He looked back and forth between them, searching for the words to make them understand what was in his heart. "I willna marry her."
"Oh aye, you will," his uncle said sternly. His dark eyes snapped fire at him. "Now march yourself back in there and finish this."
"Nae," he said stubbornly. "I willna marry her while I love someone else."
"Who?" they asked in unison.
"Nynia."
They exchanged a deep frown.
"Who the blazes is Nynia?" his uncle asked.
"The fishmonger's daughter?" his aunt said.
The two questions came at him at once. Until his aunt's comment registered in his uncle's mind.
"The fishmonger's daughter?" he repeated.
His uncle moved to pop him on the back of his head, but Speirr caught his hand and glared at him. His days of being hit by his uncle were long over.
"Are you mad?" his uncle demanded, wrenching his arm free. "How do you even know her?"
Speirr tensed, expecting his uncle's condemnation. No doubt they would finally banish him from their clan just as they had done his mother.
None of that mattered.
Nynia was the only person who had ever really accepted him.
He would not fail her by marrying someone else while she had to go back to the misery of her life.
He refused to grow old without her.
"I know you don't understand and I know I should just go and marry the Gaul's daughter, but I can't." He looked at his aunt, hoping someone would understand his plight. "I love Nynia. I don't want to live without her."
"You are young and foolish," his uncle said. "Just like your mother, you let your heart rule you. If you fail to do this, you will never live down your mother's shame. You will be seen as nothing more than a ridiculed whoreson. Now get back in that hall and marry Deirdre. Now!"
"Nae," he said firmly.
"So help me, Speirr, fail to do this and I will see you banished for it."
"Then banish me."
"Nae," his aunt said, intruding on their argument.
She held that distant, faraway look that she got whenever she saw through the natural world into a higher level. "The gods are at work here, Idiag. Look into his eyes. Nynia is his soulmate. They are meant to be together."
His uncle cursed. "This would have been a great alliance for our clan," he muttered bitterly. "It would have ensured peace between our peoples and guaranteed that no one would have contested Speirr as my heir. But I won't argue with the will of the gods."
He patted Speirr on the arm. "Go, Speirr. Go claim your Nynia while I try and salvage what I can from this meeting and hopefully avert a war."
Speirr blinked in disbelief. It was the first time in his life that his uncle had ever been kind or merciful toward him. "Do you mean it?"
He narrowed his eyes at him. "Lad, you'd best be off before common sense returns to me."
Speirr shouted as he raced for his horse. Then he ran back and hugged his aunt, then his uncle. "Thank you. Thank you both."
As fast as he could, he ran to his horse and jumped up onto the back of it. He set his heels into its flanks and headed toward their own lands.