Page 39 of The Prince or the Bard?
“I’d miss them terribly. So would Maisie.”
“Then why don’t you all come down in the spring? I’m sure Tadhg will be busy teaching Pádraig how to be very imposing. Why not make it an extended visit to the Seaglass Court?”
Fiadh taps the side of her cup, ringing the fine porcelain so carefully imported from the eastern courts.
“Why not, indeed?”
I spare her a smile before pouring her a cup. “Then it’s all but settled. And all before the menfolk even cross the threshold.”
“Whyever do we need them anyway?” Fiadh askes, her eyes crinkling merrily.
“I suppose to love and cherish us.”
“That, I suppose.” Fiadh lifts her cup to me in gratitude. “Though you must admit, there never was an easier task. You and I are very remarkable púcaí.”
“Indeed we are.” I mirror her salute, pausing to drink. “Give me a summer and an autumn, and I’ll have those girls ready for the life ahead.”
Fiadh sips thoughtfully, lowering her cup. “I do wish I knew what that would involve. I wish I knew, so I could prepare them better.”
“Leave it to me, dear cousin,” I say. “You trust me, don’t you?”
“With my life.”
“Then it is settled in truth.”
Fiadh’s smile is gentle. “I’ve missed you, Laoise.”
I scoff. “You’ve missed my tea.”
Just then, the door flies open. Ruairí and Tadhg appear, laughing about something or other. Doubtless, they’ve been having fun while we did all the work.
I open my mouth to tell them just that, when Fiadh cuts me off.
“Have some tea, boys,” she commands them, fully at ease in her role at last—now that she is soon to give it up. “Laoise and I have some news to tell you.”
And then it is my turn to smile as she relays our plot, stopping her regal husband each time he offers a feeble argument against it. My eyes catch Ruairí’s over my cup of tea.
There’s a question in his.Are we to have no time alone next summer, then?
I answer him with a mischievous look.Best get our alone time while we can.
He glances at his brother, clearly lamenting that his kinfolk have only just arrived. My heart beats a little faster for this prince who is my husband, even after all this time.
Our passion may ebb and flow—and it may not be the great bonfire of feeling my niece evidently imagines for herself—but it is there, bound into our love for one another and this wonderful life we’ve created together. And I can easily say, after all this time and without any mawkishness, that falling for the prince was far and away the most sensible thing I’ve ever done.
One might even say we are living happily ever after. But then I’d have to accuse them of being a bit of a fool, and I simply cannot have that. So I shall just say this:
We have lived in love for many a year, and seem extremely likely to live that way hereafter. And nothing I can foresee now would ever change it.
Not even the handsomest of bards.
