wind whipping it sideways. "Daingead," Kenan swore, his hands resting atop his head.

"I can't see her," the old man, Simon, called.

"Watch the wings," John said. "She's not doing anything but holding on."

The wind carried the faintest words across the glittering sea to Kenan. "Bloody foking hell!"

"Doesn't seem to know how to fly that thing," Simon said.

As more curse words carried to them, Morag chuckled beside Kenan. She'd waded out in the surf with him, the bottom third of her dress soaked and moving with the water. "She's having a hell of a time," his aunt said.

Kenan dropped his hands. "She's going to ruin them."

"She's going to crash," Cyrus called.

"You best go save her," Morag said, sounding almost jolly.

Kenan yanked off his boots and white tunic, throwing them toward the shore. He trudged out through the surf, his feet kicking up the sand, shells, and crystallized seaweed underneath. Once the water was to his waist, he unbuckled his belt, yanked off his plaid, and lifted them up, throwing them back to shore.

The lass screamed, and he pivoted back around in time to see his flying machine hit the water. "Bloody hell." Kenan dove under, swimming with all his might.

Continue the Brotherhood of Solway Moss series with Kenan Macdonald in Book #2.

When a brash woman from a feuding clan crashes Kenan's creation based on Leonardo da Vinci's plans for a flying machine, he captures her, demanding that she help him rebuild it. He doesn't expect her to capture him back. But she has reasons for her risky sabotage and even riskier abduction. She needs to convince the Macdonald chief to save her clan.

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