Soldier, knight, commander, personal friend of Henry V, King of England, and earned his nobility on the battlefield. He has no use for the code of chivalry or some idea of honorable warfare, as he doesn’t value winning. He conquers, and whatever warfare he must engage in to do that, he will. He is the bastard son of a wealthy merchant, one of many of his father’s bastards, for his father is a lusty man. Grimme and all his brothers—the ones he knows about anyway—are equally lusty, and Grimme has the wherewithal to indulge his lust, what with 4 mistresses and 3 chambermaids about. But now that he’s an earl, he needs a wife.
She is the daughter of a lowlands Scottish clan chief and very skilled noblewoman. She also had life experience a woman of her age and station should not have. She’s insecure, desperate for a friend who won’t tire of her, and deeply grateful to the stranger who snatched her from her forced marriage. How wonderful he is also intelligent, a noble, and strong enough to protect her from her father. He is also very very handsome. He wants to be friends—without benefits. As time goes on, she grows less and less content with her lot.
She was Grimme’s first when he was 16, and promptly got pregnant. She’s the mother of his oldest 2 sons. Dillena, Ardith, and Maebh look just like her. There’s a reason for that. Dillena is the mother of his third son. Maebh—who is a spoil of war (not that she minds)—is the mother of his youngest, a scrappy little 5-year-old who’s got a ruthless streak a mile wide, and whom Grimme decides to make his heir.
Grimme’s pet, war horse, and most prized possession, who was appropriated by Grimme’s liege.
The steed Grimme purchases for Brìghde, a steed who is a match for Ares, but becomes Brìghde’s pet because he’s a Trojan horse!
Brìghde’s childhood dog, a Scottish deerhound.
The dog who attached herself to Brìghde on Brìghde’s lone trek through France back to Scotland, and died protecting Brìghde.