Warrior's Moon

Chapter 15

Tears sprang to Shona’s eyes, though she knew not from where. Surely she was past crying her stress away.

Caelis’s hand moved to cup her cheek, the palm so big it covered part of her temple and neck. “You are mine. I will not allow you to be harmed.”

Vegar snorted. “Aye, you’re his mate right enough. Under no other circumstances would he have revealed his conriocht so quickly.”

“But…” She looked up into mesmerizing blue eyes. “I heard your voice. Inside my mind. You know I did.”

“Aye.”

“That is not normal.”

“I stand before you a conriocht. ‘Normal’ does not define your life now, if it ever did.”

“But…”

“You are mine.” He said it again. Inside her mind.

She pulled away from him, his touch too much in that moment when she feared a connection of such magnitude she could well lose herself in it. “Can you hear my thoughts?”

“Only when you direct them to me.”

“But I didn’t…what I was thinking. You knew.”

He shrugged. “I do not understand it, but it was as if each thought was an accusation from you to me.”

“I wanted to say it, but stopped myself.”

He nodded, as if that explained it. She didn’t know if it did, but if this mindspeak between true mates was real, then Shona would have to be far more careful what she thought loudly around him.

“What will we do with them, then?” Vegar asked.

“Take them back to the keep.”

“And then?” Audrey asked as Shona wanted to.

“Then we extend mercy and the opportunity for submission, as Chrechte ancient law dictates.”

“They had no mercy toward us.” And if Chrechte law was so merciful, then how had so many of his kind died to war as he’d claimed?

Of course, two wolves lay dead in the clearing. Men who would never return to their families or homes. Men, Shona suddenly realized, she’d probably known at one time.

The thought made her queasy even as she worried that allowing the others to live put her children at risk.

“Mum, Da will make it all right,” Eadan said.

Shona looked down at her son and tried for a smile. Her son’s worried look indicated her attempt was less than successful.

“These men have been taught to disregard the honorable ways.” Caelis looked with regret down at their son. “As was I. I learned a new way. Perhaps they can, too.”

Audrey didn’t reply and Shona had nothing to add. Caelis claimed she was stronger than the need to withdraw mercy.

Mayhap he was right.

But in that moment, she could be glad the decision was not hers to make.

“We will go into the forest. Vegar, you go to the keep and fetch more of the Sinclair’s soldiers.”

“And some coverings for the men. They are naked,” Audrey pointed out as if no one else had realized yet.

So, she still had the modesty Shona had always thought such a deep part of the younger woman. She’d simply…what? Accepted Vegar seeing her naked because they were mates?

This mating business had a lot to answer for.

“Take the children with you,” Shona implored Vegar. “Please.”

“No, Mummy. We need to stay with you and Da,” Eadan immediately denied, reaching for his father with the first sign of true fear Shona had seen in her son this whole time.

Caelis lifted the boy without hesitation, saying something in a low voice that brought a relieved smile to Eadan’s features and a nod of agreement.

Marjory latched onto the conriocht’s leg, her thumb tucked into her mouth. Caelis’s giant hand rested carefully on her head, the gesture both gentle and clearly protective. Neither child showed signs of being overly upset by what they had witnessed, though both very obviously did not want to be separated from their savior.

Considering her son had barely survived his stepbrother’s machinations and Marjory had spent two sennights on the run with her mother and friends, they might well consider this day less upsetting than Shona did.

“The big dog keep us safe,” Marjory said around her thumb.

Shona found herself laughing and was glad to see that Caelis did as well. It was a strange, more guttural sound coming from his conriocht throat, but amusement glittered in his eyes. He was clearly not offended by being referred to as a dog.

Eadan frowned. “He’s not a dog, Margie. He’s our da.”

Marjory did not look overly concerned by her brother’s chastisement.

There was no joviality in Caelis’s expression when he fixed his gaze on the MacLeod Chrechte. “We will go into the forest and await the other soldiers.”

“Why? You’re just going to kill us anyway.” It was Maon, of course.

Incredibly, Caelis laughed again. “Do not presume to speak for your fellow Faol. They have already kneeled to me. All that is left is for them to speak their vows. You are no longer their leader and you were never their alpha. They were taught lies like you but recognize the truth when they see it.”

Maon shut up then.

At Vegar’s insistence, Audrey agreed to leave with him. He would see her wounds tended to immediately. The young Sinclair soldier also took his departure, his fervent praying finally ceasing, an expression of pain twisting his untried features.

