Page 50 of A Constant Blaze

“You could let me catch my breath,” he suggested.

“Not in this position. What if my husband came in?”

Reluctantly, it seemed, he eased off her and drew her into a sitting position beside him. She was almost disappointed. “Where is your husband?” he asked evenly.

“I don’t know. I think he left with a lot of the men an hour and more ago. I wondered if that was you distracting him.”

“We never got the chance,” Muiredach said. “Fate must be on our side. What are you taking?”

Leaning back, she tugged her cloak from the bed and swung it around her shoulders before spreading her arms.

“You travel light,” he observed.

“I do. But I also have a box stored at the priory.”

He nodded, giving nothing away, and stood up to peer out the window. “I think we’d better go. Are you sure you can manage this?”

She twitched one eyebrow at him. “It’s not my first time. Why do you think I chose this chamber?”

He insisted on going first, presumably to break her fall if necessary. Mairead swung herself out the window, loving the blast of wind against her face. However, it wasn’t the easy climb she’d found it previously. The ivy, which wasn’t so very old or well established, had been damaged by Muiredach’s previous ascents and descents and tended to break and move.

More than once, Muiredach seized her scrabbling foot and shoved it into some tiny crevice. All the while, she strained her ears for any sign that she’d been seen, or that her escape from the room had been discovered. But for the most part, she concentrated so hard on her climb down that she didn’t even see the man holding two horses until she slid the last few feet to the ground and ended in Muiredach’s arms. Over his shoulder, an armed stranger gazed at them with interest.

“Muiredach,” she whispered. “Run!”

“No need,” he replied with irritating nonchalance. “He’s with us.” Muiredach turned, jerking his head toward the house door, and the man nodded.

Muiredach led her around the house and through a kitchen garden to the outer wall, which stood as high as his head. He took a run at it, throwing himself halfway up and scrambling up the rest. Throwing one leg over, he sat astride it and reached down to help her. However, Mairead had been used to doing things alone, and by this time, she merely hauled herself up the last few inches and smiled at him before dropping down the other side. She thought he laughed as he jumped after her. Exhilarated, she was happy enough to seize his hand and run with him for the cover of the trees, almost like mischievous children.

Here, there was another bad moment when she came suddenly upon another armed man with Grizel, but since the maidservant merely hurled herself at Mairead with joy, she decided that he, too, was with Muiredach.

Muiredach untied one of the large, waiting horses and boosted Mairead into the saddle before mounting behind her. As his man and Grizel mounted the other horse, he seemed anxious, peering through the trees.

“Who are we waiting for?” Mairead asked curiously. “Your mysterious ally?”

“Yes.” His shoulders relaxed suddenly, and he grinned. “Let’s go. We’ll head north first to mislead any pursuit, then double back.”

“My husband rode northward,” Mairead warned, urging her horse after his. “What if we run into him returning?”

“We keep in the cover of the woods.” He was distracted, looking constantly behind him and through the trees towards the road. Mairead, slightly piqued by his inattention, although she knew she had no reason to be, watched his frowning face instead.

“Why?” she demanded as they slowed. The thud and rustle of other approaching horses made the question suddenly urgent. “Why are you helping me?”

Muiredach’s lips curved up. Two horses broke through the trees, one carrying an armed man, the other a lady. A wink of sun glinted off the man’s sword and axe and seemed to shine right through the lady’s veil, giving her a blinding, golden halo.

“In truth, becauseshewished it,” Muiredach said.

If the romance of the whole episode crumpled for Mairead then, there was no time to dwell on it. The lady moved forward, and Mairead saw, with even greater curiosity, that she was beautiful and elegant to the point of regal. As her horse picked its way toward them, the lady’s gaze found and locked with Mairead’s. Although her expression was clear and emotionless, it didn’t mean there was none there. She just hid it perfectly. She was everything Mairead wished to be. And with the sudden thought came a glimpse of knowledge, even before the woman spoke.

“You must be the Lady Mairead. I am Halla. Of Ross.”

There wasn’t enough warning, there could never have been enough warning for this. She had no control over her face or voice. “You?” she whispered. “You came all this way forme? Dear God, lady, you can’t be here.”

“I received the news first. My family owes you a debt that can never be repaid. We were fortunate to find your husband from home.” The lady’s eyes didn’t blink. “Apparently pursuing Malcolm mac Aed.”

Mairead threw back her head in distress. “He is here, too? This is madness!”

“Or some false sighting,” the lady said with apparent indifference. “As I believe used to happen with my sons.”

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