"In where."
Groping with her hands, she found him. He guided to her knees and she found herself being pulled into a shelter. "What is this?" she asked, feeling the leaves piled up around her.
"I thought you would feel safer in this. It’s a shelter."
"What's it made of?"
"Leaves and twine. Will it do?"
"Will it do? It’s perfect."
The shelter was surprisingly cozy. The moss under their feet was soft enough to lay upon. The horse was settling nearby as Rose shuffled up to the end of the space, allowing Lennox to climb in beside her. "Cold?" he asked.
"A little."
"Then lay facing that way."
His arms went around her and at once she felt safe. Nothing in the wood could harm her with Lennox protecting her. She felt more certain of that than of anything.
The shelter deadened the sounds outside. All she could hear was a gentle breeze moving the leaves and Lennox breathing by her ear.
She found herself wondering if she could stay in this time. It wasn't feasible. She knew that. But that knowledge didn't stop her yearning for it anyway. She tried to stop thinking about such things.
Just because she wanted to stay with Lennox didn't mean she could. He had a life of his own to lead, a people to look after, a castle to run. He would have no time for someone like her hanging onto him.
"How are your legs after the ride?" he asked quietly.
"Sore," she replied, holding her breath as she waited for him to speak again.
He didn't. Instead, his hands moved to the hem of her bliaut, lifting it slowly, touching her calves, rubbing them firmly, digging into the muscles, loosening the tightness.
All at once, his hands moved away, wrapping around her chest once more. "Get some sleep," he said bluntly.
Rose might have laughed if she wasn't so frustrated. There was little chance of sleep with her heart pounding and her body crying out for him to touch her again. She lay with her eyes open in the darkness.
All too soon he would be gone, and she would never see him again. The sadness of that thought was overwhelming. She felt safe with him. Part of her wished the druid was wrong, hoped that the plan would not work.
She would have to hold onto the memory of him when she went back. One more dawn and then it would all be over.
10
The first thing Lennox did when he awoke was try to touch Rose. He dreamed she'd vanished in the night and as soon as his eyes were open, he reached across for her. Groping wildly in the dark, he began to panic. She wasn't there.
Scrambling to the entrance of the shelter, he looked out in time to see her returning from behind a tree, smiling as she saw him emerge in the gloom. "Good morning."
"You shouldn't be out here on your own."
"I prefer relieving myself alone if given the choice."
"Oh, I see." He felt his cheeks coloring as she came and sat cross-legged on the moss beside the shelter. "I thought you'd..."
"Run off? Been snatched in the night by bandits?"
"There is great evil in these woods."
"What is this great evil you’re always going on about?"
"He didn’t have a name. The druids called him the barefoot man. The clan just called him the darkness."
