Page 71 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
She sighed. “Very well, young buck, come help me skin these rabbits.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He bowed awkwardly at Eirwen and went to join Wren beside the fire.
Onyx crept up to her elbow.
“Did I do all right?” Eirwen asked.
“Perfectly. How are you?”
“I already miss the cottage.”
She wondered how long it would be until she returned there. If the coup went as expected and they took back the castle… it could be a long time.
She had not said a proper goodbye to Garnet, Juniper and Ivy. She hadn’t wanted to act like anything was dangerous, hadn’t wanted to give weight to those fears.
“We have another visitor,” Merry declared.
It took Eirwen’s eyes a while to focus in the dark, but a familiar face dipped into the light of the fire.
“Niamh!”
She was so very much the person she wanted to see, and had barely known it until now. She leapt off her seat and into her arms. “Niamhy! I’m so glad to see you.”
The maid smiled, patting her back. “I am so glad to see you too, Princess. I cannot stay for long. I’ll be missed at the palace. But I brought you a gift.”
“A gift?”
She drew out a small box from inside her cloak, wrapped in black ribbon. Eirwen opened it carefully. Nestled amongst the paper was a beautiful comb.
“It was your mother’s,” Niamh said. “Isn’t it lovely? It will look perfect in your hair.”
“Oh, thank you!” She threw her arms around her again.
“You will wear it?”
“Of course.”
Niamh smiled. “Good,” she said. “I really must away.”
“Won’t you stay, just for a little bit?”
Niamh patted her cheek, her hands ice-cold. “I cannot, Princess. But don’t worry.”
“Be careful!”
Niamh turned to face her, her smile shivery. “I always am.”
She disappeared into the dark.
There was something strange in that look, but Eirwen couldn’t put her finger on it. Perhaps it was just the way the shadows had fallen. She shook her head and unwrapped the comb, lifting it to her dark cascade of hair.
She turned back to Onyx.
“Well? How does it look?”
“Very pretty,” he confirmed, with the faint flicker of a smirk. “But then, you usually are.”
