Page 8 of A Constant Blaze

“Did you?” his father asked.

“I don’t know. I was three years old when you were taken. I thought we remembered, but now, seeing you in person, I think our version of you was a mixture of other people’s descriptions and our own imaginations.” He half laughed into the pillow. “All the same, Adam used to draw you in lead on the pages of our mother’s books.”

“I can’t imagine that went down well with your mother.” There was a smile in his voice that Donald found rather beguiling.

“Actually, she never complained. She seemed to recognize it as you.”

“And I didn’t even know you when they brought you in here. Even now, I can barely find the small child in the man you’ve become. You grew up without me. You all did. I never even had a verbal description from anyone who’d ever met you.” His voice was deliberately light, without resentment, and yet Donald could have sworn there was pain there. Even more quietly, he added, “Until Mairead came.” Again, his voice changed to one of amusement. “I gather your brother is something of a ladies’ man.”

At that, Donald grinned in the darkness. “Not really, though he seems to fascinate them. He doesn’t notice subtle admiration, and then he seems slightly surprised when he receives more obvious attention.”

“Like Mairead’s?”

“I don’t know. He met her with Somerled last year. I wasn’t there. But I’ve never seen him pursue anyone except Cairistiona, and even then—” He broke off. “Did you know he is married?”

“Married?” There was a movement on the mattress, as if his father had propped himself up in an effort to see him. For the first time, he didn’t sound pleased. “To whom?”

“Cairistiona, daughter of Rhuadri.”

“De Lanson’s wife… I am behind with the news.”

“Adam claims she’s descended from King Malcolm III,” Donald said, trying not to give in to his inevitable anxiety. He needed this stranger’s approval for himself and those he loved best. “He felt one of us should marry her to unite the royal lines. Fergus tried to steal her for his son, so he’s probably right.”

“What did Adam do with the husband?”

“Killed him.”

Donald could have sworn his father nodded as if this was quite right and proper. “Then there is no longer a king’s cuckoo in our nest?” his father said wryly.

“We defeated the cuckoos but kept it quiet to stave off the king’s army until Somerled can give us his support again. Or until Fergus could get you released. Treacherous bastard.”

His father shifted position in the darkness. “There’s no point in hating Fergus. He does what he has to, as we do. And I am released if I choose to go. The rest, I will not forget.”

They lapsed into silence for a little. Then quietly, almost reluctantly, his father said, “Does Adam really prophesy?”

Donald nodded, forgetting his father couldn’t see. “It’s why we began the rising, because he saw you would come home alive. He sees lots of things, often at very inconvenient moments—including at his own wedding.”

“And yet Mairead says the men follow him?”

“He doesn’t sit in the corner gibbering,” Donald said, all the old defensiveness rising to the surface. “In fact, though they all hear rumors and most suspect his gift, he never talks about it. He leads and he fights and is often quite brilliant. For the rest, I cover for him. Findlaech mac Gillechrist looks out for him. His insights more than make up for the difficulties.”

There was another silence, a movement as if the one-time Earl of Ross had lain down again. “Maybe he’s the Aed of the old prophecies. Adam and Aed don’t sound so different.”

“Well, they said Aed would expel the foreigners,” Donald said humorously. “Though Adam seems more inclined to absorb those we didn’t kill.”

“I wish I could see him,” his father blurted, betraying emotion for the first time since the king had left them alone. “I wish I could ride between you and him up to my old hall at Brecka and find your mother and sister waiting to welcome us.”

“He’s seen that, too,” Donald said. “Itwillhappen. You have to go home. Now. Without me.”

“No,” Malcolm mac Aed said with the same stubbornness that had got him here in the first place. “Notwithout you.”

*

They had justdecided that Cairistiona would return to Tirebeck while Adam would wait with Halla until formal word came from the king, when the shout went up of approaching men.

This was to be no secret, verbal-only message. A man wearing the king’s livery was accompanied by two armored soldiers bearing the king’s pennant. Naturally, they had an escort of the men of Ross, who’d met them as soon as they crossed into MacHeth country.

On hearing it, Adam began to stride down the hall with the clear intention of wresting from them whatever message they carried.

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