“You forgot to breathe.”
Aodhan put his arms around her and Lara brought her head up with a look of victory on her face as she looked into his eyes. She became aware about how close together they were, too aware. Lara’s heart fluttered as she saw nothing except Aodhan and his deep blue eyes. Close enough to . . . she tilted her head to his and quickly forced herself to end that thought.
A man cleared his throat snapping them out of their thoughts. Lara turned to see a man she did not recognize standing with his arms crossed looking down at them.
“Have you forgotten about something? Or should I say someone.” he said and crossed his arms.
Aodhan reached over and swiped Lara’s dagger from out of the dirt and quickly hip rolled Lara over onto her back. He jumped up and spun around to face his old friend standing with a smirk on his face.
Aodhan held his hand out to Lara and she took his forearm as he helped her up. He watched as she picked up the other half of her dagger and patted the dirt off of her pants. His attention was back to the man standing before him.
“This is not what it looks like.” Aodhan said.
Scanlon watched as Lara re-adjusted her hair into a knot on the back of her head and stick in the pins. He wondered how she did not stick herself in the head with them. “Sure, it isn’t. I don’t think your bride to be would like to hear that you are rolling around with the Lady Battle Raven even if she doesn’t want to marry you. Have you heard from Bevin recently?”
Aodhan caught a quick glimpse of the shocked look on Lara’s face that she quickly masked. He tried to think of a way, any way, to explain everything to her. He scowled at Scanlon more upset with himself for not mentioning the situation to Lara. He knew she was probably fuming and wondered if she would even look at him again.
“You look as if you could belt someone in the face!" Scanlon said as he looked at the infuriated frown on Aodhan’s face and started laughing.
Aodhan walked up to Scanlon and mock hit him and they clasped arms. Scanlon quit laughing and looked at him a bit too seriously.
“I saw her knock the sword out of your hands and throw you. Bested by a woman, I can scarcely believe it.”
Aodhan kicked some dirt aside. “There was a rock.”
“Rock my arse. It looked pretty intense between you two when you were on the ground.”
Aodhan turned to Lara. “I think this is a good time to finish with today’s training.”
Lara crossed her arms. “Aren’t you at least going to introduce us.”
Aodhan gave her a slight bow. “Of course my lady. Scanlon, may I present too you the Lady Battle Raven, Lara Eve O’Broin.”
“Pleasure, Lady Battle Raven.” Scanlon said as he took her hand and kissed the top of it. He watched as Lara tilted her head to him and smiled.
She looked him over. He was completely opposite of Aodhan. Lightly tanned with straight red hair pulled back at the nape of his neck, shorter than Aodhan and just an inch or so taller than her. Scanlon was wiry and smaller than the other men she had seen in this realm. From his firm handshake she knew he was stronger than he looked. Aodhan caught her attention by holding the other half of her dagger out to her.
“You deserve that bath after getting in that lucky flip. I think that Shanna was having Emma warm the water so you should be able to head straight to the tub.” Aodhan said hoping to regain Lara’s favor by mentioning the bath.
“Lucky flip my arse. It’s all skill tracker boy.” she said ignoring the dagger and avoiding his eyes. She was furious at what was said about a bride to be.
“I saw her flip you and a rock cannot be used as an excuse this time.” Scanlon said as he gave Aodhan a punch on the arm.
“Emma? I haven’t met her yet. Who is she?” Lara asked as she finally snatched her dagger that Aodhan was holding out to her. She put the two back together and sheathed it. All the while not acknowledging Aodhan. He reached over and pushed some loose hair behind her ear and she stepped away from him.
Scanlon noticed and rolled his eyes. “Emma must have been either at her aunts or off doing some chores somewhere around the house.”
“Is she a servant?” Lara asked.
“She is not.” Scanlon said almost a little too defensively. He looked at Lara’s apologetic face and realized he said that a bit too harsh.
