Chapter 19

The instant Morgan left, Feiyan turned to Jenefer. “Do you really think Hallie is bringing her da’s army?”

It took a moment for Jenefer to comprehend the question. She was still rattled. No man had ever failed to back down under Jenefer’s challenging stare. Until now.

The Highlander’s gaze had been unyielding. Unsettling. Unnerving. And something else. Something that made her heart beat unsteadily.

“Well?” Feiyan insisted. “Do you?”

Jenefer, distracted, tried to recall what her cousin had asked. “Believe that Hallie is bringing the army? Aye, of course. Why else would she have left?”

Feiyan looked doubtful. “’Tis so unlike her.”

“You don’t think Hallie is truly lost in the forest and devoured by wolves, do you?” she scoffed.

“Nay, but…”

“Then she’ll be here soon.”

“You should know, when we left Rivenloch, she commanded the knights not to follow us. She said ’twas to be a mission of peace.”

Jenefer bit her lip. Unfortunately, that did sound like Hallie. “But once we were taken captive,” Jenefer reasoned, “she must have realized peace is impossible.”

Feiyan gave her a quizzical look. “Is it though?”

“Aye,” Jenefer groused, irritated that Feiyan seemed to disagree. “He plans to hold us hostage. He hopes to negotiate with Rivenloch for our release. And he’ll demand Creagor as payment.”

“Maybe. But ’twasn’t what Hallie thought.”

“Indeed?” Between the babe’s incessant wailing and Feiyan’s contrariness, Jenefer was feeling testy. “And just what did Hallie think?”

“She thought he meant to return us. She said he was a man of honor.”

“Honor?” She rolled her eyes. “He’s a Highlander, Feiy. You know they trade their children for cattle, aye?”

“Children for… Where did you hear that?”

“’Tis common knowledge. They’re uncivilized.” She waved toward the next chamber. “That’s probably why the babe is upset. He knows he’s going to be traded for a coo.”

Feiyan shook her head and returned to gaze out the window. The wind had died down this morn. Fog softened the landscape.

Then she sighed. “My dao is out there somewhere, turning to shite in this weather.”

Jenefer would have empathized, except she’d seen Feiyan’s wall of weapons. Her cousin owned dozens of blades, axes, sticks, and stars. Daggers of all shapes. Some as small as sewing needles. Some as large as lances. Some looked as innocent as hairpins and ladies’ fans. All of them were deadly.

She could hardly miss the few that lay strewn on the sod.

Besides, Jenefer’s bow and arrows were out there as well. Worse, her satchel of food had been left to scavenging animals. It had contained a veal pasty, oatcakes, bannocks and butter, hard cheese, and an apple coffyn.

Her stomach growled in complaint. Of course it could hardly be heard over the babe’s loud wailing.

She joined Feiyan at the window and leaned out over the ledge.

“Miles!” she shouted toward the adjoining window. “Quiet down now!”

By some miracle, he stopped. She and Feiyan exchanged looks of amused surprise. But in the next moment, he resumed his cries, even more piercing than before.

Jenefer shrugged and pulled her head back in. “I’m going to give that babe to someone who won’t trade it for a coo.”

Feiyan rolled her eyes.

Jenefer scowled as her stomach rumbled again. “Thor’s beard! I’m starving.”

Feiyan folded her arms in disapproval. “If our uncle’s forces are indeed on their way, and if the Highlander intends to hold us for ransom, then we should be preparing for battle, don’t you think?”

“I can’t think,” Jenefer said, “not on an empty stomach.”

It was true. And Jenefer had given up trying to explain her voracious appetite, especially to Feiyan. She ate what she ate. Besides, despite her feasting, she was still rather lean for a lass.

Miles’ cries grew muffled then and finally ceased. The nurse must have put the babe to her breast.

Jenefer sighed. At least one of them was getting fed.

“If I only had my sais,” Feiyan said wistfully as she gazed into the mist.

Jenefer didn’t know which weapon that was. But she understood. She longed for her bow as well. If the two of them were forced to face battle together, they needed to be armed. Even more, they needed confidence.

As much as she mocked her cousin for her whirling and prancing, she knew Feiyan’s fighting methods could be effective indeed.

“You don’t need weapons, Feiy,” Jenefer said, giving her a wink and a sly grin. “You are a weapon.”

Feiyan’s wry mouth slowly turned up, and her eyes glittered with deadly threat. “That I am.”