Page 33 of Ironling
Aislinn looked away and ignored thepitter-patterof her foolish heart.
She grasped the side of the chaise as Hakon disembarked, biting her cheek to keep from giggling as the vehicle swayed with his heaviness. His ears had gone ruddy by the time both feet hit the ground.
When he offered to help her down, Aislinn placed her hand in his much larger one, jumping down.
Wülf, who’d trotted alongside the chaise whenever there wasn’t something interesting to sniff, plopped down between them, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Aislinn scratched behind his ear with her nails, and the beast leaned into it.
“Where are you off to?” she asked, suddenly curious as to why Hakon needed to visit the Brádaigh estate.
“I have business with Orek. Then we’re off to congratulate a friend on his new farm.”
Aislinn smiled in pleasure. “Yes, Varon. I hope he’s settling in well. Please give him my best.”
His face cracked with his own smile. “I will, my lady.”
Fates, when he smiled down at her like that, her thoughts just melted right away. She could stand there looking back for—
“It’s Aislinn!”
The peace was broken by squeals of delight, and then they and the chaise were swarmed by the younger Brádaigh siblings. Their antics incited Wülf, who barked and pranced around the chaise with them.
Giggling, Blaire, the penultimate sibling, patted him on the head and said with a grin, “I think he’s big enough to draw the cart himself.”
“Yes, but he’s not disciplined enough,” replied Hakon. “He chases after every squirrel he sees.”
Keeley, the youngest, laughed and threw her arms around Wülf, who was taller than her sitting on his haunches.
“He’s always been so patient with them.”
Sorcha joined them, an affectionate smile making all those freckles on her face dance. Her green eyes sparkled, and Aislinn swore her friend was glowing.Happiness looks good on her.
She’d always worried about Sorcha overworking herself—acting as another parent to her many siblings while her father was away with Aislinn’s, helping her mother run the family business, and overseeing the running of the estate itself. It was many burdens to bear for one person, and it was why she thought she and Sorcha got on so well. They understood each other.
Aislinn threw her arms around Sorcha, quickly enveloped inthe taller woman’s voluminous curls and strong arms. Sorcha rocked them back and forth, laughing.
“You didn’t tell me you were bringing a blacksmith along.”
“Happy happenstance,” Aislinn quipped, finally leaning back to smile at Hakon over her shoulder.
“It’s good to see you, Hakon,” said Sorcha. “Are you going with Orek to Varon’s new farm?”
“Yes. It will be good to see everyone.”
Sorcha waggled her brows. “Everyone will want to know the gossip from the castle.” She cast Aislinn a significant look. “Me included.”
The children asked Hakon a few more questions, like how he was enjoying his position at the castle and what Wülf liked to do there, before Sorcha directed him to find Orek at the new house—the one she was strictly forbidden from peeking inside until it was done. She couldn’t hide her jealousy as Hakon walked off with Wülf in search of Orek.
Aislinn pinched Sorcha’s waist, making her giggle involuntarily.
“You’ll get to see inside soon enough,” Aislinn reminded her.
“Notsoon enough,” Sorcha insisted. “It’s driving me insane. You try having a big, wonderful secret right next door.”
Aislinn snorted with laughter as Sorcha led her into the house.
9
Hakon indeed found Orek within the nearly finished house he was building for Sorcha. He knocked on the open door and entered when he heard Orek call from deeper in the house to come in.
