“Aye, tis a comfort tae hae ye close.”
We were quiet for a moment. I asked, “What happened at the battle?”
“We attacked, and spread out, the soldiers were verra good. Max and I had control of the courtyard. The uncles are formidable fighters. Ye hae a good army, Princess.”
“I’m glad.”
“Rannald appeared, Max charged him. I gave him cover, but then… he was fired on. We dinna even injure Rannald, much less kill him, he kept tae a tunnel, and we couldna get a shot. Then I turned back tae see Max gravely wounded. I lost m’abilities tae reason, ye ken, Alexandria? I let Rannald get away. Tis all myfault.” He shook his head. “If Max dies and I dinna kill Rannald, if I dinna get revenge, nor win yer throne, och nae, I will never forgive myself.”
I ran my hand up and down on his chest, soothingly. “This is a lot of pressure for you to carry.”
“Aye, the weight of m’brother and m’wife’s throne. It daena come tae me by blood, but by decision, honor, and oath. I canna drop the load, Princess, it inna my way.”
I leaned up and kissed his jaw.
We lay in thoughtful silence for a few moments, my fingers smoothing back and forth along the edge of his hospital blanket.
“What else did you mean?”
He asked, “…what?”
“Earlier you said, ‘well for one’ that things were more dangerous than ever. You said ‘Rannald is angry.’ It means there’s something else. What’s the other thing?”
He said, “Yer uncles.”
“What… what about my uncles…?”
“I think they will try tae do this battle again?—”
I chewed my lip. “Like go to yesterday, start over?”
“I suspect they believe that if they fight the battle once more twould give them foreknowledge tae save Max and Charlie and that twould give them the upper hand in the battle.”
I nodded. “I guess they would want to try that, is that a bad thing?”
“Aye, a great deal could go wrong — Rannald might know we’re coming. He could be learnin’ our weaknesses as well. And we daena ken if we can truly fix what has happened, what if the next battle we lose a man outright? Tis a dangerous game tae fight a battle over. Tis playin’ with destiny.”
“Oh, yeah, that doesn’t sound good.” My mind was spinning.
“It canna be good. But I am worried they are becoming desperate, and they might try tae do more of our lives over, ye ken? What if we are never married? What if I lose ye altogether?”
I stood. “We talked Max out of going all the way back and killing the grandfather, you think the uncles might do something like that?”
“If they grow desperate enough. I daena ken what would stop them, mo leannan, they hae done it afore.”
A flash of a memory in my mind, the man saying ‘Och, lass, daena let go…’
I took a step away from Torin’s bed.
“It was Aenghus, Uncle Aenghus moved me when I was three. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, he was younger, but it washim.” I looked at the door then back at Torin. “How many times do you think they’ve redone my life?”
He said quietly, “Who can say? Ye wouldna ken.”
I frowned. “I don’t like it.”
“They might hae done it tae save yer life.”
“Yeah, but…” I took a deep breath.
