“Something will have to give soon.”
“Yes, something must.” Or someone.
“I guess an army’s coming?” he said. It was difficult to determine from his tone how he felt about this.
“I don’t know,” s
he whispered.
“He doesn’t seem a bad sort. Spent some time in here with us.”
She tipped her head back, surprised. “He has?”
“Aye.”
“Doing what?”
There was a small pause. “Eating.”
“He has supped with you?”
“He has.”
She hadn’t expected that. “Well then, what do you think of our conqueror?
Another pause, a bit longer. “If he is your enemy, my lady, then he is ours.”
Oh, this was awful. Even her soldiers were turning to him. And she could not.
She reached her fingertips through, touched his, and gave a little squeeze. “Be safe, Wicker,” she whispered.
“And you, too, my lady.”
“Do not worry, I shall not be reckless.”
“Oh, we’ve no problem with reckless,” he said easily, his hand slipping away. “Just be right.”
The heart of the matter, then, in that simple reply.
“I must go. Eat, keep up your strength, and Wicker? I trust Mac Con with my life. I urge you to do the same.”
His wary eyes peered back at her. He was not confused by her words. He knew as well as she that Aodh was what Rardove needed. She just could not give it to him yet.
“Now, I must away.”
Her nighttime travels had taken longer than she’d intended. A gray opalescence was beading up the mists, rising out of the dells as if the coating of a pearl were floating through the air.
She hurried back to the castle and slipped inside. Even under the hood, her hair was damp with mist. Shaking it as she hurried up the stairs, she swung off the cape as she reached the landing and slipped back inside the darkened room.
The fire was almost out; it had not been stirred. The room was still warm.
Ducked over, barely breathing, she shut the door, twisted the lock, and set Aodh’s cloak on the table. Shaking out her hair one last time, she turned to the room.
Aodh was sitting in the chair, watching her.
Cold rivulets of fear rolled down her chest. “Aodh,” she said on an exhale.
He said nothing.