“I should ha’ known if Wen were here, ye could no’ be far behind.”
“I ha’ been looking for him. Ye ha’ stolen the heart o’ my hound, so it seems.”
“I am certain he loves no one more than ye. He has merely taken pity on me in my loneliness.”
“Are ye lonely, then?” She stepped in farther. “I supposed, as must everyone else, ye would wish to sleep.”
“I would, if I could.”
“Is the pain too great? Allow me to send for the healer, who will mix ye a draught.”
“Nay. I do no’ wish him back.”
What he did wish was for her to sit beside him like her hound. And then the wish came true as she approached the bed and sat down, folding her legs beneath her skirt gracefully.
Reaching out to touch Wen, she said, “I must apologize for my stepbrothers.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why must ye?”
“Because they will no’ apologize for themselves. They are fools. Did they think they could get away wi’ such a deed? That ye would no’ fight back and mark them?”
“I do no’ suppose they cared in the heat o’ the moment.”
She gazed at him steadily, and he could feel the emotions rushing through her as if they were his own. “They want ye gone. For yer own safety, it might be best for ye to give them what they want.”
“Well, I might do. I could sail home having failed in the task my father set, even as my two brothers did. But now, I am angry.”
“Ah.”
“I ha’ a right to be here, do I not? A right of blood, even if the debt Kendrick owes my father is disregarded. Should I let his sons chase me away? Besides—” He broke off.
“Besides?”
He hesitated before finishing softly, “You are here.”
That made her look away from him for the first time. She turned her eyes down to her hands, which lay in her lap.
“I will no’ be for long. Soon enough I will wed and move awa’. Better, perhaps—” Now it was she who hesitated.
“Better?”
“If the break be made clean now.”
“I see.” That was what she chose, was it? A merciful parting, a distance of sea between them forevermore.
“But what of this?”
He reached out and took her hand. For an instant it fluttered in his grasp like a wild bird. Then the feelings came rushing in—those feelings he could only begin to define. Warmth. Belonging. A sense of rightness so strong, it overmastered every other consideration.
Her fingers eased in his. The terror fled her, replaced by something else that fairly screamed aloud.
“But,” she whispered, “it is hopeless.”
“Is it? Look at me, Bradana. Look at me.”
She raised her eyes. Gazed at him in wonder.
“Bradana, there must be a way.”
