CHAPTER20
Cathy had regained some of her composure by the time they reached the village, which was just as well. They arrived at the small hamlet to discover the entire population lined up to greet them, hastily scrubbed and dressed in what passed for finery among peasants.
“Ferghal must have sent word ahead,” Aodhan muttered to Cathy as a strained, ragged cheer went up from the gathered crowd. “Look bored and aloof. I’ll sort things out.”
The village headman—an elderly faun with long, curving horns—was already coming forward, bowing so low that his beard dragged in the dirt. He was so apologetic about the poor hospitality that was all the village could offer, it took Aodhan a good ten minutes to convince the man that no, the great lady really did not require jasmine to be strewn under her feet, nor to be serenaded by the village children.
“My lady is weary from her journey,” he said firmly, interrupting the headman’s stammering offer of a six-course feast and a diverting display of maypole dancing. “She requires nothing more than a simple meal, a bath, and a bed.”
These, at least, were easily obtained. In short order, Cathy was installed in the headman’s own cottage, in an ornate chair next to a roaring fire. Goat-legged villagers scurried back and forth with steaming jugs of water and plates of food. They were all so eager to offer every comfort, Aodhan eventually had to resort to physically herding the entire lot of them out the door.
The moment the last faun departed—backwards, bowing the whole time—Cathy sagged. “Those poor people. They’re terrified of us.”
“They think we’re seelie nobles.” Aodhan grimaced as he filled a plate with fresh bread and thick slices of rich meat pie. “They’re desperate to ensure we don’t have any reason to complain to Ferghal. It’s in their interests to keep their lord happy, which means keeping us happy.”
Cathy looked unhappily at the enormous spread laid out on the table. “But this must be half their food supply. Aodhan, there has to be some way we can repay them.”
“I’ll take care of that.” He passed her the plate. “Eat, woman. You’re still as pale as if you’ve seen the Morrigan herself. I’ll go see what I can do.”
Taking a hunk of bread and a couple of apples, he slipped out to check on the osses. The two constructs had found a scraggly vegetable patch and were now standing head-to-tail amidst the yellowing cabbages, peacefully putting down roots. Aodhan conjured some water for them, and then spent a lot longer laying spells over the soil. By the time he’d finished, the powdery earth had turned rich and dark, and the vegetables were already looking perkier.
“There.” Finishing off the apples, he fed the cores to the constructs. The osses munched with every sign of enjoyment, even though the mashed pieces dropped straight through their wickerwork necks. “That should be better for both you and the villagers.”
A short walk around the faun village revealed a lot of potential for improvement. Aodhan didn’t dare work anything too obvious, but he laid a few surreptitious charms over the chicken coops to ward off foxes and burrowing wyrms, and dropped an enchanted aquamarine down the well to ensure the water would run sweet and clear all season.
By the time he ducked back into the cottage, Noodle lay belly-up by the fire next to a well-licked plate, snoring. Cathy was wrapped in a dressing gown, trying to comb the tangles out of her damp hair with her fingers.
“Here.” Aodhan picked up a fork, transforming it into a brush with a few muttered words. He stepped behind her chair. “Let me help with that.”
“You don’t have to—” Cathy started, but he was already running the brush down her hair, leaving a fading trail of warm, golden light. The rest of her sentence dissolved into a breathy sigh. “Oh.”
Aodhan carefully worked the brush through a snarl, keeping the sigils of the warming spell fixed in his mind’s eye. “Starting to feel better?”
“Much.” Cathy’s back arched like a petted cat, her head dropping forward. “Oh dear. I should tell you to stop.”
He kept brushing her hair. “Why?”
“You must be tired too.” She made a half-hearted effort to pull away. “You should be conserving your energy, not wasting magic on me.”
“It’s hardly a waste. Quite the opposite, in fact.” He put a hand on her shoulder, pinning her in place. “Hold still, woman. You’ve had one hell of a day, and you’re going to need all your wits about you tomorrow. Sitting around with cold, wet hair won’t help you recover your strength.”
She blew out her breath, but submitted to his ministrations. “I still can’t believe we managed to fool Sir Ferghal.”
“You managed to fool him. I very nearly gave the entire game away.” He drew the brush down with long, steady strokes. “But thanks to you, tomorrow we can waltz straight into the idiot’s home.”
“It seems almost too easy,” Cathy muttered. “I still can’t believe he just invited us to come to his estate like that. Why would he trust total strangers?”
“Oh, I doubt he trusts us at all. But he’s high sidhe, and a seelie, and a Summer Knight, which makes him pretty much the pinnacle of arrogance. I’d wager that in his mind, our potential usefulness far outweighs any paltry threat we might offer. And I think he’s fairly desperate for help. Reading between the lines, it seems he’s been finding Kevin quite the handful.”
Cathy laughed under her breath. “That sounds like my son. Poor Sir Ferghal. Out of all the children to steal, he certainly picked the wrong one. I could almost feel sorry for him.”
“Personally, I hope your son has been filling the arrogant ass’s boots with slugs.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.” Cathy leaned back into the slow caress of the brush, tension ebbing out of her spine. “It sounded like Kevin’s not Ferghal’s only problem. What did you make of his warnings about Morcant?”
“Damned if I know. You wouldn’t normally expect to find the most notorious prince of the unseelie raiding backwater border estates. It could just be a coincidence, but I doubt it.”
“Hmm.” Cathy drummed her fingers against the arm of her chair. “When I first came through the circle, into Maeve’s court, she taunted me. Said that I’d never return from the seelie lands, and that after I was gone she’d have Kevin all to herself.”