Page 14 of The Crown of Moonlight
I bypass the outer stables where we keep the less valuable horses and press on across the bridge over the dry moat.Ari and the mare’s hooves ring loud across the wood, louder still on the cobblestones as we pass through the arched main gate.Within the courtyard, dogs begin to bark their greetings.
The portcullis yawns wide, leaving jagged-toothed shadows on the ground beneath, but Faolan, our old armsmaster and last semblance of a household guard, is absent from his post in the guard tower.That’s unusual enough to make me frown.Then I spot an unfamiliar pair of horses tied across the courtyard.
Visitors are the last thing I need just now.
The horses tied by the stable door look Highland-bred, and the saddle blankets are plain, not the scarlet-trimmed black that the queen’s horses wear.
That’s good news with the bad, at least.
The household dogs converge, barking too loudly, as if even they sense our world is slipping into chaos.I walk the horses across the courtyard beneath too many windows where visitors, not to mention my mother, might be watching.The dogs sniff at me with a mixed reaction of growls, whines, and sneezes as I dismount beside the stable door.
Even my own deerhound, Rab, who is usually more restrained than the smaller herding dogs, sniffs every inch of my shirt and bodice and goes so far as to lift paws the size of plates onto my shoulders.His tail remains low, and his eyes are watchful beneath the scruff of red hair that matches the deer he’s bred to hunt.I scratch him behind his ears.
Ari butts me with his head, pushing me towards the building.I give him a quick scratch on the forehead.“Yes, your majesty.I’m aware your breakfast is long past due.”
He snorts his disapproval just as Iain emerges from the stable doorway.Sixty-odd years have robbed the old stableman’s eyes of much of their sight, but he’s lost none of his good sense.He gives the Ever’s mare a quick, frowning assessment.
“Who’s this?”he asks.“Picking up strays, are you now?”
“Who are the visitors?”I counter.
“Stewards for the Domhnalls of Ceapaich and Gleanngaradh to see you.They’ve been waiting.”
“Both of them at once?”
“And right peacocks they are.Not interested in speaking to the likes of me, but they weren’t best pleased to learn they’d have to cool their heels until you showed your face.”
“I assume you took great pleasure in listening as they grumbled, in that case?”
Iain’s lips peel back in a smile, revealing the gaps of his missing teeth.“Och, aye, I did at that, and Faolan is listening now.”Then Iain’s expression sobers.“Seems the old Ceapaich chief died at Culodur, and Gleanngaradh won’t last long.It’s the new chiefs who’ve sent their stewards to you.”
My chest tightens, and I have to blink away sudden tears.“This bloody war never stops taking from us.They were good men, both of them.And good allies.”
“That they were.Men you could count on.Can’t say the same for the new Ceapaich chief.”
My heart gives a thud of dread.“It’ll be Dughall, won’t it?”
Ugly memories surface with the name, and my mouth turns sour at the thought of Dughall seated at the Council table.The boy who terrorised me while my younger brothers laughed will be no easier to cope with now that he’s fully grown.
“You all right, lass?”Iain peers at me.“Seems to me it won’t be good news bringing the stewards to Dunhaelic when there’s other business for them back at home.”
“Let’s wait and see what they want before we assume the worst,” I say, more optimistically than I feel.
Iain takes Ari’s reins and the mare’s, but before leading them into the stable, he rubs at the crust of blood on the mare’s leg and shoulder.He cocks an eyebrow at me, then gestures at my bloody skirt and bodice.
“Anything else you want to tell me?”he asks.
I school my expression and offer the explanation I’ve carefully prepared.“The mare lost her rider in the Wood, and he must have been injured quite badly.I spent a while searching for him with no success, and then the mare needed water and rest before I could bring her back.”
“Och, aye?”Iain cuts me a look.
“Yes,” I say firmly.It feels like I’m shredding my integrity, but every word I’ve said is true.Iain, like everyone who’s left at the keep is loyal to a fault, but it’s safer for them to know nothing about the Ever.That’s the only way I can cling to the slim hope that if there’s a price to be paid for my choices, I’ll be the only one who has to pay it.
“Fine, then.”Iain stares at me a little longer, and I feel heat rising in my cheeks.“I’ll give the mare a warm mash, water, and careful watching.She’s well-bred, that one.Owned by someone of means, no doubt.I assume you want her brushed and kept somewhere out of sight if any strangers happen by?”
“That might be best,” I admit.“And I’m sorry to rush off and leave you with even more work, but I’ll have to leave again as soon as I can rid us of these visitors.”
“You’ll be wanting to change that dress before you show yourself, miss.Seeing as you’re wearing more blood than the horses are.”
