Page 91 of Fang & Fury

To her surprise, Bree smiled. “Few of us are what we seem at first glance, are we?”

“No,” Ailsa replied, a little deflated. Bree wasn’t easy to shock, it seemed.

“Take me for instance,” the queen’s bodyguard went on. “You’d never know I was once Shee … as was Gil.”

Ailsa’s breathing caught. “What?”

Bree flashed her another smile. “See … you aren’t the only one with secrets.”

Recovering, Ailsa blinked. “Are you both glamored?”

“No, we went through stone circles from Sheehallion to Albia … and so we’re now permanently Marav.” Bree stepped back then, leaning casually on the ramparts, her gaze swiveling north to the jagged outline of the Shiel Range. “Would it surprise you to learn that I was once the Raven Queen’s favorite assassin … and that she sent me here to impersonate the chief-enforcer’s bride and gain enemy secrets?”

Ailsa’s mouth dropped open. Aye, it would.

28: NOT MINE

ALAR ROLLED OUT a large map upon the table, his long fingers working deftly. Then, as the circle of druids, the High Queen, and the captain of her army looked on, he set a stone at each corner.

Darach then watched Alar place two markers on the map.

The first on Duncrag.

The second upon Craeg Aonaranach.

Seen like this, the two forts looked far too close together.

Darach had been invited to this war council, high up in the broch, yet Kayla and Ailsa hadn’t been. His inclusion had been a nod to his rank, as a prince of Braewall.

Albia stretched out before him, upon the map. He took in each detail hungrily.

He loved maps, had since he was a boy sneaking into his uncle’s meeting alcove to trace trade routes with a finger, imagining himself traveling to all those places that had just been names. He’d never seen one so beautifully drawn as this though. For a moment, he let his gaze follow the coastline north, past mountain ranges, barrows, and stone circles and into the far North.

He wanted to see it all, and as a free man, he could.

One day.

For a heartbeat, he forgot why they’d gathered.

However, this wasn’t the time for daydreaming. He had to focus. They’d move out the following morning, and they needed to know where they were headed and what route south his brother might take.

“Dulross is the fastest road,” Darach said before anyone else could speak. He stepped up to the table and set his finger on Craeg Aonaranach. His finger then traced southwest. “But he won’t take it.” He paused then. “Your steward there might bar his way … and slow him down.”

It surprised him how calm he felt when he spoke about Niall these days. For years, just the thought of him made his gut clench. Hatred had colored every reaction. But, somehow, over the past days, something had shifted in him.

The loathing didn’t feel quite so visceral. His brother had to be stopped, yet this was no longer so personal.

Maybe it was because he now felt part of something bigger than himself.

Or maybe it was Ailsa.

Ailsa. He didn’t like that he’d hardly seen her since arriving here. There were so many demands on his time; it reminded him of what life had been like back in Braewall. He enjoyed being in the thick of things, but there was a part of him that missed the simplicity of the mercenary life.

He never thought he’d admit that.

None of this was more important than Ailsa though. Not to him. He needed to seek her out later. He had to make time for her.

Lara studied the map, her green eyes sharp. “Aye,” she murmured. “Duana mac Og wouldn’t let him pass that way without a fight.”