from you and make a beautiful woman look quite a fool.”
Richard strode through the darkness, Bran a mere step behind.
They had been walking for half an hour, the lay of the land easy to navigate even in the night. The last remnants of the day’s insects sang, the only witnesses to their passing. It was a gorgeous evening, the last colors of the sunset behind them, but Richard ignored all of it for the most part. What was to come sat tantamount in his mind; what was to come would require every magic ability he had learned over the years.
The memory of the attempted kiss by Deirdre distracted him, though, like a terrible thought that would not go away. The woman annoyed Richard. It had nothing to do with her specifically. Deirdre had shown herself to be an asset when it came to navigating Annwn, possessed of a keen intellect and a desire to see her future unfold as she wished, not what others wanted. Feisty in a way that Richard had lost with age, she hadn’t backed down from any fight. She could have any man she wished.
It made no sense that she would want him.
But mostly Richard hated how she made him feel wanted when he deserved nothing from anyone ever again. Not after Elizabeth. Not after her death.
He focused on the moment, growling inwardly at the whole situation.
“What are you thinking?” Bran inquired beside him.
“Mind your business,” Richard said, more harshly than he intended.
“About the kiss, right?”
Richard stopped and turned to Bran. Even in the failing light he could see the jealousy burning in the boy’s eyes.
“That’s right, I saw it,” Bran said defiantly. “Sent me to pack our things just to get some free time with her? How noble, knight.”
In a rush of anger, Richard stepped before Bran, desiring nothing more than to bloody the idiot. It had been long in coming. When Bran didn’t back down, the passion in his eyes not diminishing and almost pushing for a fight, Richard shoved him sharply aside and continued onward.
“I will only say this once,” Richard snarled, striding away. “I am not interested in Deirdre. Not now, not ever. I am here to do a job. As you should be. Not to find a wife. Not to find a girlfriend. Not to make a new friend. Bring this up again and we are going to have a go of it. Seriously.” He stopped and looked deep into Bran’s eyes. “Understand?”
“Then stay away from her,” Bran said with conviction.
Richard stalked away. “Youth knows all follies,” he said under his breath.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing,” he replied, shaking his head, as the boy followed. “Just ensure you are focused on what is to come. Thinking about her will not aid us this night. Philip Plantagenet does not care about her, and he certainly doesn’t care about your feelings. Or about how you feel about me. One distraction can lead to our deaths. Make sure that does not happen.”
After several tense minutes where neither of them spoke, Richard stopped. Caer Llion loomed before him, the outline of the enormous castle blacker than the sky around it. Richard felt impossibly close, exposed, the reality of his plan all too near and far too real. The bustle from the army camped to the north drifted to him, a thousand different sounds more than willing to end his life. If Bran kept his head about him and Richard could keep them hidden long enough, the chance that they would succeed increased from dismal to marginal.
“How are we going to get into Caer Llion?” Bran asked, breaking the silence.
“There are many ways into a fortress. Now is as good a time as any to find one,” Richard said, stopping to call the Dark Thorn. “I might as well learn how to do this. We know Philip has some kind of seeing glass that aided him in going after you. I will focus on that.”
“A glass, huh?”
“Yes, likely a mirror. Very powerful though.”
“And finding it will show you where Philip is?”
“I don’t know what I will do if face to face with him,” Richard admitted. “Now be quiet. Let me do this.”
Richard gripped the wood of the Dark Thorn, assured by its warmth. He had no idea what he was doing but failing to try would lead them nowhere. He drove the staff into the grassland and, with both hands wrapped about its might, Richard closed his eyes and concentrated on what he knew, bringing forth images