Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [14]
"There's trouble," she guessed.
"Aye." He nodded reluctantly and flushed to the roots of his auburn hair. "My father fears you've ensorceled me."
My mother burst out laughing.
His flush turned an angry hue. "Is it so unthinkable? Bear-witches have done such things before!"
"Not to thirteen-year-old boys," I commented.
Further embarrassed, Cillian looked daggers at me. "It's because I've kept your secret, you know!"
"Peace," my mother said soothingly. "Lord Tiernan flatters me. So you've said naught to him of Moirin?"
"I gave my word!" he said indignantly.
"And kept it like a man." She gave a brisk nod. "Has your father forbidden you to visit me further?"
"Aye," Cillian muttered. "I defied him today."
"Hmm."
That sound didn't bode well. "What if I released you from your promise?" I asked Cillian. "Would your father allow you to keep visiting if he knew it was me you came to see?" I turned to my mother. "You said you'd no fear that Lord Tiernan would meddle in our affairs."
She made a noncommittal sound, but Cillian brightened. "You'd do that?" he asked.
"May I?" I asked my mother. I got the raised eyebrow in reply. Again, the choice was mine. "Aye," I said firmly. "I would."
Cillian leapt to his feet. "I'll tell him and see." He paused, giving my mother another sidelong glance. "You, um, haven't, have you? Ensorceled me?"
"I?" Now she looked amused. "No, not I."
* * *
CHAPTER FIVE
Cillian returned with good news and bad."'Twould make a difference to my father knowing I come to visit Moirin." He handed me a slim leather-bound book. "He sends this as a symbol of his earnest pledge. 'Tis the tale of the trials of Eamonn mac Grainne's courtship of his Skaldic bride," he added. "Fine winter reading. But—"
"Lord Tiernan doubts," my mother said dryly.
"Aye." Cillian nodded. "Lady Fainche, you've not been seen for nigh unto twelve years, neither here nor at Innisclan. And no one had heard any word of a child until now."
"By my choice."
"Which he respects. But if he is to allow me to continue my visits, he wishes to see Moirin with his own eyes."
My mother was very still. "Where?"
"He would welcome you to Innisclan." He pointed at the book I held. "After all, you are kin. Will you not come? You've done him the honor before."
She shivered a little. "Once, for a great occasion. But I do not relish being within stone walls."
"We live in a cave," I commented.
Her eyes flashed. "Walls carved by nature's hand are not the same as those built by men's hands. Are you so eager to learn the difference?"
"No," I murmured, subdued.
"And yet I am not eager to have Tiernan's people come here, trampling around with their great booted feet and disturbing the woods." she mused to herself. Cillian shuffled his feet self-consciously. For a boy of thirteen, they were rather large. She ignored him and studied me with discomforting intensity. "Does it mean so much to you, Moirin mine?"
Although the weight of her gaze made me feel like shuffling myself, I pondered her question and answered with one of my own. "You said we had naught to fear from the Dalriada. Do I shame you in some way that you do not wish Lord Tiernan to see me?"
"Stone and sea, no! Of course not."
"Then why do we not meet him halfway?" I was proud of my solution.
She was, too. She gave a reluctant nod. "Well reasoned. Cillian mac Tiernan, tell your father that Moirin and I will meet him at a place of his choose, halfway between Innisclan and here."
"Aye, my lady!" He was off like a hare.
My mother sighed. "That lad was doomed the minute he laid eyes on you."
I wasn't sure if I was intrigued or offended. "Why ever so?"
She gave me a wry look. "'Tis the way of the world, and men and women in it; aye, and lads and lasses,