“Aye.” He stood, gathering himself like armor slipping back into place. “The place he chose for the meetin’ is… strange.”
“Strange how?”
He glanced toward the door.
“You’ll see.”
Mist clung to the heather in thin, shining ribbons as Fiona and Harris followed Flora toward the glen. Dawn had barely broken—only a pale wash of light skimming the sky. Everything else felt suspended: the wind held its breath, the birds stayed silent, even the pools ahead whispered more than they spoke.
Fiona glanced sidelong at Harris.
Last night’s heat still clung to her skin: his hands, his mouth, the way he’d said her name like it cost him.
Now, he walked like nothing inside him had shattered open.
Typical.
They rounded a bend and the faerie pools came into view, falls tumbling into basins clear as glass, mist spiraling like smoke from some ancient altar. Stones ringed the largest pool in deliberate circles, shaped by intention, not accident.
And at the far edge stood a man.
Not crowned.
Not flanked by guards.
Not regal.
A young man with a travel-worn cloak and sorrow carved deep beneath his eyes.
Too young to bear so much ruin.
Too tired to pretend.
Fiona’s chest tightened.
This was the man her brother had followed to his death.
Harris bowed his head: soldier to commander, grief to grief.
“Ye sent for me,” he said. “We came as soon as we could.”
The Prince’s gaze slid to Fiona. Sharp, assessing. “And who is this?”
Harris’s jaw ticked. “Mistress Fiona Cameron. Trusted.”
Fiona stepped forward into a deep curtsy and lowered her gaze in reverence. “Your Highness.”
The Prince’s eyes softened with recognition as he beckoned her to rise. “Cameron. I knew many of your kin.”
“Aye,” she said quietly. “And many died for you.”
A ripple of silence passed across the water.
“I carry every one of them,” he murmured.
Flora gestured toward a smooth stone near the pool. “Best hurry. The morning willna stay empty long.”
Harris knelt beside Dubh’s saddle and flipped it open, not to reveal the gold, but to show the Prince the state of it. The way one would show a commander a weapon after battle.
