Who?Ailith asked in her dream.Who will try to stop me?How?
Keep planting.And listen to those who know.
Who knows?In her dream, Ailith panicked.Was there someone who knew Ailith had traveled into the past?Was she the person who would try to stop her?Then why listen to them?
Eladon!
The smoke thickened, and Ailith had the sense that Eladon was gone.
Ailith’s heart raced when she sat up quickly in bed.
The room was unfamiliar, and it took a minute for her to gather her wits and see Muire sleeping on the other side of the room.She was in Muire’s room.
And it was her wedding day.
Chapter Five
MuireandSinewokeshortly after Ailith, stretching and chattering excitedly.Sine wrapped a plaid cape around her slender body and raced out of the chamber, blonde hair standing on end like her brothers often did, for the kitchens.She and Muire had a quiet meal planned for breaking their fast.
Sine returned as Ailith finished wiping her face at the table, balancing an overloaded platter in one hand and a small pitcher in the other.
“Och!The keep is already awake and busy!I had to fight for this!”
“I think ye mean hoard as much of the fruit and honey as ye could!”Muire answered in a tease, rising quickly to take the platter from her sister.
Muire was not wrong.It was mostly summer fruit and berries on the platter, with a bannock buried underneath and two small pots next to a trio of cups.Ailith sniffed the pots – one was honey, the other brambleberry preserves.Sine was a lass after Ailith’s own sweet-toothed heart.
Sine poured honey wine for all three of them while Muire and Ailith selected their food.Ailith should eat more, and she forced a few bannock and honey bites past her lips, but her stomach wouldn’t take any more.It was a cluster of knots.
“Dinna worry, Ailith,” Muire said as she sipped from her cup.“Sine and I will keep a few bites on our person in case ye need to eat throughout the morning.”
It was like she read Ailith’s mind.She turned her face to the muted light filtering through the window by the hearth.It was well past dawn.So much for a daybreak wedding, Ailith thought with a thin smile.
“And William!”Sine added.“He was storming the hall, half-dressed, demanding to know why he wasn’t at the kirk already!”
Ailith had to laugh along with Muire and Sine’s giggles.She could easily imagine William, his defined chest bare and blond-fuzzed, his long legs striding from one hallway to the next, urging guests to wake and head to the kirk.
Muire popped a final berry into her mouth and wiped her hands together.
“Unless we want his bearish person barging in here and wedding ye in my chambers, we should get ready.”She rose and offered a hand to Ailith.“Sine and I have everything for ye ready in Caitir’s salon, our gowns included.A special bridal chamber for ye this day.”
Ailith froze with a smile on her face.She recalled when her family friend had gotten married the summer before, and she had reserved a bridal suite at the venue where she and her bridesmaids dressed and did their hair.They had champagne and strawberries and curling irons and giggles.
Was this the medieval version of that?Maybe not the champagne or curling irons, but berries and giggles, certainly.
Ailith nodded.
Let’s get this show on the road,she thought.
“Aye, let’s get me ready for my wedding.”
“My God, man!Dinna fasten it so tight!”William complained as Ailbert fastened the buttons at the top of the cotehardie.
The rich, dark brown leather was loose at his hips but tightened across his chest and practically choked him at the neck.
“Haut yer wheest!” Ailbert snapped back with a snarky smile.
The man’s enjoying this,William thought with a touch of humor.