Caelis laid his hand on the soldier’s shoulder and the Sinclair man earned even more of Shona’s respect when he barely winced at the contact. “Tell the Sinclair I owe a debt of gratitude and honor to this man.”

The soldier looked up at the massive conriocht with shock.

Caelis met his gaze. “You put yourself between my mate and danger. ’Tis not a debt that will ever be fully repaid.”

“Teach me to fight the wolves,” the young soldier said.

“Why?”

“To better defend my laird and our clan.”

“In time, you will train with the Chrechte, just as all his soldiers do.”

“’Tis not the same. We don’t know their true natures when training.”

“You believe you can learn to best a Chrechte warrior in his beast form in battle?”

“If you teach me, I do.”

“You have the heart for it. I will train you.”

“You cannot do that!” Maon exclaimed.

Caelis spun around and glared at the man, his hand clenched at his side. “Do not challenge me. My patience with you is at its limit.”

Maon fell silent, his expression mutinous.

Shona could not help admiring the stubborn determination of the other man, even if he was more wrongheaded than her stepson, Percival, and his father combined.

Shona took Audrey’s hand and led her toward the forest, surprised and yet not when the others followed her, Caelis at the rear with Eadan still perched on his arm.

Despite the men’s apparent submission, Shona kept Marjory well away from the MacLeods who had been willing to kill them.

Her head was too filled with her own thoughts to listen to Caelis as he spoke in that strange guttural voice to the men he used to call friends. She was peripherally aware that he talked about things like sacred Chrechte law, the Fearghall and something he referred to as the Cahir.

The three who had already shown Caelis submission in their wolf forms listened with a great deal more attention than Shona. Maon argued and insulted and yet, Shona began to realize he wanted to believe.

And that is when she put her own worries aside and started listening, too.

“A time is coming—’twill not be in our lifetime, but that of our children’s children—when a great blight is coming up on the people of our nations. An illness so great it will wipe out entire packs as though they’d never been. Without our sacred stone and the help of healers, the Chrechte will cease to be.”

Maon frowned. “We have healers among the Faol.”

“Not enough. We will need the Éan and the Paindeal.”

“The Paindeal,” Maon scoffed. “They are legend and nothing else.”

“That is what most of the clans believed about the Éan before they learned the truth,” Caelis said.

“What do you mean?” Shona couldn’t help asking.

“Until a year ago, the Éan lived like ghosts in the remote forest.”

“Why?”

“Because of the Fearghall,” Maon answered, though he did not sound as proud of that fact as she would have expected.

“Aren’t they safe, now that they are among the clans?”

“The Éan are only safe when the Fearghall cease to exist.”

“That will never happen,” Maon scoffed.

“You think not?” Caelis challenged.

“He is right.” Shona moved cautiously around the Chrechte men so she and Marjory could sit on the other side of Caelis. “As long as there is hatred among men, people like the Fearghall will exist.”

Caelis gave an unhappy rumble of agreement. “But we will do our best to expose them among the Chrechte and help those who have been taught the lies to know the truth.”

It was a laudable goal, but she did not think every Fearghall was just misguided. Uven was a prime example.

That man got entirely too much joy out of believing himself superior to others. He would have been a terrible laird even if he’d been entirely human.

“The Paindeal disappeared before the Éan stole our sacred stone and the Fearghall was created to find it and return it to the Faol.”

“The Fearghall spend too much time hunting Éan to be hunting the Faolchú Chridhe.”

“The Éan destroyed it.” But even Maon did not sound convinced by his own argument.

Of course, according to the man, Caelis could not be conriocht without it. So, his very existence was proof this sacred stone still existed and was indeed accessible to the Faol.

“Both the Paindeal and the Faolchú Chridhe exist.” There could be no doubt that Caelis believed what he was saying. “Just like the Éan.”

“But we have always known the Éan exist.”

“And the Éan have never forgotten the Paindeal, nor have some of the Faol.”

“So, what? We are to chase after a myth?” Maon demanded.

“Aye, and find them if we hope to save our children’s children.”

“You say Uven held you back from your true mate?” Sean asked.

Maon glared at the forest floor. “He says you were just too stubborn to do your duty by our people.”

“How can I, a Chrechte man, do this duty once I have mated and forged the sacred bond?” Caelis asked.

