Page 50 of The Splendor of Fire
Niall’s fingers traveled along her collarbone and then up, pausing, his thumb poised over her throat, his fingers tightening along the back of her neck. “The nightmare has woken me several times. I believe it may be significant.”
His hand tightened, his eyes searched her own. One squeeze, one hint of the truth, and she was done for. Léo’s frightened cry as Father had been run through echoed through her mind, and she steeled herself, lifting her chin, refusing to be scared of him. Then remembering who was in control, she smoothed her hand over Niall’s, leaned into him and kissed him. He returned her kiss with slobbering enthusiasm. Nauseaseized her, but she remained steadfast. She would do whatever it took to make him seek out Léo.
He broke the kiss, resting his sweating forehead on hers. “Yes, my love. Perhaps I should.”
On the shorelineoutside the Aird of Sleat, Calum handed her a black knit cap.Are you sure you want to do this?
After months of practice, his signs had become almost as fluent as the rest of the team, though he still needed her to sign slowly.
Aye. She pointed to the trees.I’ll stay in the branches. They will never see me.
He frowned.I don’t like the idea of you jumping through the trees in darkness.
She pointed to the full moon in the midnight sky.It’s high. I can see everything.
Calum relented.All right. I still don’t like it.
I’ll be back in one hour. If I’m not, sail to Dunvegan.
SigningABSOLUTELY NOTwith big gestures, he crossed his arms, then pointed at the ground.I’m waiting for you to get back.
Stubborn man. With an even bigger and more annoyed gesture she signed back,FINE.
She held out her hands and he secured the leather strips around her palms.
Do not take risks.
Calm down, Lightning. It’s merely a look around.
Calum rolled his eyes.Fine.
She rolled her eyes back.Fine.
Winking at him, she pulled the black knit cap over her bright hair and climbed the rocky hillside. It took her fifteen minutes of walking before she began to pick up signs of the encampment, but as she neared the edge of the wood, dots of campfires came into view.
Climbing the ancient bark of a tall fir tree, she quickly advanced to sixty feet. Scanning the ground below, she paused when she spotted herfirst tent group. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the firelight. Two tent groups. No, three.
Sticking to the branches of the pines and avoiding the bare branches of the hardwood trees, she leapt around the perimeter of the encampment. A shadow rose in the center of the rows of tents. She couldn’t make out what it was.
Biting her lip, she studied the tents, weighing the risk of getting closer for a better look. No movement stirred among the encampment. She needed to see what the massive shadow was.
Moira took a deep breath.Lord, give me strength.
The night was cold and cloudless, and she lingered, waiting for the night watch to move toward the other side of the camp. When they turned, she lowered herself down, one branch to another. Ten feet from the ground she dropped, landing in the soft soil without a sound.
Careful to avoid branches and leaves, she moved through the grass, slipping among the tents. A breeze whipped around the forest, the sound of flapping canvas disguising the sound of her footsteps. She passed the first ring of tents. The second. The third.
By the sliver of crescent moonlight, the shadow morphed in front of her and began to take shape. It was enormous. Four wheels. Wood that jutted upward into a slope. An impossibly long wooden arm. With horror she realized what she was looking at, what the blob on Niall’s map was.
The flap of the tent closest to her swung back and she dived under the structure, sheltering behind a wheel.
Half-asleep, a man wandered out of his tent and right for her. The sound of leather on leather met her ears and then moving water. A puddle spread toward her and she scrambled backward.Saints.Why were men so disgusting?
The man finished relieving himself with a yawn and wandered back inside the tent, pulling the flap closed.
Not wasting another minute, she sprinted through the camp, weaving between the tents and up into the safety of the trees. Not slowing, she leapt from tree to tree, back over the ridge line and through the thick forest. Wood gave way to moors. She dropped to her feet.
Breath catching in her throat, she tucked her hands close to her asCalum taught her and shortened her strides, picking up speed, savoring the feeling of the earth pounding away from her feet. A thrill raced through her muscles as she pushed herself to her physical limit. Thighs burning she climbed the final hill, pushing her speed.
