When I realized what—or rather,who—it was, I couldn’t help but groan. Did Ruairi honestly believe he could hide behind a sapling? Even sideways, his shoulders stuck out from the trunk.
“You know I can see you, right?”
With a muttered curse, Ruairi stepped from his terrible hiding place. His sharp fangs seemed to gleam despite the gloom in the woods. “This forest is nothing but feckin’ twigs. Not a decent tree in the lot.”
No sense asking what he was doing here. Rían must have ordered the poor man to stand guard. I considered sending him away, but since I hadn’t made one bit of progress, a distraction from my dismal failure sounded brilliant. “Are you here to tell me to go back to the cottage?” If so, he’d have to drag me kicking and screaming.
His thick black brows raised toward his windswept hair. “Do ye want to go back to the cottage?”
I couldn’t help the smile tugging at my lips.Excellent answer. “I will go back to that cottage when I am good and ready and not a moment before.” Dampness seeped through my skirts when I sank onto one of the fallen trees. “How are things at the castle?”
Ruairi hooked a fallen twig between his fingers and used the end as a back scratcher. And to think, pooka were some of the most feared creatures on this island. “Eava misses ye. Keeps sayin’ the place reeks of men. Gave out to R—” Ruairi cut himself off before saying my prince’s name. “Gave out tohim,” he amended with a quick glance around the trees, “for not bringing ye back.”
Good. If anyone could help Rían see the error of his ways, it was their fiery kitchen witch. I missed Eava fiercely…and her cooking. What I wouldn’t have given for a thick slice of chocolate cake right about now.
“And how ishehandling this?”
With a heavy sigh, Ruairi leaned a shoulder against one of the skinny trunks, making the poor tree shudder and creak. “He’s not impressed, I’m afraid. Already killed two merrow.”
“You’re joking.”
He shrugged. “They were to be executed anyway, but Tadhg usually doesn’t let it get that messy.”
Lovely. Murderous Rían had returned with a vengeance. At least he’d stopped wallowing.
“I can see why ye’d be sick of him,” Ruairi went on. “To be honest, I’m surprised ye lasted this long.”
I wasn’t sick of Rían. I was sick of him treating me as if I were some expensive glass bauble. As a true immortal, I’d never been less breakable. “Yes, well, he was being insane.”
“In fairness, he’s always been a little insane.”
Up until this point, I’d enjoyed his particular brand of insanity. Now, though. I couldn’t see us finding our way back to one another until he let go of this need to control me under the guise of protection. “So you’re back to being my guard, then?”
Ruairi’s smiling golden eyes dropped to his worn leather boots. “Maybe I’m just here for a friendly chat with a pretty lady.”
The sentiment tipped my lips into a reluctant smile. Wewerefriends. And friends helped one another, didn’t they?
When I patted the log next to me, Ruairi’s smile faltered. Who would’ve thought such a big scary pooka would look so unsettled by the prospect of sitting next to me. We’d spent countless hours together back in the castle, and this was no different.“Come on. I don’t bite.”
He hesitated for a moment before giving in. His wool-clad thigh grazed my skirts when he sank down. The scent of leather and sun-dried laundry drifted toward me.
“How are you?” I asked, feeling a bit guilty for not inquiring sooner.
“I’m grand.”
Did he honestly expect me to believe that? Perhaps he didn’t realize I could see his hands flexed into white-knuckled fists around the twig he still held.
Something must’ve been bothering him. If he didn’t want to discuss it, I would respect his privacy. When he was ready to talk, I would be ready to listen.
He glanced sidelong at me. “How are ye?”
“I’m grand,” I said with a smirk.
Snorting, he waved the stick toward the trees surrounding us. “Do I want to know why yer hanging around in a forest all by yerself?”
“That depends. Are you going to tellhim?”
“Not if ye don’t want me to.”