Page 41 of First Light

“I don’t mind camping here with you, but if you could help me find Duncan Murray’s cottage, that’s all I need.” Carys was sure she could find her way back to the fae gate if she could just get to Duncan’s cottage. “I’m not going back to the castle. I don’t want to bother you with my problems, but?—”

“The problems of a friend are not problems at all.” Darius frowned. “Are you in need of protection?”

“Carys?”

A familiar voice calling her name made Carys turn. She saw Duncan on the edge of the clearing with the dark-haired woman from the throne room beside him.

The woman’s eyes lit up. “Carys! Thank the gods you’re safe.”

Too late. Carys sighed. Her problems had found her.

They had broughta horse for Carys to ride, but it wasn’t something she’d done since she was a kid, so she bounced awkwardly in the saddle, riding between Duncan and a woman he introduced as Aisling.

“Are you comfortable?” The woman was small and fine-boned with clear blue eyes the color of the ocean and dark hair that was braided and bound into a knot at the back of her head. “Seren hated to ride. She complained that it was so slow, but she was used to flying with Cadell, of course.”

Aisling chattered in a bright Irish lilt. She wore a flowing green robe over fitted leggings, and her cloak was massive, covering her nearly to her ankles.

“Seren’s personal chambers are still at the castle. No one has touched her rooms. I told the maids to clean them while we looked foryou. And you’re exactly your sister’s size, so you can change into some of her clothes.” Aisling looked at Carys’s boots. “They’ll be much more comfortable than Duncan’s old things.”

Carys appreciated Aisling’s thoughtfulness, but she didn’t know how to respond. She looked at Duncan with wide eyes.Help, she mouthed.

“Aisling.” Duncan grunted from his tall perch on a massive brown horse. “She’s not staying.”

“Of course she has to stay!” Aisling’s eyes went wide. “She’s Seren’s sister! We have to talk, we have to get to know her, and Lachlan?—”

“I don’t want to see Lachlan tonight.” It was the first thing Carys had said since she’d mounted the horse. “If I have to stay at the castle, I want a bedroom with a locked door. I want a warm bath” —she realized that might not be an option— “if that’s possible. And I want some food. After that, all I want is sleep.”

“Of course you’re tired.” Aisling’s voice was so understanding it made Carys inexplicably irritated. “I will take care of all those things myself. And I only offer Seren’s clothes because I know they’ll fit you well and be comfortable, but if you’d rather we wash the clothes you have and dry them by the fire, I will take them to the laundry myself.”

“No.” Carys wasn’t a monster. She knew the other woman was trying to be welcoming and she’d clearly had affection for her sister, but her bright cheer still rankled. “Seren’s clothes will be fine.”

After resigning herself to the fact that she wasn’t going to escape Sgàin Castle without another conversation with the son of its king, Carys had fallen into a silent brood.

Fine. She’d go back to the castle.

Fine, she’d listen to what Lachlan had to say.

And then she’d follow Lachlan’s surly twin back to Scotland before she flew back to Northern California where she belonged.

She glared at Duncan from the corner of her eye. “Why did you let them look for me?”

“You’re Lachlan’s… something,” he sputtered. “And more importantly, your Seren’s Brightkin. Did you think they were going to leave you to fae mercies?”

“The fae aren’t so bad really,” Aisling added. “Well, the light fae aren’t. They brought you to the Shadowlands, didn’t they? They wouldn’t have let you through the gate unless they wanted you here.”

“That’s what worries me,” Duncan muttered.

“They have so much knowledge, Carys. I’m a healer at the castle, so I regularly meet with fae healers and learn from them.” She turned to look back at the forest. “Just as I meet with the unicorns. Magic is not our enemy.”

“Is it natural to humans though?” Carys suddenly realized that in this world, Aisling was the professor. Carys had rusty book knowledge, but clearly that wasn’t enough. “If you’re a healer, you use magic, but the unicorn healer said not all humans accept magical healing.”

“That’s true.” Aisling nodded. “You should come to my workroom sometime and I can give you a tour. The good thing about learning and using magic is that I can make healing potions that all humans can take even if their bodies aren’t receptive to magical healing. My own teacher learned from fae potion masters, so the healing recipes are very effective.”

“Aisling doesn’t mind the fae as we do because she’s Irish,” Duncan muttered.

“Untrue, you surly beast.” Aisling winked at Carys. “He’s such a brute, isn’t he? IamÉiren—not Irish like you say in your world—and it’s true we’re freer with the Good People at home, but I was raised in Scotland.” She let a brogue take over her voice. “So I’m a crotchety, suspicious skeptic too.”

It was impossible to remain surly with the woman when she radiated so much good cheer. Even Duncan had to crack a smile.

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