—LACHLAN OF THE BALMORAL The warrior fainted. With a great resounding thud as his big, over-muscled body hit the dirt. Caelis had taken one look at their son, his blue eyes widening in recognition that had quickly turned to horror and then he’d sunk to the ground like a stone. Several people, Sinclairs and Shona’s friends alike, made sounds with varying degrees of shock and volume. Her own heart in her throat, though why she should be concerned for the blackguard she did not know, Shona paid none of them any heed until her son spoke. “Is he dead then, like my lord?” The fact that her former husband had insisted on the formal address from the boy all but he and Shona considered his son never seemed so absurd and yet appropriate as it did in that moment when Eadan stood staring at the unconscious body of the father who shared his blood. Niall shook his head and turned away from the other big soldier, as if a warrior collapsing was of little notice. “Nay, laddie. He’s alive, just taking a wee nap.”
