Skye O'Malley: A Love For All Time Part 40

"No. Only to Skye."

"Very well, I shall ride to Queen's Malvern myself, Aidan, and fetch my sister back." Knowing she would say no more he turned, and hurried down the staircase to the Great Hall where the servants were cl.u.s.tered nervously. "There is naught to fear," he a.s.sured them. "Go back to yer tasks. I am riding over to fetch my sister for yer lady has requested to speak with her. It is undoubtedly some female whim that has set my wife into a sulk," and then chuckling false mirth he left the hall, leaving behind him a staff that was as much confused by his explanation as they were their lady's actions for Aidan was far too practical a woman to succ.u.mb to a fit of the sulks. At least she never had before.

Conn rode across the fields to his sister's house, and both Skye and Adam rode back with him. Adam came in reply to a look cast him by his wife for he had long since learned to read such looks. It was clear that Skye wanted him along if for no other reason than to keep Conn calm.

"She won't tell ye what's wrong?" Skye asked as they rode along. "There was no indication of anything amiss these past few days?"

"Nothing," replied Conn. "She's not felt well, but we both thought 'twas nothing but an early autumn flux. Basically she's a strong woman, but 'tis been a hard year for her."

They arrived back at Pearroc Royal, and leaving her husband and her brother in the Great Hall, Skye hurried up the staircase to Conn and Aidan's bedchamber. Knocking upon the door she called, "Aidan, 'tis Skye. Let me in."

"Yer alone?"

"Aye."

There was the sound of a key turning in the iron lock, and then Aidan swung the door wide. "Come in," she said ushering her sister-in-law into the chamber, and then she closed and locked the door behind Skye before turning to face her.

Looking at Aidan Skye was somewhat taken aback. She was wearing the simple silk nightrail she had obviously slept in, and her lovely copper-colored hair was loose and lank. There were deep purple shadows beneath her eyes which held a haunted look. She didn't even wait for Skye to question her, but rather looking directly at the beautiful woman she said in a dull, flat tone, "I am with child."

"But that is wonderful!" Skye answered her. "Why are you so cast down, Aidan?"

"I cannot be certain that it is Conn's child!" came the despairing cry.

Suddenly it was all clear to Skye, and she gathered Aidan into her arms saying, "Tell me about it."

The warm and sympathetic tone of her sister-in-law's voice was enough to cause Aidan to shed a few tears which acted to release some of her fear and tension. She cried softly for a moment or two against Skye's green silk shoulder, and then stopping as suddenly as she had started she pulled Skye down to sit upon the bed with her and began to speak.

"I lost Conn's child immediately after I was kidnapped, miscarrying it aboard the vessel that took me to Algiers. From that time my moon cycles have not been regular. I never knew when the fink would be broken. That is why I cannot be certain whose child it is I carry. Within a relatively short period I was possessed by three men. Prince Javid Khan, the sultan, and Conn. I honestly do not know whose seed it is that now grows within my womb. How can I therefore be joyful about my state? What if it is not Conn's child?"

"If you cannot be certain, neither can Conn," said Skye. "I know my brother, and I believe that any child of yers he will consider a child of his."

"I should not mind if it were Javid Khan's child," said Aidan softly, and then she flushed embarra.s.sed. "Ye must think me a terribly wanton creature for saying that, but in my way I cared for him, and he was a good man. I wish I could explain that to ye. Everything is so different in the East. I was considered the prince's wife for he married me in his own faith, and freed me as a wedding gift." She sighed. "How can anyone understand it?"

"I understand," said Skye quietly, "for you see, my dear Aidan, once I, too, was in a similar situation to yers. After the death of my first husband, Dom O'Flaherty, it was arranged that I wed with the man who had been my first love, Niall, Lord Burke. In those days I was already the mother of two sons, and at barely eighteen I was responsible for the entire well-being of my family. Despite the fact I had five brothers, they were all too young for the great responsibility of my father's office, and my elder sisters were not capable of it. So it was that my dying father appointed me the O'Malley of Innisfana. Conn was a little boy of three then." She smiled.

"During the period of my mourning for my father I built his s.h.i.+ps into a respectable merchant fleet, and it was agreed that I should accompany my fleet to Algiers before my wedding. Niall, G.o.d rest him, had no love for the sea; but he came along with us. We were but several days out of Algiers when we were attacked by Barbary pirates. Our safe-conduct pennant had been blown ragged and away in a storm we encountered, and so the pirates who were out of Algiers did not know that we sailed under the protection of the man who was then the city's dey.

