She suspected not, but stranger things had happened.
She crawled to her feet and pulled him up to his. She would have told him that he wasn’t fit to go anywhere except back to bed, but she supposed he’d been worse off.
She fetched her pack and satchel, left them by the door that led out to the garden, then decided her time would be better used following Acair to make certain he didn’t fall asleep on his feet than hovering by the back door and fretting.
She found him simply standing and staring at the map on the table in his library.
“Acair?”
He glanced at her and smiled, then held out his hand. She walked over and took it, which she supposed was becoming something of a bad habit. Then again, so was becoming far too accustomed to feeling ridiculously safe in the embrace of a terrible black mage.
Who wasn’t all that terrible, it seemed to her.
“Have all your answers?” she asked.
“As many as I can stomach for the moment,” he said. “Perhaps the rest are in Seannair’s library. I have the feeling there’s something there that Soilléir wants me to see, damn him to hell for refusing to simply hand it to me.”
“Does he usually have reasons for that sort of thing?”
“Unfortunately,” he said sourly. “What they are is anyone’s guess.” He kissed her hair, then stepped away. “I’ll put the house to bed and we’ll go. We might manage a meal in Inntrig if we’re fortunate.” He paused. “You could take your sister’s book, if you like.”
“You keep it for me,” she said. “It would be safer here, I think.”
“The first of many tomes on fantastical creatures we’ll read to our brood of half a dozen children.”
She looked at him and damn the man if he didn’t wink at her.
“Three handsome lads like yours truly,” he said pleasantly, “and a trio of red-haired, feisty little lassies who will lead everyone around them on a merry chase, just like their mother. I will, of course, be greeting all suitors at the door with my most terrible spells lined up out front in a tidy row, just so there’s no confusion about how I’ll allow those gels to be courted.”
“I still haven’t heard a decent proposal in any of that,” she managed. She hardly knew whether he was serious or not and thought she might not want to break her heart over the thought.
“Actually, I thought I’d ask your grandfather for your hand first,” he said casually. “Before I asked you.”
She looked at him quickly and found that he wasn’t looking particularly unconcerned. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought he looked just the slightest bit unsure.
“You…“ She found she couldn’t say any of the things she was thinking without feeling foolish, so she simply looked at him.
“Rendered speechless by my mere presence,” he said solemnly. “You might be surprised how often it happens.”
“Or I might not be.”
“You might not be,” he agreed with a smile. “I’ll close up the rest of the house if you want to go and gather up your coins.”
“Why don’t I just come with you?”
“Of course, love,” he said quietly.
She imagined he realized that was less about his flawless face and more about not wanting to be alone, but the man was perceptive.
It took far less time than she liked before she was standing at the back door with him, his damned horse sitting at his feet, drooling, and thought she might lose what little breakfast she’d managed to choke down a quarter hour before.
“How will we do this?” she croaked.
He looked at her in surprise, then closed his eyes briefly before he gathered her into his arms.
“I won’t tell you not to be afraid,” he said quietly. “Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing from time to time. Keeps a wise lad from doing something stupid whilst the rest of the fools rush in and perish, as my mother would say. There also might be something in there about that rushing being what rids the world of mindless yobs, but you know her.”
She almost smiled. “Your mother is a wonder.”
