The first 75 pages of Bonewytch, the sequel to Darkflower in the Spiral Pathways series, are finished! Here's a peek from a scene between Alex and Saorsa....
"And he lies," Alex said softly. "Told everyone, including the mother of his child, that there are two of me, when in fact there are three. He's related to Nemesis, too. An' his knife nearly killed us both. He's the son o' the Goddess o' war an' fate. An' he left my mother to raise me alone." He went quiet for a moment. "I just cannae see my way to thinkin' Thomas Scott on our side."
Saorsa took Alex's hand. "We're going together," she said firmly. "Together. You can be the skeptic and I'll be the optimist. And between us, we'll make good choices."
He squeezed her hand as they each lay on their side, facing each other in the firelight, and neither said anything for a time. Back on the road. But without Oona. And without Thor or Bridgit, or the familiar landscape of Scotland.
"I was wrong," Alex said quietly, breaking the silence. "I dinnae ken what I was thinking."
Saorsa wasn't quite certain if he was talking to himself or to her. "About what?"
"About proposing to you." He fell silent.
When he didn't say anything for another few seconds, Saorsa shook his hand to bring him out of his thoughts and back to her. "Hey. You'd better explain that last comment, mister. You don't want to marry me anymore?"
He gave her a smile, and she loved the shape of his eyes as he looked at her. "Of course I do. I didnae mean that. I just meant…well, the night we spoke of it, I said I wanted to go east, an' have Father Andrew marry us. What the hell was I sayin'? We cannae go east. It's suicide."
"You were exhausted that night," Saorsa said. "You were so tired you weren't certain earlier in the evening if I was real or not."
"An' also…" Alex continued, letting his eyes trace the features of the face he adored, "I said some other bullshite, too."
"Such as?"
"Well," he said, moving a bit closer to her, "I said that when I proposed, I'd have to get your mother's blessing, an' it would be daylight, an' we'd be dressed an' do it proper. But Saorsa, you an' I, we dinnae do anythin' proper. We travel an' move together in darkness under the moon, an' we're outlaws, and we've never asked anyone for their blessing before we do somethin'. So why should gettin' engaged be any different?"
And Saorsa felt her breath catch. He's going to ask me. Right now. Before we go through that portal tomorrow. She tried to suppress the shiver of anticipation that tore up her spine.
She'd seen him propose before. To Fia. It had been formal and there had been witnesses. And no mention of love in it at all.
This one was different.
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