Twenty-seven
Ruith walked up the stairs, following his future brother-in-law—an appalling thought in and of itself—with his future bride bravely marching alongside him, and had to suppress the urge to wipe his hands on his thighs. In spite of his bluster, he realized that he was quite a bit more nervous than he should have been.
It was implausible enough to be following a boy he’d combined all manner of mischief with only to find that that boy had become the bloody king of Neroche, though in truth, he wasn’t terribly surprised. He knew all Miach’s brothers and whilst each of them would have made an excellent king given the chance, there had been something about Miach from the start that had set him apart—his ability to ferret out the most irresistible spells, no doubt, but perhaps that was something to ponder later.
It was also astonishing to think he was holding on to the hand of a woman he truly, profoundly loved, a woman whose parentage he hadn’t cared about—only to find out she was not at all who the world thought she was.
But strangest of all was to think that he was only a few heartbeats away from seeing a grandfather he hadn’t ever thought to see again.
Miach paused at the door, then looked at him. “He doesn’t know you’re here.”
Ruith looked at him in surprise. “You were supposed to tell him.”
“I thought it best to let sleeping kings lie. He woke up just the same when I came back in, but I said nothing. I told him I would go below and fetch supper, which deference he most certainly appreciated.”
“Coward,” Ruith grumbled. He looked at Sarah. “I think I’m nervous.”
“Don’t look at me for help,” she said, sounding rather ill. “I have my own reasons for wanting to go hide—not that I will.”
“I never thought you would.” He took a deep breath and looked at Miach. “You go first.”
“I believe, brother, that is the first time in our lives you’ve ever said that to me.”
Ruith pursed his lips and suppressed the urge to push him. Miach only smiled and opened the door. He walked inside, then paused.
“Your Majesty,” Miach said deferentially, “I’m not sure how to tell you this—”
“Damn you, you dratted boy,” Sìle growled, “don’t you do this to me again.”
Ruith took a deep breath and gathered his courage. He would have kept Sarah’s hand in his, but she pulled her hand away, took both their packs off his shoulder, then pushed him inside in front of her.
Ruith stumbled into the chamber—Sarah was rather strong, after all—then came to a teetering halt. Sìle rose to his feet, looking at Ruith as if he’d seen a ghost.
Ruith understood completely.
His grandfather hadn’t changed much over the years, though he seemed smaller than Ruith remembered him. But he was still as proud, still as powerful . . . and suddenly weeping.
Ruith found himself enveloped in an embrace that robbed him of breath. He had often wondered, over the past pair of months, if there would come a time when he might go back to his sensible, emotionless existence on the side of his lonely mountain. He knew now that he never would. His heart had been broken half a dozen times since he’d closed the door of his house, but he didn’t regret it.
The price was worth paying.
“Ruithneadh,” Sìle said, pulling back and looking at him in astonishment. “Where in the hell have you been?”
“Hiding,” Ruith said honestly.
“Son, why didn’t you come home?” Sìle asked, sounding as if the question had been torn out of him by claws. “Did you not know who you were?”
Ruith couldn’t even manage a shrug. “I knew,” he admitted. “And that was the problem.”
Sìle closed his eyes briefly, then embraced him again. Ruith was very grateful that Sarah had seen him completely undone, for he was no better than his grandfather at hiding his emotions. It was a bitter weeping, but somehow a cleansing one. He held his grandfather, happily, until Sìle finally pulled away. He dragged his sleeve across his eyes, then laughed a little.
“I am too old for any more of these surprises. Tell me I’m finished.”
“Rùnach is alive and in Buidseachd,” Ruith said, supposing that it was better to have all the shocks over with at once.
“With Soilléir, no doubt, that young rogue,” Sìle grumbled. He frowned. “Well, I’m almost unsurprised by that, though I am positively undone seeing you. You’d best explain yourself, lad. And since I’m assuming I don’t have you to thank for bringing yourself back to the living, I’m assuming there is someone with sense in the area?”
Ruith fumbled behind him for Sarah’s hand. He pulled her to stand next to him and opened his mouth to introduce her.
It wasn’t necessary.
His grandfather gaped at her in much the same way he’d gaped at him not five minutes earlier.
“Sorcha?” he managed. “But . . . nay.” He continued to look at her in surprise. “Forgive me, child, but I mistook you for someone else.”
Ruith watched Sarah look at him briefly, then back at his grandfather.
