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Instead, Kate remained half-hidden behind a tree, Frederica sleeping in her arms, and listened.
“I hear that ye like fairies,” Keir remarked as he set to work on making a fire.
Seated upon a small rock, Dorothea nodded, her right hand curled into Loki’s fur. As most days, the feline lay sleeping in her lap. “A fairy brought us back to Mother.”
“So, I hear.” Keir smiled at her, carefully feeding the orange flames as they grew, licking at the dry wood. “Would ye care to hear a story about a faerie dog?”
Even from a distance, Kate could see the slight widening of Dorothea’s eyes, the way her slender shoulders tensed in anticipation. Her teeth once more sank into her lower lip before she nodded her head up and down.
“But I warn ye,” Keir remarked with a serious expression upon his face. “’Tis not a story for the faint of heart.” As the fire crackled softly, he sat back, his blue eyes fixed upon Dorothea in a contemplative way. “But yer heart knows how to be brave, does it not? Ye have the look of it.”
Kate held her breath as Dorothea seemed to straighten, her shoulders pulling back. Again, she gave a quick nod. “Iambrave,” came her tiny voice, and to Kate’s ears, it seemed to echo across the small grove. “You cannot frighten me with a story.”
Keir settled himself across from her. “I didna think I could,” he assured her with an acknowledging nod.
For a moment, he remained still, his gaze distant as though moving to a faraway place. Then, his eyes moved back to look into Dorothea’s. “The faerie dog is a bad omen,” he began softly, a slight cock to his head as though meant as a last warning. “’Tis massive, the size of a young bull, and wolf-like in appearance. Have ye ever seen a wolf, Thea?”
Dorothea shook her head, her arms now curled around Loki, her eyes wide.
“They have sharp fangs, and this particular one has paws the size of a grown man’s hand.” He held up one of his hands in front of Dorothea’s face, and her eyes grew even rounder. “Faerie dogs are said to roam the Highlands, and people whisper that sighting such a beast would see ye stripped of yer soul, for the faerie dog carries it away to the afterlife.”
Kate felt a shiver run down her back, and her arms tensed upon Frederica. For a moment, she felt compelled to interfere, to cut the story short and assure Dorothea that there were no such creatures as faerie dogs.
“Where do the faerie dogs come from?” Dorothea asked, to Kate’s surprise, her voice full of intrigue.
Keir shrugged. “No one can tell. They appear as though out of nowhere.”
“Perhaps they have a secret place somewhere.”
“Perhaps.” Keir paused, not another word leaving his lips as he watched Dorothea.
“What is the afterlife?” Dorothea asked, and Kate tensed.Oh, this is not good! Why didn’t I stop this?“Does it mean you’re dead?”
Keir nodded.
A sigh left Dorothea’s lips, and yet Kate saw nothing dark in her daughter’s eyes. “And the faerie dogs can go there and come back?” she asked, her voice still ringing with fascination. “Are there other places people cannot go? Places only faeries know about?”
Keir grinned at her. “’Tis a good question, but since I’m not a faerie, I wouldna know.”
Dorothea chuckled. “Have you ever seen a faerie dog?”
Keir shook his head.
“Are you afraid you might?”
For a moment, Keir held her gaze. Then he leaned closer in shared confidence. “Are ye afraid ye might fall off a tree?” He nodded to a tall oak nearby.
Dorothea frowned. “No, I never climb trees.”
“But ye could, couldn’t ye?”
She nodded, a calculating gleam coming to her face that Kate did not quite care for.
“Well,” Keir said, tossing another log onto the fire, “I think ’tis good to be afraid when there’s something to fear.”
Dorothea eyed him curiously. “And there’s no faerie dog around, is there?” She grinned at him and then resumed stroking Loki’s fur.
“Not that I can see,” Keir answered with a matching grin.