“You could not,” one of the other men said. “And Uven knew this.”

Apparently, from the man’s tone, this was a well-known fact among the Chrechte.

This proof that Caelis had not lied to her about his last six years of celibacy was something she set aside to contemplate later.

“’Tis why he ordered me not to couple with Shona, but it was already too late.” Caelis huge arm settled across her shoulder.

“You lied to him,” Sean said in a tone that Shona did not understand.

It was almost as if he admired Caelis for doing so.

“Aye. And he never knew my deceit.”

“That is impossible,” Maon asserted. “Our alpha could smell your deceit no matter how you tried to mask it.”

“He is no longer your alpha.”

And Shona began to understand Caelis’s intentions and his need to return to the MacLeod clan. He was not going back to merely exact vengeance on a laird who had lied and put his people’s needs last. Caelis wanted to save others from the same fate. He wanted to lead the MacLeod people with the strength and courage and selflessness that Uven should have shown.

“So you claim.” Maon’s words were defiant, but his conviction lessened with every utterance.

Shona could almost find it in her heart to feel sorry for him. Until she remembered he’d threatened to kill her children.

“Do you really think he will survive my challenge?” Caelis asked with more humor than Shona felt.

“According to your words, you will allow us to live.”

“Uven is more treacherous. He has earned his death, when it comes.” There was no mercy in Caelis’s tone now.

Apparently the Chrechte law of mercy did not extend to despot alphas.

“Because he withheld your mate from you?” Maon asked.

“Because he has killed mates, not just withheld them. Because he has murdered Éan, humans and Faol indiscriminately whenever they have gotten in his way. My own parents were victims of his treachery and he dared put himself in my life as substitute father. Because he lies and teaches lies as truth, knowing they are lies.”

She did not think the others heard the pain in the conriocht’s gravelly tones, but it reached out to the heart she’d tried so hard to protect these past six years. She did not want to feel compassion for him, did not want to feel his pain.

But she could no more help herself than when Eadan scraped his knee and her own ached in sympathy.

“Uven believes what he teaches,” Sean claimed.

Maon paled and looked ready to lose whatever he’d eaten to break his fast that day.

“Nay. He knows the truth. We are only as strong as our weakest link. And without our sacred stone, the Faol were the weakest link in the family of Chrechte for centuries.”

Maon shook his head. “No.”

“Aye.”

Maon did not argue again. He shut up, his expression turning thoughtful. In a thoroughly surly way. If he was acknowledging his wrongheadedness, even if only in his own mind, he certainly wasn’t happy about it.

Was that required response for Chrechte men, she wondered. To be cranky and out of sorts most of the time? Shona found herself laughing at the not-so-absurd notion.

Caelis looked down at her with concern and a yearning she did not understand. “What has you amused?”

“The nature of the Chrechte.”

“You mean our wolves?” Sean asked, sounding puzzled.

“I mean the fact you all seem overly surly, or at least the men do.” Audrey was not so cantankerous.

Caelis shrugged, his massive shoulders making even that small movement impressive and nearly knocking her sideways in the process. “We share our natures with a wolf.”

“You share yours with more.” And he had not told her. Again.

Again he seemed to read her thoughts. “You are not afraid of me like this.”

“No. You are still Caelis.”

“I thought you would be.”

So he had not shown her the wondrous monster. Out of fear? She could not imagine this magical being having such concerns.

Or mayhap, he simply could not show her as he had the wolf. “Can you shift to conriocht at will?”

“Aye, though shifting back cannot happen as quickly.”

“Why?”

“I dinna ken. It could be that when our race was created, a conriocht was meant to spend his time in this form, to better protect our people.”

“Can you shift back now?” she wanted to know.

“Not while threat still exists.”

“We’ve submitted to you,” Sean said. “We would not harm your mate or child.”

“Both Eadan and Marjory are mine,” Caelis growled.

Sean nodded quickly. “As it should be.”

Maon made a scoffing sound.

“You do not agree?” Shona asked, ready to defend her children against even a man who shifted into a wolf.

His beast was nothing compared to the beast who claimed loyalty to her. And as with his wolf, Shona found it all too easy to trust Caelis’s conriocht, even if she could not yet bring herself to trust the man.

“The Fearghall are taught that there is no value in humanity,” Maon said. “A human child would not be claimed by a Chrechte warrior under his authority.”

“Uven’s own daughter was human,” Caelis said.

