*
“Is all wellwi’ ye?”
The query sounded in Rhian’s ear and startled her. She’d been so focused within that she’d failed to realize Saerla stood at her shoulder.
Now she spun and gazed into her sister’s eyes. What did Saerla know? What had she noticed there in the meeting?
“Ye seem distracted,” she said gently. “’Tis no’ like ye.”
“I have far too much on my mind.”
Saerla nodded. They’d met on the path that led to the infirmary. She laid a hand on Rhian’s arm and drew her aside to the shelter of a rowan tree.
“Sister, I wanted to ask ye. Did ye stay wi’ yon Leith MacLeod last night? Because ye were no’ wi’ me.”
Rhian had been expecting this question. Suddenly she found she could not quite meet Saerla’s searching gaze. “Aye, I stayed wi’ him.”
“Rhian—”
“Ye need no’ tell me ’tis madness. I already ken that. ’Tis mad and reckless and utterly unlike me. I canna help mysel’.”
“The two o’ ye made love?”
Again, Rhian wondered what her sister knew. Had she Seen that Rhian would bear Leith’s child? His son?
“I love him, Saerla. And that is somewhat I never thought I would say of any man. I ken wha’ men are. And women. I understand the traps and the consequences o’ desire.”
“Ye be a woman grown. I canna tell ye wha’ to do, or wi’ whom ye should or should no’ lie down. But—”
“But?” Rhian repeated when Saerla’s voice died away.
“I fear it canna end well.”
Rhian seized Saerla’s shoulders. “Ha’ ye Seen his death?”
“Nay.” Saerla shook her head. “No’ that.”
“Then what? Tell me.”
“I canna, Rhian. Do no’ ask it o’ me. I—” Agony flooded Saerla’s face. “I do no’ even want to think about what I Saw.”
Rhian shuddered.
Saerla looked at her kindly. “Rest assured, it had naught to do wi’ ye.”
What, then? Rhian could not ask again. If Saerla had Seen some terrible loss—well, Rhian could not bear it. They had already lost far too much.
Saerla said, “Ye walk a dangerous path loving this man.” Her lips worked before she said, “A MacLeod.”
“Just like Moira before me, choosing to love the verra man who struck Da’s deathblow.”
“I am no’ certain we can choose where we love.”
“Nay.” Rhian shook her head. “Once, I would ha’ thought so. I would ha’ said, in my ignorance, a woman had full control o’ her future and where to place her heart.”
For an instant, despair looked at Rhian from Saerla’s eyes. “I fear,” she whispered again, “it will end in terrible sorrow.”
Rhian did not know what to do. In the past she had comforted her younger sister in times of distress. Both she and Moira had. They’d looked after the smallest of them.
