The Dawn Stag: Book Two of the Dalriada Trilogy Read Free

looked down, her cheeks flaming. ‘Besides, my home is where you are, and yours mine. You were born a prince of Erin, but you are also of my people now.’
    She glanced up to see him gazing at their entangled fingers, and the grim lines of old pain were back in his face. A few days of kisses could not erase these, even if she felt that everything inside her had shifted and settled into new curves and bends, like a river changing course.
    ‘That is true, a stór ,’ Eremon murmured, ‘and because of that I fear our wedding feast may need to be a trifle hasty.’ A black-tipped gull passed over the mast, screeching as it spun. Eremon looked up and tracked it over the sky. ‘Sunseason is getting closer, and I feel sure Agricola will not have rested his soldiers while we rested on the Sacred Isle.’
    The day darkened for Rhiann as if a cloud had sailed across the sun. Without volition, her eyes drifted south, towards the distant whirlpool. There it was: the first mention in days of what waited for them at home. By unspoken agreement, each had sought to stretch out that interlude of peace on the island, knowing they weren’t like other couples, free to revel in new feelings. They were pretenders, acting as if they had no cares beyond those of lovers. Rhiann’s fingers pressed to the hollow of her throat, trying to loosen the sudden tightness. ‘What will we do?’
    Eremon was now staring east across the sea, where the Alban mainland was hidden by the long, blue islands, as if his gaze could penetrate the leagues that lay between the Epidii lands and those occupied by the Romans. ‘This new alliance with the Caereni and Carnonacae, added to that with Calgacus, makes us a force to be reckoned with, at last. I think it is time to take advantage of that, to strike a blow before the Romans do.’ His eyes came back and fixed on her face, dark with regret. ‘Soon I will have to leave my bride and take to the field.’
    ‘We knew that our partings would be frequent, cariad . Yet by the Goddess, if I’d wanted a quiet life, I would have married a cowherd, wouldn’t I?’
    Eremon snorted. ‘Perhaps your council would have been better pleased with that! After all, they gained a war leader, but no gold or cattle in exchange for their princess.’ A thought occurred to him, creasing his brow. ‘Do you think they will refuse to make the marriage binding?’
    ‘Eremon!’ Rhiann raised herself up, pillowing her knees on her blue priestess cloak. ‘You sail home with two major alliances, and you’ve trained our men so well we’ve already achieved one great victory against the invaders. How can you still doubt your position here?’
    Eremon was chewing his lip, as he often did when thinking. ‘Because it still isn’t secure, and I can’t make it so with a sword. Not when the enemies may be inside as well as out.’
    ‘You mean Maelchon,’ Rhiann whispered. They believed the king of the Orcades had engineered their shipwreck two weeks ago, but did not know his exact motives.
    Eremon’s mouth hardened into a straight line. Maelchon had left Calgacus’s fort, so he couldn’t be the only person behind the sinking of our boat. He would not have known we were leaving by sea, or when we sailed …’ Suddenly he bit off his words, clamping his lips together with a hint of his old severity.
    And although Rhiann had let the memory of the shipwreck subside, something cold now slithered up her spine. The plunge into the sea … the sucking of freezing water at her mouth and nose …
    Eremon saw her shiver and curved his arm around her, lying back to press her cheek into his chest. His tunic was stiff with salt, and smelled of male sweat, although she found this oddly reassuring. ‘I’m sorry I spoke of this now,’ he whispered. ‘Let me deal with it, a stór , my beloved.’
    His voice vibrated in Rhiann’s ear, yet she resisted closing her eyes and sinking into his strength. ‘You said enemies inside. You mean within the