by Heidi Hanley
A gold brocade came out next. Briana shook her head. “Let me see that black one?”
Claire sighed when she pulled out an elegant black floor-length gown with a dipping sweetheart neckline and beaded bodice.
Briana’s eyes lit up. “That will do nicely.”
It didn’t take long to transform herself from convalescent to near-goddess. Claire swept part of her hair up in a chignon while leaving tendrils around her face and down her neck. A humble string of stones sparkled around her neck and wrist. She wore matching teardrop earrings.
“Ravishing,” Claire said.
Briana took a deep breath and with her lady’s maid at her side, made her way down the hall and stairs to the salon, where everyone was gathered. No one noticed her at first, enthralled by Silas’ singing and the wild movements of his body as he spun and gyrated with the bodhran. She listened for a moment. The song seemed to be about one of Uisneach’s epic battles. He saw her and came to an abrupt halt, the expression on his face changing from surprise to pure delight.
Everyone else turned to see Briana looking every inch a queen. Sigel stood and came to her side. “Welcome downstairs, milady,” he said, leading her to the empty seat at the head of the table.
“Please continue, Silas,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant, though her insides were quivering. “I want to hear how it ends.”
“Somehow a song about warriors and battles seems amiss at this moment. Perhaps somethin’ more enchantin’?”
She inclined her head and tried not feel self-conscious at the stares she felt around her. Cailleach, seated next to her, whispered in her ear, “Can you never do as you’re told?”
Briana gulped and stared at the woman, relieved when she noted the sparkle in her eye. “You’re not upset?” she whispered back.
“Tonight, tomorrow morning, what difference does it make?”
Great minds think alike. Briana turned her full attention to Silas, who picked up an ancient precursor of the Uilleann pipes and began to play a heart-wrenching tune. When he had every eye in the room bright with sentimental tears, he traded the pipes for his guitar and began to sing.
“I love to see you swimming in our enchanted sea,
Finding treasures in the surf and in the sand.
You make me believe in magic, long past when I should.
I want to swim beside you, come take me hand.
Come, my love, and swim with me
In this beautiful, magical sea.
Heart to heart, we dive and dart,
Through the waves of our enchanted sea.”
Briana found it impossible to hold back her tears. Fortunately, she was not alone. Every woman in the room held a hanky to her eye. Sigel handed her his as Silas continued with another verse.
“You make me believe in mermaids bathing ‘neath the stars.
Moonlit dolphins dance in joyful wonder in the waves.
We set our sails, batten down and ride on waves of love.
Knowin’ some will gently swell, others drive us under.
Come, my love, and swim with me,
In our beautiful, magical sea.
Heart to heart, we dive and dart,
Through the waves of our enchanted sea.”
Briana’s heart swelled with love and with a longing deeper than the words the bard sang. She closed her eyes and let the song flow over her.
“I dive into the watery depths, rise up with a pearl,
Set it on your finger, the promise of a dream.
With every foamy wave that breaks upon the rocky coast,
I hold you close and love you, in our enchanted sea.”
If only.
When she opened her eyes, Briana found all eyes on her. With perfect grace, she stood to face Silas. “That was lovely, Silas. Thank you for taking us all to such a beautiful place.”
Everyone else stood, applauding the bard, who bowed deeply, but kept his eyes on Briana.
The pleasure is mine, a mhuirnin.
Hours later, as the mansion settled into silence and Claire into sleep, Briana returned to the balcony and contemplated the evening’s performance, especially the songs that had been meant just for her. She sighed. It’s nice to be in love with a bard, she thought. Only it wasn’t all that nice when you couldn’t be together.
Suddenly, she saw him crossing the courtyard in the direction of the garden. He seemed in no hurry and even stopped to gaze up at the moon and smell a flowering bush.
An idea began to form in Briana’s mind. She gauged the proximity of the ash tree to the balcony. Very close. Not too far from the ground, either. Claire snored softly on her couch, tucked into her blankets. Since Silas was outside, Sigel likely guarded her door. Briana’s heart beat faster. Tiptoeing to the closet, she eased it open and pulled out her trousers and tunic, then slipped into them. She warned Dara with a finger to her lips. Not a sound, okay? The hound gave her a complicit look, laid his head down and shut his eyes. Good lad.
Standing next to the tree, she closed her eyes and focused on the image of her sliding easily from limb to limb to the ground below. She couldn’t reinjure her leg. They needed to get on with their mission, and she’d go crazy if forced back into that bed. When she felt ready, Briana raised herself onto the railing and reached for the first limb. Easing the rest of her body up and over, she put a foot to the next lower limb and tested its sturdiness. Smiling, she transferred all her weight from the railing to the branch and with the ease of an eel, slid down through the leaves until she could drop the last few feet to the ground. When her feet touched grass, she looked up, making sure she could return. With a quivery smile and racing heart, she followed the path Silas had taken.
Silhouetted against the cliffs and the ocean, he looked mystical in the moonlight, a druid communing with his source of inspiration. She paused, wondering if she should interrupt his solitude.
Come on then, you made it this far.
