But then Finn came to Cenn Cora. And her brother. And having them here changed everything. Suddenly, there were people whowantedher company, who cared about whether she ate her meals or walked too closely to the lake or enjoyed playing the harp.
It was as though the world had shifted when she met Finn, and somehow she now felt capable of standing on her own feet.
And Finn had joined the Fianna of his own desire, for his family. If something happened to him at the trial in Caiseal, it wouldn’t be because of her dastardly cousin. It would be because Finn wanted to help his sister live without fear of abuse. Which, in Eva’s estimation, was indeed a good cause for risking one’s life, as much as she hated that he must do it.
Slipping out of her evening dress and under the cool linen sheets, Eva thought that if Finn made it through the trials, perhaps she might reconsider marriage.
Perhaps.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sweat poured downhis brow. His legs ached. His ragged breath mirrored his ragged state. Finn dropped to the ground for the hundredth time since dawn, convinced he now had more mud plastered to his body than there was anywhere in the training course.
“Go, Finn!” Dallan roared from beside him. “Faster! Go faster!”
Rain pelted his back, dripping muddy rivulets down his face. He knew he wouldn’t make it. Again.
He heard Diarmid and Conan join in shouting, cheering him on. Though he appreciated their support, it did little to change the fact that he’d finally come across a trial that was truly a challenge for him.
His head, and even his shoulders, he managed to barely squeeze beneath the branch. Just as he thought he was through, he heard Diarmid’s dismayed cry. “Nay, Finn! Lower! You’re going to—”
There was no need for him to finish his statement. Finn’s backside caught the branch, knocking it to the ground. With a sigh he stood, wiping the mud from his face as he joined his friends.
He didn’t even get a chance to ask for more advice. They spoke in unison, making it impossible to understand a single word until they slowed down. Dallan managed to get his thoughts in first.
“You must keep your hips down,” he instructed. Again.
Finn threw his hands in the air. “I thought I was.” He looked upward, letting the rain wash some of the muck from him as he tried not to give in to despair. “The trial is in three days,” he lamented. “I don’t know if I’m going to make it. How canthisbe the challenge I fail?”
All three heads shook vehemently in response. Arms waved, hands motioned. Diarmid even started picking up his legs to show Finn the proper technique which, for some unfathomable reason, he seemed utterly incapable of using.
“Lads,” Conan shouted at last, silencing the chaos as though he were the king himself, “there’s nothing for it. We’re going to have to sit on him.”
Finn looked up at him from hooded eyes. “You must be joking.”
“I never jest about getting you sad lot through these incredibly simple trials,” he replied with a smirk. “Diarmid, you’re the smallest. You sit on him.”
Diarmid’s devilish grin did not bode well for Finn’s pride. “Down you go, pony.”
Dallan folded his arms, nodding reassuringly and doing his damndest not to crack a smile of his own.
Swallowing his rapidly diminishing pride, Finn set up to attempt the crawl again. The branch was halfway up his shin, below his knees. There was no earthly reason he shouldn’t be able to flatten himself enough to make it underneath without catching it. And still he had yet to do so.
With far too much enthusiasm, Diarmid sat right over his hips, his long legs dragging beside Finn as he crawled through the squelching mud. Since he had Diarmid on his back, he crawled beside the branch instead of directly beneath it. And, though it frustrated him to no end, having Diarmid sit on him did, in fact, completely change his form. To get his belly anywhere near the ground, he had to splay out his legs from the hips, using the insides of his feet instead of his toes to gain traction.
When he stood, Dallan and Conan nodded approvingly.
“Now dothatwithout Diarmid,” Conan ordered sternly. “Same exact form.”
He shook his head like a wet dog, flicking water droplets back into the rain.
He took a deep breath and, without letting himself think overmuch, he went for it. He dropped his belly to the ground. He splayed out his legs at the hips, so that the insides of his feet dragged beside him.
And, for the first time ever, he made it under the branch.
After they’d finishedtheir morning training, Finn and Dallan cleaned up in the lake before heading into the village to commission Eva’s harp. The entire way, Dallan offered suggestions for Finn to practice in order to gain speed and maintain the technique.
Finn listened gratefully, as it took his mind off the fact that they were headed into the village. He nodded, trying to focus on the meaning behind Dallan’s words. In reality, only half of what his friend said penetrated his worries.