“Sorcha was my mother.”
Sìle’s eyes again filled with tears. “Sarah, then.”
Ruith looked at Sarah, but he couldn’t see her very well for that dratted smoke that seemed to permeate every bloody chamber of the inn. Then again, tears were streaming down her cheeks. The only one in the chamber who wasn’t weeping was that damned king of Neroche, who likely never had anything take him by surprise.
Ruith looked at his grandfather in time to watch him reach out and gather Sarah into his arms. He patted her back gently.
“Ah, you poor lass,” he said gently. “I’m so sorry.” He patted her a bit more, then pulled back and looked down at her. “And where have you been keeping yourself, young Sarah? If you tell me Weger’s tower, I will have an attack, so take pity on an old elf and tell me something else.”
“I was masquerading as the daughter of the witchwoman Seleg.”
Sìle made a noise of horror. “Surely not.” He drew her arm through his and led her over to the fire. “And where was that old hag hiding you? And how is it you came to know my grandson? He’s a good-looking lad, isn’t he?” He looked at her with sudden calculation in his eyes. “You could do worse, you know.”
Ruith caught the look Sarah threw him—not precisely one of panic, but it was close—and laughed a little. He listened for a few minutes to what of his whereabouts and antics Sarah was able to relate, then realized Miach was watching him. He looked at him, then felt something slide down his spine.
He was beginning to dislike that feeling quite intensely.
He sighed and walked over to stand next to his former companion in dastardly deeds. “I’m prepared for just about anything. Spew away.”
“You haven’t changed.”
“Neither have you and given that I know you always know things you shouldn’t, I’ll say it again: spew away.”
Miach looked at Sarah. “She’s perfectly lovely. And your grandfather seems to like her.”
“So do I.”
“Besotted, are you?”
“Admittedly.”
Miach smiled at him. “It is good to see you, Ruith. Where in the world have you been? I’m assuming somewhere between here and Doìre, else Sarah wouldn’t have encountered you.”
“Shettlestoune,” Ruith said with a sigh. “Hiding in a house on the side of a deserted mountain.”
“You, my friend, had cause,” Miach said, “though I imagine hiding isn’t all you’ve been doing.”
Ruith studied him for a moment or two. “How did you know to find me, or is this a happy coincidence?”
“Do you want the answer to that?”
“Actually, I think I might.”
Miach nodded toward the window, which was a safe distance away from the fire and just made for private conversations. Ruith followed him, then stopped and looked at his—and he could hardly believe it—future brother-in-law.
“How is the crown?” he asked.
“Uncomfortable,” Miach said honestly, “and a little heavier than I expected.”
Ruith smiled in spite of himself. “At least you’ve satisfied Sìle.”
“Barely,” Miach said, with feeling. “It took almost dying to convince him that I loved Morgan—Mhorghain, rather.”
“Is that what they’ve called her?” Ruith asked, finding the question surprisingly difficult.
Miach nodded. “You will like her, I imagine. She is much like your mother, but perhaps even more like your grandfather. Stubborn, fierce, and utterly loyal. And so beautiful, I can hardly stand to look at her.”
“Spare me the details,” Ruith said with a grimace. “If you wax rhapsodic about my sister’s charms, I truly will do damage to you.”
Miach only smiled. “I wouldn’t blame you. Now, tell me what you’re about and why you’re taking Soilléir’s cousin to places she shouldn’t go?”
“I’m collecting my father’s spells.”
Miach nodded. “I wondered what had happened to them.” He studied Ruith for a moment or two. “I suppose there is no one else to do it, is there?”
“Keir might have been able to, but . . .”
Miach looked at him gravely, his face full of understanding. “He died helping Mhorghain close the well.” He put his hand on Ruith’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Ruith shook his head sharply. “Uachdaran already told me, so don’t fret over it. It is what he would have wanted, which you well know. He was determined to protect both her and Mother at all costs. I’m not sure he could have lived with himself if he had failed Mhorghain—especially if that failure had come because of something my father had spawned.”
“A sentiment you share,” Miach noted. “How are you looking for your father’s spells?”
“Sarah can see them.”
“I’m not surprised,” Miach said quietly. “I knew her parents had been slain, but I had no idea she was alive.” He shrugged. “I always wondered what it was that Franciscus found in Shettlestoune to occupy his time after his very suspicious disappearance.”
