She panted under him, her face half buried in the plaid coverlet as he shuddered and gasped into her hair.His breath was warm and damp on her sweaty neck.It was the only sensation she could register until the rest of her brain rejoined her tingling body.
The firm grip of his hand on hers relaxed slightly as his breathing evened out.He shifted his head so his mouth was close to her ear.
“I always need ye, Ailith,” he told her.
She didn’t say it aloud, but oh, how she needed him as well – more than any words might convey.
He released the feather, and she tucked herself against William’s heated, comforting skin as she watched it float gently to the floor.
Chapter Twelve
AilithkissedWilliamgoodbyebefore he mounted Lugh to leave the following morning.His lips were soft and demanding as he drew the kiss out, not caring who might be watching.William was a man who knew how to give a lingering, memorable goodbye kiss.To leave behind that memory.
Before he pulled away, he leaned close to her cheek and whispered in her ear.
“Dinna be surprised if I return with more feathers.”
Ailith could not stop the burning blush that surged over her chest up to her cheeks.She dropped her gaze with a knowing smile and patted her hand against his broad chest.
“I love ye,mo ruaidh,” he whispered and placed a light kiss on her forehead.
“And I, ye,” she responded as he stood upright.He gave her a long, intense look, then turned to his horse.
She was also exiting the palisade gate, with Sine and Wee Brian flanking her.Sine’s sky-blue eyes were bright at the prospect of what she thought of as an exciting adventure.Ailith didn’t have the heart to tell her that planting mushrooms was anything but exciting.
Wee Brian grumbled, but with his hand atop his sword hilt, she had the sense that he was proud to be the protector of their small troupe.Again, she didn’t have the heart to tell him anything different as the cool steel of her own ornate knife pressed against her thigh.
She glanced back as they stepped onto the main pathway leading from the keep for one last look at Willian.Tall in his saddle, his thick blond hair nearly brushing his shoulders, William’s blue eyes that matched his sister’s never left her form.His intense gaze followed her as she walked away, as if his gaze alone might keep them safe on their trek.
Huffing out a harsh laugh, Ailith hoped the same, that her insights might keep him safe until he returned from the Moray lands.
His cousins and father were mounting their horses next to him.Nearby, Ailbert was helping Muire onto her small cart.Since she would be at the MacIntoshes for nearly a sennight, they were bringing a trunk’s worth of belongings.
Along with them, the rest of the wedding guests were packing their carts and mounting their horses, including William’s cousin Eoghan and his severe sister Betris.
Ailith didn’t miss the hard look Betris threw at her.She had hoped that she and Betris might become friendly, but Betris kept her distance, and Ailith had no doubt that her conversations with Mairi only poured more poison into her ears, whether Mairi did it intentionally or not.
Ailith sighed.It was probably better that Eoghan and Betris were leaving – best to put space between herself and Betris’s frosty glare.She had more important things to focus on than a jealous woman with a spiteful tongue.
Sine had started chatting as they left the edge of the wall while William and the others fell out of her sight.Ailith turned her head to pay attention to her sister-in-law.
“My apologies, Sine.What were ye saying?”
“What do we need to do with these wee puddock-stools ye are planting?”
Even her voice held notes of excitement.
Och, puir lass!‘Tis a task of digging and dirt, nothing else!
Then again, Sine was the type of woman who tried to put a positive attitude on everything.If Muire reminded her of Angelina, then Sine reminded her of Ashland.Always positive, always light-hearted.
Ailith’s hand drifted to her satchel.Only a few mushrooms remained.Then she’d have to venture back to Dunnottar for more if she wanted more plantings.Deciding to keep one or two behind to ask Teagan how she might prepare these fungi, she mentally counted how many she had left.Two dozen?Maybe less?
William had told her of another mossy, shadowy collection of grass and stones in the woods, a place not far from Drumoak that might work for planting.If it worked, then these mushrooms would have a new home.
Ailith drew one tiny mushroom from its dark place in her bag and held it out to Sine as they headed south.She pointed out the gills under the cap and the thread-like mycelium at the base.
“We can plant both of these.These threads are roots, and if we plant them, they can produce new puddock-stools.And under the caps here?”Ailith delicately brushed her fingertip against the gills in the microscopic spores.“There are seeds so small, they canna be seen.Yet they are there.We separate the caps into three or four and plant those.With luck, most of them sprout, and from one stool we get four or five more.”
