“Do you promise?”
“I promise,” Ysmay repeated. “But now we must go. ’Tis a long walk back to our camp.” She raised her eyes. “Fare ye well, Otto Sarragnac.”
Otto bowed low, and Ariana bent to embrace her aunt once again. “Goodbye,” she whispered, forcing down a lump in her throat.
“Goodbye, Ariana.”
Without another word, the three druids melted soundlessly back into the forest. Ariana felt bereft, until Otto slipped his hand over hers and she looked up into his kind eyes.
“How did you know the druids were there?” she sniffed.
“I saw them when I came through here to confront Sir Leon. They were watching and waiting, but they stood aside to let me pass.”
“They could have wounded you.”
“Nay.” He shook his head with a smile. “They would not waste their arrows on a man who meant you no harm.” He glanced down at Ariana, and his eyes clouded with concern. “You do not look well.”
“I just need a moment.” But even as she spoke, a humming sound filled her ears, and her legs began to tremble. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, breathing in his masculine scent as he carried her over to the rocks, setting her down on a flat stone overlooking the river.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. But you must take care. It has been quite an ordeal.” Otto brushed back her hair tenderly. “You look tired. Beautiful, but tired,” he amended quickly.
“I am not tired.” The denial came instantly to her lips, before she sank back into his arms, leaning her head against his muscular chest. “Well, mayhap there is a reason I am tired.”
Was it her imagination, or did his breath come a little faster?
“What is it?” he asked, lifting her chin so their eyes were just inches apart.
She swallowed, suddenly nervous. “Otto, I have reason to believe that I am with child.”
Her words, though delivered quietly, seemed to carry all around the clearing. For a moment, he didn’t react, his brown eyes calm but unreadable, but then the largest smile she had ever seen broke across his handsome face.
“With child,” he breathed. “Truly?”
“Aye,” she chuckled at his obvious delight. “’Tis still early. But I have been beside myself with worry that this child may grow up without knowing his father.”
“Never.” His rough palms cupped her face, and he kissed her softly on the lips. “I will be here for our child, the heir of Darkmoor. And our families will know peace. I promise you this.”
“I believe you.” She placed her hand over his. Above them, the sun burst through the clouds, bathing them in a dazzling shaft of warmth and light. Ariana held onto her husband’s handand smiled up at him. “I admit, I feel quite peculiar,” she admitted.
“So do I.” Otto’s breath warmed the top of her head as a blackbird broke into song. “I think I know what it is,” he whispered.
“What is it?” She moved closer, wanting to meld her body with his.
Otto ran a finger down her cheek. “I do believe that what we’re feeling is happiness.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Three Years Later…
The carriage bumpedalong the dusty road, making Ariana’s uncomfortable dress poke into her in all the wrong places. She shifted awkwardly on the plush seat, reaching for Otto’s hand to steady her.
“How much longer until we are there?” she asked, aware that her voice held a note of complaint familiar from their two-year-old son and unable to keep from smiling at the comparison.
Otto made a show of looking behind him. “I thought we had left Alfred at home with the nurse,” he said, his eyes wide with mock bewilderment.
Ariana dug her elbow into his side before letting a peal of laughter escape her lips. “I’m sorry, but we have been travelling for nigh on two days. And ever since this morning when you persuaded me to wear this ridiculous gown, I have longed for our arrival.”
Otto put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him, shifting around so she could make herself more comfortable on the narrow seat. “It will be worth the pain, I assure you,” he said, his lips pressed against her elaborately coiled hair. “And you will know when we reach the gates of Wolvesley. I promise you that.”