“Was?” Sean asked.

Caelis gave the other Chrechte a measureing look. “She shifts now, thanks to her Éan mate and our sacred stone.”

“How could her mate have drawn on the power of our stone?” the warrior Shona did not know asked.

“He did not.”

“Then why say thanks to him?” Maon asked, for once sounding more curious than antagonistic.

“He saved her life after her father and Ualraig, the blackguard her father meant her to mate, beat her and left her for dead.”

Shona noted that not one of the men looked surprised by the news, but neither did they look particularly comfortable with it.

“Is he the one who killed Ualraig?” Maon asked.

“You are so sure Ualraig is dead and not a deserter like me?”

“There was naught but ashes left of our warriors, but we know the difference between human ash and dirt.”

“Aye, Laith killed him.”

“Ualraig was the most powerful of Uven soldiers.”

“Nay, he was not.”

“You bested him many times in training but Uven never promoted you to his second,” Maon observed, again without the overt anger.

“Aye. I would not mate with another Chrechte, much less the man’s poor daughter.”

“You couldn’t.”

“He did not know that.”

“He would have killed you if he had.” There was no doubt in Maon’s voice, or the faces of the other three.

Shona shivered. This world was new to her and there were many things about it she still did not understand, but she was struck with the certain knowledge that Uven would have killed her mate if the laird had known of the bonding between Caelis and Shona.

“He could no kill my da,” Eadan said resolutely.

“Nay, he cannot now and the past does not matter,” Caelis agreed.

Maon nodded, shocking Shona.

“Are you Uven’s new second?” Caelis asked of Maon.

“No.”

“Why not?” Shona could not help herself asking.

Curiosity often drove her when she should leave well enough alone.

“I refused the assignment to go after his daughter.”

“What?” Even in his not-quite-human voice, Caelis’s shock was palpable.

“He was not a good father to his human daughter.”

“Yet you would have killed my children,” Shona said with more confusion than anger.

She was doubting her own words even as she spoke them.

“Chrechte do not kill children.”

“You said—”

“What I believed would undermine my opponent with emotion.”

“Oh.”

“Jon did not kill the woman.”

“Audrey.”

“He could have.” Shona had thought so at the time.

“Aye.”

“Vegar would not take the risk he might.”

“A man protects his mate.” Maon’s shrug should have been casual, but there was an air of grief about him.

And Shona remembered something from her old clan. “Jon was your younger brother.”

“Too young to come on this quest.”

“But Uven sent him anyway. And you defend the man.” Shona could not understand it.

“He was my alpha. It was not my place to question him.”

“You said was.”

Maon looked at Caelis and then away.

“A Chrechte of honor values all life. An alpha worthy of loyalty extends both his protection and his consideration to those who swear fealty to him.” Caelis spoke gutterly, but never had Shona heard him say words more humane.

“Members of our clan starve while Uven fills his belly with prey.”

Caelis growled, but made no other reply to that claim.

Maon looked at him. “To be conriocht, the stone had to find you worthy.”

“Maker of the stone, aye. The stone is but a way for us to connect to our Creator.”

“You used to be Fearghall.”

“I accepted truth when I heard it.”

Maon nodded. “Taking over the clan will not be easy. Some must die.”

“Fewer than if the clan stays in the hands of an unscrupulous man.”

“This is what you were talking about earlier, isn’t it?” Shona asked Caelis, certain in her heart she was right.

“Aye.”

“Da is alpha,” Eadan said.

“You’re sure of that, are you, boy?” Sean asked with a smile.

Caelis growled, though Shona did not understand why.

Sean flinched but smiled. “I wasn’t questioning your alpha status, conriocht.”

Suddenly, Shona found herself sitting alone with both children, her snarling mate towering over them all. “I warned you: I can smell a lie.”

Sean jumped up, shifting into wolf form between one blink of her eyes and the next. He didn’t attack Caelis, but ran in the other direction.

Caelis looked after him; she could see his entire body tense with the need to follow.

“Go after him,” she instructed.

“Nay.” The fury in his tone made the word more a bark than anything recognizable.

He would not leave her and the children unprotected.

“Sinclair’s soldiers will be here soon enough. I will go after him then.”

Suddenly another wolf streaked past, which she recognized as Maon. She’d thought he was coming around, but then she’d thought Sean was completely won over already.

The sound of a loud bark came through the brush, then breaking branches, snarls and yelps, followed by a howl cut off mid-vocalization.

