AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He considered it as he strapped on his sword. “You’ve the right of it, and only prove women are a bloody mystery more than half the time.” He stepped to her to cup her face and kiss her. “An early start to the day for both of us. I wonder if you’d use part of yours to cook up some breakfast, since I’m so poor at it.”
“And men are bloody simple more than half the time.”
“True enough. Give us food, sex, and a pint, and we’re happy enough.”
“If only that were true. But I can scramble you some eggs before I work out.”
“I’d be grateful.” He took the paper where she’d written the spell, tucked it in his pocket. “I’m thinking I’d be more grateful yet if you could see your way to making those pancakes like Marco does, with the blueberries in them.”
She glanced up at him as they walked out of the bedroom. “You’d be pushing both our luck there, and trust me, you wouldn’t be grateful at all unless you have a taste for doughy rubber.”
“I’ll take the eggs.”
She made enough for Brian when he came down, and managed not to overcook the bacon before she took her coffee outside to watch Bollocks play in the bay under the fading stars.
The content of the dream left her unsettled, but the fact of it bolstered her. She’d watched, undetected, and had learned vital information. She could do the same again, prepare first, and watch, listen, learn.
Through Yseult, she decided. That was the weak link now.
Poison me, will you? Poison me so you can dump me at Odran’s feet, helpless and beaten? Use the blood of a child to do it?
Weak, evil traitor to your kind, we’ll see who pays who back.
As the night thinned, she heard the first notes of a lark. Her breath came in clouds as the frost broke under her feet. Even as she reached the door, Keegan and Brian came out.
“You made fast work of breakfast,” she noted.
“It went down well.”
“Since it was my turn,” Brian said, “my thanks is doubled.”
“Morena’s family travels from the Capital today. My mother and Minga come with them.”
“It’ll be good to see them all.”
Keegan looked toward the first break of dawn, nodded. “Aye. Keep the dog and Marco close today, until we’ve conjured the immunity.”
“All right. I’ll talk to Nan about it when I come over.”
“I’m going to her now. No,” he said before she could ask, “you’ve given us what’s needed. Do what you do, then come. It may be Marg will want my mother’s hand in it as well.”
He bent down, kissed her. “Don’t be late for training.”
As they walked toward the woods, Bollocks, sending water everywhere, raced over to see them off.
“Guard her well today.” Keegan gave him a brisk rub to dry him.
“I can stay,” Brian said as they moved into the woods, “or send someone back.”
“It’ll only put her back up. She’s not a foolish sort, so she’ll be careful. But I’ll be sending a falcon to my mother and asking her to come straightaway with a dragon rider. The sooner we counter this poison, the better.”
“No one and nothing comes through the portals.”
But Keegan only shook his head. “There are other portals in other worlds. If she means to find a way to get through, or send an assassin, she’ll work the way. It may take time, but she’ll work a way.”
“But Breen said Yseult was weak.”
“She did, and that the spell-casting made her stronger for that time. In her place, I’d use what I had in me to open a window. It takes power and strength to open a temporary portal, but I’d invest it there, and in one of the unguarded worlds. I’d send the poison with an assassin who could move from world to world to world.”