“She is the daughter of one of Shanna’s closest friends. Emma’s mother and father passed away from sickness. Shanna and Carrick ended up taking Emma in. She has only has one living relative left now. Her Aunt. Cecil likes to be on her own although she does love it when Emma visits. Annie sees Emma as the sister she never had and she is a like a sister to me.”
He looked around at the barracks area and to the house and gardens. No sign of Emma for an introduction.
“It’s a big place to take care of. Carrick even has men that come on the weekend to help keep up the training yard and barracks. I even come back for the weekend sometimes to help out.”
As Lara started thinking about the bath she noticed she was phasing out what Scanlon and Aodhan started talking about. Something about pies.
“If you boys don’t mind. I’ll leave you to your conversation and take advantage of that bath now.” Lara said.
While she was walking to the cottage she heard Aodhan yell her name and decided against ignoring him and turned.
“Could you please stop at the main house? I think Eion said he was going to visit with Shanna and Annie. I believe he would like to speak with Scanlon?”
Lara looked at Scanlon and nodded her head yes. She switched her path from the cottage to the main house.
“A bath, thank God! I need some therapy and relaxation. How could I be such a fool? Again. A bride to be?” she muttered still tense and fuming.
She quickly walked to the house up the steps and through the carved wooden doors. Eion was sitting in an oversized rocking chair by a huge granite fireplace. He was talking with Shanna and Annie was happily bouncing on his knee.
“Sorry to interrupt. Scanlon is here and he would like to talk with you.”
Eion tickled Annie and picked her up placing her on the stool by his feet and stood.
“Scanlon? I would like that. Thank you for letting me know.” Eion said and noticed that Lara was tense and looked a bit disgruntled.
“Something happen?”
“I’m sure it will be brought up when you speak with Aodhan and Scanlon. Shanna, what I’ve seen is lovely but I think I’ll take a bath before I ask for the tour.” Lara said.
“I completely understand.” Shanna said as she watched Annie hop up off of the stool and run up to Lara almost knocking her down as she gave her a hug.
Lara hugged Annie back. “I’m going to be back.”
“Ok.” Annie said and skipped to Shanna’s side and Lara heard her say to Shanna “I like her mother.”
Lara followed Eion out the door and headed to the cottage. As she walked to the cottage she saw a girl pulling some weeds in a flower bed. She walked over and introduced herself.
“Hi. Are you Emma?”
“Yes ma am.” she shyly said. “Your bath has warm water and it should be quite comfortable. If not come and get me and I’ll help you.”
“Thank you and you can call me Lara.” Lara looked at the girl who couldn’t be much younger than Kedryn.
“It was nice meeting you. I should get back to my chores.” Emma said as she threw another weed into a basket.
“And I should get to that bath. Thanks again.” she turned and headed to the cottage thinking what a lovely girl, no wonder Scanlon was defensive of her.
Lara walked through the front door of the cottage and headed straight to the bedroom. She picked up her pack off of the bench and dumped its contents scattering them onto the bed. She sighed and sifted through everything. As usual she packed more than she thought. Make up, deo, and the present her sister got her before she left on the dig. She had forgotten she just threw those things in her pack.
Feminine products. Lara started to count days and re-counted. It should have started three days ago. “I’m definitely not pregnant unless it’s immaculate conception.”
She threw them back into her pack and grabbed everything she needed and walked through the pale lavender door and into the room. She shut the door behind her and turned. This time Lara really looked around at everything in the room. There were different shades of pale green, white and lavender everywhere. Sunlight shown through a skylight above the tub and through the gauzy curtains of a small window next to a white rose carved vanity with a mirror and chair. She walked over to the tub and ran her hand along its smooth side. Off to the side of the tub there was a small white padded wooden bench with pale lavender towels on it.
The tub was raised off of the floor and looked to be cut out of a light green and lavender stone. There were three raised steps made of the same stone up to the tub with a white rose carved wooden railing. She studied the fireplace with a huge pot of water sitting over a lit fire. Lara walked over to the fireplace and with her hands on her hips looked at the pot. There was a lever on the side of the fireplace set in the gray stones. Curiosity got the better of her and she pulled it down. Lara watched as the pot leaned over and water poured from a spout into a pipe.
