Page 36

Bryanna looked over her shoulder to the next campfire, where a mother had her two children, ages six and eight, in her lap and was rocking them, repeating something that was no doubt supposed to be comforting.

Only, her voice sounded tense and worried.

Bryanna touched Raghnall’s shoulder, and his dark gaze was immediately on her, sharp and focused like the scope of a sniper’s gun. A shiver ran through her. How could he be so warm and worried about her one moment, saving her life, and then the next be a cold, distant man.

“Um…” she said. “I just wanted to ask if you have your lute with you.”

He twisted his torso away and patted something on the opposite side. “Aye, I do.”

“Everyone seems to be really on edge. It’s a terrifying situation, to abandon their homes, especially for children. I teach music to children where I’m from, and I was thinking, maybe you could play and sing to them? That might help them to calm down.”

His eyes lit up, sparkling with red-and-orange flames reflected from the fire. “Ye teach music?”

She picked up a small twig and fiddled with it. “I do.”

His whole face changed—from a man with dark secrets and a burden on his shoulders, he transformed into a grinning boy. “What do ye play?”

Bryanna’s own stomach tightened in excitement, as though he had infected her. She felt like a shy teenage girl who just got the attention of the most popular boy in school. She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and stared at the ground, a stupid smile spreading on her face.

“Not a lute, but something similar, in a way… Have you heard of a guitar?”

“A guitar? Nae.”

“It’s also a stringed instrument, but the sound is different. Louder, I think. And depending on what the strings are made of, the sound can also be more intense. I also play piano, of course. Every music teacher must.”

“And ye sing?”

“Yes.”

Please, don’t ask me to sing…she begged him in her head.

“God’s feet, ye may be the most perfect woman that has ever walked this earth…” he mumbled, as though to himself, making heat burn her cheeks and neck. “Please, sing to me.”

But shyness didn’t want to let her go, and although she sang and played for work, she shook her head. What if he didn’t like her voice? What if she sang the wrong note? Could she even remember a single song under his burning gaze?

“If ye wilna sing to me, then sing to the children.”

“I don’t know any medieval songs.”

“Then sing something from yer time. I’ll try to pick the melody with my lute.”

She bit her lip. This might actually work. She could sing him something super easy, like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The melody was basic and beautiful and soothing. This would be perfect.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s do it… Though it’s been a very long time since I sang when someone else played along.”

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,” she began, quieter than she would have liked, and Raghnall stilled so completely, he could have been a statue.

“How I wonder what you are…” she continued, braver now, letting her voice gain strength.

Teasag and Eanar quieted and listened to her, open-mouthed.

“Up above the world so high…” She felt it now…that place within her, where she was safe, where she felt her soul pouring through her voice, where she knew she was connected with her audience, where she knew she brought beauty.

“Like a diamond in the sky,” she sang, forgetting that anyone was watching her, or judging her, or listening.

She kept singing the song, and distantly realized that more and more people gathered around the bonfire and that children stopped whining and crying. She saw Odhran, Eamhair, and their kids and smiled at them. The beautiful chords of the lute joined in, softly and hesitantly at first.

And when she looked at Raghnall playing, he was watching her like she was his sun and his moon, like she led him and he was happy to follow.