“I love you.”
She smiled and headed toward the Great Hall doors.
“And Izzy—” She stopped, faced him. “When you meet your grandmother, think about Rhi. Not your mum. Not you. This is about your sister, don’t forget that.”
“I’ll remember. I promise not to kill the old bitch unless I have to.”
Briec quickly looked away, cleared his throat. She knew he wanted to laugh, but he was trying to be stern. She guessed she wasn’t helping him.
“Thank you for that.”
Izzy walked to the doors and pulled one open. “Tell Mum I’ll talk to her when I get back.”
She didn’t wait to hear her father’s response, instead heading down the stairs and across the courtyard to the stables.
“Morning, General,” one of the stable hands said as he walked out, stopping to hold the door open for her.
“Morning, Richard.”
Izzy walked inside but stopped short when she saw her mother standing by Dai’s stall. Dai had his head over the stall gate and Talaith petted him from his forelock down to his muzzle.
“You’re spoiling him,” Izzy said as she stood on the other side of the horse.
“Can’t help it. He’s beautiful.”
“And loyal.”
Talaith smirked. “Yes. Loyalty.”
“Don’t worry, Mum. I have no intention of killing the old bitch. I still think this is an insane idea, but if there’s a chance she can help . . .”
“Do you think that’s why I’m worried about you going? It’s not. While I’m sure my mother will be more than happy to help your sister, she’ll have no use for you, Izzy. And those she doesn’t have use for—”
Izzy took her mother’s hand, held it to her chest. “Leave her to me. I promise to be careful. Very careful.”
“And what about traveling through the Desert Lands? It’s a vast region, Izzy.”
“I have maps and—”
“No worries,” Izzy heard from another stall, and she dropped her mother’s hand and spun around to see Éibhear standing by the horse he’d rode into Garbhán Isle just a few days before. “Oh. Sorry to startle you. Just cleaning out the muck from this one’s hooves.” He patted the horse’s rump. “Isn’t that right, girl?”
Taking the horse’s reins, he led her out of the stall. “As I was saying, Aidan lived quite a few years in the Desert Lands with an uncle. So he’ll be leading us once we cross Southland borders.”
“Oh.” Talaith looked back and forth between Izzy and Éibhear. “I didn’t know you’d be going with Izzy on this trip.”
“Mum wants us to handle the Iron dragoness if she turns out to be a true problem. It’s not the first time the Mì-runach have taken on this type of excursion. Besides, it’ll be nice to see where you come from, Talaith.”
“Right.” Her mother’s eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, but she didn’t question Éibhear, which seemed strange since one of Briec’s biggest complaints about his mate was that she asked too many damn questions.
“Well,” Talaith said, going on her toes as Éibhear came down a bit so she could kiss his cheek. “Both of you be careful. And I hope you’ll be back in time for the harvest festival.” She kissed Izzy’s cheek. “Good luck, luv.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
Talaith stepped back, looked both over again, then said, “Yeah, well . . all right then.” And off she went, cutting around Éibhear and his horse to head out the door.
Once her mother was gone, Izzy faced Éibhear and stared at him.
He smiled. “Well, you ready then?”
Aidan yawned and wished, again, that he was back in bed where he belonged. Honestly, the things he was sometimes forced to do for friends . . . which was probably why he didn’t have a lot of them.
He glanced over at Uther, watched the dragon in human form stick his nose against his horse’s neck.
“You can’t eat it, Uther.”
“I know.”
“Then stop smelling it.”
“It’s not my fault he smells yummy.”
“We’ll find you something to eat once we get on the road.”
“Why are we doing this again?” Caswyn asked. Instead of sniffing his horse, he merely laid his crossed arms over its back and his head on his crossed arms. A few times Aidan was sure he’d heard snoring. Then again, Caswyn was one of the few dragons he knew who could sleep while standing up . . . and with his eyes open. Aye. It was off-putting.
“Because Éibhear’s a desperate idiot,” Aidan replied to his comrade’s question.
“That’s what I thought.”
The gorgeous Lady Talaith walked out of the stables. And, gods, she was gorgeous. If her mate wasn’t a clearly unstable monarch whose brothers were even more unstable, Aidan would at least display his wingspan. He’d always found there was something about gold dragons in the early-morning suns with their wings unfurled that could entice any female. But he’d heard enough from Éibhear and his own kin—when he was still forced to talk to them—about the insanity of the Gwalchmai fab Gwyar and Cadwaladr bloodlines to know that there were some females simply not worth the risk.
Although if there was one who might possibly be risk-worthy. . .
As she walked by them, Aidan saw a mother’s concern on that beautiful face and felt the need to assure her. “We’ll take very good care of your daughter, my Lady Talaith.”
