He put his hand on her back, perhaps to keep her from fleeing, though she suspected he was patting her in an effort to soothe himself. That was definitely something she wasn’t about to point out to him.
“Exactly that,” he said. “The mage in question lives in a tatty little keep just over the border from Tor Neroche. I had reason to believe he might be hiding a spell very like Diminishing under the blotter on his desk, so I walked right in his front door, bold as brass, and ran up the stairs to his solar. Surprisingly enough, he caught me at it.”
“You must have been very young,” she said in surprise.
He lifted his eyebrows briefly. “You would think so, but let’s just say the memory is rather too fresh for my taste. I’ll admit that I was very surprised to find that his solar was completely impervious to any of my escape attempts. The only place akin to it that I’ve ever seen is Uachdaran’s dungeon. Lothar of Riamh, though—” He paused. “Without giving you details that will leave you with nightmares, I’ll just say that to save my own sweet self, I actually uttered the word please.”
She could hardly believe her ears. “You didn’t.”
He smiled. “How flattering that you find it as preposterous as I do. I did nip out a window after he’d opened it to air the place out thanks to a particularly fragrant manuscript I lit on fire in a final effort to irritate him.”
“Is that true?”
“Mostly,” he said. “I also may have clunked him over the head with a candlestick as he was turned the other way, raging over his papers that I’d mussed whilst about the goodly work of trying to find his spell of magic thievery.”
“But surely you weren’t afraid.”
“I was beyond afraid,” he said, “but again, I’ll never admit as much. The only place I’ve been more afraid was Léige when I thought I might never see you again.”
“Honestly?” she asked, ignoring the way her heart broke a little at his words.
He put his hand behind her head, then leaned up and kissed her briefly. “Honestly,” he said.
“What of saving the world from that mage outside?” she managed.
“That has always been substantially farther down the list of things that keep me up at night.” He lay back down, then reached for her hand to put it palm-down on his chest. He covered it with his own, then sighed. “Sladaiche isn’t without power, but I’m not afraid of him. I’m furious that Soilléir has left me unable to see to him properly, something for which I will definitely repay him when I’m able.”
“I imagine he knows that.”
“I remind him of it every time we meet.” He paused, then looked at her. “I think we should leave today, if you’re not opposed to it. Inntrig is close enough that we’ll reach it by sunset without hurrying if we go now. I’ll be able to cover us in spells to get us there safely, though I can’t guarantee they’ll be pleasant.”
She wondered if they might be making any journey at all with how weary he looked. “Are you certain?”
He rubbed his hand over his face, then shook his head and sat up, pulling her with him. “The exhilaration of being in a library where I’m not supposed to be will perk me right up, I’m sure. Why don’t you fetch your gear and I’ll meet you in the kitchen? We’ll slip out the back and be on our way. We might even manage to elude that damned spell of death out front if we’re particularly canny.”
She suspected not, but stranger things had happened.
She crawled to her feet and pulled him up to his. She would have told him that he wasn’t fit to go anywhere except back to bed, but she supposed he’d been worse off.
She fetched her pack and satchel, left them by the door that led out to the garden, then decided her time would be better used following Acair to make certain he didn’t fall asleep on his feet than hovering by the back door and fretting.
She found him simply standing and staring at the map on the table in his library.
“Acair?”
He glanced at her and smiled, then held out his hand. She walked over and took it, which she supposed was becoming something of a bad habit. Then again, so was becoming far too accustomed to feeling ridiculously safe in the embrace of a terrible black mage.
Who wasn’t all that terrible, it seemed to her.
“Have all your answers?” she asked.
“As many as I can stomach for the moment,” he said. “Perhaps the rest are in Seannair’s library. I have the feeling there’s something there that Soilléir wants me to see, damn him to hell for refusing to simply hand it to me.”
“Does he usually have reasons for that sort of thing?”
“Unfortunately,” he said sourly. “What they are is anyone’s guess.” He kissed her hair, then stepped away. “I’ll put the house to bed and we’ll go. We might manage a meal in Inntrig if we’re fortunate.” He paused. “You could take your sister’s book, if you like.”
“You keep it for me,” she said. “It would be safer here, I think.”
“The first of many tomes on fantastical creatures we’ll read to our brood of half a dozen children.”
She looked at him and damn the man if he didn’t wink at her.
“Three handsome lads like yours truly,” he said pleasantly, “and a trio of red-haired, feisty little lassies who will lead everyone around them on a merry chase, just like their mother. I will, of course, be greeting all suitors at the door with my most terrible spells lined up out front in a tidy row, just so there’s no confusion about how I’ll allow those gels to be courted.”
“I still haven’t heard a decent proposal in any of that,” she managed. She hardly knew whether he was serious or not and thought she might not want to break her heart over the thought.
“Actually, I thought I’d ask your grandfather for your hand first,” he said casually. “Before I asked you.”
She looked at him quickly and found that he wasn’t looking particularly unconcerned. If she hadn’t known better, she might have thought he looked just the slightest bit unsure.
“You…“ She found she couldn’t say any of the things she was thinking without feeling foolish, so she simply looked at him.
“Rendered speechless by my mere presence,” he said solemnly. “You might be surprised how often it happens.”
“Or I might not be.”
“You might not be,” he agreed with a smile. “I’ll close up the rest of the house if you want to go and gather up your coins.”