Svanna’s stomach went into knots. Inadvertently, she’d built dreams where she shouldn’t. Tantalisingly, she’d caught a glimpse of what her ideal life with Rand and Birdie could be like. She wanted to be valued instead of being the second-best, but her wishes had a way of failing. ‘Tackling one situation before attempting another works.’
He put his hand to her cheek. ‘Until then.’
After he’d left, she realised that he hadn’t kissed her goodbye. He deliberately had not kissed her goodbye. Her heart ached at the knowledge that her small dream was unlikely to be fulfilled. She smiled wryly. When would she learn that believing in impossibilities was the surest way to get hurt? Concentrating on practicalities was the only way to keep safe. Rand must never know about her growing feelings for him, because she refused to take the risk of being that vulnerable.
* * *
After riding hard and trying not to think about Svanna’s suggestion about taking Birdie with them when they went to Tara, or how much he wanted to be a real family with her, Rand dismounted and surveyed the clearing, which was off a narrow and disused track. The signs of disturbance were everywhere. But no sign of Thorarinn or Rhiannon or indeed the corpse. It made little sense why Thorarinn would choose this route, unless he was truly attempting to escape by going the arduous route to Dubh-Linn. Rand shook his head at the folly.
Was Thorarinn running towards something or away from it? Either way, he was moving towards danger. Why hadn’t he trusted the defences Rand had put in place at the ringfort?
Rand examined a pile of leaves, but he suspected any tracks were muddled by his men.
‘Bandits, my lord?’ one of his men called out.
‘A funny sort of bandit who can defeat a band of Northern warriors.’
‘We only found one body.’
Rand clung onto the shards of his fraying temper. The ride out to the clearing had been more arduous than he’d expected. More than a dozen times, he’d discovered things he wanted to speak to Svanna about and get her opinion on. ‘If you’d brought said body with you, we would be further on.’
‘Over here in the ditch. I’d have sworn that it was in the centre of the clearing before.’
Rand marched over to the ditch. The body did appear to have been dragged there. He turned the body over. The features of one of his tormentors stared up at him. Rand could clearly remember his fist slamming into his stomach while he protested that he had no idea what they were talking about and that he was meeting a serving girl, Svanna. He hated that he had blanked that out. He had not meant to, but he had inadvertently caused Svanna to suffer.
‘Svanna was right.’
‘My lord?’
‘The eldest son of Drengr took an incredible risk. Why?’
‘Spying out a route for an invasion?’
‘Thorarinn knows,’ Rand said through gritted teeth. He also suspected Thorarinn knew far more about that long-ago attack in Agthir. A vague memory surfaced of Thorarinn confessing about receiving gold in exchange for information about Ingebord, the gold that had helped them escape. Bile rose in his throat at the consequences of those actions, even if Thorarinn hadn’t deliberately meant to hurt Svanna.
‘Show me where you found the clothing.’
The man pointed to the base of a large tree. ‘All folded nice and neat.’
Rand frowned. Svanna was right again. Bandits did not leave swords, nor did they fold cloaks. They also didn’t drag corpses to ditches after search parties had departed.
Rand walked over to the tree. The niggling thought that had plagued him throughout the long journey here, the seed that Svanna had planted, burst into full flower. Thorarinn wanted to disappear and didn’t trust him to protect him and his bride. He had asked someone to inform him when Turgeis left, or possibly returned. This meant that Thorarinn must have suspected Turgeis would come looking for him.
A bleak coldness settled over him. Thorarinn and Rhiannon had departed to save their own skins. Was Thorarinn that selfish and devoid of all feeling to put a child in danger? He knew what Svanna’s answer would be and hated that the evidence gave it credence.
Rand narrowed his gaze, methodically searching for any clue to what had happened to the missing lovers, ruthlessly turning his mind from Svanna and the peace he’d found with her.
The ferns were disturbed a little further away.
‘I believe we have picked up their trail.’
‘Whose trail?’
‘Whoever Thorarinn has fallen in with.’ Rand unsheathed his sword.
‘You doubt he is dead.’
‘He wants me and others to think it, and that bothers me. Shall we go and properly search this time, instead of making assumptions, men?’
