Page 37 of Lost with a Scot
She rocked up on her tiptoes and kissed him sweetly in the way that made him feel both homesick and as if he had just come home at the same time. It was... bittersweet.
“Take me to see your falcons,” she said when they stepped apart.
“With pleasure.” He led her outside to the mews behind the stables. The tall structure had places for the birds of prey to exit and return easily. While they could go hunting on their own at any time, he liked to take them out every so often. He had a mated pair of ospreys, a golden eagle, and his favorite, a small merlin.
He opened the door to the darkened mews and listened to the clicks and chirps of the birds recognizing he was there. The flutter of wings and a dusting of downy feathers drifted down from above as the birds settled down.
Aiden clicked his tongue and slid a long leather glove over his right arm. He raised his wrist, and a small merlin descended toward him. Many people confused merlins with kestrels, but merlins were smaller, and their wings were short, pointed, and broad, which gave them incredible agility in flight. They were also a grayish-blue color with a white-and-brown speckled breast and a brown tail, whereas kestrels were more brown and gold. Like other birds of prey, they thrived in the vast woodlands, mountains, and coastlines of his country.
As Aiden emerged from the mews, the merlin saw Anna and let out an excited chirp that sounded like the bird was stuttering.
“Oh, he is so beautiful,” Anna said.
“Here, put this on.” Aiden offered her a glove of her own, which she slid up her arm. Then he carefully urged the merlin to tiptoe from his wrist to hers.
The merlin’s feathers were puffed and a bit out of place. Then the little raptor suddenly shook his entire body, and his feathers gently drifted back down, sleek and smooth against his back and breast.
Anna’s eyes went wide, and her face glowed with fascination. “Heavens! What did he do that for?”
“That’s called rousing. It clears the plumage of dirt, debris, and excess water. They often do it when they’re content as well,” Aiden explained. He used his gloved finger to stroke the bird’s chest.
“He likes me, then?” she asked.
“He must.” Aiden chuckled. “Let’s take him down to the lake.”
They walked down the hill to the water, and Aiden raised his arm with the glove.
“Do what I do, and ye can cast him off.” He then pumped his fist into the air.
“Like this?” She waited until the merlin crept to her closed fist on the glove, and then she propelled him into flight.
The merlin swept up over the landscape. He was not the most graceful flyer, but his speed and agility were unmatched. Aiden turned to watch Anna as the bird flew high above them. Something caught in his throat as the sun lit up her face. He knew in that moment he’d found her—the woman who would forever hold his heart.
* * *
They watchedthe merlin tail-chase a few sparrows in the distance before it caught a small one and landed in a tree some yards in the water to eat it.
“Poor little bird,” Anna said.
“Aye, but ’tis the way of life. I love all animals, ye ken, but to love them means to respect the hierarchy of both predator and prey when in nature. I help what animals I can when I feel there is a lack of balance.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Her voice suddenly hardened with a rage. “But not all predators maintain the balance of nature.”
“Nature has a way of keeping balance on its own, given time. But when men are added to the mix, they can throw it off without thinking.”
Anna smiled. “That’s what I mean. Some men deliberately kill...”
Her head suddenly exploded with pain. She cried out, sinking to her knees. Aiden caught her in his arms before she fell over.
“Anna?” He held her close to his chest. “What’s the matter?”
“My head... it hurts.” She could barely think. All she saw in her head were fleeting, painful images of a village burning, children screaming, and death... such needless death. She held on to Aiden, breathing through the pain until the nightmarish vision faded.
“I saw things,” she whispered as she turned in his arms. “I saw terrible things.”
“Can ye tell me what things?” He pressed his lips comfortingly to her forehead.
“A village was burning... People were being slaughtered as if they did not matter.” She shuddered as the vision poured through her mind, blood and sorrow tainting every image.
