Ivar sat and they looked at him.
"Hello, gentlemen. It’s good tae see ye. Let’s begin,” he said and looked to his left. “MacDougall," he nodded at one of his council members. "Talk."
Bronn leaned forward. He was broad and grey-haired and had been on Mull longer than anyone in the room.
"Word came two days ago that he'd been movin' men south. We dinnae ken toward what."
"Now we ken," Torvald said. He explained what had happened.
"Aye, now we ken." Bronn looked at Ivar. "How many did ye count?"
"Eight at the castle. There will have been more we didnae see." Ivar looked at Einar. "I want the coastal watch doubled. Anyone comin' tae Mull in the next fortnight gets stopped and questioned before they set foot on the shingle."
"The King's men are expected tomorrow," Einar said. "Along with the other lairds and their wives."
"They get stopped too. Question first, recognize later." He looked around the table. "MacDougall isnae stupid. He'll try again. Different approach, different timing, but he'll try. I want nay gaps."
He paused. "And what about the weddin’?"
"The envoy will want it done within the week," Bronn said. "King's orders."
"I ken the King's orders." He looked at Torvald. "Arrangements?"
"Hall can be ready in three days," Torvald said. "Four if ye want it done properly."
"Four. Dae it properly." He looked back at Bronn. "And I want a man on her at all times when she's outside the keep. She daesnae ken the island. She daesnae ken the people. Until MacDougall is dealt with, she daesnae go anywhere without eyes on her."
"She'll love that," Torvald said, with the tone of a man who had spent approximately twelve hours watching Matilda MacInnes operate and had formed views.
"She daesnae have tae love it."
"Aye, I'm just sayin'."
"I ken what ye're sayin'." Ivar looked at him. "Two men. Good ones. Ones who ken how tae be present without bein' obvious about it."
Torvald nodded. "I ken the ones."
Einar cleared his throat. "There's the matter of the sheets," he said, in the tone of a man raising something he'd rather not raise. "The envoy will expect the marriage sheets."
"The envoy," Ivar said, "can expect what he likes. We'll deal with that when we get there."
Einar looked like he had more to say about that. He chose not to say it.
Wise.
Bronn shifted in his chair, turning his cup in his hands, and said, mostly to the table. "His brither wouldnae have stood fer any of this business. Raud always said bringin' Highland women into Norse keeps was askin' fer the kind of trouble that didnae announce itself before it arrived."
The room went quiet.
Not the quiet of men who hadn't heard. The quiet of men who had heard and were very carefully deciding where to look.
Ivar looked at Bronn.
Bronn realized what he'd said approximately two seconds after he'd said it. The color moved up his neck. His mouth closed.
The silence lasted long enough that everyone in the room understood what it meant.
"Me brither," Ivar said, and his voice came out level because he made it level, each word placed down with the care of a man who knew that the alternative was something he wasn't going to do in this room, "is nae here tae have opinions about anythin'."