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Egan paused in the beam of light cast by a long narrow window. “She couldn’t have been pleased, but I don’t believe my father ever stopped grieving for the wife he’d lost. Ula amused him, certainly satisfied his physical desires, but my mother must have meant so much more to him.”
He looked so sad, Oriana could not help but wonder if he did not recall more of his mother than he would admit. Perhaps that was why he had never accepted Ula, nor the son she’d borne his father.
“Is that why you think so little of Kieran?”
Egan responded with a rueful laugh. “I don’t think of him at all, and you shouldn’t either.”
Egan slid his arm around her shoulders to pull her close as they continued on their way. “My chamber, as well as Kieran’s, Albyn’s, and quarters for guests are on this corridor. We must go past the stairwell to the opposite corridor to visit my mother’s room.”
As they approached the arched doorway, Oriana was buffeted by a wave of icy air. Startled, she raised her hand. “Wait, did you feel a sudden chill just now?”
Egan rested his hand lightly on the door’s iron handle. “The fortress is always cold. I should have had you don a cloak. Come inside and wrap yourself in furs.”
It had been a chill of the spirit rather than of the flesh, and Oriana first peered inside the chamber to assure herself no danger lurked within. What she found was a tidy room with a fur-heaped bed, magnificent floral tapestries lining the walls, and intricately carved chests stacked neatly in the corners. A subtle lavender fragrance hung in the air, as though Adelaine had dressed there that very morning.
As Oriana stepped cautiously over the threshold, she felt not a chill, but instead a depth of sorrow so profound it brought a mist of tears to her eyes. She heard but a whisper of the knowing, and eager for more, raised a finger to her lips in a plea for silence. She waited a long moment, but all trace of the knowing had evaporated as swiftly as dew on a summer morn.
“I’m sorry, I thought there was some insight to be gained, but it has slipped away without revealing itself.”
Egan grabbed a thick fox fur from the bed and
draped it around her shoulders. “Perhaps it will reappear later. I brought you here because these chests contain such beautiful gowns. I want you to wear them rather than wait for Ula’s seamstresses to fashion something new. I’ll not listen to your objections, so for once, do not voice them.”
He gestured for her to take a seat on the bed. Once she had, he sat down close beside her. “We also came here to talk where we’d not be disturbed. I’d not anticipated how curious everyone would be about your family, and you were right, we should have created some believable tale to put the questions to rest. That you are an orphan under my protection is the truth, and I will say no more. You mustn’t either.”
Oriana folded her hands inside the silky fur. “The truth, as you describe it, is all I care to reveal, so you needn’t worry I’ll confide more in anyone.”
Torn by a desire to help him as well as protect herself, she drew her lower lip through her teeth and frowned pensively. “We should also have expected someone to have heard about your fight with Duncan. I warned that we’d not heard the last of him.” She rushed on while she still possessed the courage. “Perhaps it’s because I’m not comfortable here, but thus far, I’ve been of little real value to you.”
She appeared so sincerely troubled, Egan again dropped his arm around her shoulders to offer a comforting hug. “From what you’ve told me, a man’s future is simply revealed to you, but in my case you sense only a terrible danger?”
Filled with a numbing dread, Oriana nodded. “I saw a death, and your father is dead, but the danger still surrounds you. I have tried to see more, but if there is a pathway into that vision, I can’t find it. Perhaps if I knew more of your family.”
Egan considered her request far too reasonable to refuse. “I’ll tell you all I know,” he offered amicably. He released her to hook his thumbs together and fanned his fingers.
“The Dál Cais, like any tribe, began with a single powerful man who became our first king.” He paused to wiggle his fingers playfully. “He sired both sons and daughters, who were equally fruitful, and his descendants spread out to form many clans.
“His eldest son became the next king, and that man’s eldest son followed. If you wish more detail, you’ll have to ask Albyn, for our Druids can recite every name and date, while I’m not expected to learn them. What I do know is that there has been deceit and treachery of every sort imaginable, as there is with any great family.
“That is why I sought you out. So when the day came for me to be king, although I did not expect it to come so soon, I would already know my enemies, no matter how loyal they pretended to be.” He dropped his hands to his knees. “Now, tell me what you think of Bevan.”
“Frankly, I was so frightened that he knew about Duncan, I was unable to do more than tremble.”
Appreciating that grain of truth, Egan searched her face for more. “You still don’t trust me to protect you?”
He was so near, Oriana could smell the scent of the leaves in which he’d lain. The fragrance of the forest clung to his clothes and made her long for home. “If the choice were your own life, no.”
Egan was mystified by her response. “How could it ever come to that? A king might have a dozen mistresses and no one would fault him for it. You were raised by a mother fearful of discovery, and it is understandable why you took on the same terror. That you are so elusive also preserves your power as a seer. But here, you are merely my woman, nothing more. Don’t allow your mind to create trouble that doesn’t exist.”
Oriana’s expression filled with disbelief. “As if pretending to be your mistress weren’t trouble in itself,” she reminded him.
Egan laughed as he rose and went to open the largest of his mother’s chests. “It’s such a fine day, I’ll forgive you for that unfortunate opinion. Now I want you to have fine slippers as well as lovely gowns. Help me find them so that you may try them on.”
Oriana remained where she sat. She had enjoyed wearing Adelaine’s gowns and felt no hint of disapproval from their original owner, but shoes were another matter entirely. “She must have had a fine lady’s dainty feet. I’ve walked farther than most peasants, and her slippers will never fit me.”
Egan glanced down at the scuffed toes of the slippers peeking out from beneath her gown. “You also have beautiful little feet, Oriana. Now stop being so contrary and come help me search.” He pulled out a pale linen shift edged with lace and tossed it to her. “Look at this. Don’t you need several?”
Oriana caught the soft garment and folded it across her lap. “It’s lovely, but I’ll wear it only while I’m here.”
