The Hart and the Harp

by Sorcha MacMurrough

  Shive could say nothing in reply to his obvious kindness that wouldn’t seem argumentative, so she sat back in the tub with a sigh. Eventually she finished her ablutions, and put on her new black velvet dress, which showed off her lush burgundy hair and ivory complexion to perfection.

  Tiernan carried her downstairs to the great hall at Castlegarren for a short time to drink mulled wine with the men and listen to the clan’s bard recite some of his more dramatic poetry.

  Cian, always ready to tease his all too serious eldest brother, got the couple under a piece of mistletoe, and Tiernan and Shive were forced to kiss in front of everyone. Shive saw a whole new side to her husband as he kissed her enthusiastically once more, then whirled her around for a dance, making sure she didn’t overtax herself by keeping her pressed firmly against his chest and her feet off the floor most of the time.

  “Thank you for a lovely day, Tiernan,” Shive sighed contentedly later that evening as she admired her new dresses in the privacy of her room that night.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” Tiernan smiled warmly for the firt time, and her heart turned over at the sight of him once again looking young and boyish as she remembered from long again.

  But then, as if catching himself, he rose, pecked her on the cheek, and left for the refuge of his own chamber, leaving Shive longing for his presence in a way she hardly dared explain to herself.

  The next day, Ruairi came to pay a visit on his way home from Limerick. He hugged and kissed her with an intensity which Shive found embarrassing in front of the others.

  “I’m well, Ruairi, old cousin, so stop making such a fuss,” she laughed uneasily.

  Once again she saw Tiernan staring at them speculatively from a distance, and as the minutes creaked by, she had to admit she could hardly wait for him to leave, she found the visit such a strain. It was difficult trying to keep their conversation light-hearted. She longed to confide in Ruairi her fears, her mightmares, but knew she could not. He was not her husband, and there was little he could do anyway. He had far more important matters to occupy him than her strange fidgets.

  Shive, misunderstanding Tiernan’s constant scrutiny of her every time they were in the same room, began to feel as though she were the prey being watched by a hungry hawk. But then, Shive couldn’t really blame Tiernan. He had every right to view her with suspicion, her and her cousins, for hadn’t they been implacable enemies up until a fortnight ago?

  This thought made Shive all the more eager to be up on her feet again in order to prove to Tiernan once and for all that not only could she be trusted, but he would never have cause to repine over his choice of a bride. But Tiernan seemed reluctant to let her venture out of her room yet. The few times she ever did so, Mahon and Ernin were always by her side.

  Tiernan lived in terror that the would-be assassin might get to Shive again. As much as he hated admitting it to himself, he was rapidly growing more and more fond of his new wife with every passing day and night that he spent in the big bed alongside her. Despite his worries and her nightmares, every morning he awoke snuggled against her lithe body, filled with passion which he could barely keep in check. But there was more to it than mindless lust. There was also a deep sensation of contentment such as he had never known before.

  Yet even though they had already been through so much together in the short time they had been married, Tiernan couldn’t bring himself to trust Shive. Leaving aside his own reservations about her youth and inexperience, he had his own doubts about her reasons for the marriage. It was obvious to him from her heated exchanges with Ruairi that there was more to their feelings for one another than mere kinship would warrant. He almost felt sorry for Shive, thinking she was pining for Ruairi, who was so ambitious that though he loved his cousin, he couldn’t bring himself to wed her.

  But Ruairi’s loss was Shive’s gain, or so he believed, if only he could get the truth from her. Yet Shive always seemed to be hiding something from him. Though she seemed cheerful enough when others were around, when Tiernan was alone with her he often saw the happy mask slip, and an almost haunted expression pass over her lovely features.

  Tiernan longed for Shive to confide in him. He also realized that he couldn’t push her too hard. He hoped in time she might come to trust him, to view him as her friend, and impatiently looked forward to the day when she would one day laugh without covering her eyes in an effort to disguise her true feelings.

  Still, whatever feelings or emotions Shive was trying to conceal, they didn’t seem to pose a direct threat to him. After observing Mahon, Ernin, and Ruairi with Shive, Tiernan had concluded that they were innocent of any attempt on her life. They were all too fond of her for that.

  Mahon and Ernin had suspected poisoning when they had helped Tiernan nurse her during the worst periods of her illness. There was a tacit understanding that Shive was never to be left alone for a minute, and all of her food was to come from Mairead’s hands only.

  But if the threat had not come from the men under his own roof, then where else? Tiernan had made careful enquiries about what Shive had done that morning before she arrived at Castlegarren, and suddenly the unthinkable had become a distinct possibility. She had been administered the poison either at Skeard or Rathnamagh. But how, why, and by whom?

  Though Tiernan didn’t realize it, Shive’s own thoughts were becoming more and more preoccupied with those very same questions. Her nightmares had offered her pieces to the puzzle. Wracking her brain to recall the death of her brother five years before, Shive was beginning to narrow down her list of suspects considerably.

