Even as Darlei stared at Father in horror, MacNabh, with a glance at Roisin, said, “Nay, mornin’ will be soon enough.” He belched. “So long as the king’s demands be met.”
Darlei had never laid eyes on King Kenneth, she thought as she returned to her barren room, yet his demands ordered her life.
She and Orle lay in the same bed that night, for comfort. Darlei did not expect to sleep, though she must have dropped off before dawn, for she dreamed.
She dreamed of Deathan, only he was not Deathan. That was, he felt like Deathan, and her heart knew him as such, but he appeared different.
They were in a wee boat out upon a silver sea, naught but water to be seen in any direction. And, wonder of wonders, there was a hound with them in the bottom of the boat, a great, shaggy gray beast. It looked very much like a large version of the pups Deathan had showed her, back at Murtray.
A name flittered into her mind.Wen.
The man who was and was not Deathan pulled at the oars, taking her away—away from a place she loved.
He spoke to her, though in the way of dreams, his lips did not move.Ye ha’ done this before,alanna. Chosen as ye thought yeknew best. Made your choice out o’ fear. When will ye believe? Believe in me.
I will be my own woman. No one shall die for my sake.
He had beautiful gray-green eyes brimming with grief.I will find ye. I will always find ye.
She awoke with a start so violent it turned her stomach. Who was he, that man in the boat? Was he the Deathan who had been before?
Orle lay beside her, breathing deeply. The fire had run out of fuel and died.
Darlei faced a future so bleak that she did not know how she would survive it. She had the refuge, still, of dreams.
Morning came inevitably on the turn of the wheel. Gray light stole through the single, narrow window of Darlei’s chamber as if it were offered as stingily as everything else here. Father came early to her door to make certain she would be ready for her wedding, though he did not linger long, as if he feared she would beg him for release.
She would not. She was her own woman now, and expected no one else to save her.
That strength, though, came accompanied by a numbing sense of unreality. She could not warrant that she had landed in this position, ended in this place. She could not be about to wed with that horrid, aged man who, if possible, wanted her even less than had Rohr MacMurtray.
A maid brought breakfast to the chamber, and Orle—who appeared nearly as upset by all that had happened as her mistress—once more begged Darlei to eat.
“You must take something. Scarcely any food passed your lips yesterday. You cannot go on so.”
The breakfast, clearly leavings from last night’s dinner, did not look appealing. Darlei shook her head.
“Darlei, please. It will be a long and difficult day. You will need your strength.”
“I dare not, Orle. I will never keep it down.”
Father returned to fetch her, when it was time. Dressed in his grandest clothing, he had Urfet at his back. The warrior eyed Darlei curiously, appearing detached from all sympathy, and she wondered,How could I ever have thought him attractive?
On the way to the hall, her knees trembled so violently that she had to clutch Father’s arm. He said to her, in their own tongue, “Courage, daughter.”
Easy for him to say. He would ride away from here, his obligation fulfilled.
As soon as they entered the hall, the merciful numbness took over. She could no longer feel the flagstones beneath her feet. She barely took in the tableau—MacNabh and another man who could only be the priest standing with Father’s holy man, waiting for her with MacNabh’s crone of a mother and, oddly, Mistress Roisin at his back. The dim air of the room danced before Darlei’s eyes as if she were about to faint.
She barely heard and never after remembered the vows. Did she speak them in truth? She must have, for everyone looked satisfied and it was all swiftly done.
Was she wed? Wed to this dark and burly man whom she could smell even from two paces away?
It must be so.
Orle stepped up on her side and clutched her arm, or she would have fallen. MacNabh and Father stood talking, and Father told MacNabh, “Yes, we are near ready to leave.” He turned away.
He never once looked at Darlei.