“Brewing ale, watching over his granddaughter, and how the hell do you know all this?” Ruith demanded. “What don’t you know?”
“Where you’ve been, apparently,” Miach said with an apologetic smile. “Or where your father’s spells are to be found.”
Ruith sighed. “Don’t worry about that. You could, however, worry about the fact that I’m also finding pieces of the first half of his spell of Diminishing cunningly shredded and scattered in my path, as if someone either knows where I’m going or wishes to lead me in a certain direction.”
“And where is the second half?”
“Taken from me just outside Ceangail, but that is another tale entirely.”
Miach smiled. “And you’re hoping the possessors of both halves don’t meet over tea?”
“That thought had occurred to me, aye.”
Miach held up his hands. “Don’t look at me for aid. I have enough to do without meddling in your affairs.”
Ruith studied him for several minutes in silence. “Why are you here?”
Miach rubbed his hands over his face suddenly, then sighed deeply. “To give you tidings.”
“What have you seen?”
“My boundaries are set,” Miach hedged. “What would I know of anything in the wide world?”
Ruith snorted. “Please, Miach. Even as a lad you were poking your questing nose into places it didn’t belong.”
“Following your example, of course.”
“Tidings, Miach.”
Miach chewed on his words for several moments. “Tell me more about your plan to find these spells, then I’ll tell you what I suspect.”
Ruith leaned back against the wall. “Sarah made a map of them in Léige. We made note of where they lay, and we’re collecting them one by one.” He pursed his lips. “There was, if you can believe it, a pattern to it all.”
“Was there?”
Ruith suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. If anything surprised Miach of Neroche, it would be death sneaking up on him unexpectedly. “Aye, there was. The spells are seemingly being called. Either that or someone has arranged them in a way that is causing us to follow them.”
“Where?”
“North.”
Miach looked at him evenly. “Not much in the north that’s pleasant, is there?”
“I don’t know,” Ruith said shortly. “I’ve confined myself to the hell that is the south. Perhaps you can add to my knowledge.”
Miach shrugged. “I wouldn’t recommend a journey there, but I don’t think you’ll have a choice.” He paused. “I would be careful.”
“And you came all this way to tell me that?”
“Nay,” Miach said slowly, “I came to tell you who I think has made himself a comfortable nest in the north, in a place where none but those with a great tolerance for Olc dare tread.”
Ruith looked at him in silence.
And then he knew.
He pushed himself away from the wall, then shook his head.
“Impossible.”
“You know it isn’t.”
Ruith almost had to look for a place to sit down. It had never occurred—
Nay, that was a lie. He had often wondered over the years if others besides himself had escaped the ravages of the well. Mhorghain had, obviously, and Keir, and Rùnach.
But his father?
He leaned back against the wall and set his jaw, because it was either that or sit down and weep.
“It is,” he said distinctly, “impossible. I saw him fall at the well.”
“Did you?”
“Very well,” Ruith snarled, “I didn’t see precisely that, but I saw the wave crash down on him. No one could have survived it. My mother didn’t, nor did three of my brothers—and they were protected by her spells. My father had nothing standing between him and that evil but bluster.”
Miach held up his hands helplessly. “I have no proof,” he said. “Just a feeling.”
“A feeling that was apparently strong enough that you felt the need to fly hundreds of leagues to come tell me about it.”
Miach shrugged. “I can’t help you with this task, Ruith, but I couldn’t not at least tell you what I thought.”
“Meddler.”
“Guilty,” Miach agreed.
Ruith considered a bit longer. “I am very tempted to send Sarah with you back to your hovel.”
“She won’t come, I don’t imagine.”
“I may not give her any choice.”
Miach reached out and put his hand on Ruith’s shoulder briefly. “If I could offer one piece of advice, brother, it would be never to be less than forthcoming with your lady, and do not leave her behind. It won’t go well for you.”
“Or for the Sword of Angesand, apparently.”
Miach smiled. “Soilléir told you, did he?”
“After I fair beat it from him,” Ruith said, dragging his hand through his hair. He looked at Miach. “Don’t say aught to Mhorghain. Not until I’m certain we’ll survive this.”
Miach shook his head. “Ruith, my friend, there is nothing in this world or the next that would make me give her those tidings. She did enough at the well.”
Ruith considered. “When do you wed?”
“In a fortnight’s time.”