  But though her coming close to solving the riddle should have given her a sense of relief, it only led to anger and despair. She became more and more withdrawn from everyone except Tiernan, until one evening about two weeks after she had regained consciousness, when Tiernan had asked her the same question five times and got no response, he took her hand and demanded, “Shive, I would know what you are thinking.”

  Shive started, and tried to pull her hand away.

  Tiernan held firm and again demanded an answer.

  Shive longed to pour her heart out to someone, but knew she could not confide her fears to Tiernan without risking the fragile peace which she had sealed between the two families by their marriage. So she remained silent.

  “Is it something to do with the nightmares you’ve been having?” he guessed when the silence had continued far too long for his liking.

  Shive nodded wordlessly, unwilling to lie to him directly.

  “I know you must feel you have reason to fear me, Shive, but you know I would try to understand anything you told me. I would protect you with the last breath in my body. Please, don’t be uneasy on that account,” Tiernan said, stroking her cheek.

  Shive smiled softly then, touched by the irony of his desiring to protect her when all along she knew she would one day have to fight to protect not only herself, but him as well.

  “Let’s not talk of sad things, please, Tiernan, not tonight. I’m finally feeling more like my old self. Look on the loom, and see what you think of my new tapestry, while I get into my bed gown,” Shive said, deftly changing the subject.

  “It's wonderful, truly,” Tiernan praised as he looked at the creation, a scene of a deer hunt in a stunning variety of wools on a royal blue background with golden harps all along the border. “Harps again, just like on my shirt.”

  “It’s your family symbol, is it not? I saw it on your shield downstairs in the great hall.”

  “So it is. How clever of you to notice. And the hart is you symbol, isn’t it? So, we’re wedded in wool now as well,” Tiernan joked as he ran his hands admiringly over the cloth, before beginning to remove his boots and breeches and leather jerkin.

  “That shirt suits you very well,” Shive teased from the bed. “Wherever did you get it?”

  “My clever wife made it for me, and aye, it does indeed suit me,” Tiernan replied, before blowing out the candle and getting into bed.
The air in the chamber was chill, and soon Shive began to snuggle closely against him for warmth.

  “You’re not pining for your old home, are you, Shive?” Tiernan suddenly asked.

  Shive raised her violet eyes to look at him in the dim firelight. “No, never, my lord, I promise.”

  “Then we will say no more about the subject. When you’re ready to tell me what's preying on your mind, what these nightmares are, I know you will.”

  Tiernan tucked her tousled head under his chin, and soon they both drifted off to sleep, the tumult of their strained emotions exhausting them both despite the thrill of each other's nearness.

  Tiernan had no idea how long he had been asleep, but he suddenly came awake with a start. For a moment wondered if Shive were having another nightmare, such were the small odd sounds she was making. As his mind became less befuddled with sleep, he realized he had pulled Shive’s bedgown up over her waist, and was running his hand up and down her bare buttocks and hips in a lingering caress.

  Even more exciting was the fact that Shive’s small hand was caressing his finely boned face, trailing down his broad shoulders and chest, and going even further, unimpeded by his shirt, which had fallen open.

  Reason told him to stop, to get out of the bed before any harm was done. But the warmth and delightful sensations made him reluctant to pull away and return to the loneliness of his own cold lonely pallet. Curiosity also got the better of Tiernan as he explored Shive’s body more intimately, all the while convinced that she was sound asleep. He pushed the top of the bed gown aside to cup her breasts gently and then stroked downwards, marvelling at how smooth her skin was, how slender her waist.

  His hand ran down the length of one thigh, and as he moved it back up, he could feel a tantalizing dampness in the secret core of her. God only knew how long he had been stroking her tenderly in his sleep. He grew more excited at her obvious response despite her being in a slumber. He tugged at top fastenings of the gown and began to kiss her shoulders and neck, before moving down to take each nipple in his mouth.

  Another passionate sigh escaped Shive, and her hand move even lower, causing Tiernan to gasp as he desperately struggled for control. What had started out as a mild indulgence in his curiosity about the woman he had married now became a blazing inferno of desire.

  Then Shive’s eyes opened and her hand moved upwards again slightly. “Did I hurt you?” she asked softly, her lips close to his.

  Tiernan’s control snapped. He pulled Shive to him with such abandon that she couldn’t have resisted him even had she wished to. Her own journey of exploration had also reached a crisis point. She shuddered with heat and cold as he tugged off her clothing and his own and began to rub his bare flesh against hers.

  The fingers of one hand laced through her riotous curls as the kiss deepened, while the other caressed the nub of her desire, causing her to arch up against his powerful body even though she was effectively pinned beneath his large frame.

  Her unbridled response spurred Tiernan on further. Sensing her readiness for him, with one massive thrust they were suddenly joined as one.

  Shive’s fingernails raked down his back and she moaned, first with the stabbing pain that shot through her, but soon with the pleasure as he filled her with joys she had only barely guessed at.

