Gillemore might have said something, but Duncan stalked in the opposite direction.
Oh, he could wrap his hands around Iain’s neck with pleasure, for what that man wrought these days—at least he might have, had they not been so close once long ago.
But that had been before...before Cormac found fault with Iain, before the boy went away, before Iain was shocked by the evidence that his father favored Duncan over him. Before Duncan had been made chieftain at Cormac’s request.
Fostership to a hundred and blood to twenty, that was what Gillemore oft said of the considerable affection that oft grew between a man and his foster son, even at the expense of his own blood son. Indeed, there had been a rare bond between Duncan and Cormac, one that transcended any lack of blood between them. Duncan