She hurried next to him. He still faced the ocean. Luminous white light streaked a path across the water to the rocks where the waves crashed loudly. The occasional groan and phoof of air from a whale’s blowhole reminded her that there was a whole other world below the water.
Our beautiful magical sea. Come, swim with me.
Did he mean it literally? She peered over the edge of the cliffs to see if there was a way to get down to the beach.
Silas chuckled. “No, a mhuirnin, we’ll not swim in the ocean tonight, though I’d like that very much. I was referrin’ to this journey we take together.”
She remained quiet, not sure what to say to him now that they were actually together, away from the intense scrutiny.
“You shouldn’t be here. How did you get past Sigel?”
She explained her subterfuge. He glanced down at her leg. “It’s okay. Nothing happened to my leg.”
He turned toward her and caressed the side of her face. She leaned in and closed her eyes. “Ah, darlin’ you take such risks for me. I wish you wouldn’t, but I can’t help but be proud that you have.”
Unbidden tears sprang up.
“Why do you weep?” he asked, pulling her against his chest.
His heart beat steadily against her ear. She whispered, “This – you – it’s all I ever wanted and I don’t know whether to be happy or sad.”
His arms tightened around her.
“Sigel told me today he would take me back to Baigsith, back to the tree, if I didn’t want to go through with this.”
Silas pulled away and searched her face. “What did you answer?”
“I didn’t. I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to be a queen, guarded and hovered over until I go out of my mind. I don’t want to marry a man I can never love. If I can’t have you, I would rather go back home and live my old, boring life in a place where I can at least have a hot shower.”
“Would you really? Are you willin’ to give up on Uisneach?”
She shrugged. They stood quietly, searching for answers in each other’s e
yes.
“Maker help me, but in this moment, it would be worth dying for,” he said.
“What would be?”
“Kissing you.”
Her lips fell apart in surprise. He claimed them. The instant their lips touched she went weak, drowning in their own personal enchanted ocean. His body became her life preserver as wave after wave of pleasure and joy washed over her. Weakness turned to strength and she swam with him, drinking in the taste of his love, smelling the salt of the sea upon his skin, thrilling to the music his own passion made against her ear as his mouth traveled from soft, eager lips to ear to arching neck and back to lips.
Diving and darting among the waves of desire and connection, they were the mermaids he sang about. Hands wound in each other’s hair, then searched the treasures of each other’s bodies. Breathing became impossible, so they stopped breathing until the need for air made them rise and take it in great gulps.
“I want you, a mhuirnin.” I can’t live without you.
“I need you,” whispered Briana, trembling against him. Please, Silas, love me.
“I do love you, Briana. I’ve always loved you and will continue to love you regardless of who you marry or where we live. Our love is not dependent on circumstances. It exists in a place beyond that. I don’t want you to leave. Even if it means seein’ you wife to another man, I want you to be here. Not just for the sake of Uisneach, but for our own sake. I want to watch you govern a kingdom, have babies and grow old.”
He studied her face as though memorizing each curve and line. “I’ll remember this moment as long as I live: your hair blown about by ocean breezes and,” he swept his thumb across her kiss-swollen lips, “the way you look when you’ve been loved.” After a few moments, he guided her head to his chest, holding her firmly against his body. “I do love you, Briana and that love means I will protect you, even from me love. You must make your decision knowin’ that this moment was a gift, never to be shared again. If you choose to stay, it will not be to find times and places for forbidden kisses and lovemakin’ that will destroy you as a queen and get you killed.”
Never kiss him again? Would she spend the rest of her life missing his kiss, his touch and dreaming dreams that could never come true? Will I regret this for the rest of my life?
Briana reconsidered. Silas was right. It was a gift, beyond anything she could’ve imagined. A pearl. She set it in her heart, where it would remain forever protected.
“I don’t know why Maker brought us together under such impossible circumstances,” Silas said, “or why we were given this magic to communicate silently, but I do believe there is a reason. We must trust, a mhuirnin, and follow our destiny to the end.”
Chapter Twenty-one
To Be or Not To Be
Cailleach finished bandaging Briana’s leg. “Now you’re ready to go down to breakfast.”
Wending their way slowly downstairs, Briana had the time to really take in the glamour of the mansion. Everything sparkled, the polished black-and-white tiled floors, the crystal crow statues and magnificent chandeliers, even the glass dishes of blood-red stones and glass twigs on tables and in corners. Briana thought they looked like magical nests.
Cailleach pushed open the double doors and motioned the younger woman in, then quietly shut the doors behind them. Odd, Briana thought, but didn’t question it. The scent of Earl Grey tea and freshly baked bread made her stomach growl. Sigel stood at the sideboard pouring tea into a cup. He greeted her with a warm smile.
“Good morning, Briana. Ready for some breakfast?” He set his cup down and reached for another to pour her a cup.
She couldn’t help but smile at his cheerful welcome. Then she saw Silas standing near the window, a cup of tea in his hand. Her heart melted at the sight of her golden cat bathed in the rays of the morning sun. Their eyes met across the room and she smiled tenderly.
“Good morning, milady.”
“Good morning, Silas.”
Last night’s kiss added a layer of unmistakable intimacy to the greeting. Sigel’s head whipped up sharply, his eyes narrowing.
