the view outside the window. Her friend and guardian stared at her in shock, her next words bringing on a sweat with the implications of them.
“ He cut me, to the quick, and uttered a binding oath to be with me, and kissed me again... so many times. I have never felt anything like it.” Her hand came up, the palm striated with a web of ugly scar tissue, and he finally understood why the wound she had come back with six months before had scarred where other wounds had not.
“ The pain,” he nodded quietly at her open hand. “It must have been unbearable, all the way to the bones like it was. I remember it well.”
“ Well, it didna tickle.” Her attempt at humor did little to dispel the importance of what she'd just revealed. Declan's mind was racing, his gut clenched at the voice in his head demanding to know all the details. Now!
“ I understand your hurt better, knowing this, Princess.”
Turning her gaze on him, Ailill flushed just slightly. “Aye, I feel stupid,” she retorted, suddenly angry once again. “We promised to love one another, with a blood oath, and then the very next day he takes it upon himself to dismiss me. I feel used, and it makes me aye, verra angry!”
“ Did he... mphmm... what I meant to say is-”
“ Did we make love?” she asked, eyes wide, murky with an ancient knowledge. He nodded slowly. “Nay. I sorely wished to, but Tiernan is ever the gentleman. He refused my body in that way.” Declan noted the frown marring her pretty face, the honesty in her eyes. He could not have hid the relief in his own face if he'd tried. “He preferred to spend himself upon the sand of Inbhir N ὰ rann and ignore me ever since.” With a roll of her eyes, she added, “there's probably a tree popped up there, in that verra spot, these past six months.”
Surprised, Declan laughed softly at her observation, his face becoming instantly grave at her next words. The wee lass was sure to give him health problems at an early age, if she kept on like this, he thought unhappily.
“ So then, my main reason for coming here, cousin, is to say that I am leaving. I have geise to fulfill and no mistake. I wished to say goodbye and ye werena around. Tiernan wouldna hear me out, so I'll leave it up to you to tell him for me, if he even cares anymore. I am thirteen and a half. Seanmhair says I have but another six months to grow up, finish learning, and find myself a couple more princes who can impregnate me so that I die yet again at fourteen.”
Sidling up to him, Ailill leaned up on tiptoe, wrapped small muscular arms about his neck and smacked an intentionally wet kiss in his stubbled cheek.
“ I go to try and help with the sickness that has begun to plague Mankind, on the outside. Wish me luck.” She was gone before realization struck, an odd sweet-spicy scent leaving a trail as the door clicked shut once again.
Leavetaking
“ I dinna wish it and I willna go, not even for you. Nay, I will not go back to Hidden Jewel to meet with yon strangers, to share myself with them, be passed around like a tasty piece o’ meat! How dare ye ask such a thing o’ me now, after ye claimed to love me? I did not ask for any but yourself, Tiernan MacDuff! I never have. When I close my eyes, ‘tis you I see. When I go to the feasting, I have eyes for no other, and I know ye dinna either. You watch me as I watch you. You leave when I do and I know ye dinna go back once I am asleep. I ken the meaning o’ that , verra much. You love me, and I love you. You are all I ever wanted, since I was but four years old, and well ye ken it!” Ailill’s face was flushed brightly with feeling, the intensity of her onyx gaze startling with the depths of emotion coursing through her young body. Her full chest heaved with the exertion of fighting him, of stubbornly refusing to leave the land of her heart again ; of proving her own objection to all that was expected of her with a fit of violent
“ He cut me, to the quick, and uttered a binding oath to be with me, and kissed me again... so many times. I have never felt anything like it.” Her hand came up, the palm striated with a web of ugly scar tissue, and he finally understood why the wound she had come back with six months before had scarred where other wounds had not.
“ The pain,” he nodded quietly at her open hand. “It must have been unbearable, all the way to the bones like it was. I remember it well.”
“ Well, it didna tickle.” Her attempt at humor did little to dispel the importance of what she'd just revealed. Declan's mind was racing, his gut clenched at the voice in his head demanding to know all the details. Now!
“ I understand your hurt better, knowing this, Princess.”
Turning her gaze on him, Ailill flushed just slightly. “Aye, I feel stupid,” she retorted, suddenly angry once again. “We promised to love one another, with a blood oath, and then the very next day he takes it upon himself to dismiss me. I feel used, and it makes me aye, verra angry!”
“ Did he... mphmm... what I meant to say is-”
“ Did we make love?” she asked, eyes wide, murky with an ancient knowledge. He nodded slowly. “Nay. I sorely wished to, but Tiernan is ever the gentleman. He refused my body in that way.” Declan noted the frown marring her pretty face, the honesty in her eyes. He could not have hid the relief in his own face if he'd tried. “He preferred to spend himself upon the sand of Inbhir N ὰ rann and ignore me ever since.” With a roll of her eyes, she added, “there's probably a tree popped up there, in that verra spot, these past six months.”
Surprised, Declan laughed softly at her observation, his face becoming instantly grave at her next words. The wee lass was sure to give him health problems at an early age, if she kept on like this, he thought unhappily.
“ So then, my main reason for coming here, cousin, is to say that I am leaving. I have geise to fulfill and no mistake. I wished to say goodbye and ye werena around. Tiernan wouldna hear me out, so I'll leave it up to you to tell him for me, if he even cares anymore. I am thirteen and a half. Seanmhair says I have but another six months to grow up, finish learning, and find myself a couple more princes who can impregnate me so that I die yet again at fourteen.”
Sidling up to him, Ailill leaned up on tiptoe, wrapped small muscular arms about his neck and smacked an intentionally wet kiss in his stubbled cheek.
“ I go to try and help with the sickness that has begun to plague Mankind, on the outside. Wish me luck.” She was gone before realization struck, an odd sweet-spicy scent leaving a trail as the door clicked shut once again.
Leavetaking
“ I dinna wish it and I willna go, not even for you. Nay, I will not go back to Hidden Jewel to meet with yon strangers, to share myself with them, be passed around like a tasty piece o’ meat! How dare ye ask such a thing o’ me now, after ye claimed to love me? I did not ask for any but yourself, Tiernan MacDuff! I never have. When I close my eyes, ‘tis you I see. When I go to the feasting, I have eyes for no other, and I know ye dinna either. You watch me as I watch you. You leave when I do and I know ye dinna go back once I am asleep. I ken the meaning o’ that , verra much. You love me, and I love you. You are all I ever wanted, since I was but four years old, and well ye ken it!” Ailill’s face was flushed brightly with feeling, the intensity of her onyx gaze startling with the depths of emotion coursing through her young body. Her full chest heaved with the exertion of fighting him, of stubbornly refusing to leave the land of her heart again ; of proving her own objection to all that was expected of her with a fit of violent
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