She heard water running behind her and turned to see water come out of a large silver rose on the edge of the tub. She pushed the lever back up and the pot swung back upright. Lara walked over to a small privacy screen next to the wall and looked behind it. She saw something similar to what Kedryn saw, a cylinder with a lid and a pedestal sink with small silver levers.
“Interesting. Time for a bath.” she said as her mind raced through all of the ancient civilizations and the aqueducts and plumbing from around the Roman and Greece empire.
Lara undressed and poured bath salts and oil that her sister Teagan gave her in the tub and tested the water. Perfect. She stepped up testing the steps that were sturdy as, well, a rock and stepped into the warm water and sunk down into the tub. Lara hadn’t felt this relaxed in days. As she lifted her arm to rest it on the side of the tub her hand felt a lump. She looked over and saw that there was an indentation with what looked like a medieval razor. She picked up a purplish lump that was set beside the razor and cautiously sniffed it. The lump turned out to be lavender smelling soap. She raised her leg out of the water and laughed at the thought of her sister giving her such a hard time when she decided to have electrolysis done to get rid of all of her unwanted hair.
“Teagan wouldn’t be making fun of me now if she were in my place.” she said as she looked over at the makeshift razor that set next to the soap. The thought of family with Aodhan’s revelation of having a bride to be brought her emotions to a new level. She recognized something start to radiate off of her.
“That must be the confusion Eion was talking about.” she whispered and forced herself to relax and it slowly drifted away.
After washing her hair and scrubbing off Lara reluctantly stepped out of the tub nice and wrinkled. She toweled off and wrapped a robe around her that she found underneath the towels. As Lara walked back into the bedroom she noticed a square green cloth folded on the bed and soft tall leather brown boots sitting next to it.
Shanna had slipped in while she was in the bath. Lara picked up the cloth and it unfolded into a dark green dress. She examined the top part that had no sleeves and only thick straps. A silver braided trim wrapped around the scoop neck and along the sides of the fitted bodice. She held it up to her and the skirt flowed down to her ankles. Simple yet elegant. A wide embroidered belt and matching shawl lie on the bed and she picked them up examining the silver embroidered knot work on them.
Placing the belt back onto the bed Lara started her routine to get ready to head to the main house for supper. The lotion and perfume her sis gave her was lying on the bed. She shrugged and decided to use the lotion and spritzed the perfume on. Thank you Teagan, she thought smelling her wrist. Black Orchid and she smiled to herself. She looked at the dress skeptically and over to her cargo pants and t-shirt she had set out earlier.
“When in Rome.” Lara said to herself and slipped the dress over her head and it fit almost perfectly.
The bodice was a little tighter than she would have liked and it revealed a bit too much for her taste. Lara picked up the belt and tied it around her waist. When she reached down for her boots she decided to put on the soft brown leather boots. Lara put on a small amount of make up and walked over to the standing mirror in the corner of the room and examined the effect.
“To bad I didn’t have this last year for the Renaissance fair.” she said and walked over to the bed and picked up a couple of jade hairpins and wrapped up her hair in a complicated knot.
Outside the barracks Aodhan and Scanlon walked up to Carrick and his horse as he was about to mount and ride off. Carrick nodded at them and swung into the saddle.
“Where are you in such a rush too?” Aodhan asked
“I’m going to check on the troops. I hate to leave but I did promise Shanna that I’d be back for supper this time.” Carrick sent his horse into a run intending on keeping his promise to Shanna.
Aodhan and Scanlon walked over and sat down on one of the benches that surrounded the fire pit.
“What has happened to my father? Not even Carrick has received word how he is. I have been anxious for word about him since we arrived back in the realm.”
“His health is still failing.” Scanlon said as he let out a long breath.
“What happened?”
“After I heard that you and your father had left I decided to follow. The Firbolg reached Blaine after you went through.”
