Soilleir only laughed. "I wish I could disagree, but I'm afraid that may be the case. Take care of that girl there, Rnach. We'll see to the rest during supper, where hopefully you won't be on the menu."

Aisling watched him go, then sighed and leaned her head against Rnach's shoulder.

"I'm tired."

"I would imagine you are," he agreed. "Those spells are powerful."

"I didn't know what I was doing."

"The spell seemed to disagree." He hugged her briefly, then kept his arm around her shoulders and led her toward the door. "A nap, love, then we'll see what's left of the world. I'm not sure after that beautiful piece of work that you'll be able to remain anonymous much longer."

Aisling decided she wouldn't think about that until she absolutely had to. She looked over her shoulder once before they left the chamber. The spinning wheel was still hanging there where it would have been resting if it had had a base. It was painfully beautiful and definitely otherworldly.

Something she had fashioned out of Soilleir's dreams.

She had the feeling her life had just been irrevocably changed.

Four.

Rnach's head was spinning.

He supposed that might have been because he'd just been given a bracing slap by a woman he'd once fancied himself in love with. He rubbed his cheek thoughtfully as he watched Annastashia of Cothromaiche stalk out of the great hall, leaving him standing there in front of the hearth. Perhaps telling her that he was honestly, truly not interested in wedding her might have been better saved for another locale, but he had apparently lost many of his social skills over the past twenty years spent in the company of the king's grandson.

It was also quite possible that informing Annastashia in no uncertain terms that he was no longer interested in her whilst in the middle of a dance set had been ill-advised. It had seemed like a reasonable idea at the time given that he was fairly certain if he'd done the same in private, she would have killed him.

He rubbed his cheek thoughtfully and walked across the great hall to the high table where a rather edible supper had once resided. He found an empty chair, collapsed onto it, then looked about himself to see the lay of the land. Astar was monopolizing Aisling, which didn't surprise him. She was very lovely, as usual, if not a little pale. Then again, she had lifted a spell of essence changing from Soilleir's dreams earlier that afternoon and changed sunlight into a spinning wheel, so perhaps she had cause. He sent Astar a warning look, then looked at Soilleir, who was watching him with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"One task seen to," Soilleir said, his eyes twinkling. "I wonder if you'll fare equally well with the others yet to come?"

Rnach wiggled his jaw, and wondered if perhaps Annastashia had done damage to one of his teeth. At least it had been a slap and not a close-fisted blow. Or a spell. He found himself rather glad, all things considered, that he'd already eaten supper. He had the feeling he wouldn't be able to eat any breakfast.

"I would have liked to have done that better," he admitted, "though I'm not sure how."

"I don't think you could have," Soilleir said. "I daresay it was a bit of a shock for her to find you alive, then yet another to find you in love with someone else."

"I don't think Annastashia ever loved me," Rnach said wryly. "The idea of me, perhaps, but no more."

"You give yourself too little credit," Soilleir said, "though perhaps more credit to my cousin than she deserves." He toyed with his winegla.s.s. "She'll move on, I daresay. And it isn't as if you're planning on taking up residence here where you might torment her."

Rnach sighed deeply. "Nay, I'm not." He looked at Soilleir frankly. "I think we should leave soon."

"Tomorrow, I imagine. The world sleeps uneasily."

"Nay, Leir, that's you sleeping uneasily and that was this afternoon."

Soilleir shifted. "I'm not sure I'm equal to thinking overlong on what happened this afternoon." He shook his head. "What that woman can do . . . well, she surprises even me and I'm very rarely surprised."

"The only thing that surprises me is that I have the arrogance to think I can aid her," Rnach said. "Me, with magic that's not only unwieldy but not exactly what I would have it be. This task would be better suited to someone with more power."

"Ofttimes, great ones aren't called; simple souls are called to greatness," Soilleir said with a smile. "But I wouldn't say you are a simple soul, my friend."

Rnach studied the fire burning in one of the hearths, then looked at the man who had, he could freely admit, saved his life. "How do I thank you?"

"For what?" Soilleir asked mildly. "My collection of spells that could undo the world and everything in it, or putting you in the path of a woman who could unravel the same?"

Rnach smiled. "Did you?"

"Might have."

"Why?"