She stopped, looked at each one of the Mì-runach, smirked, and said to Aidan, “When my daughter is being a general, her legion’s well-being is of utmost concern to her. However, when she’s doing things without her legion, she’ll take risks that most would consider highly dangerous. Hence the name, Izzy the Dangerous, that she’d received long before I’d met her. So I say this as someone who is sure that all of you have someone who cares for you the way I care for my daughter—whatever you do, don’t let her get you killed. Because something does tell me . . . she’s really going to try with you lot. She’s going to try very hard.”
They watched the royal walk off.
“What was that about?” Aidan asked his comrades. His stupid comrades.
“Don’t know,” Uther sighed. “But I do like that dagger she’s got holstered to her leg.”
“Aye,” Caswyn agreed. “Very sexy. I think it’s her thighs.”
“Could anyone,” Aidan asked, “be as stupid as you two?”
“Before you get upset—” Éibhear began, but Izzy cut him off with a slight wave of her hand.
“No, no. I’m not upset.”
Éibhear forced himself not to shield his head with his hands. He just knew she was going to throw something at his head. “You’re not?”
“No. It’ll be good to have Aidan along with us if he truly knows his way around the Desert Lands.”
“He does. Even knows where to find the Nolwenns.”
“And the Mì-runach as protection? Could a general ask for more?”
“I guess not.”
“Then that’s fine. Let’s get going.”
She turned and he took a quick step back, but she merely grabbed the reins of her horse and his and headed out of the stables.
Beginning to panic, Éibhear looked around, expecting to see an arrow flying at his head or an assassin with a poisoned knife hiding in a corner. But there was nothing.
Shaking his head, muttering to himself about being foolish, he followed after Izzy. He’d just stepped outside the stables when a smelly, drooling, snarling mass of dirty, disgusting fur collided with his head, knocking him to the ground.
Izzy watched her dog express exactly what she was feeling without her having to do anything. Say anything. Dagmar had to give orders to her perfectly bred dogs. But that wasn’t necessary with Macsen.
Éibhear grabbed hold of both sides of Macsen’s neck, holding him tight, but the dog kept snapping, kept trying to rip his face off.
“Call him off!” Éibhear yelled. “Or I’m setting the bastard on fire!”
Izzy gave a short whistle and Macsen pulled back. Éibhear released him and the dog jumped off his chest and walked around him, snapping at his head once more before going to Izzy’s side and sitting at her feet.
“See?” Izzy said, pointing at the dog. “That’s loyalty. Loyalty and he listens to me. I find that invaluable.”
Éibhear got to his big feet, brushing dirt off his leggings and fur cape. “He’s a dog, Izzy.”
“Yes. Just a dog. And yet he still manages to be better than you.”
She mounted Dai, patting his big neck once she was seated. “I won’t try to stop you from coming with me, Éibhear. But if you get in my way, I’ll crush you and the Mì-runach scum with you. Clear?”
She didn’t wait for him to answer, simply turned her horse around and, with Macsen running by Dai’s side, she went off to the pub where Celyn had taken Brannie for a little late-night drink.
Éibhear went out of his way not to look at his comrades, focusing on Izzy riding away from them. Besides, he didn’t need to see his fellow dragons’ faces to know exactly what they were thinking.
“You f**ked her, didn’t you?” Aidan demanded.
Éibhear shrugged, still not looking at them. “Maybe.”
“Do you know how I can tell? Because she hates you.”
“It’s not hate. It’s confusion. I’ve overwhelmed her with my—”
“Stupidity?” Aidan shook his head. “When your brothers find out—”
“Let’s deal with one nightmare scenario at a time, shall we?” Éibhear snapped.
“Are we really going to do this?” Aidan asked him. “Because from what I can tell she hates you; her mother just gave us dire warnings; and you had what I can only term as a pathetic, love-sick look on your face even while she was threatening you and all of us.”
“Was that what I was looking at?” Uther pulled back his top lip in disgust. “I find that disturbing.”
Fed up and unwilling to talk about any of this, Éibhear strode to his horse. “Mount up, Mì-runach. We ride!”
Chapter 25
Brannie opened her eyes and briefly wondered when she’d gotten on her horse. And why she’d gotten on her horse. And why she seemed to be riding somewhere on her horse.
She blinked, trying to clear her vision. She was so tired and a little sick, the motion of her horse not exactly helping with that.
When her vision was a little more clear, Brannie looked around. Izzy was riding ahead of her, Éibhear behind. Both seemed to be pouting.
Surrounding Brannie were the other Mì-runach.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the Desert Lands,” Aidan said, sounding annoyingly chipper this early morning. And loud. Why was he yelling?