“I don’t think you’re doing it poorly.”
He sat up and thanked her properly for her trouble, she would give him that. She also tried to give him a bit of a nudge to put another piece of wood on the fire, then ended up doing it herself. She sat back down and found he was watching her in what seemed to be one of his favorite positions, cheek on fist.
“Would you care to hear the very worst?”
“Must I?” she asked, pained.
He shook his head. “I’m not poking at you about that and you needn’t have apologized. You had good reason, and I’m sorry for that. Nay, the worst of this is that I’m afraid I might never manage to go back to what I was before.”
“Unrepentant flirt or terrible black mage?”
“Oh, the first is definitely in my past. The second, though, is what worries me. If word gets out, how will I ever enter another chamber of nobles and be satisfied with simple greetings instead of wails of terror?”
“Poor you,” she said dryly.
“I will hold you responsible.”
“I’m sure you will.”
“Mymotherwill hold you responsible.”
She blinked. “Now, that’s a terrifying thought.”
“If that doesn’t give you terrible dreams, I don’t know what will.”
“Odious man.”
He shot her a small smile. “But you adore me.”
“’Tis hard not to.”
He put his hand on her back. “If you go fetch that book, love, I’ll read to you. Or you can read to me, if you’d rather. I’m interested to find out what your parents put into your wee heads.”
She pushed herself to her feet, retrieved her sister’s book off his shelf, and resumed her place in front of the fire. She looked at the pegasus on the cover, then shook her head. She never would have imagined that such a thing existed, never mind that she might one day ride one. She looked at Acair to find him watching her gravely.
“Why did the peddler think you should have this?” she asked.
“I have no idea, though I’m not one for coincidence.”
“You and King Sìle share that opinion.”
“Don’t tell him. He’ll never sleep well again.” He sat up and held out his hand. “Make yourself comfortable and I’ll take up reading duties for tonight.”
She stretched out on the floor next to where he sat crosslegged with his back against a chair and sighed.
“Thank you.”
He reached out and put his hand briefly on her head. “My pleasure, darling.” He paused. “Perhaps that peddler had a feeling that this might someday find itself back in the proper hands.”
“Do you believe that?”
“At the moment, Léirsinn, I hardly know what to think. My mind is full of things that feel like broken pieces of a polished glass that need to go back together but seemingly have no way to do the same.”
She tapped the cover of the book. “Faeries and heroes. You’ll feel better after you indulge.”
“I seriously doubt that, but I’ll humor you.” He opened the book and started to read.
She thought she just might love him in truth, unrepentant worker of terrible spells and possessor of a tender heart that he was.
