He was leaning down to check the straps on a bundle of wool blankets when he felt her.
He didn’t see her, not at first, but he felt her nearby like a bonfire burning against his senses. He straightened, turned, and there she was. Rose was standing by the door to the keep, looking out over the courtyard. She’d bound her midnight hair back in a plait and wore a burgundy cloak pulled tight against the weather. To Cailean’s eyes she looked like some untamed spirit of old—beautiful, wild. And very, very dangerous.
He passed a hand across his face, feeling his stomach tighten like it always did when he laid eyes on her. She was the main reason he’d lain awake all last night, her and the memories of their kiss.
Her eyes found him and she waved, breaking into a wide smile. Picking up her skirts, she hurried towards him.
“I need to speak to you,” she said urgently. “I think I’ve found something.”
Cailean glanced around at the courtyard busy with people loading and recording supplies.
“Not here,” he murmured.
He led her across the courtyard, the two of them slipping into the blessed calm of the stable. Here, the noise from outside was muted, and the air was filled the contented munching of the horses in their stalls.
He turned to face her but didn’t speak. Neither did she. Was she remembering what had happened between them yesterday just like he was? Was she hoping it would happen again, just like he was? Or, more likely, was she regretting it and hoping to forget it had ever happened?
With an effort, he fought the urge to reach out and touch her, forcing his hands to remain firmly by his sides.
Finally, she broke the silence. “I spoke to Maggie, like you suggested.”
He felt an obscure kind of disappointment.Thiswas what she wanted to speak to him about? He schooled his expression to one of mild interest.
“And what did Maggie have to tell ye?”
“She remembered the story. It’s about a sea god, like Seamus said, but the curse happened a bit differently to the story they tell. The god was imprisoned and I think… I think that prison might be weakening and that’s what’s allowing his curse to leak out.”
Cailean’s clenched. Curses? Gods? Prisons. Surely not. “It’s just an old story.”
“It’s not,” Rose said softly, her tone gentle but firm. “You know it’s not. Brina saw the stormlights and I’ve been speaking to others that saw them too. And remember, it was a sea goddess that brought me here. What if Lir is the goddess in the story?”
Cailean studied the wood of the barn wall, where time and the elements had turned the old wood silver. “If that’s so,” he growled, turning to look at her, “then why has Lir not fixed the mess she left behind? If this is the work of some jealous god, then why has she not countered it? Surely she has the power? Why has she chosen to let my people suffer? I will tell ye why. Because gods and goddesses care nothing for the lives of mortals. This is all just a game to them! We are just pieces on their giant board, and they move us around on a whim! Whether it be Maggie’s old gods or Beatrice’s new one, none of them can be trusted. I’ve said it all along!”
He was suddenly furious, shaking with rage. All the emotion he’d kept buried deep within himself for the last four years came racing to the surface. He saw Mary’s pale face in his mind’s eye, saw her lips muttering prayers that went unanswered, saw himself kneeling at the Christian altar and at the pagan shrine out by the loch offering anything, everything, if they would only save his wife.
But they hadn’t. He’d lost Mary to the cold indifference of the gods.
He would not lose Rose too.
“Ye need to leave it,” he said hoarsely.
“Why? What are you afraid I’ll find?”
He studied her, dread clawing up his throat.It’s not what you will find that terrifies me, he wanted to say.But what will find you.
But aloud all he said was, “Some things are best left buried.”
“And some things should never have been forgotten,” she replied, her voice rising slightly. “Ican’tleave it, Cailean. You know that. I can’t stand aside and let people suffer while there is a chance I can help them.”
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes flashing with defiance and still—still—he wanted nothing more than to kiss her again. The ache of it nearly knocked him off balance.
He stepped closer. “Rose, I—” His words trailed off. What could he say?Don’t do this, Rose. Don’t meddle in the business of the gods. Don’t make me lose you too. I don’t think I could survive it.
Something twisted in his chest. Fear. Guilt. Desire. Gods help him, all three.
He sighed, his shoulders sagging. “All right,” he breathed. “What do ye need from me?”
She smiled and it lit up the gloom of the stable like the morning sun. “I’ll let you know as soon as I figure that out.”
