A deer stood just beyond the fence, stretching its graceful neck over to nibble on Lily’s herbs. It appeared completely unfazed by her scream.
“It’s eatin’ me rosemary, Megan!” Lily shrieked. “Do ye ken how hard I worked for that to grow?”
Megan groaned aloud, lowering her arrow. “I thought ye were gettin’ murdered. Why did ye scream like that, ye wretch?”
Lily pursed her lips. “Well, like I said. That creature is eatin’ me rosemary.”
“What do ye want me to do? Kill it?”
Lily frowned. “Nay, of course nae. Just… Just shoo it away.”
Megan eyed the deer, which continued to munch contentedly, not caring at all that it had an audience.
“I’m nae sure that deer is goin’ to be easily shooed.”
At that moment, Lily’s husband poked his head out of the door.
“Is it the deer again, love?” he asked sympathetically. Lily nodded sadly.
“I just have such a hankerin’ for rosemary,” she sighed, reaching out to take her husband’s hand. “I want it on everythin’.”
“I’ll shoo the deer, and we can gather as much rosemary as we can, and dry it out,” Alasdair suggested. He was good at finding solutions to complex problems, Megan had noticed. That was evident in how he maintained his clan.
Really, he and Lily should be there, but Megan couldn’t say that she was disappointed to have them staying with her. All of her sisters were married now, their eyes fixed firmly on the future and their new lives, although Lily and her husband had been visiting for the past week. Megan was… well, she wasn’t doing much at all, really.
As she watched, Alasdair bent down to press a kiss to Lily’s belly. She was about five months along and looked decidedly pregnant already. Lily smiled down at him and rested a hand in his hair.
Megan cleared her throat. “Well, if I’m nae needed, I’ll take meself off, then,” she said aloud.
Lily flashed her a quick smile. “Aye, Megan. Be sure to be back for supper, then.”
Supper was hours away. Was that a dismissal? Megan thought it might be.
Shouldering her bow, she tramped back to her little practice clearing.
I have to get used to this,she reminded herself, for what felt like the hundredth time.Me sisters are married. Children come, and they all have responsibilities. I cannae expect things to go on the way they were.
Even if I liked it that way.
Gritting her teeth, she nocked another arrow, letting it loose before aiming properly. This time, the arrow skimmed the side of her target tree, a decidedly bad shot. Groaning aloud, Megan sank onto a nearby tree stump and buried her head in her hands.
What will I do without them?
A twig cracked in the undergrowth once more. A strange atmosphere inched over the clearing, making every hair on Megan’s body stiffen. It was a primal feeling, the feeling a rabbit might feel if a fox were creeping closer, or a bird being stalked by a cat.
Or perhaps the feeling a young girl could feel, huddling in the upper branches of a tree while a wolf prowled by below. And, of course, there were worse predators in the forests than wolves.
There werepeople.
There was a pause after the snapping twig, then a slow, gentle rustle in the undergrowth, the sound of somebody trying to slip along quietly, but not quite succeeding.
Megan froze, her whole body stiffening. She’d hunted enough to learn to suppress her instinct to react blindly at a time like this. Her instinct told her to snap up her head and peer around at the trees, but all that would do was let whoever was watching her know that she knew.
And Megan knew now that shewasbeing watched. She felt it like a heavy blanket settling over her shoulders. The rabbit was long gone, and no birdsong sounded from the surrounding trees.
Something had arrived, something that had frightened the animals away. Megan sat up slowly, breathing out and squaring her shoulders.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
