MacAlister's Hope by Laurin Wittig Read Free Book Online

last of the sleeping draught,” Fia said, rising and moving toward the bed. The fatigue that had seemed to weigh her down earlier was gone though he had only been away for a short while, too short for her to have even napped. “It was all I could do to ease his pain for the moment.”
    “I’ve asked Margaret—one of the women who was taking care of him when we arrived—to come sit with him in a little while so you may make the brew yourself. I’ve sent for willow, too,” he said, joining her. He wanted to take her hand in his again, but he did not.
    There was something about her that was different but he could not name it.
    She smiled over at him. She licked her lips and swallowed as if she were nervous. With him? Nay, for she did not drop her gaze, nor did she look embarrassed or guilty about what had passed between them. Nay, her sapphire eyes fair glowed with excitement.
    “That stone—” she nodded toward the pouch at his hip “—it helps you discern if someone lies or speaks the truth, does it not?”
    Everything went quiet in his head. No one had ever known that about the Winter Stone, except the old woman who had given it to him and taught him its secrets. Everyone thought it was just an interesting bauble that he fiddled with when he was thinking hard, something he often dropped or allowed someone else to hold. No one else had ever figured out that he used it to test people’s intentions. But then he had suspected Fia and Lady Elena had seen the color change that day at Kilmartin Castle, and clearly Fia had seen it change in Annis’s hands. Fia was smart enough to put it all together.
    “Aye, it does.” He would not lie to her, ever.
    “Where did you get it?” she asked, taking his hand and pulling him away from the bedside back to the brazier. She knelt there and began mixing the poultice, glancing up at him with an air of anticipation.
    Kieron settled on the floor facing her, his back to the wall, his long legs stretched out, and the door directly in his line of sight. He glanced over to see if the chief still slept. The gentle rise and fall of his breaths reassured Kieron he did. Kieron did not want anyone else to hear this, for then the stone would be of no use to him. Though as he looked at the bonny lass in front of him he realized ’twas possible it had already done its job.
    “There was an auld woman who wandered into the village one day, not long after you and I first met.” He only now realized how close the two events were. “She was hungry, tired, and I offered her comfort with me and my grandmum the only family I have. Fortunately my grandmum was a generous soul and made the woman, Beira was her name, welcome. She was a strange woman—she traveled alone, though she was bent with age, and had only one good eye—but I was not afraid of her as the other lads and lasses of the clan were. She entertained us for several weeks, telling wonderful fanciful stories of the people she’d met and the places she had traveled, describing the landscapes she had traveled through as lovingly as if they were her children, as if she had created them herself. I helped her resupply her medicinal herbs—taking her into the hills for those things I could not beg from the goodwives of the village. One day, as we were searching for something…I cannot remember exactly what…we came upon a standing stone set atop a small hill. I had never seen it before. She stopped and said what I can only guess was a prayer for I did not understand the language she spoke, and as she stopped, the air turned suddenly cold and a bitter wind blew up, bringing the first snow of winter with it.
    “I remember she smiled at me then and said, ‘’Tis time for me to leave now.’ I was surprised to find that she had brought her travel sack with her because I had not noticed it until that moment. ‘I would give you a gift before I go, young Kieron,’ she said, ‘but you must promise me to keep it safe until I return for