Free The Cursed Towers by Kate Forsyth

It is no' every day that ye can spill your seed into one o' the sea folk, ye ken. Do no' be a fool. This new righ o' yours has outlawed the stoning o' faeries, ye ken that. Besides, who shall suffer the most once it is kent ye have lain with one o' the Fairgean? I shall just slip once more into the back ways o' the city and find myself a new protector. Ye shall be branded forever." He lay still, dry sobs shaking his ribcage. She slid out from under him and rebuttoned her dress, hiding the heavy coin-pouch in her clothing. Then she picked up her clarsach from where it had fallen to the floor, and began to strum a lullaby. "Sleep, my honeyed sweet, sleep," she sang, tender emotion thrilling through every note.
    "Rocked in the cradle o' my arms
    forget all your fears and qualms,
    dream only o' precious love,
    rocked in my wings like a dove,
    forget, my honeyed sweet, forget,
    sleep, my honeyed sweet, sleep."
    His head cradled on his arms, a tear slipping from the corner of his eye, the young laird slipped into sleep. When he woke at the clamor of bells, he remembered nothing but the sweetness of her voice, the thrill of her embrace, and his own helpless longing.
    The baby girl was named Lavinya, after Lachlan's mother, and buried in the MacCuinn graveyard at one end of the palace garden. White as the snow, Iseult held her little boy closely, the two of them well wrapped against the bitter cold. He had been named Donncan Feargus, after Lachlan's two brothers who had been transformed into blackbirds and hunted down by Maya's hawk.
    The Banrigh did not weep as her baby daughter was buried in the iron-hard earth; her face was set as cold as if it were carved from marble. Isabeau wept for her, bitter tears that scalded the skin of her face.
    "It is the price the Gods o' White have demanded for my betrayal," Iseult said as they walked back toward the palace. "I should have known they would no' let me go so easily." Dide the Juggler had been among the mourners gathered at the burial ground, and he came up and took Isabeau's elbow as she walked by her sister's side. "I'm terribly sorry about the wee lassie," he said awkwardly.
    "Aye, is it no' sad?" Isabeau replied, tears springing again. "Still, they have a bonny wee boy, and he seems strong and healthy."
    Dide pulled her away from the procession of mourners and kissed her in the shadow of a snow-laden yew tree. She stood quiescent in his arms for a moment, then pulled back. "Dide, what news had ye o'
    Bronwen in the countryside? What is the mood toward her?"
    He was startled. "Ye mean the Ensorcellor's babe? There were some who supported her, o' course. We heard talk o' a move to put her on the throne, but that be only talk . . ."
    "Did ye tell Lachlan?"
    "O' course I told him," Dide replied irritably. "Is he no' my master? What is all this talk o' the Ensorcellor's babe?" He tried to kiss her again, his mouth rigid with desire, but she moved her face away so he could only reach her cheek.
    "What are his feelings toward her?" she asked.
    "What does it matter?" he answered.
    She pulled out of his arms so she could look up into his face. "It matters because I fear he means harm to the babe!" she replied hotly.
    "Well, she shall always be a threat while she lives, I suppose," he answered, sliding one arm about her waist. "Come, Isabeau, will ye no' kiss me?"
    She submitted to his embrace again, but he could only rouse a half-hearted response from her. "Did ye find Lilanthe?" she asked, and he gave a sigh of frustration. "Nay, I did no' really look for her," he answered. "Did ye want me to?"
    "I just be worried about her," Isabeau responded, and the color ran hot into her cheeks. "I mean, after she found us like that."
    "Her timing was no' the best," he agreed with a chuckle. She could not look at him, and began to mumble something, but he stopped her mouth with his hand. "Do no' be saying it, Isabeau," he said roughly. '"I am no' sorry at all, except that I wish she had stayed away