"In the battle that ensued I was captured, and I believed that I saw Niall Burke killed. The shock of it all took my memory from me, and when I finally regained my senses I found myself in the possession of a man called Khalid el Bey, a man known as the Great Wh.o.r.emaster of Algiers. I could remember nothing of myself but my first name, Skye. He, however, called me publicly Muna el Khalid, which means Desire of Khalid, although in private he called me Skye.

"Khalid had meant to train me for his finest house of pleasure which was called the House of Felicity, but he fell in love with me instead, and I with him. He freed me when he married me as Prince Javid Khan freed ye when he married you according to the Muslim rite, I a.s.sume."

"Yes," said Aidan, and her eyes were wide with wonder at what Skye was telling her.

"We were very happy, Khalid and I," Skye continued. "Although it bothered me to a certain extent that I could not remember anything of my past but the fact that I was called Skye, I was content. It was during my first stay in Algiers that I met Robbie, who was Khalid's business partner in a trading venture that both had invested in, and it was then that I also met my good friend, Osman, the astrologer. The slavewoman who oversaw the operation of the House of Felicity, however, had been in love with Khalid for years, and she was painfully jealous when he married me. Khalid's best friend, Jamil Pasha, the kapitan commander of the K'asbah fortress, had seen me unveiled, and coveted me. Together these two plotted against us, and Jamil tricked poor Yasmin into believing that she was murdering me in my sleep, when it was really Khalid she killed. When Yasmin learned her mistake she confessed all to me, and then took her own life.

"Forewarned against the kapitan I was able to stave off the advances of Jamil Pasha for a thirty-day mourning period during which time with Robbie's aid I secretly moved Khalid's wealth from Algiers to England, and then escaped from Jamil. He was a very wicked man and my secretary's wife, Marie, sent him a plate of sweetmeats in my name just before we left. They were his favorites, and he ate them all; but Marie had added to the sweetmeats a drug which rendered Jamil impotent. It was a clever revenge."

"I wish I had been able to do that to Sultan Murad!" said Aidan with a vehemence that Skye had never believed her capable of. "G.o.d, how I hated him!" Her voice suddenly dropped, and she s.h.i.+vered as her eyes filled with loathing and memory. "The things he did to me, Skye! Terrible things he did to me!"

"Tell me," said Skye calmly.

"I cannot," Aidan whispered, her tone one of horror.

Skye leaned forward and took her sister-in-law's hands in hers. Her blue-green eyes were serene, yet as serious as her voice. "I returned to Algiers a second time many years after my first sojourn there, Aidan. By that time I had been married a third time to Geoffrey Southwood who had died along with our younger son, John, in an epidemic; and was now at last, my memory restored, the wife of Niall Burke. Our two children were born, but both were babies when Niall was captured, and sold into the galleys. It was there he was seen by a slave merchant who purchased him from the galleys because he knew that he could sell Niall to Princess Turkhan, a half-sister of your Sultan Murad, a lovely young widow who lived in the city of Fez in the kingdom of Morocco.

"The princess had a great taste for men, and kept a male harem of her own to the shock of all. No one, however, dared interfere with her for she was Sultan Selim's daughter; a fabulously wealthy royal Ottoman princess who gave so generously to the poor, and was so popular with the very people she cared for, yet shocking.

"When I learned where my husband was, Aidan, I sought to rescue him, but in order to reach Fez, which is a holy city, and therefore closed to foreigners and infidels, I had to be a member of a citizen of Fez's household. Osman had a nephew, Kedar, and pretending I was a slavegirl he had purchased in the bazaar he presented me to his nephew who came twice yearly to Algiers from Fez with his caravans, and always stayed with Osman.

"Kedar, my dear Aidan, was the most l.u.s.tful man I have ever known. His appet.i.te for women, for me, was insatiable. His sensuality knew no bounds. He enjoyed taking several women together, to seeing women perform acts upon each other. He invented s.e.xual games in which all the women of his harem were required to partic.i.p.ate. He resorted to lotions, and potions and he possessed several appalling ivory d.i.l.d.os fas.h.i.+oned exactly as he was fas.h.i.+oned which he used upon his women as either an instrument of pleasure, or one of torture as the mood suited him. There is nothing, Aidan, that ye can tell me that was done to ye by Sultan Murad that will shock me, but if ye are to relieve yerself of the unhappy memories ye possess, ye must face those memories bravely and squarely."

