Chapter 8

The days and weeks that followed were like a dream that neither Rowan nor I wanted to wake from. We spent those cold white days curled up by the fire or walking together in the formal gardens, sometimes just the two of us but often accompanied by Liam. Raphael, Sarah, and Arariel were always on the periphery with their long swords belted on, keeping watch as we strolled along the snowy paths. Past the holly bushes with their sharp leaves and bright red berries, through the hedges, around the carvings and standing stones we wandered, hand in hand, talking, often laughing. When it was just Rowan and I we would stop behind trees and steal kisses, and if Liam was with us he would keep us smiling with his entertaining banter and we would wander as the snow fell around us.

“I wonder what it would have been like to have grown up together?” Liam asked one afternoon as it was starting to warm up.

“I would have been a bossy and controlling older sister. You would have been the only thing in my life that I could have bossed around and I would have milked it for all it was worth.”

Rowan snorted, “You don't like asking people to pass you the salt let alone telling them what to do.”

“Yeah but Liam would have been more like a little doll. I would have known that he was the baby and that I was older, and it's his disposition too. I wouldn't have been able to get away with it with Nimue.”

“No. She's right,” Liam took my side. “I would have followed Rhiannon around and done what ever she said and, for all that Nimue is younger, I'll bet that if, through some strange turn of events we'd been raised together, all three of us, that Nimue would have been a little tyrant. She had so much spirit before . . .” Liam trailed off and I could see in his eyes an odd admiration for my younger half sister followed by a struggle to keep his levity and not let thoughts of her present condition ruin our afternoon.

I idly lifted a clump of snow and formed it into a snowball patting it softly with my gloved hands then on a whim lobbed it at Liam who watched the snowball fly through the air with a look of disbelief on his face. It hit him square in the forehead.

“That's not fair!” he laughed, scraping snow off his face and laughing. “You know I won't throw a snowball back at my tiny pregnant sister!”

Rowan laughed at Liam's expression so I lobbed a snowball at him too. He dodged and threw up a hand avoiding the worst of it as the loose snowball broke apart against his forearm, but I knew that Rowan wouldn't throw a snowball at me either. I thought I was safe but just as the thought crossed my mind a perfectly aimed soft wet snowball caught me in the shoulder so that it broke apart and splattered my face and neck. I shrieked as the snow slid down under my cloak against bare skin and Raphael roared laughter at me then turned and hid behind a wing as Liam and Rowan came to my defence and a barrage of snowballs sailed through the air towards him, catching Arariel in the crossfire. She shook chunks of snow out of her black ringlets and took Raphael's side. We were drenched, cold and tired from laughing by the time we went in and ate a private dinner in Liam's rooms.

*

News of Seamus and the elves trickled in but they were using the bad weather to their advantage too. Rowan knew that something was up and after three weeks of quiet he was uneasy. He would distract himself whittling teething rings and baby toys while I sat sewing, but as scouting party after scouting party came back with minimal news the tension mounted until the morning Lief rode back to the castle.

His face was red from days of exposure to the elements. He looked careworn and bedraggled but he had information, “They're hiding out on one of the Gulf Islands. Rumour has it they have a few ships and they're planning an attack on Fiannasmere. They want to draw us out.”

The look on Leif's face as he delivered this news was agony. My heart constricted and I bit my lip as thoughts of Fenna's safety flew through my mind. I tried to conceal the fear and horror I felt at the thought of the place where I dreamed about living out my days and the people who lived there being harmed. The council chamber was silent as the various members sat in their seats pensive but, thankfully, not argumentative. “How much time have we got. Can we be there to stop it?” I asked.

“I caught an elf landing a small craft coming in off the Islands and I . . . convinced him to share some details with me. If he's to be believed we have very little time. We should leave within the hour.”

“It's either an ambush to persuade us to leave the Queen's Castle under-defended and ride out to protect Fiannasmere, or Seamus wants us to believe that it is.” Rowan said immediately. “We need to be prepared for either situation.”

No one argued with Rowan as he ordered Yori to gather all of the Dryads and Water Fay in the army and have them wait, ready to travel unseen, in the woods next to the castle. He looked at Raphael. “You've got the castle. Lief, Liam, do whatever he says.” And Rowan was striding from the room.

Rowan was able to do this. Make a decision, make it quickly and have confidence in it. He was rarely wrong. I followed him out of the council hall scurrying to keep up with him. “Are you going to go?” I asked him.

“I have to. It's my home.” So serious.

“I know, I just . . . Make sure everyone is safe. Fenna, your mum, the boys. And then come back to me,” I stammered.

“I will. I'll come back.” He kissed me then strode away and I turned and went back to the council chamber.