“You’ll cut yourself.”
Bridei startled. “What?”
Domech pointed to the blade in his hands, which he was still rubbing with the rag in an unconscious rhythm. One that was glaringly similar to sex. He sighed and shoved the sword back into its sheath before facing Domech with a defensive glare.
Domech smirked and looked pointedly at the obvious bulge in his pants. “You still want her, I see, or else you’ve become suddenly enamored by your blade.”
There was no point in denying it; Domech knew him too well, and there was nothing subtle about this particular moment, anyway.
“Aye.”
Domech nodded, as if he had already known. Because he had. Bridei had practically been using his sword like an extension of his cock.
“What is your plan, then?”
“Plan?”
“To win her. I’ve never seen a lass less likely to fall at your feet than that one. In agoodway though. She’ll likely never bore you.”
“I don’t have a plan. I have no intention of winning her. I don’t want a woman. And why are we even speaking of this? She may well be our enemy.”
“I don’t believe she is.”
Bridei shook his head. “You have no proof.”
“No. And yet I’ve never seen you look at a lass in such a way before. Not in all the years of your manhood. Either the gods are testing you, or she is meant to be yours, or perhaps both. Tell me, what is it that you see when you look at her?”
Bridei paused, and when the next words left his lips, he was glad that he and Domech had always been closer than brothers. Had always shared everything. Trusted each other with even their most secret thoughts. There was no other man on Earth he would tell these things to. “When I look at her”, he said just above a whisper, “When I close my eyes to sleep and my mind drifts to her, I see my future. I see my children. I see the rest of my life.” He frowned and shook his head again. “But that is madness, of course. She is attractive, and I am a man. It’s natural to want to mate with a beautiful woman. Perhaps I only have too much on my mind. After all, the coming months will either be my glory or my downfall.”
Domech slapped him on the back with much affection. “Your glory, I’m certain.”
“Let us hope so, for all our sakes.”
“And then you can finally wed. My grandfather used to tell me the story of the day he met my grandmother. He was walking through a village that he’d never been to before and saw her there, washing laundry in the river with a few other lasses. She looked up, and the moment their eyes met he thought to himself,that’s my wife. That’s the lass I’m going to wed. And he did. He never gave up until she was his. And her former betrothed was dead”, he added.
“But it’s different for me. It’s always different for a king. For any ruler. My people must always come first.”
“It doesn’t have to be one or the other. There is no law that says so. And even if there was, you could change it”, Domech pointed out.
Bridei shook his head again. “I will worry about such things after I’m through fighting for my lands.”
“But what if she’sthe one? The woman the gods intend to be yours? And what if she’s no longer here, when the fighting is finally done?”
“And what if I find out she is a spy after all?” Bridei countered.
Domech shrugged. “I told you I don’t think she is, for what it’s worth. Neither does Meara. But I understand your caution, of course. I suppose I would do the same. I just have a feeling that something is happening here that is beyond our understanding. This all has the feeling of destiny about it. Yesterday two ravens landed on the Gateway Stone, so you can’t tell me that…”
“The lass is missing!” Both men looked up as Namet barreled down the stairs from above. “Lotex is too.”
Brideistood suddenly, feeling the very breath leave his body. No.
Namet held out his palm. There was a small knife lying there. He recognized it as the one he kept in his chamber to shave with. “I found this next to the ropes.”
She wouldn’t have…would she? His nostrils flared, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.Hehad left her alone, and she had taken his knife. All because he could not control his own damned lust. Fury filled him like an ocean wave; for her escape, but also for his own unforgivable weakness.
“Do you know which way she went?”
“Aye. To the west. The forest. Do you want me to send out a search party?”
