But she had been so cold. And he was warm. And though there was no tenderness in his touch, tonight, especially tonight, she did not want the cold.
“We should be looking for Mary Jane,” she said.
He was silent for a moment.
“We will find Mary Jane tomorrow,” he said.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because it will be the Night of the Moon Maiden. I implore you, get some rest. And if you don’t choose to, my god, allow me my sleep.”
Shawna fell silent again. It plagued her now that she was lying in the arms of the man who had given her back her child—then stolen him from her again within minutes.
“David?”
“Oh god, what, Shawna?”
“When can I see Danny?”
He let out a very long sigh and rose then on an elbow at her side. He touched her lips with a finger and smiled slightly, and she realized that he wanted to trust her completely, believe in her completely…
She kept him from doing so. By refusing to believe that someone very close to her had nearly cost them both their lives.
“Soon,” he promised her.
“How soon?”
“Hmm…” he mused. “Well, there’s something I shall have you do tomorrow. A promise you will make to me at the Night of Moon Maiden. And when that’s done, you will have Danny back.”
“What promise?”
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
“David—”
“Alistair pulled us both from the flames,” he told her quietly then.
“What?”
“Alistair—”
“How can you know?” she inquired desperately. “Alistair wasn’t even part of the plan, he?—”
“He talked to me, Shawna. He told me.”
“Oh god! Then he sold you to that convict ship! David, I know he meant you no harm! You can’t?—”
“I’ve no intention of slaying Alistair,” David said with amusement. “He told me—and I believe—that he was convinced that I would be murdered if I didn’t disappear. He’d been attacked by the escaped convict in the woods and killed the man in the fight. Alistair is no saint, but he is working hard at redeeming himself. Or so I believe. We’ll find out tomorrow night, won’t we?”
“The Night of the Moon Maiden,” she said.
“And I beg you, go to sleep!”
She lay down, her head upon his chest. He had just said that he would bring Danny back to her, when she fulfilled a promise to him.
She would never sleep. Never.
For hours, she did remain awake. She didn’t know if David slept or not.