Lia pulled Ailith forward, with Edan stepping in beside her. “And there’s a couple to celebrate. My congratulations to you both, Ailith and Edan. Few pairings hold what yours does. Past-sight and iron blood joined, you have already done what no others could.”
Edan kissed Ailith’s cheek and said, “I think we are too. I never knew love could be so strong.”
Ailith’s breath caught, leaning into Edan’s warm embrace.
“Alasdair, have you accepted this man as your daughter’s intended?” Lia asked, releasing Ailith’s hands.
“Aye, he is welcome at Duart Castle.”
“Aye, then. Go back to what you were doing. I must chat with the seers.”
Everyone moved about the deck, stretching and taking in the view of the water and the land not far ahead, as the ship lay at anchor.
“What is it, Sylvi?” Lia asked.
“How did you know?” Sylvi whispered.
“What is it, Sylvi?” her mother pressed, drawing out the last part of her name.
Sylvi sat up, hugged her knees, and said, “I keep having an odd dream.”
“More…” Lia prompted.
“Someone is drowning. A ship goes under in a whirlpool, and the captain nearly drowns. I don’t like it.”
“Who is the captain?” Dyna asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t see his face.” She cast a quick glance over at Magni, Morgan, and Cormac, who were chatting and laughing about something.
Lia lowered her voice. “Which ship?” The Mull Cog was Cormac’s, Lia’s Hulk was run by Magni, and Morgan captained the Sea Raven.
Sylvi’s eyes moved from her mother to Lia, and finally landed on Magni, who paused in his conversation to lock gazes with her. He grinned, then winked, but his gaze changed quickly to confusion.
As if he could read her thoughts.
Then Cormac’s voice drew him back into their conversation.
She swallowed a lump in her throat before she finally spoke, sending a chill up Ailith’s spine.
“It’s Lia’s Hulk.”
Epilogue
Gruin crossed the chamber silently. His pockets were empty. He had eaten the mice during the climb down, swallowing them whole, one after another, in a desperate bid for courage. The courage had not worked. It never did.
He didn’t like having to answer to this sluagh, the Warden of the Hollow, but he’d been called so he had to report to him.
He dropped to one knee at the foot of the throne and bowed his head before the Warden. “My lord.”
The Warden, the evil fool, did not move.
That was the first bad sign. The Warden always moved when his creatures came to him. A lifted finger, a turn of the head, a slow smile that meant he wanted you to hurt before he spoke. Stillness meant he was processing a failure in his own mind and had not yet decided what to do with the creature who delivered it.
“Rise, Gruin.”
He rose, keeping his eyes on the stone.
“I’m waiting.”
