“It is very pretty here.”
“The lake is beautiful. As long as I don’t look all the way across to where Ruith is no doubt plotting my demise, that is.”
“Perhaps Hearn will tell him of your recent escapades.”
“That won’t matter,” Acair said cheerfully. “I can’t charm everyone, so I’ll just soldier on as best I can.”
She walked with him back through the twilight and realized she was looking over her shoulder for something untoward. She looked at him and he shook his head with a smile.
“Safe enough, I daresay.”
“Did you use magic to make sure of it?”
“The odd spell of ward comes in handy,” he said. “But nay, I actually stirred myself to walk outside and have a look whilst you were fawning over that four-legged beastie. That and Sgath—”
“Your grandfather,” she corrected.
He took a deep breath. “My grandfather Sgath has his own spells set, of course. And speaking of grandfathers, I had a wee chat with yours.”
She looked at him. “Did you? About anything in particular?”
“Permissions,” he said succinctly.
“And were they given?”
He nodded slowly. “With the appropriate warnings about seeing properly to the feeding of and caring for your own sweet self. I gave him my word I would do for you what you would allow.”
“Interesting.”
“I have one more thing to tell you, though.”
She looked at him in surprise. If the odd note in his voice hadn’t caught her attention, the rather unsure look on his face certainly would have.
“Changed your mind, did you?”
“I haven’t,” he said grimly, “but you might.”
“Should I be sitting down?”
He looked, actually, as if he might be the one who needed to find somewhere to do just that. “I’m just going to blurt it out.”
“I wish you would.”
He took a deep breath. “Soilléir meddled.”
“With my sister?” she asked in astonishment.
“With us,” he said.
“How?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “It seems that he tossed our souls into the proverbial essence-changing pot, gave them a bit of a stir, then pulled them back out so they were of an equal measure. Or something very like that.”
She patted the air around her, looking for somewhere to sit and found only the man in front of her looking solid enough for any sort of support. She took his hands that he held out and suspected that if she’d had any tears left, she would have used them all on him at that very moment.
“You gave me part of your soul,” she managed.
He only nodded slightly.
