The Pillars Of The World

himself.
    A bit of maliciousness? Was that all the warning had been?
    Darcy paused, snuffled something in the grass, then shied and trotted back toward him.
    Neall saw a gray body with black streaks rise out of the grass and felt his heart trip.
    Yap. Yap yap yap.
    The puppy raced toward him. The breath he’d been holding came out in a rush of relief when he saw the tan front legs.
    A few feet away from him, the puppy tripped over its feet and somersaulted until it ended up nose to toes with his boot. It yapped fiercely at his boot until Darcy, curious now, came up behind it and snorted on its tail.
    Yipping, the puppy tucked its tail between its legs and ran for the privy. Ari came out, picked up the puppy, and headed toward the well. She looked frustrated and annoyed—until she noticed that the gelding was lathered. Then worry filled her eyes.
     
    “What’s wrong?” she asked.
    Feeling too many things that weren’t comfortable, Neall splashed his face with water before replying. “
    You tell me.”
    “So,” Ari said quietly after a long pause. “It bothered him that much.”‘
    Neall straightened slowly, wiping the water off his face. “Who?”
    Ari hesitated. “One of the Small Folk was here when the hawk came. It brought a rabbit, and he”— she put a slight emphasis on the word to indicate the small man —“said the hawk was a Fae Lord.”
    Neall’s chest tightened. “A Fae Lord brought you a rabbit. Did he say why?”
    “He was in the form of a hawk, Neall. There wasn’t any conversation.”
    “That doesn’t explain—” Something shivered through him, making him hope he was wrong. He’d known the man who had claimed Ari at the Summer Moon wasn’t local gentry, but he’d wondered if the lover might have been a well-to-do merchant who was staying in the area for a while. Now he had to consider that the man might have been one of the Fae. He, better than anyone, knew such meetings and matings were possible. “The . . . gentleman . . . you gave the fancy to. Could that have been him?”
    “No.”
    “Ari, if he didn’t tell you he was Fae—”
    “It wasn’t him. That’s not his other form.”
    Neall leaned against the well, staggered. So she had known her lover was a Fae Lord. Not a man who had stayed in the area awhile and gone away, but someone who might still be around—and still be interested in Ari.
    “There must be a Clan nearby,” he said quietly. “The roads through the Veil are always connected to the Old Places. So there must be a road that leads to Brightwood.”
    “How do you know those roads connect to the Old Places? None of the stories are that specific about where the shining roads are. And if that’s true, why hasn’t anyone around here seen them until now?”
    Because they hadn’t wanted to be seen . Neall shook his head. This wasn’t the time to tell her he’d seen the Wild Hunt come out of the woods beyond the meadow. But he could tell her the other reason why he knew. “A friend of my mother’s told me that when I was a small boy.” He hesitated, gathered his courage, and wondered if he’d lost her before he’d tried to win her. “Do you know who he was? The one who . . .” He couldn’t say it.
    She didn’t answer for a long time. Finally, “The Lightbringer.”
    “Mother’s mercy.”
    “He was kind, Neall . . . and now it’s done.”
    “Are you sure?” Was a rabbit any different from a salmon as a wooing gift?
    There was enough of a hesitation before she nodded to make his heart sink. So. She was still drawn to the Lord of Fire. Enough to welcome him to her bed again?

    Neall straightened, pulled on his shirt, and shook off feelings that could cripple him. I haven’t lost until she tells me to go without her . But there was no question of him heading west and coming back for her.
    Not with a Fae Lord for a rival—especially that one.
    “So,” he said, holding out his hand for the puppy to sniff. “You’re not going to give him an embarrassing name, are you? Women always give dogs names that make men cringe.”
    Ari narrowed her eyes. “Women aren’t the only ones who sometimes choose odd names for animals.
    You named the gelding Dark Sea and ended up calling him Darcy.”
    “That’s how it sounds when you say it fast,” Neall muttered. Deciding not to continue a discussion he couldn’t win, he studied the puppy. “Where did you get him?”
    Ari’s huff at the blatant change of subject turned into a smile. She set the