Not quite yet.
Meanwhile, she must keep Adair safe and out of danger’s reach. She dared not travel too far inland, for the kingdom of Dalriada, settled by chiefs from Erin, had but a fingerhold on Alba’s west coast, wrenched away from the tribes of blue men who still held the interior.
She could not lead her love from one danger straight into another.
That he was her love, she had no doubt. No mere girlish emotion, this, that made her fingers tingle and caused a flutter in her heart. Though her fingers did tingle with desire when she looked at him, and though everything about him pleased her beyond expression.
This was need, more that aught else. In a curious way, it seemed she’d been looking for Adair MacMurtray all her life without knowing. Missing him without suspecting it.
Was that why she’d never more than given a glance to any other man? Why she had not fought as hard as she should when Kendrick proposed the marriage alliance with Earrach?
She’d wanted no one, had expected she never would. She had not known that she wanted a man she hadn’t yet encountered.
Out here, living upon the face of the land with almost nothing to support them, she suspected that they would stumble over each other’s faults and fall into disagreements. She awaited it day after day. They were short on sleep, worried, and ill fed.
It did not happen. Adair healed steadily, and she could feel his strength return despite the short provisions. He had a deep well of vitality, and when she felt at her worst—most worried and desperate—she need only catch a smile from him to benefit from it.
And then there were the signs. Curious occurrences at moments when she hesitated over their course or direction. A bird might suddenly fly up with a harsh cry, warning them of a steep drop ahead. Several times, stags appeared and seemed to guide them onward.
“Follow him,” Adair told her then.
She could not shake the notion that Alba herself watched over them and also led them, for soon enough Bradana had no hope of guessing where they were.
Or how to get home.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
One cool morning,as they rode single file, they smelled smoke from a fire. Bradana drew her pony up in a dead stop and raised her head. Adair, in his usual place behind her, lifted his head also and scented the wind.
He had now lost count of how many days they had spent wending their way up and down across Alba’s hills and glens. Utterly lost, he’d placed himself in Bradana’s hands. So far they’d met no one, and if they barely clung to life—for he was hungry all the time—at least they did so on their own and by the grace of Wen. And though he’d seen worry in Bradana’s eyes more than a few times as she’d strained to watch their back trail, he’d as yet caught no sounds of pursuit.
She had told him there were native settlements out here. People she called blue men, for the tattoos that covered their skin, and that the southerners called Picts. It seemed they had nearly ridden up onto one such settlement.
Wen went forward, stepping like a gray shadow through the trees and bracken.
With another wave for Adair, Bradana got down from her pony and followed the hound.
Adair had no doubt that they would not have managed so far without Wen. Like a protective spirit, he accompanied them, guarded them while they slept, and provided for them.
If something happened to the hound…
Quietly, he slipped his sword from its loop. His injury had improved enough that he could now grip the hilt of the weapon. How he would fare in a battle… Well, he hoped he would not need to find out.
Bradana soon came slipping back and moved directly to lay her hands on his knee.
“We maun turn back. A large settlement. Blue men, I do no’ doubt.”
Wen came back whining.
“Aye, so,” Bradana told the hound. “We are going.”
She stepped away from Adair’s pony and seemed to take stock of their surroundings. Choosing the best route could not be easy. He could see she did not know.
Help her, Alba, Adair thought. He did it only half out of fancy and half from the odd belief that had lately been creeping over him.
For several moments, nothing happened. Wen whined again. Then a bird came streaming up out of the bracken that clothed the steep drop to their right and flew in the opposite direction.
Bradana’s head turned. Their eyes met. She stepped back to him even as he lifted his brows.
