A murmur of confusion rolled through the assembled crowd. Men wandered back to the encampment. Finn searched the tree line for signs of his sister. When his gaze fell upon a woman near the trail down to Loch Derg, his chest rose. But it wasn’t Ethlinn.
It was Eva.
She motioned for him to follow before disappearing into the woods.
“What was that about?”
Finn hadn’t seen Dallan walk over. “Your sister wants to meet with me.”
“No, not Eva,” Dallan said dismissively. “What did Illadan want?”
“Tonight, I will explain everything,” Finn promised. His friend deserved the truth. Except maybe the part about kissing his sister. “But your sister is down at the water waiting. It must be important.”
Dallan finally understood. He glanced at the forest, then back at Finn. “You’d best go.”
Indeed. Finn hurried after Eva, deciding precisely what he would say when he finally caught up to her. He didn’t know what his sister plotted. He didn’t know what had happened with his harp and how it had ended up with Eva. He certainly didn’t know what to make of Eva’s odd behavior. But Finn knew one thing for certain.
He owed Eva an apology.
Chapter Fourteen
Eva paced infrustration in front of the large meeting stone. She had to tell Finn about Ethlinn.
While all the men waited in the hall and the courtyard, Eva had managed to slip around to the back side of the royal quarters, beneath the windows of the solar. She heard the entire conversation.
And she knew that Finn was likely equal parts worried about, and infuriated with, his sister. Though she doubted he’d disobey Illadan’s orders, Eva felt compelled to speak up on behalf of Ethlinn, as Finn had been doing for her with Dallan.
When Finn finally appeared on the path behind her, Eva’s pulse quickened. Heat rose from her belly to her cheeks as she remembered the end of their conversation last night. Lord, he’d actually kissed her.
The look on his face when she pushed him away had split her heart in two. She’d hurt him.
He thought she didn’t want him to kiss her, that she didn’t care for him.
Though, if she were honest, ’twas probably better to let him think that.
To admit the truth of it, to acknowledge how much she’d wanted that kiss, would only create more trouble. There was no space in her life for romance. Even if, by some miracle, Brian and her brother and Sitric all agreed to allow her to marry as a hostage, Eva would refuse it. Every man she’d ever loved had died because of Baeth. And Finn, as a warrior of the Fianna, would be in danger for much of his life. Even now, the thought of losing him tore at her. And Eva knew ’twould only worsen.
Finn halted two arm’s lengths away from her. “Eva,” he began.
She held up her hand to silence him. “Before you say anything, there’s something I must tell you. I spoke with Ethlinn yesterday. And this morning as well.”
Finn’s gaze hardened, his eyes a dark, dangerous sapphire. “Why did you not tell me?”
“She asked me not to.”
Eva knew the moment he put it all together.
“Ethlinn stole the harp,” Finn guessed.
“She did.” Eva took several steps toward him. He felt too far away. “Because she worries for you, as any sister ought.”
Finn stood silent, motionless for several torturous moments. “You let me believe you a thief to protect my sister.”
Eva felt her blush return as he drew closer. Her mind strayed back to the previous night. To how close they had been before he kissed her.
“Yet you also allowed her to stay, knowing her intentions of interfering in the trials.”
“She made a good point. One I myself had wondered over many times.”