Soilleir shrugged. "Because I know her great-grandmother."

Rnach realized his mouth had fallen open. "What?"

"What I just said."

"You can't simply drop that tidbit into a conversation without giving me the details of it."

"Can't I?"

Rnach laughed a little in spite of himself. "Leir, who don't you know?"

"A woman daft enough to wed me," Soilleir said solemnly. "And no decent matchmakers either."

"No great loves during the centuries before I was born?"

"I never said that."

Rnach wasn't sure he even dared speculate, so he settled for holding up his hands in surrender. "Don't look at me for aid, though I appreciate the matchmaking you've apparently done for me." He looked around himself to see who, if anyone, was listening. Astar was still monopolizing Aisling. Anna was definitely not eavesdropping; she was likely in the kitchens looking over a selection of carving knives for purposes he didn't want to think on. He shifted to look at Soilleir. "I can't imagine you don't have thoughts about what lies before us."

"I have thoughts," Soilleir conceded, "but they're not ones I would be comfortable sharing here. Let's collect your lady and repair to the library. I can vouch for the privacy there."

Rnach nodded, then rose and walked behind the table until he stood behind Aisling's chair. He looked at Annastashia's brother.

"Do you mind if I abscond with my lady?" he asked politely.

Astar smiled faintly. "If you must."

Rnach pulled Aisling's chair out for her, then took her hand. He nodded to Astar, then led Aisling from the great hall.

"Soilleir is willing to have a conference with us," he said quietly. "I thought we'd best take advantage of it whilst he's so unsettled from this afternoon."

"Him?" she said incredulously. "What of me?"

"I believe you two might be sharing a few of the same feelings." He walked with her for a bit before he dared speak again. "How are you, in truth?"

"I'm not sure how to begin answering that."

He nodded, because he understood that very well. He had never used any of Soilleir's spells, but just having them rattling around in his head was unsettling enough at times. At least he hadn't begun his magical career with a spell that overwhelming.

Then again, he'd had a full morning of magic acting in unexpected ways, so perhaps he had a bit more sympathy for her than he might have otherwise. The thought of that problem being magnified inside Bruadair's unfriendly borders was enough to give him pause.

He walked with Aisling into the library, then shut the door behind them. There were three chairs set there in front of the fire, waiting patiently. Soilleir was there already, standing in front of the hearth. Rnach waited until Aisling was seated, then sat down himself. He didn't imagine he was going to hear anything he hadn't already discussed with Soilleir, but he supposed he wasn't past being surprised.

"Well?" Rnach asked. "Or dare I ask?"

Soilleir only smiled at him, then turned to Aisling. "I understand Queen Breagha gave you copies of her paintings of Bruadair."

Rnach blinked, then smiled. "Subtle."

Soilleir lifted his eyebrows briefly. "So I am. Aisling, might I look at them?"

She nodded, produced them from the satchel she was never without, then handed over the little folio. Soilleir looked through the paintings slowly and carefully. Rnach glanced at Aisling to see if he could tell what she was thinking, but she was watching Soilleir peruse the queen's artistic endeavors. He wouldn't have called her expression wistful, though he wasn't sure what else he could have termed it. All he knew was that Bruadair had been one of the most beautiful places he'd ever seen.

Before.

Soilleir finished, then tied the folio shut again. He was silent for quite some time, then he took a careful breath and nodded.

"It looked like that."

"And you would know?" Aisling asked.

"Aye."

Rnach waited, but Soilleir, d.a.m.n him, seemed perfectly content to say nothing else. "And?" he prodded.

Soilleir sat back and stretched out his legs, crossing his feet at the ankles. "And I think nothing more than what you and I have already discussed at length, my friend. If it were a lesser country that had been taken over by a man with no right to the throne, we could leave that to the inhabitants to sort in their own good time. But this is Bruadair and it isn't just its inhabitants that are being affected." He hesitated, then shook his head slowly. "I don't like to interfere."

"But you will here?" Aisling asked quietly.

"Will and already have," Soilleir said, "more than I'm comfortable with. But I'm afraid the true work of the day will fall to you and Rnach. And before you cross the borders, I think you must have a plan in place. I'm mostly here to listen."

Rnach had no doubt that was exactly what he intended to do unless pushed. He looked at Aisling. "What do you think, love?"