"Javid Khan," Aidan began hesitantly, "was a gentle lover. He taught me things that gave me pleasure. Things that Conn certainly never did to me."

Skye smiled. She could well imagine what Javid Khan had taught Aidan that gave her pleasure, that Conn had not done to her. Conn did not understand, having never been told, that there was really no great difference in making love to "good" women as opposed to making love to "bad" women. "I hope," she said, "that ye will tell Conn what it is that yer prince did that gave ye pleasure."

"Dare I?" Aidan was surprised by Skye's words.

"If ye do not tell him, then who will?" Skye demanded of her. "But go on with your story."

Aidan continued on with her story, her voice occasionally faltering, particularly when she described, or tried to describe the demeaning perversions that Sultan Murad had forced upon her. At that point she could go no further, and her eyes filled with tears.

Skye closed her eyes for a moment as her own dark memories a.s.sailed her. "It's all right, Aidan," she said comfortingly. "I know what it is ye are trying to say, and ye don't have to speak the words. What the sultan did to you is a particular unkind perversion favored by men who think by doing such a thing they prove their superiority over women."

"I hated it," Aidan said fiercely. "I felt so helpless, but that was only the beginning. Sometimes he liked having other women with us, and then there were the little silver b.a.l.l.s with which he enjoyed torturing me."

Here was something new, thought Skye. She had never heard of this particular perversion. "Tell me about them," she said frankly curious, and Aidan obliged her. "G.o.d's nights.h.i.+rt!" Lady de Marisco swore softly when Aidan had finished. "I thought I knew all, but I never encountered your little silver b.a.l.l.s, Aidan."

"They were a gift to the sultan from the Emperor of China, I was told," replied Aidan. "Oh, Skye! It was so terrible! The sultan was never satisfied. There were nights when he kept me with him the whole night, and still had three or four others brought to him so he might use them while I watched. G.o.d, how I hated him, and how I pray that the child I carry is not his!"

"The child ye carry is yers, Aidan. Never stop thinking that! It is yer child who will bear yer name even as Conn bears yer name. Ye must tell my brother of yer honest fears. He will understand."

"How can he?" Aidan cried. "How can he be so accepting of such shame? Oh, we can pretend to the world that we have simply been in France these past months, waiting out a temporary exile meted out to Conn by the queen, but Skye, he and I know the truth of the matter. I have spent over a year away from my husband, enslaved in a carnal bondage by two other men! We cannot escape it, and now I am with child! A child whose paternal parentage I cannot be certain of, may G.o.d have mercy upon me! How do I wipe the shame of my child's possible b.a.s.t.a.r.dy from it, poor innocent?"

"Like ye, Aidan, I once had a Muslim husband. No child of ours would have been accepted in this society of ours, and yet my eldest daughter, Willow, is most respectable, is she not?"

"Willow is the daughter of Khalid el Bey?" Aidan was startled by Skye's admission.

"Aye," said Skye quietly, "and that secret I must insist ye keep to yer-self, Aidan. Even Willow does not know that her papa was the Great Wh.o.r.emaster of Algiers. For her peace of mind I gave her Khalid's European ident.i.ty, with certain alterations, and both she and the world have been content with my explanations. Willow was born here in England, and despite an Irish mother and a Spanish father turned Algerian dey, she is the most English of all my children." Skye laughed. "Strangely it suits her though for the life of me I do not understand why." She gave Aidan's hands a squeeze. "Unless yer child is born looking exactly like its father, Aidan, there is simply no way for ye to know which of the three men involved has fathered it. Do not reject yer baby because ye fear Murad is its father. The child is not responsible for its parentage. As for Conn, he is, I think ye will agree, a kind man. He will understand that both ye and the child are innocent victims of circ.u.mstance, and besides there really is a very good chance that he is the bairn's father."

"Do ye really think so?" Aidan looked hopefully at Skye.

"Aye," Skye said, and seeing the look of relief upon Aidan's face she was glad she had answered in the affirmative for the truth of the matter was that she really didn't know herself what the odds were that her brother had fathered this child upon his wife.

"I've been so frightened," said Aidan. "It was only a few days ago that it dawned upon me that I might be with child. I haven't felt particularly well these last few mornings, and my nipples were suddenly sore. When I realized I was enceinte, and as quickly realized that I couldn't be certain of the baby's father, I became terrified."

