“I am unsure, but I warned Taog of the possibility.”
Elspet again scanned the woods, each shadow prodding her to pause in search of a hidden threat. On a shaky breath, she faced Cailin. “Now what?”
“Wetry to sleep.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “After warning me of a possible attack, I am supposed to sleep?”
“Until my uncle is imprisoned, there is nowhere safe. Here is as good a place as any, more so as the Romani have guards set up around the perimeter of this encampment. Come.”
In silence, they moved past several people who nodded to her; she waved her reply. A part of her was thankful Cailin would remain close, not that she’d admit such, more so with fatigue and ale blurring her thoughts.
Her emotions were too raw. She would have preferred to be alone, although given their danger, a foolhardy thought.
After passing another fire, he halted before a tent and lifted the flap, exposing a layer of pine boughs spread out over the ground, a stack of blankets and furs to the right.
Her legs unsteady, she entered.
Cailin steppedin behind her.
In wavers of golden firelight streaming into the tent, she focused her fatigue and drink-blurred thoughts on making a pallet rather than on the fact that they would be sleeping in the same tent. With a shiver at the cold, she slipped beneath the covers, thankful for the soft boughs upon the hard ground, and savored the building warmth. When she could wait no longer, she glanced over.
Half-cloaked in shadows but a hand’s length away, he was adjusting a fur over a blanket. She caught the tired lines creasing his face, and the images of a lad too young to deal with such deception made her heart ache. However difficult for her, Cailin struggled against his own challenges: an uncle who’d betrayed him, a man who’d murdered his parents and then had paid a miscreant to ensure he was killed. Against such odds, ’twas a miracle he’d lived.
Lived? No, he’d done far more than that. He’d overcome challenges that would have devastated most and had grown into a formidable warrior to admire. A man who, however much she tried to ignore what he made her feel for him, left her remembering how he’d held her, and the potency of his kiss.
She gave herself a mental shake and instead voiced a question she’d been wanting to ask. “After you escaped from your uncle’s hired killer, how didyou survive?”
“Go to sleep.”
Far from swayed by his stern warning, she rolled to her side, bringing herself closer to him. “You are accomplished with a blade, a proficiency I have rarely seen.”
He gave an exasperated sigh. “Skills I learned protecting others duringtheir journey.”
At his vague reply, her curiosity grew. “Where haveyou traveled?”
“Many places.”
“Such as?”
“’Tis unimportant.”
She tugged the blanket around her and sat up, staring at him in the semidarkness. “Why are you only now returning to Dalkirk?”
With the cover pulled up to his shoulders, Cailin turned, leaving his back to her.“Go to sleep.”
Oddly hurt, she lay back, glanced outside, and watched a spark from a nearby fire swirl away into the night. Many still sat around the fires, sharing the events of the day, tales that made some laugh. Sadness swelled inside at memories of her previous visits to Taog’s camp, of how she’d enjoyed the stories, and of her stepfather’s laughter.
Elspet drew up the covers and closed her eyes, willingsleep to come.
The murmur of prayer had her peering toward Cailin through half-closed lashes. As in the cave, he was whispering the Our Father and, once finished, he again started the Paternoster.
After several repetitions, he made the sign of the cross, then pulled his covers higher. A brief while later, his soft, even breaths assured her that he’dfallen asleep.
A frown crossed her brow. She’d met many knights in her life but never one so devout. Had his uncle’s attempt to have him murdered incited his deep spirituality? It made sense, a foundation built on faith that would have guided him through the years since.
Still, it felt as if she was missing something important. She sighed. As if she would discover whatever mystery surrounded Cailin this night, when her mind was skewed by emotions and drink?
The distant voices of those seated around the flames reached her, and a haze slowly enshrouded her mind. Ready for this day to end, she released a slow sigh, closed her eyes, and welcomed the numbinghaze of sleep.
