He let himself into his house, slightly gratified to find the door hadn’t been bolted against him. The fire in the kitchen was low, but still burning. He realized that the makings of tea were there, plus a bit of soup left to warm. He stood there and looked at them for a moment or two, bemused, then made himself a very late, hasty supper.
He walked quietly through his house and found Léirsinn asleep in front of the fire in his study. He wasn’t sure she would ever use that luxurious chamber he’d offered her, but perhaps she felt more secure where she was. He leaned against the doorway and watched her for a moment or two, that flame-haired, flame-tempered, impossibly courageous gel—
“You should come to bed.”
He blinked and realized she wasn’t as asleep as he’d thought.
Those were certainly words he’d never expected to hear from Léirsinn of Sàraichte, but the hand waving she did immediately following uttering them was somehow rather reassuring.
“I don’t mean that. You should come sleep. I can hear you cursing from here and I don’t think it’s helping you.”
He left his shoes by the wall and padded over to the hearth in bare feet. He sat down on a stool and sighed.
“I’m too restless to sleep.”
“Something to drink?”
“Why not a game of cards instead? I’ll owe you a kiss for every hand you win.”
She sat up, her glorious red hair cascading over her shoulders, her stunning self looking so fetching in the nightclothes he’d loaned her that he thought he might cheat just to lose.
“You are thinking lewd thoughts.”
“Of course,” he said lightly. “You know me. Predictable, as always.”
She patted the spot next to her on the very unmagical, not entirely uncomfortable pallet he’d made for them the night before.
“Why don’t I read you a tale instead? Do you have any faery stories?”
“None that would inspire pleasant dreams,” he said grimly. He pulled a deck of cards out of thin air. “This is less perilous.”
She studied him. “Will you cheat?”
“To lose? Absolutely.”
She smiled. “All right. How was the sea?”
“Glorious.”
“You look more at peace, all things considered.”
He made himself comfortable on the floor across from her and wished he could agree. Unfortunately, the truth was that he had more questions than answers and no amount of scrawls on parchment seemed enough to shift the balance of that. The list of people who might want revenge against him was, he suspected, commensurate with the number of black mages in the world who wanted the same. He supposed there were those without magic who also might want to see him eating a few just desserts, but those lads and lassies didn’t speak in shards.
He just didn’t understand why now.
“I’ll go find something to drink.”
Be carefulwas almost out of his mouth before he came back to himself and heard what she’d said. He watched her walk across his study to look for things he was quite certain she wouldn’t want to imbibe.
He rubbed his fingers over his eyes, shook his head to bring back a decent bit of good sense, then started shuffling. Léirsinn was in his house and they both were safe.
That might be enough for what was left of the night.
Twelve
Léirsinn stood inside Acair’s library and wondered if he didn’t have just too many books.
She was half tempted to go back to what she’d spent most of the morning doing, namely standing at the front door, looking out at the ocean. ’Twas true that she’d also peered out of every door and window, admiring the mountains behind the house and the deep forests on either side, but somehow she’d always found herself back watching that glorious stretch of beach in front of her. It had taken a great amount of self-control to shut the front door a few moments ago and be about something useful.
