Page 25 of The Crown of Moonlight
Her face is pale, tension bunching her shoulders.I follow her out into the corridor, my mind spinning through possible disasters.
“Your uncle’s sent a letter for your mother,” she explains.“The messenger says he barely made it through the pass ahead of a company of the queen’s Greys and soldiers.They’re marching, not riding, but they’re no more than a day behind.”
The news jolts the last remnants of sleep from my brain.
“That’s sooner than we’d hoped,” I say, “but not unexpected.Did Morag and Faolan get the Evers buried?”
“Aye, and I’ve seen to Padraig’s house and burned the herbs you told me to use.There’s no smell of blood, no sign the Ever was there.”
“Thank you.”I pause, thinking fast.“We’ll get the women and children to safety.Iain can move the best horses up Ben Aran—it’s hours of riding and a hard climb, but the soldiers won’t waste time going there with easier targets closer at hand.I’ll take most of the sheep and cattle up to the summer pastures and leave enough here so it doesn’t look suspicious.”
Catriona presses her lips together.“I hate to say so, seeing as I’m the one who suggested you should bring the Ever here, but having him here is a mistake now that the soldiers are coming.You need to see reason, lamb.He’s got one foot in the grave already, that one.And if they’re looking for injured men, they’ll look extra hard at anyone who’s bed-bound.We’d be better off burying him in the midden heap before they come.”
“He isn’t dead, and he won’t be if I can help it.”
“I’m not asking you to stab him with a knife, but in the state he’s in, he’ll die soon enough without medicine and water.You know the Evers would cheerfully leave us all to die.”
“All the more reason for us to do better.”
“Being righteous doesn’t curry favour with the gods.Haven’t you learned that yet?”Catriona crosses her arms as if I’ve exhausted her patience.“I’d rather sink low and keep breathing.This is what comes of your mam always pretending your shiftless, selfish brothers were better than you, isn’t it?You set impossible standards for yourself.”
The words hurt more than I expect.Catriona is always happy to share her opinions, but not this harshly.The war coming to Dunhaelic scares her, and knowing she is frightened cuts me to my soul.She’s the strongest woman I know.
I wish I could explain why I need to save the Ever—but he’s given me no details.That’s the curse of unequal power.I know he wants to keep his people safe, the same as I do.Still, it chafes to know he holds knowledge he won’t share, while I must content myself with crumbs.
Smiling at Catriona with as much confidence as I can muster, I draw her farther from the bed where Chyr is sleeping.
“Is my mother awake yet?”I ask.
Catriona nods.“She’s about to have her breakfast in the solar.”
“In that case, I’ll take the letter up myself.I’ll need to start preparing her.In the meantime, will you see if the messenger has anything else to tell us?Feed him, and pay him enough to ride on to warn the villages.There’s gold at the bottom of the trunk in my chamber.”
“I know where you keep it.”Catriona casts a wary glance at the Ever and lowers her voice.“I also know there’s little left.”
“I won’t pinch pennies when it comes to saving lives.Ask him to ride as far as Camhrain, Raghnall, and Gleanngaradh.Their chiefs can send him further to warn the other clans.”
“And him?”Catriona nods towards Chyr.
“Can you lend him an old nightdress and cap and help him change into them when you have a moment?Since we don’t know when the soldiers might arrive, he will need to be ready at a moment’s notice.I’ll change his dressings myself when I get back.”
Catriona’s lips tighten, but she gives a small nod.Then she presses my uncle’s letter into my hands and strides back down the corridor.
The Ever stirs restlessly on the bed.Heat radiates off him like a forge.
Either Catriona or Morag must have come in while I slept.They’ve emptied the washbasin, refilled the water, and left a fresh pitcher of willow-bark tea.It hasn’t fully cooled, but sediment swirls from the bottom as I pour a dose into a cup.
I gently shake the Ever.He jerks and tries to sit up, only to fall back as his strength fails.
“Steady.Let me help.”I ease a hand behind his shoulders.
He stares as though he’s not certain who I am at first.But then he blinks, and the frown line disappears from between his brows.
“Flora.”He licks his lips.“Is everything all right?”
“Shh.Nothing to worry about for the moment.I need you to take some medicine.”
His mouth twists—resistance, pride, or pain, I can’t tell which—but he drinks what I give him.I press a damp cloth to his forehead; he exhales slow, shuddering breaths and reaches for my hand.His pulse is thready and uneven, but he drifts into a restless sleep with his fingers still wrapped around mine.