Maon came trotting back a moment later, his muzzle covered in blood, his hackles still raised.

Caelis dropped to a crouch and met the wolf with pats from his oversized beast’s hands, growls and croons that could be nothing but praise and thanks. Though Shona did not pretend to speak wolf.

Caelis stood. “There is a stream that way. Go wash the blood of battle away.”

The wolf obeyed and Shona clamped down her desire to point out that he still hadn’t sworn fealty. Sean had as good as, but without conviction.

Caelis turned to the remaining two wolves. “Chrechte law states my mate and family are paramount. Speak your intentions to follow or defy me now.”

The man Shona had never met stood. “I am not of the MacLeod clan.”

“And yet you do the laird’s bidding.”

“I was ordered by my alpha to accompany the others on this quest.”

“To destroy me.”

“And the other Uven considers a deserter.”

“We were to bring you back,” the other MacLeod Chrechte said.

“To what purpose?” Shona had to wonder.

“To make an example of your mate and the other one.”

She frowned. “Why do you not name him?”

Did this man think he was too good to speak the name of another he considered a deserter?

“We do not know which of the warriors lives.”

“Oh.”

Caelis did not offer the name of his fellow soldier. He glared down at the two men. “Choose now.”

“I cannot swear fealty,” the non-MacLeod said, but raised his hand in supplication at Caelis’s growl. “I have been raised Fearghall from birth. You demand I abandon my brethren. My father.”

“He is pack alpha,” Shona guessed.

The man looked startled at her perception.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m a human woman, not an idiot.”

“I give my word that no harm will come to you, your mate or your family by my hand or instigation.” The man put his fist over his heart and bowed his head again. “You are conriocht, blessed by all that we hold sacred.”

Caelis nodded. “I accept, but you will not go free.”

The man did not look surprised at all by Caelis’s pronouncement.

“And you?” Caelis demanded of the other soldiers.

Both men dropped to their knees and bowed their heads, speaking vows in what her father had once told her was the ancient language. She’d thought it was ancient Gaelic. Now she knew differently.

’Twas no doubt the original language of their people.

Caelis relaxed marginally and barked something back at them she did not understand.

He turned to her. “There is no more danger.”

She did not ask if he was certain—not after the way he’d known Sean’s heart even when the man presented the face of a friend.

“What happens to them now?” she asked.

“They’ll be trained by me.”

Caelis watched, unsurprised, as the Sinclair approached, his countenance grim. Though Shona and even the other wolves had seemed oblivious, Caelis had heard the other soldiers moving quickly through the forest for the past several minutes.

His conriocht had sensed the approach of the alpha as well, though Talorc moved with absolute stealth.

Caelis turned to the laird. “You heard it all?”

“Aye.” Talorc’s frown was fierce. “You are conriocht.”

“You make that sound an accusation.” If Shona’s own glare were directed at him, it would have made even Caelis cringe. “He saved our lives.”

“He revealed his third form to humans and to Faol who are unaware of the return of our race’s protectors.”

Maon returned from washing himself in the stream, having transformed back to man. “I shifted first.”

Caelis wasn’t worried about the Sinclair’s anger, though he respected Maon for his honesty and willingness to have that ire directed at him. But nothing would have kept Caelis from shifting to his fiercest form when his mate and children were in danger; Talorc should have been well aware of that fact.

Dismissing the other alpha’s wrath from his mind, Caelis focused on regaining his human form now that his family was no longer in imminent danger. Heat suffused his body and the air compressed around him in a way it did not when he shifted back and forth from his wolf.

A moment later, he swayed on his feet, his perspective that of a man again. Shona rushed over and offered her arm.

He did not make the mistake of smiling at the gesture or refusing her help. The woman was half his width—even as a man—and more than a head shorter, but he leaned slightly on her shoulder regardless. The force of her spirit more than made up for what she might lack in stature. Had she been born Éan, Caelis had no doubt Shona would have become one of their guardians as the princess, Sabrine, had been before her marriage to the laird of the Donegal.

Shona directed him toward a tree. “Lean here.”

He stumbled forward, grateful when his back was against the solid trunk.

He was always dizzy after shifting from his conriocht…and hungry. He could eat a boar.

Talorc gave him a sympathetic look he was sure no one else saw—and if they did, would not understand.

But Talorc and the Balmoral pack alpha had also been chosen through the sacred stone as protectors of their people.