"Understandable," said Skye dryly, "but I really think ye must speak with Conn now. Dear Lord, Aidan, I have never seen a man so in love with a woman as my brother is with ye. Ye have quite tamed the rogue. He will be simply delighted with yer news, and I will wager it never crosses his mind that he might not be the father of yer child."

"But I must still tell him," said Aidan. "I would rather die myself than hurt Conn, but if this child is a son, and not his, it is not fair to force it upon my husband as his heir. Conn must know the truth of the matter, and make the decision as to whether he wishes to acknowledge this baby as his own. If he does not, then I will go away, and bear it, and put it out with a decent family."

"He will reject neither ye, nor the child," said Skye with certainty. She knew her brother, and he was a softhearted man.

"Will ye fetch him in to me?" asked Aidan.

Skye nodded, and leaving the room hurried downstairs to find her brother, and bring him back to his wife. Aidan ran to the chest, and lifting out a fresh nightrail of creamy silk with soft pink ribbons, she replaced the wrinkled garment she was wearing with it. Then taking up her boar's-bristle brush she ran it vigorously through her tangled hair until it was smooth, and soft curls framed her serious face. She could hear Conn's familiar footstep upon the stairs, and grabbing for her scent bottle she dabbed her lavender water behind her ears, at her wrists, and in the hollow of her throat. She had only replaced the bottle down when the door opened, and whirling she turned to face her husband.

Conn stood awkwardly, unsure of whether he should take her in his arms or not, and Aidan was forced to smile slightly as the truth of Skye's words penetrated her brain. He really did love her, and that knowledge gave her the courage she needed to speak openly with him.

"I'm going to have a baby," she said quietly, and then waited to see what effect those six simple words would have upon him.

His handsome face lit with pleasure, but then it grew grave. "Are ye unhappy about it, sweeting? Is that why ye have been so out of sorts today?"

She had the incredible urge to giggle. Out of sorts? G.o.d's nights.h.i.+rt! What understatement! Then she sobered. "I could never be unhappy about having yer baby, my darling husband. Ye cannot know how I regret the loss of our first child, a child barely conceived before it vanished, and yet thank G.o.d I did not have to bear that babe in slavery, Conn! Nay, my love, I am not sad about having ye child, it is just that I cannot be certain if it is yer child." She went on to explain to him her uncertainty, finis.h.i.+ng by saying to him, "Ye do not have to accept this child, Conn. I can go away when my condition becomes obvious, we will make some reasonable excuse, and then the child can be put out to nurse as are other wealthy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

"Is that what ye want, Aidan?" What did he want? he wondered. The reality of her words was beginning to penetrate his brain. I cannot be certain if it is yer child, she had said. If she could not be certain, could he? Was he really willing to raise the son of another man? Accept him as his heir? G.o.d help him! He loved her with all of his heart, but he wasn't sure.

"Nay, but I will not force this baby upon ye, Conn. What if it is a son? I cannot press another man's son upon ye as yer heir."

"Ye have said yerself, Aidan, that ye cannot be certain that this child is mine, but it could very well be, and frankly, my darling, I prefer to believe that it is. We will have no more nonsense about yer going away, or about farming out the child, Aidan. This child is our child. It will be born here at Pearroc Royal as it should be, and I will love it, and spoil it probably even more than ye will." Brave words, Conn, me lad, he thought, but then seeing the open relief in her eyes he forced his lips into a small, rea.s.suring smile that broadened as she scolded him in her no-nonsense fas.h.i.+on.

"I will not have our children spoilt, Conn," she said sternly. "They must be strong in both mind and body, and learn to accept the responsibilities of their station in life."

"I intend to spoil them," he said, "even as I spoil ye," and then he closed the gap between them, and pulling her into his arms kissed her pa.s.sionately, rendering her slightly dizzy and giddy with pleasure and happiness. "I love ye, Aidan. I shall always love ye, and I will keep saying it over and over again until ye are completely rea.s.sured, my darling. Now unless ye are feeling peaked, I want ye to dress yerself, and come downstairs to supper to celebrate with me the impending birth of our first child who will be born . . ." He stopped, and c.o.c.ked his dark head to one side. "When?"

Aidan laughed for the first time in several days, and the sound was a happy one. "Late winter," she said. "Perhaps early March." She smiled shyly at him. "There is still time, my lord, for us to love each other," and she blushed softly.

