hardly any sleep at all.”
She didn’t have to be a healer to know that, though Abigail had warned her of this very thing as they said good-bye back at the keep.
Remembering the potent sleep Ciara had experienced with his dragon before, she didn’t even consider protesting. Surely speaking to the Balmoral would be just as good in the morning.
“I am surprised to hear you admit as much.”
“Why? I am no arrogant warrior, certain I am impervious to weakness.” She was all too aware of how vulnerable she was to the dreams and visions.
She had lived with it for most of her life after all. He could not know just how great the gift of his dragon’s protection of her dreams was.
His chuckle warmed her through. “You are an impertinent lass, I think.”
“Forthright, mayhap.”
“Bossy.”
“Bold.”
A throat clearing reminded her that they were far from alone.
Blushing, she stepped away from Eirik’s touch and turned to face the Balmoral guards. “I apologize. We did not mean to ignore you.”
Eirik made a sound suspiciously like a snort, but when she looked at him with a frown, he looked as innocent as a babe.
She shook her head. “Do not think to bamboozle me with your appearance of blamelessness.”
He shrugged, but the smile tickling at the corner of his mouth pleased her.
“If we might offer some refreshment?” Artair asked, his expression indicating that he had been listening with avid interest to Ciara and Eirik’s conversation.
The poorly suppressed mirth on Gart’s face implied he’d been likewise engaged.
Nosy wolves. Her mother often said there were no secrets among the Faol, but her father always disagreed. Talorc said that a clever enough woman could always keep secrets and Abigail always blushed.
“Thank you for the offer; a cup of watered wine would be most appreciated.” She gave the Balmoral soldier her best smile.
Honestly, she wouldn’t mind a small repast as well, but she would not ask for what they might not easily provide.
Eirik growled beside her and the bigger warrior, Gart, scowled first at her and then his companion, but he turned to lead the way back toward the forest.
Lais pulled against the oars, making a direct line for Balmoral Island. Mairi had been quiet since they got on the boat and Eirik had leapt into the sky with Ciara on the dragon’s back.
Lais was so proud of Mairi’s ability to mask her scent, but it was clear the effort had cost her. He was content to let her rest in the stern of the boat, settled as comfortably as he could make her with furs, a skin of watered wine and some food.
She nibbled in silence on some cheese, looking at him, then the water, then the sky where Ciara and Eirik were but a dot and then back at Lais.
He could see a question in her eyes, but fearing he knew what it was, he did not prompt her to ask it.
She offered him the cheese. “Would you like some?”
“Nay.” He was hungry, but he would not have her feed him.
She needed her rest and the act would be too intimate, it would give more than his body sustenance. It would give nourishment to his eagle’s desires for her as a mate as well.
She sighed and wrapped the cheese in cloth before putting it in the satchel Lais had brought with him on this journey. She adjusted the Sinclair plaid their laird had gifted her with before they left the keep, smoothing her hands along the pleats, clearly pleased to be wearing different colors than the MacLeod.
She settled again, but this time maintained a steady regard on him. “Is it because I am not a wolf?”
He should have known that his Mairi would need no prompting. But that was not the question he expected, though he supposed it could be considered a form of it.
“Nay. While humans are more fragile than shifting Chrechte, you have proven yourself to be strong of mind and spirit.”
“You are attracted to me.” She sounded very confident, but then she had reason to be on that particular front. “It is not just your eagle that wants me.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
He could have lied and said that he simply did not want a mate, but while there was a place for deceit, this was not it.
“I do not deserve a mate.” There. He had said it.
“How can you say so? You are an amazing man.”
“Because I healed you.”
“No, because I can trust you not to hurt me.”
“I am not the only man who can give you pleasure.”
“You