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“Our people,” Egan corrected, then, struck by the improvement in her appearance, he straightened. “Your bruises are gone. Let me see your hands.”
Oriana wiggled her fingers. While her nails were short, they were no longer painfully torn. The deep scratches on her palms and arms had healed and left only faint scars. Even her clothes, while slightly wrinkled, were no longer ripped and mud-stained.
“It appears we’ve spent the night in an enchanted tree,” she murmured.
“The only magic is in you,” Egan assured her. “I’ll remember last night forever.”
Oriana raised her hand to caress his cheek, and he placed a light kiss in her palm. “I treasure all my memories of you,” she confided wistfully.
Egan had no chance to create more loving memories before they heard Albyn calling his name. Disgusted to be so rudely yanked into the day, he raked his hair from his eyes. “Damn. He sounds frantic. What could have happened now?”
“I dare not even speculate,” Oriana replied.
Egan kissed her soundly, and after adjusting his clothing, he crawled by her to exit their shelter without bumping his head.
He relieved himself against the mountainside, then stretched to shake off the night. As Albyn came running into view, Egan complained loudly, “Hush. You’ve awakened every bird on the mountain.”
Albyn slid to a startled halt, his mouth agape. “At first light, Garrick sent Druids out to the sacred grove to prepare for your ceremony. They were dismayed to find a deep hole where one of the ancient oaks had stood, but I swear, it’s growing right here.”
“It would appear so.” Egan had been mystified by the sudden appearance of the tree on the mountain, but it had been such a welcome sight, he had given no thought to its original location.
“But how did you move it?” Albyn reached out to touch the closest branch and found it solid wood rather than mere illusion. “Did Oriana do this?”
“No. The tree was simply here when we rounded the bend in the trail, but I’ll be grateful if you’ll tell all who’ll listen that the gods sent it to bless our marriage. Now if you’ve come all the way up here to wake us, you’ve succeeded. How did you cross the break in the trail?”
“I cut a sapling to form a narrow bridge. We might have to add to it for Oriana.”
Oriana peered out of the tree, and finding the men engaged in a pleasant conversation, she joined them. “I hope you weren’t worried, Albyn. As you can see, Egan and I passed a remarkably safe night.”
“In a sacred oak it appears,” Egan added. “Give me a moment to change my tunic, and we’ll be on our way.”
Albyn again reached out to caress the oak as though it were a sacred talisman. “You may not be so anxious to leave here when you learn Duncan O Floinn arrived with the dawn. He could not have come to witness your coronation ceremony either.”
Oriana flinched at Duncan’s name, for surely he planned to denounce her and battle Egan. Badly shaken, she reached out for the solidity of the mountainside to steady her.
“Why does nothing run smoothly for us?” she moaned.
Egan winked at her. “One thing does, and when we are so finely matched a pair in that regard, nothing else matters.”
She was in no mood to jest. “Though Albyn has proven his loyalty, what you have always failed to understand is that I am a threat to all other Druids. I can actually see into the future, and they can only pretend.”
Egan shot Albyn a dark glance. “Would Garrick harm her?”
Albyn nodded. “To aid Kieran as much as to protect himself, yes, he would.”
Egan reached for Oriana’s hand. “If you feared this all along, why did you follow me into the fortress the day I sent you away?”
She had known he would need her, but there was a far more compelling reason. “Even in the fog, I recognized my path.”
“But I thought you couldn’t tell your own fortune.”
“I can’t, but you’d already touched my heart.” When he gave a welcoming tug, she stepped into his arms.
Egan looked over her head to Albyn. “When Lugh uproots trees to shelter us, Garrick won’t dare harm us. Now, if I’d killed Duncan as you’d wished, nay, demanded, then he’d not be alive to menace us now. Clearly you were right and I was wrong; just do not remind me of it in front of my kin.”
“I won’t, but if your people still won’t accept me as queen, you’ll have to let me go.”
Egan pushed her back a step. “The bond between us is far too strong for me to rule without you. You must feel the same powerful link.”