Not all on the Chrechte council were aware of this fact, which only went to prove that despite their efforts to live as a single people, trust between them all was not assured.

Thus far, there was only complete disclosure between the lairds of the Sinclair, Balmoral and Donegal clans. The others on the council only knew the barest facts about the Éan’s return to the clans.

None of them knew about Prince Eirik’s dragon form or about the return of the Faolchú Chridhe to the Faol.

Ciara, the newly appointed celi di of the Faol, followed advice given to her through visions by an ancient celi di. She was insistent the time had not yet come to reveal the sacred stone’s return.

Unlike the Éan who only had one protector in a generation, the Faol could have many.

Right now, they had three.

The Éan’s prince was a fearsome beast in his dragon form, more than capable of taking on an entire pack of conriocht, though.

It was a good thing they were all allies.

And if Caelis had his way, the MacLeod clan would join that group, its pack submitting to the authority of the Chrechte council as the others did.

As much as any Highlander submitted to another.

Most important, the MacLeod Faol would begin training in the true ancient ways of the Chrechte. His brethren would learn, as he had, that there was no honor in killing Éan simply because they shifted into birds.

Many would resist the truth that they were not superior to other Chrechte or humanity, but Caelis had faith in his fellow wolves.

Some would be like Sean, but more would shift their thinking just as they shifted forms.

“Are you well?” Shona asked, her tone filled with worry.

Caelis allowed himself to secretly enjoy the concern in her demeanor and leaned more heavily against the tree. “Aye.”

“He’ll be hungry,” the Sinclair informed her, with a look of knowing for Caelis.

“Because of your transformation?” she asked.

“Aye.” His stomach gave an angry rumble. “It’s always worse after I shift back from conriocht.”

“Then let us get back to the keep.” She looked expectantly at Talorc.

The laird shook his head with a smile. “I’ve a feeling you’re going to be every bit as managing as Abigail.”

“Your wife seems all that is amiable to me.”

“Oh, aye. When she’s of a mind to be, there is no one more charming or pleasant.” The pride in Talorc’s voice was unmistakable.

“Women have to be strong in this world if we do not wish to be crushed under the plans of men.”

The laird grunted surprising agreement, though Caelis couldn’t deny Shona’s words, either. She’d paid the price for Uven’s machinations and then her own father’s plans. Whether the man thought his arrangements for her were for Shona’s benefit, they had caused her a great deal of pain.

They retrieved his sword and kilt on the way back to the keep, as well as the dead wolves. The Sinclair soldiers wrapped the bodies in MacLeod colors for transport, as was proper. There would be a joint funeral pyre lit that night on moonrise.

Sean’s carcass was left in the forest for the animals and carrion birds, his treachery bringing its own reward.

Audrey watched the man Laird Sinclair had just declared her husband before he would allow Vegar to accompany her abovestairs. Things had happened so fast, but then, they could between wolves.

The Faol understood the base drives in nature and didn’t fight those that were paramount, like that of mating.

Besides, Audrey preferred “wife” over lehman any day.

Vegar turned back from having dropped the bar on the door. Abigail had left some time ago, but she’d sent Ciara up with a healing tea, which Vegar had insisted on tasting before passing onto Audrey.

Thankfully, the laird’s adopted daughter, not to mention celi di to the Faol, had not appeared offended by Vegar’s precautions.

“She was not trying to poison me.”

Vegar’s brows drew together in confusion. “I did not say she was.”

“You insisted on tasting the tea before allowing me to drink it.”

“I wanted to make sure it was not too hot.”

“Oh.” That was…actually incredibly sweet.

And sweet was not a word she thought of in association with her mate.

“You are not as I expected from our first meeting.”

He grimaced. “I believe that is a good thing.”

She found herself smiling. “Yes, I do believe it is.”

“I am not a bad man,” he said, clearly offended.

Men could be so touchy. Her brother was more easily offended than either Shona or Audrey.

Deciding words were best left at present, Audrey took a sip of the honey-sweetened beverage made from what tasted like a combination of valerian root and chamomile. She would be asleep soon.

She wondered if Vegar realized what the tea was intended to do.

It would seem not.

He watched her, his hazel eyes dark with emotion she had never before welcomed in a man. Lust. She could not welcome it now, either. Audrey gripped the cup of hot drink with both her hands. She was not at all sure how he would respond to that knowledge.