\u201cYou know, I hope that someday, you\u2019ll be the one to talk me out of doing things that are stupidly rash and potentially dangerous rather than the other way around,\u201d Finn said.\u00a0 He was chewing on that damned thumb again, the way he always did when he was attempting wisdom.<\/i><\/p>\n
Wisdom has its own price for all of us, I guess.\u00a0 My brother\u2019s cost him his sight and all but the tatters of his sanity.\u00a0 Mine cost me him.\u00a0 Finn\u2019s?\u00a0 He had to look like an idiot, chewing on that thumb.<\/i><\/p>\n
I shook my head and turned my back to him, concerning myself with stocking the quiver and making sure that my leathers were in good repair.\u00a0 It\u2019d be a long ride to answer the call, and I needed to be ready for it.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happens if you ride out there and don\u2019t return?\u00a0 What will the Imbolg do without their chieftain, Brighid?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath before I turned back to him, my gaze meeting his.\u00a0 I could see Thom somewhere in his soul, a spark that neither of us were aware of all those centuries ago.\u00a0 \u201cThen they will have you,\u201d I murmured.\u00a0 \u201cThey will have you and Ciar and our daughter.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThey won\u2019t accept her,\u201d Finn said, standing slowly and reaching out to grip my arms.\u00a0 His hands were big, strong and calloused from long years of handling weapons, of handling tools.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s not one of us.\u00a0 Too many have realized that she\u2019s a foundling.\u00a0 Some whisper that she\u2019s some sort of changeling.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a child,\u201d I snapped, \u201can orphan with no one else.\u00a0 I swore an oath to a man dying years ago that if I ever came across one of his isle that needed\u2014\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHush,\u201d Finn whispered.\u00a0 \u201cI know it, Brighid, I know it, and I don\u2019t gainsay your choice.\u00a0 But until there is an heir of your body and mine, neither the Imbolg nor the Fianna will accept that they\u2019re secure.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
I sat down heavily on the bed we shared, perhaps not often enough for the comfort of our clans, and stared at the fire.\u00a0 I pressed my lips together so hard they began to hurt after a moment, taking deep, almost ragged breaths.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s naught I can do for that, Finn,\u201d I whispered at last.\u00a0 \u201cEither we\u2019ll be blessed, or we\u2019ll not.\u00a0 We try.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d he said, sitting with me among the blankets and my war kit.\u00a0 \u201cI know.\u00a0 It\u2019s not as if we don\u2019t, and it\u2019s not as if I don\u2019t love you and you, I.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s\u2014\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he admitted with a weak, rueful smile.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s our lives, our lifestyle.\u00a0 We are warriors born, warriors made, hunters and killers.\u00a0 Perhaps we\u2019re not meant to make life between us.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThat can\u2019t be it,\u201d I murmured.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cPray it\u2019s not,\u201d Finn said, putting his arms around me.<\/i><\/p>\n
Our lips met, then, and he pressed me down against the blankets, against my leathers and my quiver, and I realized I didn\u2019t care about riding to meet the call anymore.<\/i><\/p>\n
Not then.\u00a0 Not in that moment.\u00a0 In that moment, I had more immediate concerns, ones that were far more pleasurable than riding to war.<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lips brushed lightly against my cheek and I came awake with a deep breath and a stretch, blinking up in the darkness at Thom, who smiled wryly down at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were right,\u201d he whispered.\u00a0 \u201cThis storm isn\u2019t going to end any sooner than dawn.\u00a0 A couple hours won\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled and held back the covers for him.\u00a0 \u201cGlad you came to your senses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe too,\u201d he said as he undressed and crawled in with me.\u00a0 His hands were cold as he slid his arms around me, pulling me tightly against his chest.\u00a0 \u201cI left your brother on watch.\u00a0 He\u2019ll come if anything starts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll traumatize him for sure,\u201d I said, wrapping one leg around his.\u00a0 He shivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo be it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He kissed me again and like Brighid and Finn all those centuries ago, we made love in the darkness, warmed more by each other than any fire, on the eve of war.\u00a0 It was the proverbial calm before the storm, enjoyed only because beyond our shelter, the snow continued to fall and the wind continued to howl.<\/p>\n
But the storm would break at dawn and the war would begin\u2014a war we hadn\u2019t started in this life, but we were bound by fate to finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cYou know, I hope that someday, you\u2019ll be the one to talk me out of doing things that are stupidly rash and potentially dangerous rather than the other way around,\u201d Finn said.\u00a0 He was chewing on that damned thumb again, … Continue reading