"I would say I was trying not to," she said reluctantly, "but I must admit I've been thinking of little else as I've been spinning. I suppose it might be wise to begin in Beul to see how the fight is progressing." She looked at him. "What do you suggest?"

"I think we need to see if we can't find where Bruadair's magic has gone," he said. He knew he didn't need to add that they would also do well to find out who had taken that magic, though perhaps that would be easier than he feared. All they would need to do was look for any black mages of note lingering in the area.

"And then?"

He looked at her steadily. "I also have the feeling that we might want to find out where that seventh dreamspinner came from."

She looked positively ill. "Perhaps we could put that off for a bit."

"Perhaps we could," he agreed quietly. "Let's first find our way to Beul and see what's to be discovered there. Then we'll plot our course." He looked at Soilleir. "Given all your recent experience with crossing that border, perhaps in this at least you might offer a suggestion or two."

Soilleir smiled briefly. "I suppose I could, for I have rather definite opinions on those borders and the perils a.s.sociated with them."

"Don't tell me there's a curse attached to Bruadair's," Rnach said in disbelief. "What absolute rot."

"Let's call them safeguards instead," Soilleir said. "In days past, they were rather benign safeguards, but I can't say the same for what watches the border at present. It isn't pleasant. I would venture to say it's a fairly recent addition, if that eases your mind any. Our good Aisling could walk across the border at any spot and Bruadair would only welcome her, though the land would indeed take notice of her entry."

"And would it tell potential enemies the same?" Rnach asked.

Soilleir shrugged. "That hasn't been my experience so far, but I'm a very small player in this drama and easily overlooked. I can't guarantee that there might be those watching who would find Aisling reentering the country to be upsetting to their plans, no matter where she did it. I'm not sure Bruadair has the means to prevent that."

Rnach suppressed the urge to shake his head. He'd been doing too much of that recently. "You speak of the country as if it had a mind of its own."

"It is an unusual place," Soilleir conceded. "The magic is connected to the land in a way that I would say isn't replicated in very many other places." He smiled faintly. "I know far less about it than I would like to claim, but it doesn't lend itself to outside speculation. That so much of the magic has been drained from the country says much about whoever managed the feat."

Rnach supposed he might not want to think too hard about just who that mage might be. If Acair was behind the theft, then he had grown powerful indeed. Then again, his b.a.s.t.a.r.d brother had always been more powerful than Rnach had ever been comfortable with.

"But if Bruadair knows who crosses the borders and unpleasant mages will possibly know the same, then how will we manage to get back inside?" Aisling asked. "And when you were in Bruadair, how did you manage to move about so freely? Or was I one of the ones still asleep?"

Soilleir smiled. "I can't say that you weren't still blissfully unaware of many things at the time, but even had you not been, you wouldn't have noticed me."

"I noticed your clothes," she said with a shudder. "Blindingly gaudy, those."

Soilleir laughed a little. "One does what one must to accomplish the task at hand."

"But surely clothing wasn't enough," Aisling said. "Was it?"

"Nay, Aisling," Soilleir said seriously, "It wasn't. I took the precaution of hiding my magic."

"Oh," she said, sounding rather relieved. "Then I've nothing to worry about there."

Rnach couldn't help but look at Soilleir. It was so seldom that he had the opportunity to see the man looking anything but perfectly at ease that he paused to savor the moment. Soilleir scowled, then softened his expression as he turned back to Aisling.

"I'm afraid, Aisling, that that isn't as true as you might wish."

"But I have no magic," she protested. "At least not anything substantial enough to need hiding."

"There's a new spinning wheel fashioned of sunlight in our chief spinner's solar that would disagree."

Aisling rubbed her arms. "I think that was an aberration."

"Some aberration," Rnach said, half under his breath.

Soilleir opened his mouth, then shut it. "I would have to agree with Rnach. Aisling, I think as you have been discovering over the past few fortnights, you have more gifts than you suspected. Magic seems to be one of them, whether you care to accept it or not. All I can tell you is that if I am able to see the echo of it in you, unfriendly eyes might see that and more once you're on your home soil. It is best to hide it until the time comes when it can no longer remain hidden. We should choose the proper spell, of course."