His arms tightened about her, and he groaned with longing against her ear. "Aidan, my darling wife, are ye certain?"

She looked up at him, and he was startled to see a new light s.h.i.+ning in her silvery-gray eyes. "Dearest Conn, in coming to terms with this child, I have realized that to continue to deny us the pleasure of each other because of the cruelty and perversion of one man is very foolish.

" Tis not ye, my husband who hurt me, and yet I have made ye suffer for what the sultan did to me.

"It will still not be easy for me, Conn, for I seem to no longer have any feelings, I don't understand it at all. It is as if the pa.s.sion has frozen in my veins, but perhaps in time yer loving will thaw that pa.s.sion again. I pray so, Conn for I love ye."

He held her close against his chest, breathing in the subtle perfume of her, feeling more certain now than he had in weeks that she was not mad. She was only his poor hurt Aidan, and it was up to him as her husband to make her whole again. He stroked her soft, thick hair gently for a long minute, and then he said, "Get dressed, and come to supper, my love. May I help ye?"

Looking up at him he saw genuine amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes, and her mouth turned up in a smile as she said, "I'd rather have ye help me than dear, old Mag who will fuss and fret over me until I am ready to shriek; but can ye help me without being playful, Conn?" Stepping back from him she reached down and grasping the hem of her gown she pulled it over her head, and flung it aside. "Well?" she demanded.

Why was it, he thought, that each time he saw her she was more beautiful in form? He wanted to tell her to h.e.l.l with their supper, and tumble her back into their bed to kiss and caress her to his heart's content. He wanted to call Mag, and send her down to the Great Hall to tell his sister, and his brother-in-law to go home!

"Well?" Aidan repeated.

With a sigh he opened the chest holding her petticoats, and chemises, and pulling out the necessary garments began to help her to dress. "Never let it be said," he chuckled as he regained his sense of humor, "that I am a man lacking in self-discipline, madame. 'Tis a great sacrifice I make in the name of propriety."

Aidan laughed. "Ye could tell Skye and Adam to go home," she teased him, "but 'twould really not be fair since it was I who took them from their own dinner table." She pulled on a pair of lightweight knitted silk stockings, deliberately giving him a fine view of her long and shapely legs. Handing him her silk garters she thrust out a limb.

Conn slowly slid the first garter up his wife's leg to her thigh, tying it firmly, but not too tightly there, and then mischievously pressing a warm kiss upon the soft flesh of the inside of that thigh. Hearing the surprised breath hiss through her lips he smiled, his head lowered as he diligently affixed the second garter to her other leg, so she could not see that smile. He saluted the second thigh as he had the first.

"Devil," she murmured, but there was no hint of rebuke in her voice. Then she moved away to choose a gown of warm cinnamon-colored silk which he helped her to fasten up. The dress had creamy lace set provocatively into the neckline, and more lace at the sleeves which hung over her hands just past the wrists.

Conn slipped his arm about her still-slender waist, and lowering his head pressed several ardent kisses upon the warm, scented flesh on the side of her throat. "I shall enjoy undressing ye far more, Aidan, than I have enjoyed dressing ye."

To her surprise she felt her mouth turning up in a smile at his words. "Yer a bold man," she scolded him. "Go, and tell yer sister that I shall be down shortly. I can see that yer easily tempted, my lord, and I would not have ye impugn the hospitality of our house."

With a grin he released her, and left her to fix her lovely hair, and choose her jewelry. Seeing him coming into the Great Hall the ghost of that grin still upon his face, Skye breathed a sigh of relief.

"Aidan has spoken to ye?" she asked him, wondering if her sister-in-law had told him all.

"Aye," he said, and then reaching Skye and Adam he lowered his voice so the bustling servants busy setting the table for the meal could not hear him, "but I am certain that the child is mine. Whatever has happened is not her fault, and what the h.e.l.l else can I do? I love Aidan, and neither do I want her unhappy nor parted from me again." Skye felt her heart swell with a huge rush of love for her youngest brother, and her eyes misty she hugged him hard.

"What's that for?" he demanded.

"For being a real man, and the kind of brother that any sister would be proud to call her own, Conn," she answered him.

"I'm no saint," he reminded her. "I'm afraid, Skye. Afraid that it isn't my son. Afraid that it will be born with the stamp of another man upon its face, but what can I do? It might be my child, and I'll not have Aidan saddened any longer over something that was not her fault!"

