“What a tragedy,” Megan murmured, a lump forming in her throat.
“Ryder’s wrong, though. About love. Is he nae?” Alaina continued, her brow furrowing. “He thinks that love is a waste of time. He calls marriage acomplication. He’s shouted down every council member who suggested that he should marry, and none of them even dares to venture the suggestion anymore. He’s never said it, but I ken that he thinks that love is bad. Poison. But he’s wrong, is he nae? Love isnae bad. It cannae be.”
Megan took a moment before responding.
“What kind of love are ye talkin’ about, Alaina? There are all different types. Yer sister loves ye. Ryder loves his clan. Ye love yer friends. What type of love do ye mean?”
“I mean romantic love.”
“Well, as far as I can tell, me sisters are very happy with their husbands. They’re all in love, and it looks… well, it looks wonderful.”
Alaina nodded eagerly as if she’d had something confirmed in her head.
“See, that is what I think! I think that love is the most important thing in the world, and that ye should take risks for it.”
“What does a wee lassie yer age ken of love?” Megan said, laughing.
Alaina was barely listening. She skipped ahead, turning around to face Megan head-on. Her eyes were bright.
“I ken that ye have to take risks for love,” she said fervently. “Me braither keeps tellin’ me that our lives matter more than anythin’ else, but tell me, Megan, what is life without love?”
Megan blinked, trying to think of something to say in response.
“I didnae expect ye to be so impassioned,” she managed at last.
“How can I nae be impassioned? Ryder is tryin’ to lock me up and keep me away fromeverythin’, but it’s just because he wants to lock himself up. He’s afraid of gettin’ hurt.”
“I’m nae sure yer braither is afraid of anythin’.”
“Ye said that there were different types of love, aye?” Megan countered. “Well, I say that there are different types of fear, too.”
Megan didn’t have an answer for that. At that moment, the music ended with a flourish. The dancers broke into laughter and applause, some of them doubled over, hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath.
Alaina turned to clap, laughing aloud.
Megan just stood where she was, swallowing hard.
I daenae ken whether to laugh or cry. How can it be that a teenage girl feels so strongly about the very idea of love, more strongly than I’ve ever felt about anythin’ in me life?
Surely that couldn’t be true. Megan wracked her brains, trying to find some evidence, some story to prove to herself thatshefelt as strongly and vehemently about love as Alaina did.
Nothing came to mind. Love was always a strange, distant concept. She loved her family, of course, but that was different. You couldn’t help that; it just happened. There was only duty and family.
Now I have neither. Me duty is unclear, and me family is gone.
I will have even less at the end of three months, when me job here is finished.
This thought sent a shiver down her spine. She swallowed again, suddenly realizing that her mouth was dry. It was that cursed black bun and its crumbly dryness, that was it.
The dancers began to file off the dancing platform, talking and laughing, still breathless. The fiddler stood in the middle of the platform, wiping sweat from his forehead.
“Lassies and lads, next we’ll have a sword dance!” he exclaimed. “Whoever wants to join in, come on up now!”
Hamish came bustling through the crowd, beaming. There was a red flush on his cheeks, which probably came from cider, or at least ale. He flashed a quick, polite smile at Megan, but his eyes were only for Alaina. Her face lit up when she saw him, and Megan’s chest constricted.
“Will ye watch me?” he whispered, bending down to look in Alaina’s face. “It’s a competition, this one. I daenae ken what the prize is. A barrel of ale, maybe. Ye must watch me and bring me luck!”
Alaina beamed. “Aye, of course!”