“I’m not sure I’ll be finished with this by then.”
“You can be my wedding present to her, then,” Miach said with a faint smile. “After the fact.”
Ruith nodded, though that cost him a surprising bit to manage. He didn’t want to believe that he might not survive the task before him, but—
He turned away from the thought. He would survive, he would keep Sarah safe, then he would set out on a lifetime of bliss in that beautiful spot on Lake Cladach that Sgath was reserving for him—or Sarah, rather. With any luck, she would allow him to come along and build her a house on it.
He nodded to Miach, who he was certain would understand just what he was thinking, then walked with his sister’s fiancé back to where his grandfather sat, chatting amicably with Sarah. He set aside the heaviness in his heart.
He was sure it would return soon enough.
It was very late, or very early depending on one’s perspective, when he finally stretched out in front of the fire with Sarah lying with her head toward his, much as they’d done in Sgath’s folly when he’d first thought he loved her truly. She propped her chin up on her folded hands and looked at him.
“Well?”
“I’ve stopped weeping,” he said quietly. “Promising, don’t you think?”
She smiled at him. “You have cause.”
“I’m only happy Rùnach wasn’t here to witness it. He would have never let me live it down.”
“I think you might be right.”
He leaned up on his elbows, then looked at her purposefully. She shook her head.
“Absolutely not.”
“My grandfather is snoring, and Miach won’t care.”
She pursed her lips. “Your tally is not full, my prince. I told your grandfather about it, and he agreed that it would be useful in at least keeping your mind on your task.”
He inched his way toward her. “I’m surprised he didn’t suggest a dozen princes for you to examine.”
“He did.”
Ruith shut his mouth with a snap. “And what did you say?”
“I told him I didn’t care for royalty.” She smiled faintly. “I think he’s still digesting that.”
“He’s digesting, and I’m postponing,” he said with a snort.
“Postponing what?”
“The rest of that bloody list you’re holding me to.”
“You kissed the barmaid,” she reminded him. “And you said she was a princess.”
“I lied. But I wanted to kiss Miach. Briefly. As far as I’m concerned, that counts. If you insist, I’ll take up my errand again tomorrow.”
She frowned. “Tomorrow?”
He leaned over and kissed her softly. “Tomorrow,” he said firmly.
“You autocratic . . . elf,” she spluttered.
“Only three-quarters.”
She laughed a little, then reached out and put her arm around his neck, holding onto him tightly. “I’ll take the quarter, then, for a bit. You be Ruith and I’ll be Sarah, and we’ll forget the rest.”
“If it means I can jettison into the ether that bloody tally of women I’ve no interest in, I’m all for it.”
She looked at him seriously. “I don’t want you to regret your choice.”
He kissed her again, rather thoroughly, because he just didn’t have any words left. Then he rested his cheek against hers in silence for another moment or two before he thought he could speak with any success.
“I want you to go with Sìle.”
“I know.”
He sighed. “Miach has suspicions about things, things that will make for a very unpleasant journey’s end, if they’re true. I don’t want you anywhere near where I’ll need to go.”
“I can see the spells, Ruith. You can’t.”
“Nothing, and I mean nothing, my lady, has ever caused me more regret than that fact.” He looked at her bleakly. “I am very much afraid, Sarah of Cothromaiche, that whilst I may survive many things, I may not survive that because it means I will have taken you places no man would ever think to take the woman he loves.”
She kissed him softly, then stretched back out with her chin on her hands, wincing when she touched the back of her right hand. She put it aside, then simply rested her cheek on her left hand and looked at him.
“We’ll do what we must, Ruith, because we must. Then we’ll spend the rest of our lives looking at other things. More beautiful things.”
He covered her right hand very gently with his own, then lay down with his head turned just so, so he could look at her. He sincerely hoped she was right. Unfortunately, he feared that the trials they would pass through first would be more than either of them would forget easily.
He waited until she’d closed her eyes before he set spells of ward about the entire chamber that no one could break through. Once that was done, he simply watched her and the future both.
They would sleep whilst they could, then, on the morrow, take up the heritages they couldn’t escape and the tasks that still lay before them. And then he would do his damndest to keep her safe and accomplish what he had to, because if Gair was alive, the only way for him to make the world safe for Sarah for more than a single night was to make a choice.
His father, or the world.
And if those were the alternatives facing him, the choice was simple.
He could only hope he lived long enough to make it.