Adam de Marisco nodded. "Yer wise. Aidan has suffered enough as it is. Poor la.s.s. Only two years ago she was just come to court, the queen's little country mouse. What an innocent she was! Ah, well, Conn, 'tis all over now. Cavan FitzGerald is long gone, and thanks to G.o.d's luck ye've got yer wife back again."

"I'd like to get my hands upon the d.a.m.ned b.a.s.t.a.r.d," said Conn angrily.

"He deserves to be dead for what he did. What kind of a man would sell his own flesh and blood into slavery?"

"There might be a way," said Adam slowly. " 'Tis been confirmed that he was working with the Spanish. That ex-agent of Spain's, Antonio de Guaras, who has been imprisoned in the Tower since '77, was found to have been pa.s.sing messages back and forth in the leathern bottles of malmsey wine that were regularly s.h.i.+pped in to the Tower governor. There was always one empty in the incoming s.h.i.+pment that one of the guards, a man with popish leanings, extracted and brought to de Guaras. It was even simpler to send out the messages in the empty bottles. De Guaras had worked out a cipher, but it was fairly simple for Walsingham's agents to break his code. That was how Cecil was so certain that ye were innocent.

"It seems that Antonio de Guaras' brother Miguel was the one involved with Cavan FitzGerald. The plot was to destroy the O'Malleys of Innisfana's credibility with the queen because not only have her brothers been wreaking havoc up and down the Spanish Main, but Skye and Robbie's trading company has been plucking some fat plums from the Spanish not only in the Levant, but in the East Indies as well. The Spanish and the Portuguese, of course, consider the East Indies their particular property. The plot had the heavy hand of Amba.s.sador de Mendoza about it. G.o.d help the man for he lacks subtlety among other attributes. He is even worse than de Spes although I must say that his manners are a trifle better.

"Cecil and Walsingham learned from de Guaras' correspondence that Cavan FitzGerald fled with brother Miguel to Spain where the king was to reward him with his own land, and a wife. The monies that Cavan gained from Aidan's sale were to have financed our Master FitzGerald's new venture in Spain."

"Then he's in Spain," said Conn thoughtfully.

"Aye," said Adam.

"Where?"

"We don't know yet, but we could have our agents find out. Are ye interested?"

Conn nodded. "I want the b.a.s.t.a.r.d dead," he said grimly. "It is his fault Aidan suffered as she did. It is his fault that neither my wife nor I will ever know for certain if our eldest child is mine. Aye, I want the b.a.s.t.a.r.d dead! He's a man of no principles, and I see no reason for mercy in his case. He showed none to Aidan or to me. He would have seen me executed for a crime I didn't commit, and then he would have married my wife. When he found he couldn't do that, he dealt with Aidan in a ruthless and cruel fas.h.i.+on. Nay, I'll feel no regrets in destroying him. My only sorrow is that I can't do it myself."

"If ye had the opportunity," said Aidan coming to his side, "I should like the same opportunity. I think I could easily kill Cousin Cavan with my bare hands." She paused a moment as if in thought, and then she said to them, "My grandfather might know where Cavan is. If I were to write him, and if he were in contact with Cavan, how unnerving it would be for that b.a.s.t.a.r.d to learn that I am home again. It might bring him out of hiding. Of course we will not tell my grandfather the truth of my adventures, but I burn for vengeance more than even ye, my darling Conn. No matter how much ye may love me, ye cannot know what Cavan's actions really cost me. How much he has cost us."

Conn looked at his wife thoughtfully. "One letter could do no harm," he said, "and there would be no danger to ye, my love. Cavan could not destroy our love for one another, but he has cost us time, and a child."

"Yet," said Skye wisely, "how much stronger is yer love for all yer problems. Do not waste yer time in futile hatred, my dears. Cavan FitzGerald will be punished in the end. It is preached that proper vengeance belongs to G.o.d."

"In this one instance," replied Aidan, "I could wish that G.o.d would allow me the vengeance."

"Be careful," teased Adam, "lest ye get yer wish. Fate can sometimes play us tricks. I do not think ye would want a man's death on yer conscience."

"Perhaps not," agreed Aidan, and then she smiled. "Let us speak no more of Cavan FitzGerald. It makes me unhappy, and I would not be unhappy now, Adam. Skye and Conn already know, but ye do not, dear brother. I am to have a baby! Is that not happy news?"