  Tiernan struggled for control over his reeling world, and tried to pull away when he realized he had allowed himself to get so carried away that he had now robbed Shive of her virginity and consummated their marriage.

  Shive clung on to him fiercely, and whispered his name. The urgent desire in her tone was unmistakable, the sensations he experienced inside of her irresistible. Tiernan plunged on, deeper and deeper, heedless of his doubts and reservations in the face of their overwhelming mutual need, until both brought each other to the peak of satisfaction, and at last lay utterly spent.

  Eventually Tiernan was able to move, and untwined Shive’s passion-heavy limbs from around him.

  “Tiernan?” Shive called softly as he moved to retrieve his clothes and headed towards his own room.

  Unable to resist one last kiss, Tiernan moved back to the bed and planted his lips firmly on hers, tasting her, craving more, yet wondering why he thought of the disciple Judas as he did so.

  “It’s too early for you to be up, Shive. Go back to sleep.”

  Tiernan kissed her on the forehead then, and escaped from the room as fast as he could.

  Shive, unaware of Tiernan’s feelings over what they had done, and overcome by the powerful emotions she had experienced in his arms, pulled the covers up over her bare, trembling body, and slept soundly for the first time in weeks until the sun rose high in the sky.

  Chapter Nine

  “Tiernan, you’re not listening to a word I’m saying,” his younger brother Cian reproached him at breakfast in the great hall the next morning. “What’s the matter? Shive hasn’t taken another turn for the worse, has she?”

  Tiernan stared at his brother for a moment before shaking his head. “No, she’s fine so far as I know. It’s just, well, I think I’ve made a dreadful mistake, that’s all. I don’t know what to do about it,” he sighed as he took another long draught of ale.

  Cian was surprised at his brother’s admission. Normally he was not one to confide his thoughts and feelings to anyone, let alone acknowledge that he might err from time to time just like ordinary mortals.

  Cian couldn’t resist allowing the sarcasm to drip into his voice as he remarked, “Well, getting drunk isn’t going to solve the problem, now is it. Do you want to tell me what it is, see if I can help?” he offered a bit more gently, when he saw his brother's bleak expression grow even more grim.

  Tiernan gazed at his brother in surprise, and shook his head. “It’s too complicated, and very personal. You’re only young, Cian. I’m not sure you’d understand.”

  “Why don’t you just unburden yourself to me, and see how young I am,” Cian said, nudging him roguishly.

  Just then Shive entered the great hall on Mahon’s arm. He led her to the head of the table where Tiernan and Cian were sitting, and eased her down gently into a chair.

  “You’re up early, and even out of your room,” Tiernan said in surprise.

  “Not as early as you, my lord. But I was tired of being cooped up in my chamber. It’s time I was up about earning my keep in the household. It’s New Year’s Eve today, and I want to start my new life here as I mean to go on,” Shive replied quietly, gazing at him shyly from under her long dark lashes.

  Tiernan took in her whole appearance with a bold sweeping glance which stopped at her violet eyes for a second before he finally turned away to pour out some ale for her.

  “You look well this morning, my lady. It’s a lovely gown. I’m glad it suits you so well,” he added in a whisper, admiring the blue dress he had given her a few days before as a Christmas present.

  “Thank you my lord, I am well, and as you say, the gown is lovely.”

  Tiernan clutched the table to steady himself as he fought back the urge to kiss her senseless. He reminded himself forcefully that she had trusted him, and he had now betrayed her. Yet Shive did not look as though she had suffered too much at his hands. Or was that rosy blush the tint of embarrassment over what had passed between them?

  “Now that the weather seems to have cleared, I’m going out hunting,” Tiernan announced to the assembled company abruptly. “Who will come?”

  Shive longed to go hunting with Tiernan, but knew her new husband would never permit it after she had so recently got out of her sickbed. And her marriage bed, she recalled with a blush, feeling a deep throb of desire pulse within her. Before she could express a wish for his company, Tiernan gathered his weapons from the corner, and with a curt bow directed at Shive, took his leave of the assembled clan. Several of the men followed closely in his wake.

  Cian, much as he loved the hunt, decided to remain behind in order to get to know his brother’s new wife better. Cian and Shive chatted a
miably for quite some time as they nibbled at freshly baked white bread. He could tell from their exchanges that Shive was no ordinary empty-headed beauty. She was strong-willed and spirited in her own gracious way. Cian began to suspect that his brother’s pensive mood was in some way linked to this elegant young woman.

  Cian observed that she seemed in much better health than the last time he had popped in to see her for a five minutes a few days previously. So if her health was not the cause of Tiernan’s worry, what was?

  Uprooted as Shive was from her family, young, penniless, in disgrace for having married the man who appeared to be her family’s worst enemy, Cian decided it could do no harm to try to befriend her. She certainly did not seem to be a threat to the O’Haras. Her stunning violet eyes seemed so open and candid that he could not even begin to suspect her of any wrongdoing. He knew Tiernan could be moody, and downright neglectful when it came to women after his first and only disappointment several years before.