He looked at her carefully. “I like to be prepared, Léirsinn. You never know when an extra spell in the right spot will be what turns the tide.”
Given that he had a world full of spells at his fingertips, she couldn’t imagine why he thought she would need hers. There was something amiss with that lad there, but she hardly dared ask what. She simply ducked under his arm and put her arm around his waist without comment. He could think what he wanted and she certainly wasn’t going to make any comments about the fact that he wasn’t entirely steady on his feet.
“It has been a long night,” she said, because it had been.
He nodded with a sigh. “Let’s be about finishing this. I would like to see your grandfather safe and whole. I might even greet Doghail over a shovelful of manure if all goes well.”
“I would like to see him.” she admitted.
He ushered her around the pool of shadow, then glanced at her. “Think he’d like a different view?”
“That might depend on how many Angesand ponies you’re giving me as a wedding gift.”
He smiled. “What a mercenary you are. To answer, I suppose as many as Hearn will let you have, no doubt with the understanding that I never get too close to them.” He shuddered. “Horses. What have I done?”
“Nicked my heart and put it in your pocket on the way out of the barn,” she said dryly. “Someone should have told you the trouble that sort of thing would get you eventually.”
He lifted his eyebrows briefly. “We’ll discuss that at length later. There is the rest of our party. You should go put yourself between Soilléir and your poor sister. His grooming leaves a great deal to be desired. I’m not sure even I, with my superior sartorial guidance, could possibly rescue him from his frumpery.”
She would have poked at him for talking so much, but she could feel his hand occasionally trembling. She looked at him quickly and found that he was watching her.
“Weariness,” he said with a shrug. “It will pass.”
She didn’t have any reason to tell him differently, but when he and her brother walked off together to investigate the insides of Slaidear’s little house on the edge of the manor garden, she caught Soilléir by the sleeve. He looked at her and smiled.
“What is it, my dear?”
She frowned before she could stop herself. Perhaps he said that to every woman he met and perhaps every woman was distracted by the fairness of his face and the power she could see only the echoes of, much like a noon-day sun behind an immense cloud. He didn’t look any older than she was, but what did she know? Acair didn’t look any older than she was, either.
“Léirsinn?”
She pulled herself back to the present moment and fished about in the pocket of Acair’s coat she was still wearing. The thin wafer she held out sparkled more silver than black in the werelight she realized was still hanging over her head. Soilléir studied it, then looked at her.
“His soul?”
“Some of it, at least. Can you, you know.” She found herself fluttering her fingers in exactly the same way Soilléir’s father had when talking about her family. “Put it back in him, that is. I think he doesn’t feel well.”
Soilléir considered for far longer than she was comfortable with, then looked at her.
“I think,” he said slowly, “that you should hold onto it for a bit longer. He won’t need it for this business, but he might need it later. Keep it safe.”
That wasn’t an answer, but she supposed she wasn’t going to have better from him at the moment. She nodded and walked with him to Slaidear’s house, but couldn’t force herself to go in. She stood outside with her sister and found herself feeling unusually hesitant. She finally looked at Iseabail.
“This is strange.”
“You’re older,” Iseabail said with a faint smile.
“As are you.” She paused. “Where were you?”
“Do you know An Cèin?”
Léirsinn looked at her in surprise. “I know of it, though I’ve never been. Is that where you were?”
Iseabail nodded. “For most of my life.”
“Where was Tais?”
“I honestly haven’t had a chance to ask him. I just met him in Inntrig yesterday.”
“That must be why Soilléir was there,” she said. “He seemed a bit off-balance.”
“Desperately trying to hide his tracks, rather,” Iseabail said with a snort. She started forward, then stopped. “I’ll hold you and weep later, if you’ll allow it.”
Léirsinn nodded, though she found she couldn’t say anything. That she had siblings where she thought she’d had none before…she wasn’t sure if she should have cursed Soilléir for knowing yet keeping them from her or not. She suspected he’d had his reasons, but she thought she might need very good ones indeed before she refrained from joining Acair on any quest to do damage to him.
“I don’t think they found anything interesting inside,” Iseabail said suddenly.
Léirsinn hardly had time to give any thought to what her sister had said before she found herself caught by the hand and pulled along with a surprisingly energetic black mage.
“House,” he said briskly. “I think what we want is in Fuadain’s solar.”
She had no reason not to agree. She would have paused at the kitchen door to enjoy the sight of Fuadain’s head butler at a complete loss for words, but she didn’t have the chance. Acair pushed past the man without comment, pulling her along with him. She gave the man a casual shrug, then had to almost run to keep up with her companion. At least she hadn’t had to scrape off her boots.
Acair ran up the stairs with her and strode down the passageway. She stopped in front of her grandfather’s chamber, hardly daring to enter. Acair opened the door first, looked inside, then held it open for her. She moved past him, then hurried over to where Tosdach was still lying in front of the fire. He was breathing still, which she thought was something of a mercy.
“Fuadain first,” Acair said. “We’ll return.”
She nodded and followed him back out into the passageway where she almost ran bodily into her siblings and Soilléir. Acair pulled the door shut and dropped a spell in front of it she imagined Soilléir himself might have to make an effort to breach. She exchanged looks with her siblings, then followed Acair down the passageway to stop in front of her uncle’s solar.
Acair banged on the door without any decorum whatsoever.
“Come!”