“Oh Maker!” he growled. “What have you done?”
“Nothing,” they answered in unison.
“Something happened. I want the truth.”
“Sigel, it’s kind of personal between…” Silas started to say, but Sigel cut him off.
“Nothing is personal between you and her!” he roared, slamming his fist down on the table, knocking over his cup. Briana jumped, startled by his anger. Silas remained unruffled, staring back at Sigel coolly. “She’s the bloody Queen of Uisneach!” said Sigel. “Do you think I’m blind? That I haven’t seen you,” he said pointing at Briana, “mooning after him with doe eyes! And you,” he said, turning back to Silas, “looking at her like you’ve forgotten where your loyalties lie!”
Silas straightened, his eyes turning to blue glints of steel. “I’ve forgotten nothing. My loyalties lie with my king and my queen.”
“Sigel,” Briana said, adopting an authoritative tone, which by the look on his face, didn’t impress the lord marshall in the slightest. Ramrod straight, she met his glare. “Sigel, I am not married yet and though I am aware potential queens are not allowed to have… a physical relationship with anyone but the king they may be betrothed to, there is nothing in the law that says kissing is illegal.”
“You kissed her?” he thundered at Silas. “You realize you could hang for this?”
Silas held his gaze. “I do.”
“What the hell were you thinking?”
“I think it would be pretty obvious, sir,” he said. “I love her. I know,” he said, when Sigel opened his mouth to protest, “I have no right to love her, but me heart doesn’t quite understand that.”
“I fail to see how risking each other’s lives is an expression of love,” Cailleach said.
Silas shrugged. “Passion got the better of me. It was completely me fault and it won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t,” Briana echoed. “We decided that last night. In fact…”
Sigel held a hand up to stop her. “Not another word.”
“Sigel, be reasonable. It’s not like I cheated on my husband.”
Silence cast a deathly hallows over the room Sigel stared at the overturned cup, seemingly unaware that the tea was flowing over the table edge to the floor. When Sigel looked up, Briana was surprised at how devastated he looked. “Is that how seriously you take this? Let me enlighten you. The law does not outline which acts of ‘passion’ are allowed or disallowed. However, it is the intention of the law that no one, other than the king, has physical contact with the queen. Married or not, ‘just kissing’ the bard could get you both killed.”
“Well, then you have a bigger problem, because where I come from, even sex is legal, and I have kissed many men!”
Have you now?
Well, not that many.
She could see this argument stumped Sigel, so she pressed her advantage. “And furthermore, you will not kill Silas.”
Briana, be careful.
“No? Why won’t I?”
“Because if you do, I will go right back through the tree to a place where they are less barbaric. That would mean your king stays in suspended animation and the kingdom dies.”
“Briana, you would not do that,” Cailleach said.
Briana didn’t take her eyes off Sigel, but inclined her head toward Silas. “Yes, I would.”
When no response was forthcoming, she continued. “At the moment, there are only the four of us who know this happened. I suggest we keep it that way and let life go on as before. We’ve promised it won’t happen again.”
Waiting for Sigel’s response was agonizing. The space was filled only with their collective breathing and Dara’s scratching at an itch.
Finally, Sigel turned to Silas. “Pack your things and head to Ratskillen. Mobilize the men there and head for Poet’s Gap. We’ll meet you at Long Bay in two weeks.”
“That�
�s not fair and not necessary!” Briana objected, her whole body rigid.
“It’s fair, milady,” Silas said, softly. “And for the best. Providence may be showin’ her face.”
“He’s the bard, Sigel. We need him to tell our story.”
“Now there’s something you should have thought of before last night.” Sigel snorted. “We’ll tell him all about it when we meet him at the castle.”
“Don’t you understand anything about love?”
Oh, my Maker, Briana, you have no idea what you’ve just done.
Sigel staggered back with a ragged breath. Momentary sorrow clouded his eyes. “Aye, lass, I do. But I also understand duty and responsibility.”
“Who will you take to help protect her?” Silas asked. “You don’t plan to be her only guard?”
“Probably Sir Thomas.”
No one seemed to know what to do next until Cailleach put her hand to Briana’s elbow. “Let’s go back upstairs.”
Briana looked at Silas, who smiled encouragingly.
I’ll miss you, but I’ll be fine.
I’m so sorry, Silas. This is all my fault. If I had just stayed…
No regrets, mo chroi. I will gladly pay the price for last night and I would do it again – well, no, I won’t do it again. I promise. I failed to protect you, but I won’t fail you again.
A not-so-discreet cough interrupted their communication. Silas took a sip from his tea and headed for the door. Cailleach led Briana out behind him as Sir Thomas appeared, dressed spotlessly in black.
“Good morning, milady. Cailleach.”
The women acknowledged the greeting but continued on their way.
Mild discomfort in her leg necessitated a slow pace through the halls and up the stairs to her room. Valets and maids hopped around with brisk efficiency, all with black hair, black eyes and black uniforms. Everyone greeted her with a bobbing curtsy and inquired if there was anything they could do for her. Cailleach instructed them to tend to the spilled tea in the dining room and bring up a breakfast tray.
