At Cathy’s side, the oss’s wooden bones clacked together. It lowered its head, presenting Eislyn with a bristling rack of antlers. Cathy put a hand on the construct’s shoulder—partly to calm it, partly in readiness to dive behind its sturdy bulk if the alicorn lunged.
“Your lord is right over there, Eislyn,” she said in calm, level tones. “Shall I call out, and ask him to control his steed?”
“I see no need to involve him in this.” Eislyn took a dainty step backward, her long, sharp horn menacing only the sky. “As I said, I would deal swiftly with anything that threatened him. Other things fall outside my area of responsibility. If my lord decides to take a changeling, for example. He does not seek my opinion on such matters. Even if they affect me.”
Cathy blinked at the alicorn, taken aback. “Wait, what? I thought your problem was with me, not Kevin.”
In her surprise, she’d spoken normally, forgetting to adopt the haughty persona of ‘Lady Rose.’ From the way Eislyn’s ear twitched, the alicorn had caught the difference. Cathy tensed again, but Eislyn didn’t rear up with a triumphant shriek of ‘Imposter!’ The alicorn glanced in Ferghal’s direction, then lowered her head, muzzle dropping to the level of Cathy’s shoulder.
“I do not know who you truly are, but your goal is clear,” the alicorn murmured, barely audible. “You are here for the changeling, and not in the manner that my lord believes. That, however, is not my business. I guard his life, not his possessions. Between the two of us, I would not be sorry to see the brat gone.”
“Hang on.” Cathy stared at Eislyn, seeing the alicorn in a new light. “You really are jealous? Of Kevin?”
Eislyn’s ears flattened. She drew herself up, all affronted dignity. “Of course not. I am Ferghal’s Eislyn, his fated steed. No one has a closer bond with my lord than I. But ever since we took the changeling from the unseelie, it has occupied a great deal of my rider’s time. Caught up in this new project, he forgets our other duties.”
Cathy glanced at the training yard, where Ferghal was now berating a shame-faced guard bearing an armful of gnawed wooden weapons. Kevin, forgotten, sat in a shady corner, peacefully reading a book.
“I would have thought you’d appreciate the rest,” she said. “Isn’t this better than flying round fighting unseelie?”
Eislyn stomped a back hoof. “But that is what we are for! I did not answer the Call just to crop grass in a pasture, my horn growing dull from disuse. I should be bearing my knight into glorious battle! Fighting alongside him, winning glory and renown! Not standing around while my knight coos over some squalling human whelp.”
The alicorn was jealous. And apparently bored. Cathy had never imagined that Eislyn might be an ally, but now her mind spun with the possibilities. If Eislyn could convince Ferghal to take an extended trip elsewhere, leaving Kevin behind…
“Have you told Ferghal?” she asked. “That you aren’t happy, I mean. I’m sure he’d listen to you.”
“It is not a steed’s place to complain,” Eislyn said rather stiffly. “Though I may have dropped subtle hints that there are more interesting things we could be doing elsewhere. Unfortunately, keen perception is not one of my rider’s many virtues. As, I suspect, you are aware.”
Cathy lifted her chin, belatedly reassuming Lady Rose’s cold, scornful expression. “I am sure I do not know what you mean, Eislyn.”
“And I am sure that you do, Lady Rose,” the alicorn replied. “But I will not speak to my rider about you. Not yet, at least. At the moment, I share my lord’s opinion that you are of use to us. But if the changeling continues to preoccupy his attention, I may change my mind.”
Curiosity battled caution, and won. “I thought you had to obey Ferghal. Yet here you are, going behind his back. Doesn’t seem very loyal.”
Eislyn’s feathers bristled. “I would die for him, as he would for me, but that does not mean I do not have my own wishes and desires. And what I wish is to bear my knight into battle, and know that our hearts beat as one. That is where he belongs, not fussing over some ungrateful human child. I know what is best for my Ferghal—even if sometimes he does not.”
Cathy shook her head. “You’re really not what I expected, Eislyn. From what I’ve been told about fated steeds, I mean. I thought you were…” She hesitated, searching for a word that wouldn’t get her stabbed. “Well, submissive. That you had to do whatever your knight commands.”
Eislyn snorted, her bristling feathers settling back down again. “No need to ask the source of your misinformation. I shudder to think what Hunter Waning Six—”
“His name,” Cathy interrupted sharply, “is Aodhan.”
“If you say so,” Eislyn said, with an odd emphasis on the word you. Before Cathy could ask what she meant, the alicorn went on, “Whatever you wish to call him, he has always held a bitter, twisted view of the natural order. He looks on the beautiful bond between rider and steed, and sees it as nothing more than a bridle and bit. Do not listen to his foul poison. I am Ferghal’s steed, not his slave.”
“But you still had to go to him, when you felt the Call. You couldn’t have refused.”
“Of course not.” Eislyn gave her a funny look. “Why would I have wanted to refuse? We were fated for each other.”
“Doesn’t that bother you? That you didn’t have any choice?”
“Does a mother choose her child?” Cathy’s heart lurched sideways, but apparently Eislyn had only intended the words as an analogy. The alicorn ruffled her wings in an unconcerned shrug. “We are all bound by the threads of fate, one way or another. Only a fool seeks to cut himself free of all connections.”
Cathy was full of questions, but she never got the chance to ask them. Eislyn broke off, her head jerking up.
“Ferghal,” the alicorn breathed. Without another word, she was gone, the downdraft from her wings blowing Cathy’s hair into her face.
Kevin, was Cathy’s first thought, along with a jolt of pure adrenaline—but her son was still safe in a corner of the training yard. His book lay forgotten in his lap, all his attention now fixed on Ferghal. The knight seemed to have been distracted from castigating his hapless man-at-arms by… nothing, as far as Cathy could tell. He was just standing there, head tilted to one side as though listening to something, frowning a little.
Cathy touched the golden mark hidden under her sleeve, focusing inward. A moment later, she felt warmth run down the curling lines, like Aodhan’s fingertips stroking her skin. Whatever was happening, he was on his way.
She couldn’t wait for him, though. Tugging down her sleeve to hide the bond once more, she strode into the training yard. Eislyn had already landed at her knight’s side, wings still half-spread as though ready to launch back into the sky. She too was staring at nothing, every muscle tense and quivering.
“Sir Ferghal,” Cathy said, and saw the knight start. “Is there some kind of problem?”
“That remains to be seen, Lady Rose.” Ferghal’s gaze was still unfocussed, his eyebrows drawn down in concentration. “My wards just activated. Someone seeks to enter my estate.”