“Sssss,” she said again. “They are wicked uruisgean, and I have left them this long time ago. I did not want to be leaving Glenfern whatever,” she added hopefully.
Ian looked pleased, but Alex laughed. “Aye, it was a good enough life you were leading there, after all. But you seem to be doing well enough for yourself the now. Where were you stealing the gey sober gown and plaidie?”
“I was not stealing them whatever!” Kelpie was outraged more by his manner than by his words.
“But you would be saying the same thing even if you had,” encouraged Alex with a straight face.
Kelpie’s lips began to curve upward as she remembered the teasing at the loch-side at Glenfern. She tried to frown, for it was not right to be teasing with Alex when they were no longer friends. But she could not help it. “Of course,” she agreed cheekily and grinned.
“Och, the wicked wee lass!” Alex chuckled. “She’ll never change!”
“No, now, but she has changed!” Ian objected. “She could not laugh at herself when first she came to Glenfern.”
“Are you sure ’tis herself she’s laughing at?” gibed Alex. “Or is it ourselves, just, for being ready to forgive her so easily—and after she was breaking the ancient code of hospitality.”
“It was not my fault!” protested Kelpie. “Mina was threatening to put a curse on you all if I did not come with them.”