She needed the lake as much as the children did. Hopefully, it would settle the maelstrom of feelings inside her.
12
The path to the water was smooth, and Kristen let it ease her steps. Finn’s small fingers wrapped tightly around her hand. Anna clutched the fabric of her dress with fierce purpose, while Maggie trotted ahead with her tail high, nose busy in the grass.
“Mind the stones,” Kristen advised. “The ground is kind here, but it still likes to trip brave folk.”
“Aye,” Finn said solemnly.
Anna echoed her brother and lifted her chin as if she had agreed to a great task.
They reached their usual spot beneath a tall willow tree. Sunlight scattered across the lake like coins, and the low shrubs seemed to whisper in the breeze.
Kristen spread the blanket and settled the children on it, Maggie flopping down at once with a groan that said she had done hard work guarding everyone.
“Shall we read first?” Kristen asked.
“Aye,” Anna breathed, nodding her head.
Kristen took out a small book and opened it. She let the thin pages rest against her knee. “Oh, this is a lovely story. I ken ye will enjoy it. Once, there was a lass who met a dragon in the woods,” she began. “He didnae steal treasure. He kept it safe for folks who had none. He was old, and wise, and kind.”
Finn leaned against her side with a little sigh. Anna patted the picture as if she could stroke the dragon’s nose. Maggie laid her head on Kristen’s foot and huffed, content.
Kristen read for the better half of an hour. She read to the children about brave girls and kind beasts, about knights who learned courtesy, about small villages that grew gentle because someone large chose to be gentle first.
With each line, the tight knot in her chest loosened a fraction. This was what she knew how to do best. It wasn’t surprising because she had been doing it for the past few years.
This was the family she knew how to hold together. The situation she knew how to control.
A streak of blue fluttered and settled on Finn’s sleeve. “Look,” he whispered. “A dragon.”
“A dragonfly,” Kristen corrected. “He has come to hear the story.”
Anna pressed a soft kiss to the page. “He likes it,” she declared.
“I believe he does,” Kristen agreed, smiling despite herself.
Warmth rose and lingered under her breastbone, small and stubborn.
Suddenly, a shadow stretched across the page, and the warmth of the sun vanished. She stiffened, before twisting around and looking up.
Neil stood over them with the usual unreadable expression. He was wearing a clean shirt, and his hair was tied back. .
“Ye came,” Kristen said coolly.
“We agreed to spend an hour with the bairns,” he reminded her.
Her gaze flicked to his shoulder. “I hope ye didnae open yer wound again with all yer showing off this afternoon.”
His eyebrow rose. “Are ye worried about me, lass? Is that what is happening?”
“Oh, please, daenae flatter yerself. I barely ken ye,” she scoffed, jutting her chin. “I only mind because the children daenae need to see ye fall apart.”
He snorted, half annoyed and half amused.
She ignored him and pointed at the blanket. “Sit. The hour’s starting.”
He nodded and lowered himself onto the edge, careful of the sword at his hip and of Maggie, who watched him like a steward counting coins.
