It took all the strength she had to step back from him, to put space between them. “There are some preparations I need to make before I leave for Hemkirk. I’ll ride out this evening.”
“Not alone ye willnae.”
“You have to stay here, Cailean. I—”
“Damn it, woman,” he growled. “Must ye always argue with me? In case ye have forgotten,Iam lord of this island. What kind of leader would I be if I let ye face this alone? What kind of father would I be if I didnae do all I could to help secure a cure for my daughter? This isnae up for discussion. I’m coming with ye.”
Rose opened her mouth to argue and then snapped it closed. She recognized that look on his face, the one that said he’d made up hismind and there would be no changing it. And besides, shewantedhim with her. She needed his strength if she was going to be able to face this.
“All right,” she breathed. “Fine.”
He nodded tightly. “Good. Then we’ll leave at midday.”
Rose let out a long, slow breath. Midday. A few hours away. Just enough time to make her preparations, do the rounds of her patients, and say her final goodbyes.
She nodded. “Midday it is.”
Chapter Eighteen
“…and that’s howthe giant Tur An Rog beat the invaders and kept his family safe for all time,” Cailean concluded.
As expected, Catriona made no response. To any untrained eye, she would just look as if she was sleeping peacefully. Her expression was smooth, and her forehead unmarred by any lines of worry or unease. Her chest rose and fell gently, and her hands were clasped together on her stomach. To any untrained eye.
But Cailean knew his daughter’s face better than he knew his own, and that look of peaceful sleep didn’t fool him. She was gone far away, retreated so deep inside herself that what remained was only a shell. Every time he looked at her, his heart clenched with mindless terror. What if she never woke? What if she remained like this forever?
“Seems an age since I heard that story,” Maggie commented from where she was checking some of the patients on the other side of the room. “Not since I was a lass. It used to be one of my favorites.”
“It’s one of Cat’s too,” he replied. “Do ye think she can hear me?” He tried to keep his voice calm, assured, but he heard the tremor in it all the same.
Maggie straightened, her expression softening. “I’m sure she can, my laird. And I’m sure her da’s voice soothes her as she sleeps.”
Cailean hoped Maggie was right. He reached out and gently brushed his thumb across his daughter’s cheek. “I have to go away fora little while, sweetling,” he said softly. “Yer Aunt Rose and I think we may have found the cause of the sickness and a way to stop it. But I’ll be back before ye know it and then we’ll take Patch out for a ramble together, eh? I know where there are mushrooms just coming up in the woods.”
He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Patch, curled up by Catriona’s feet as ever, got up, turned around a few times, and then slumped back down, head on his paws.
“Ye take good care of yer mistress until I get back, ye hear?” he told the little dog.
Maggie finished checking Drew’s pulse, pulled the sheet back up to the man’s chin, and came over to Cailean.
“I’m sure Patch, Beatrice, and I can manage while ye are gone, my laird,” she said, fixing him with a shrewd stare. “But I would be happier if I knew where ye were going.”
“That isnae something ye need to worry about,” he replied. “Ye will just have to trust me.” The last thing he wanted was anyone following him out there and falling prey to the angry god in the same way the people of Hemkirk had.
Maggie clearly didn’t like this answer. Her brows pulled down into a scowl. “Of course I trust ye,” she snapped. “Ye are our laird, aren’t ye? But when dealing with the old powers, ye need to be careful, take precautions.Theycanna be trusted.”
Cailean looked at her sharply. “How do ye know where I’m going has anything to with the old powers?”
Maggie rolled her eyes. “Look at me, lad. Do I look like some untried maiden to ye? I’m old, my laird, and I’ve seen a thing or two in my time. I know that Rose spoke to Lir again. I felt her presence. And that after that the two of ye have been as tight-lipped as clams. It doesnae take a seer to work out what’s going on.”
Cailean sighed, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. He slumped on his stool, elbows resting on his knees, hands dangling.
Maggie laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ve known ye since ye were a bairn, lad,” she said softly. “There was a time when ye used to talk to me when things were bothering ye.”
Cailean looked up, met Maggie’s eyes, and realized that she too was worried. Worried about him. About Catriona. About what he and Rose were planning to do. He wasn’t the only one with a lot riding on the success of this mission, he reminded himself.
“Rose and I are going to Hemkirk,” he said softly. “That’s where the source of the sickness lies.”
Maggie gasped out a breath. “So ye’ve found it then? The totem?”
