One by one the members of the Clan approached him dressed in his great finery as Chieftain. They knelt before him and kissed the ring on his left hand and then they swore obedience to him in life and in death.
Vanora thought it sad that she had not been present when Ewen had taken his father’s place.
It was obvious, she now remembered, that it had been impossible for him to sit on the Stone as the Earl of Glenfile had taken it away when he defeated the McKyles.
“In future,” he had said spitefully, “your Chieftain will never again have the authority you have given him, as he cannot accept it sitting on the Stone which is his throne. So he will not have the blessing of other Chieftains as he has lost what is, to all intents and purposes, his crown.”
Vanora had always thought it was unkin
