“I left them in my satchel, but that’s just here by the hearth.”
He fetched it, then removed the coins and his spell of death from the pocket there. He put the books on the floor, then considered for a moment before he laid the coins and rune on top of them. He sat down on the sofa and patted the spot next to him.
She joined him and was rather thankful to be sitting closest to the fire, though she suspected that had been deliberate on his part.
“Where do you usually keep your gear?” he asked.
“Hoof pick down the side of my boot,” she said with a shrug. “I don’t carry anything else.”
“I think I should have found you a decent swordmaster from Uachdaran’s garrison,” he said grimly. He settled back against the divan and sighed deeply. “That and a dagger from his forge. This is what I get for being so principled. Never again, I tell you.”
She smiled in spite of herself, then wedged herself just behind him where she felt appallingly safe. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.
“Do you think he’s still, well, Slaidear?”
“That is the question, isn’t it?” He reached for one of her hands and held it in both his own. “If he is going about in his persona of stablemaster, he’ll have trouble moving about freely here without a very good reason. I guessing at the very least he inspired someone to send Fuadain an invitation. I’m sure he will have found a way to come along.”
“I’ll be surprised if Fuadain manages to reach the table instead of finding himself face-down in a horse trough,” she said. “Why Slaidear hasn’t murdered my unc—well, you know who—long before now, I don’t know.”
“I would assume Fuadain is useful to him as a distraction, if nothing else.”
“I still don’t understand why he didn’t slay me in the barn,” she said. “Or you, for that matter.”
He shifted a bit to look at her. “Do you think he was the one who sent those mages after me that night?”
“I honestly couldn’t say for certain,” she said. “I was so horrified by the idea that I didn’t pay attention past wondering how to keep you alive.”
“A life without yours truly was just too bleak to contemplate, I’m sure.”
“You might be surprised how true that is.”
She found herself the recipient of one of those charming little smiles he’d used on his grandmother and wondered, as she had then, how anyone told him nay.
“Stop that,” she said weakly.
“I think I won’t.”
“I am unmoved.”
He leaned over and kissed her softly. “You aren’t, but I won’t force you to admit it.” He straightened with a sigh. “You horse people are as impossible to control as the ponies you love, I’m finding. As for the other, whilst I think Slaidear may be stupid, I think he’s patient. You have something he wants. I would very much like to know what that is, but I won’t put you in danger to find out.”
“But I don’t own anything past the coins Mistress Cailleach keeps for me, this dragon charm, and that crossbow and bolts we left behind, which he likely now has. What else could he possibly want?”
He considered her so closely for a moment or two that she thought she should perhaps be nervous. She might have been, if he hadn’t been who he was, which was as unlikely a thought as she’d ever had.
“Might I look at that charm?”
“Of course.” She pulled the necklace over her head and handed it to him. “King Sìle told me he knew the man who made it.”
Acair looked at her in surprise. “Did he? When?”
“When you were off not kicking rocks back where they were meant to go.”
He smiled. “Never close all the doors right off is my motto. And Sìle said he knew the man who made this particular charm?”
“Aye, though how he would know that I don’t know. He also said the man who made this also makes horseshoes.”
Acair choked. She would have patted him on the back, but he held up his hand before she could.
“I’m well,” he managed. “Did he say where?”
“He didn’t, just that he would arrange an introduction if I liked.” She paused and looked at him. “An elven king, no less, arranging things for me.”
“I think you underestimate your ability to make an impression,” he said with a smile. He held the charm up and studied it for a moment or two. “Does it do anything odd?”
“It grows unusually warm from time to time.”
“Well, there is magic folded into the silver, but damned if I know what it is from just a quick look.” He shook his head. “Horseshoes and dragons. I think, darling, that your quiet life in a barn was perhaps an illusion.” He handed it back to her. “Let’s go sleep for a pair of hours, then we’ll pore over those books and see if we can find what we’re missing.”
She imagined it might take more than a pair of hours to leave her equal to doing anything but pacing and fretting, but she was desperate enough to try almost anything to give herself a bit more strength.
She thought she might understand why a mage might want the same, though stealing that strength from someone else was something she couldn’t fathom.
“Sleep,” Acair said, standing and holding down his hand for her. “We both need it.”
She let him pull her to her feet, but she found she couldn’t move. “I’m afraid to close my eyes.”
He winced slightly. “And me with no spells of ward. Let’s do this. You sleep and I’ll keep watch, then we’ll trade. Here, we’ll bring your coins with us. Just don’t use them on me, aye?”
She nodded, gathered up the coins he’d made her, and hoped she wouldn’t have to use them on anyone else quite yet.
She realized only after she’d woken that several hours had passed. If Acair had slept during any of that time, he didn’t seem inclined to mention it and he made no complaints about having remained awake so she could sleep. He seemingly had no compunction about nodding off with her manning the defenses, though, so she suspected he hadn’t even napped.
He was a very light sleeper, though, in spite of that. Brushing the table still laden with the remains of their breakfast with only the back of her hand had him sitting up, fully awake. She waved him back to his rest and took up a post in front of the hearth.
She wished desperately for a horse and an open field. The urge to flee was almost overpowering.