Aodhan let out a groan. “Apologies go on.”
Scanlon looked at him concerned and quickly glanced to the side to see Eion standing a few feet away looking over the estate but close enough to hear their conversation. Aodhan didn’t notice and looked at him impatiently.
“When I got there to help I found your father badly wounded. He told me that he tried fighting off the Firbolg himself then Liam’s trackers came at him too.” Scanlon picked up a rock and threw it at the fire pit.
“I thought that if I left without Devlyn that I would get to Blaine sooner. I did not even think about Liam’s trackers. It was a good thing that they were more interested in following the Firbolg and did not bother your father. I don’t think they realized that Blaine was the one that tried to stop them or he would have been taken to Liam.”
“Father is doing well? That is the thought I’m holding on to.” Aodhan asked as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“He made it back to camp a little haggard but otherwise in good shape. Your father did say that he managed to get the portal closed. Honestly, I did not know what it looked like when it was opened. I took him back to camp as quickly as possible. Ruark agreed to let Devlyn come back with me to wait a few days to see if you were able to complete your mission and make it back through.”
“If father got the portal closed. I wonder how they got through.” Aodhan asked with a confused look on his face.
“When Devlyn and I got back to the portal we saw a Firbolg and two trackers come through before you. Your father could have missed something. I wouldn’t blame him and was in pretty bad shape. Either that or paid close attention to you when you went through. We decided to follow them to make sure they weren’t up to anything.”
“I am surprised that I did not see your tracks when I was scouting the others. You must have covered Devlyn’s tracks well.” Aodhan said
“I did what I could. When Devlyn and I returned to the cave we noticed that a group had come back through and we followed you. We stayed back to make sure you weren’t being followed. You were covering the trail pretty good.”
“Not good enough for you.”
Eion decided to finally join them at the fire pit. He walked up to a bench and sat down. “You must have been the one I spotted the other night.”
“Not me. Devl
yn. He tripped over a tree root and crashed into the underbrush. I don’t slip up.”
“Where is Devlyn?” Aodhan asked
“He headed back to camp to give Ruark an update that your group made it through the portal. Even though we were not sure who all made it through it was obvious that one was a woman. When are you heading out to Tralee? It’s been too long since I have seen Serina.” Scanlon asked.
“Tomorrow. You will see her then. Unless you want to head out before us tonight.” Aodhan said and he watched Kedryn walk up.
“Hey guys.” Kedryn said and shook his wet shaggy hair so that the drops of water sprayed all over.
“Hey!” they said all at once.
“I found a tub at the end of the hallway. Better get cleaned up for supper. I’m going to check on my mom.” Kedryn grinned as he felt water drip down the side of his face.
“She has a son?” Scanlon looked at Aodhan in shock.
“I get that a lot. Hi, I’m Kedryn.” laughing he reached his hand out to Scanlon.
Scanlon stood up and grabbed Kedryn’s forearm. “Scanlon.” he said a bit confused and turned to Aodhan.
Aodhan grinned at Scanlon’s confusion. “I’ll show you what room that is still empty. Eion you probably could use some of that bath water too.” Aodhan said as he watched Kedryn walk over to the cottage.
As Aodhan stood up, he made a show of plugging his nose as he walked past who thumped him on the back of the head. All three of them headed into the barracks to get cleaned up.
Lara was finishing up getting ready when she heard a knock at the door. She walked out of the bedroom and over to the door and opened it to find Kedryn standing on the other side.
“Hey mom.” he said as he stepped through and shut the door behind him. Kedryn noticed what she was wearing and walked over to a chair and sat down by the fireplace. “Nice dress. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in one. Ever.”
She pushed some hair behind her ear and walked over to where he was sitting. “That’s not true. I wore a dress to Susan’s wedding.”
“That’s because you were in the wedding!” he said and she playfully smacked him on the arm and sat down in the rocker next to him.
Celtic Rain (The Battle Raven Series) Page 16