Read Online Irish Moon by Amber Scott - Free Book Online Page B

every fiber of her recognized it.
    Life is change, she reminded herself but it
didn’t help dry her tears. She liked her life. It had become steady
and simple again after her father’s death and all the change it
produced.
    She and Ula had left their home and joined
the O’Donnell chieftain in his. Being an only child, Sean O’Donnell
left no brothers to care for his family. Niall took them in both as
Sean’s cousin and as the man he’d served and died for.
    For ten years, that home sat empty aside from
the caretaker Niall assigned to it. With her mother marrying, the
home became solely her inheritance. An only child herself she had
no brother to share it with nor a sister to split the estate into
suitable portions for each to take with her own marriage. Only her,
only her marriage.
    She wondered what it would be like to return
to it after so many years. Would it hurt? Would it feel like a
different place entirely after so long? Soon she would know, unless
she chose a man with property of his own and they chose to rent or
sell the manor.
    “Breanne, why are you crying?” The softly
whispered words startled her, though she knew immediately who asked
them.
    “Danny. Did I wake you?”
    “Nah. I can hardly sleep is all. Are ye all
right?” He came down the stairs to sit next to her. His rumpled
hair and bedclothes made her smile.
    “Aye, lad. I’ll be perfect now that you’re
here to keep me company.” Breanne wiped her face dry and gave the
boy a warm smile. He rested his head on her shoulder and she hugged
him into the crook of her arm. “Look at how big you’re getting on
me. It feels like yesterday you were in my lap and now I only get
hugs in secret when no one else can see.”
    “I’m almost a grown man, Breanne. I can’t
have the other men seeing you and my mum coddling me. They’ll poke
at me ‘til I bleed with it.”
    “A man already, Danny?
Here I was hoping you’d wait at least another four or five years
before I lost you to brawling and warring and rutting. Can you not
wait a bit longer?” Breanne meant her words , though she said them in a playful tone.
Ten years old was too young to be thinking of growing up. She
wanted to see him remain a sweet boy, blushes and all, the little
brother she never had.
    “Mayhap a little longer, I suppose,” Danny
told her after a consternate rub on his hairless chin. “But only
when the men are not around. I can’t have you giving me kisses in
front of them.”
    “I promise,” Breanne said and bent to give
him one on each dimpled cheek. “But, I’ll miss it dearly.”
    “Breanne?”
    “Yes?”
    “Why are you crying?” Danny’s face flushed
with tender concern.
    “A bit of a rough day is all. Now that you’re
here with me, it all seems trifling.”
    “Is it because you have to marry?” Danny
fingered the edge of his bedrobe, avoided her gaze.
    His directness both refreshed and discomfited
her. Children could be so perfectly honest. “In part, yes. I had
hoped I’d fall in love before I chose a husband. It looks like I
may have to go the other way about it.”
    “Like the tale last night? The pretty one
about the fairy princess and the mortal she took to the
Otherworld?” Danny gestured grandly as he spoke, his voice filling
the empty passageway with the music of childish wonder.
    Breanne nodded eagerly.
“She took him then? Did she clobber him over the head and drag him
back with her?” Danny chortled with laughter. “Think you and I shall go about
it in the same
manner, Danny? I’ll need a big club.” Breanne tapped her lips,
pretending to think of where she could find such a thing. Danny
giggled, covering his mouth to hide a snort.
    “Ah, Breanne, was he not the best bard you
ever heard in all you life? His words made magick right there
before us all. I swear I saw the princess walk right through the
room,” Danny said, looking for her agreement.
    Breanne nodded. It sounded like she’d missed
quite a show and she’d be lying if