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slightly.
    Could Una see him?
    Or was she simply gladdened that Rosamunde
did not enjoy the celebrations?
    “I do not know how much you know,” Padraig
said in quick whisper. “You are in the sid of the High King
of the Faeries, Finvarra, and he means to make you his
mistress.”
    Rosamunde nodded ever so slightly.
    “Choose, Rosamunde, choose whether you would
remain in this place or whether you would have me aid your escape.”
Padraig’s voice dropped low and his grip tightened slightly. “I am
not without my own expectation, you should be warned. I should have
confessed my love for you years ago. I would love you. I would be
with you. I would endeavor to make you happy.”
    Indeed, the man could not fail at that task.
Rosamunde closed her eyes, overcome with joy at his words.
    “My right hand if you would stay here,” he
murmured. “My left, if you would be mine.”
    Without hesitation, Rosamunde raised her
hand, as if to straighten her hair, and brushed her fingertips
across Padraig’s left hand. She felt him catch his breath.
    Una’s smile broadened, turning smug, then
she plucked a sweet from a proffered tray. The Faerie queen’s eyes
gleamed and Rosamunde feared her deception.
    “Eat nothing,” Padraig warned. “Drink
nothing. If you consume so much as one morsel, you will be captive
here forever.”
    Rosamunde touched his fingertips to indicate
her understanding. She was fiercely glad that she had not taken a
bite since her arrival.
    “Tomorrow night, the fey will ride out in
procession for Beltane. You must go with the company. You must ride
as close to the perimeter of the group as you can. I will come for
you.”
    And Rosamunde would somehow learn the terms
of release before then. She did not doubt that Padraig would face a
challenge in gaining her freedom.
    Rosamunde felt the burn of his lips against
her nape. She closed her eyes, wanting to turn into his embrace,
her chest tight with the gift of his presence.
    Then Padraig was gone, like a shadow
swallowed by the night.
    And there was only the glitter of Una’s
knowing gaze locked upon her.
    What treachery had the Faerie queen
planned?

    *

    “ And so the pair did plot their scheme;
    So did they plan to keep their dream.
    But the ring’s charm did not hide all:
    Una saw the mortal in her hall.

    The Faerie queen had no good intent;
    Loyalty to her spouse had been spent.
    None could have joy while she did not;
    And so Una schemed her own plot.
    Padraig might capture his love lost,
    But Una ensured too high a cost.”

    *

Part
Three

    It was Beltane, and Padraig was enough of
his mother’s son to know that anything was possible on this night
of nights.
    On this night and on Samhain, the fey were
at their most potent.
    He made his preparations, fully aware of
that.
    He bought the horse that he had borrowed and
the ostler was pleased to be rid of the beast, given that it had
gone missing the night before. Padraig had the steed for a better
price than he might have otherwise. He prepared it with care,
ensuring that there was no iron in its harness, less the fey
realize it was not one of theirs.
    It was a fine stallion, a high-stepping
black horse with a proud gait. Its mane was long and dark, its eyes
lit with a fire that made him wonder whether it knew more of the
fey than he. It was said that the Faeries bred the best horses, and
there was majesty in this one’s lineage.
    It had not even shied at the sid , but
waited calmly for him at the hawthorne tree.
    He declared his intent to sail with the
morning tide, and had his ship provisioned for the journey. His
sister extended her hospitality again, but Padraig knew they were
too different for him to remain in their home. Her husband was not
so unhappy to see a reputed pirate leave. Padraig cleared space in
the hold of the ship to create a stable for the horse, for he had
no inclination to simply leave it behind.
    He tried to sleep, that he might be at his
best when night fell. When the darkness