Shadows and Light

doorstep. She had an opinion about everything.
    “Didn’t you?” Padrick said, something odd in the tone of his voice. His face changed so that he looked human again.
    The next obstacle was a wall of armed men standing in front of the archway that led to the outbuildings behind Breanna’s home.
    Feeling the strain of a full day’s ride, and impatient to see his mother, Liam was less than tactful. “Who are you?” he said sharply. “What’s your business here?”
    Not the best way to approach armed men, especially when two of them had bows drawn and aimed at him and Padrick and two others had crossbows.
    “Who are you ?” one of them demanded.
    “That’s Baron Liam,” another man said, stepping up behind the armed men.
    “You’re Rory,” Liam said, recognizing Breanna’s cousin. “Tell these men to let us pass.”
    “You know him?” one the men asked Rory.
    “He’s the baron,” Rory said. “Don’t recognize the other one.”
    “If he’s the baron , why should we let him pass?”
    A window shot open with enough force that Liam started hoping the startled men had a good hold on the arrows pointed at him. Breanna leaned out the window.
    “Rory, you featherhead, let them in,” Breanna said testily. She ducked back inside the room.
    The men lowered their weapons and stepped aside.
    Liam’s heart pounded, but he noticed Padrick looked like he was fighting not to grin as they rode through the arch.
    “What?” Liam said.
    “My wife would like her.”
    Mother’s mercy.
    Clay took their horses, giving them both a considering look after seeing Padrick’s Fae horse.
    For a place that usually seemed to have too few people, now Liam thought there were too many.
    Children who had been playing catch with a cloth ball a moment before they rode in now stared at them, too watchful. Idjit, naturally, was still focused on the ball and hadn’t yet noticed the addition of two men and horses. Mother’s tits! The hawk was a better watchdog than the dog!
    Elinore burst out of the kitchen doorway and ran toward him, Breanna following more slowly.
    Liam’s arms went around his mother, holding her as tightly as she held him.
    “Liam,” Elinore said, her voice breaking. “I’m glad you’re home. So glad.”
    “Mother, what’s happened? Why—?” No, he wouldn’t ask why Elinore was at the Old Place, not with Breanna looking so strained, as if she’d been fighting against grief.
    “Was anything said at the barons’ council? Was there any news?”
    Liam brushed stray hairs away from his mother’s face. “Why did you leave our home?” he asked quietly.
    “I got a letter from Moira, and I was too frightened to stay at the estate while you were gone.”
    “From—” No. His father had trained him to have that reaction whenever Elinore mentioned her cousin Moira. It didn’t have to be— wouldn’t be —his reaction.
    “Liam, have you heard anything about her village?”
    “No, I...” Liam looked at Padrick, who shook his head.
    “Let him read the letter, Elinore,” Breanna said. “It might make sense to him then.”
    “Yes, of course. It’s in my room. I’ll get it.” Stepping away from Liam, Elinore ran back into the house.
    Liam took a step toward Breanna. “Who are all these people?”
    “Kin,” Breanna replied, brushing her dark hair away from her face. “They ran from the eastern barons and the Black Coats. The elders in the family stayed behind to cover their tracks, to hide that so many were gone. And now that we know what might have happened to them ...”
    Liam caught her arms as she swayed.
    She glanced at Padrick and stiffened.
    “This is Padrick, the Baron of Breton. He helped me get home.” Liam forced a smile, hoping to ease her tension. “He’s not a featherhead.”
    “At least not in this form,” Padrick muttered—which made Liam wonder about the hawk he’d seen at times when they’d had to rest for an hour.
    Breanna narrowed her eyes. “You’re Fae? You’re a Fae Lord and a gentry baron?”
    Padrick gave her a small bow. “At your service, Mistress ...”
    “Breanna.” Her eyes narrowed even more. “You don’t have a sudden urge to go out and catch a rabbit, do you?”
    Padrick glanced up. Following his gaze, Liam saw the hawk soaring overhead, watching everything below it.
    “No, Mistress Breanna, I have no urge to hunt rabbits at the moment. Although, to be fair, he could hardly bring you a deer.”

    “He doesn’t do too well with salmon,