Page 7 of The Stag & The Owl
“No.Not really.”
“What would you like to do?”
Alina hesitated.He was leaving tomorrow andshe’d never see him again.Even if by some unlikely happenstancethey did meet again, he was betrothed, soon to be married toanother.She’d already be dreaming about his quick wit, slow smile,and rain eyes for days and nights to come.Did she really want tomake it harder on herself?
“We can do whatever you want, Alina,” heoffered.
The sound of her name spoken with his thickGreen Isles burr decided for her.“There’s a lake behind thecompound,” she said.“We could go there and talk without having toyell over all these people.”
The corners of his full lips lifted and hischeeks rose.“Lead the way, my lady owl.”
The light of a waxing quarter moon shone downon the reflective surface of the lake, and contrary to Alina’snerves, the waters were calm and still.She led Roark to a littlecove on the eastern shore with a bench made from a fallen log.
“So,” she said as they sat next to eachother, close, yet not touching.“Tell me about you and Leif.”
Roark put down his headdress on the groundand ran both hands through his hair.“Yeah,” he chuffed.“Me andLeif.”
“Would you be friends with him if you weren’tobligated to his family?”
Roark stared at the lake for a long momentand then shook his head.“I honestly don’t know,” he said.“Leif’snot all bad.I mean, he has his faults.”He gave Alina a quick,sideways glance.“We all do.”
“But?”
“But he really can be an arrogant,overbearing ass.”Roark laughed as if he’d surprised himself bysaying this out loud, and then he turned and faced Alina, his kneetouching hers.“Don’t get me wrong, he can be funny and sometimesgenerous.Life with him is never boring.He’s a good man to haveyour back in a fight, and in truth he’s more a brother to me thanmy blood kin.I love him, but I don’t always like him.”
“I understand what you’re saying,” Alinasaid.“I love my twin, Anders, yet we are nothing alike.”
“What about your younger brothers?”
“Aaron is ten and four, and wants to be asailor like our father and my mother’s brother, his namesake, were.My father would let him sail tomorrow, he’s already two years olderthan my father was when he joined the crew of theSea Eagle,but my mother, who cannot bear the thought of losing her son as shedid her favorite brother, has made him promise to wait another twoyears.”
“And your youngest brother?”
“Aleksandr,” she said with a fond grin.“Aleksi is ten and the spitting image of our grandfather, KingAleksandr, in looks and temperament and horse craziness accordingto our mother.”She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.“You must swear never to tell anyone else this,” she said.“He’s myfavorite.”
Roark lifted a hand in solemn oath.“I swearit.”
Alina laughed, her heart light and happy.Shetook off her mask and met and held Roark’s smiling gaze.He reachedout and gently lifted the gold pearl from her chest, her skintingling where his fingers had touched.
“Tha a braegha,” he said, twirling thepearl in his fingers.He gazed into Alina’s eyes, his own warm andsoft as a summer rain.“Tha thu braegha.”
Alina’s heart stopped, stuttered, and beattriple time.“You think I’m beautiful?”
Roark sat back and his jaw dropped.“I do,”he said after a moment.“I think you’re beautiful and intelligentand kind.You can ride a horse like the wind, and sing like anightingale.I’m impressed, yet somehow not surprised youunderstand the Green Isles tongue, and, damnation, woman, youreally wear that gown.”
Alina’s heart beat even faster, and almostjumped out of her chest when Roark let the pearl drop from hisfingers to the hollow between her breasts.
“How many languages do you speak?”he asked,his voice low and intimate.
Flustered by his voice, his nearness, hispresence, Alina had to concentrate to answer him.“I, ah, well, myNorthland, your Green Isles, my mother’s native Rus, mygreat-grandfather’s Desert tongue, and my Uncle Han’s Far Eastern,so, five?”
“Is that all?”he said with a teasinggrin.
“My father learned even more from his travelsand always thought it a good thing to know the language of thepeople he trades with.It turns out I have a knack for it aswell.”
“Apparently,” Roark said with a low chuckle.“Will you say something in the Far East tongue?”
Alina stared at the strong line of Roark’sjaw, his full lips, high cheekbones, and broad brow.“Ni ye henpiaoling,” she said in the singsong cadence that could mean thedifference between a compliment or an insult.
