She felt her eyes narrow before she could stop them. “There are times—more often than not—that I can hardly restrain myself from stabbing you.”
He stopped, lifted her gloved hand, and kissed the back of it. Gallantly, it had to be said.
“That was before,” he said.
“Before what?” she asked with a snort.
“Before I encountered a pitchfork-wielding, red-haired dragoness, and that is all the sentiment you’ll have from me tonight. I fear to become too maudlin, lest you lose your resolve to vault over walls with me, something I think you shouldn’t be doing.”
“You know I’m not going to stay behind so don’t waste your breath,” she said shortly. “You told Mansourah you were here for your granny’s book, but I suspect that isn’t the only reason.”
He tucked her hand under his elbow and nodded up the path. “It isn’t, though I’m not particularly keen to discuss anything else lest listening ears I’m unable to see at the moment overhear my plans. You might want to keep an eye open for what we just saw recently, if you catch my drift.”
She wasn’t sure if he was referring to pieces of his soul or something else, but she supposed having a look at whatever caught her eye as he concentrated on other business couldn’t go wrong. “Do you think you left something behind here?”
He blew his hair out of his eyes, then shook his head. “My dignity, more often than I care to admit, but none of that other rubbish. The worst I combined here was plotting thefts whilst enduring grandmotherly lectures about my failings as a mage and a gentleman.”
“Then perhaps I’ll just keep my eyes open for pieces of your pride.”
He shot her a look. “You arefartoo free with those kinds of barbs at my expense.”
“I am not afraid of you,” she said, realizing as she said so that she believed it fully. “Besides, I have yet to see anything that leads me to believe you are anything more than your average showy stallion.”
He squeezed her hand. “I only hope such will always be the case, poor soft-hearted sap that I have been reduced to.” He nodded toward the house. “I think we might safely attempt a vault over the walls if you like, or we could simply try the gate.”
“The gate sounds more reasonable,” she said. “I might need a bit more practice before I start hurling myself over things.”
He nodded, then paused once more. “One last thing that should be noted is that I am here under protest. If I had to make a list of places I didn’t want to go, this would be the very last.”
“Dead last?”
He seemed to consider. “Let’s put it near the bottom—or the top, depending on your perspective. There are places I wouldn’t set foot in again if my life depended on it, which is a different list entirely. Places where Icouldgo but really don’twantto go? My grandmother’s house is somewhere on that list, very near the top. Her hall is dangerous, but not necessarily lethal.” He paused, then looked at her. “Of course, that list was made with a pen dipped in a pot of magic, if you follow.”
She had to admit to herself that she did, unfortunately. “Isn’t she Mistress Cailleach’s sister?”
“You would think that would benefit us here, but I fear not. They are sisters, but there’s a reason my great-auntie is as far south as she can take herself without getting soggy. Well, that and my great-aunt is in Sàraichte because she thinks she mightfind someone with whom to have a—how shall we term it—ah, yes, a bit of aromance.”
“Mistress Cailleach,” Léirsinn managed.
“The very same.”
“A romance,” she repeated.
“The mind boggles, doesn’t it?”
She smiled in spite of herself. “It does.”
He didn’t move. “Should something happen to me, I want you to get yourself to her solar. I may or may not have taken a spell and slipped it into a crack on the underside of her favorite chair.”
“A spell?” she asked. “Written down?”
He shook his head. “One like what I couldn’t find in Odhran’s workroom. It will work, as that one would have, without any aid from me.”
She nodded absently, because she wasn’t sure she had the stomach to talk any longer about things she wanted to avoid, then it occurred to her just what he had said. She looked at him and had to make an effort to keep her mouth from falling open.
“You could use it, then,” she said in surprise.
“In theory.”
