Free Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts Page B

talk him into it—light a few fires. Vamps stay inside, they burn. Come out, they burn.”
    â€œGood thinking. Unless, of course, she had guards posted inside, with bows.”
    â€œWell, yeah, like I didn’t think of that. I figure I’ll wing a few flaming arrows down, get their attention. I pick my target—cottage nearest the biggest paddock. Gotta be some troops in there, stands to reason. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when the arrows bump off the air, like it was a wall.”
    His eyes narrowed as he shifted to face her. “Are you talking force field? What is this, bloody Star Trek ?”
    â€œThat’s what I said.” In tune with him, Blair punched his shoulder. “She’s got that wizard of hers, that Midir, working overtime by my guess. And their base camp’s in a protective bubble. Larkin flew down, to get a closer look, and we both got a jolt. Like an electric shock. Pisser.”
    â€œYes, it would be.”
    â€œThen the man himself comes out—from the big house, the manor house? Creepy-looking guy, let me say. Flying black robes, lots of silver hair. He just stands there, so we’re looking down at him, he’s looking up at us. Finally, I get it. Mexican standoff. We can’t get anything through, but neither can they. When the shield’s up, they’re locked down, we’re locked out. Good as a freaking fortress. Better.”
    â€œShe knows how to make the best use of the people she brings in,” Cian mused.
    â€œLooks that way. So I was lowered to making rude gestures, just so it wasn’t a waste of time. She’d lower the shield at night, wouldn’t she?”
    â€œPossibly. Even if they brought enough food with them, the nature of the beast is to hunt. She wouldn’t want her troops to get stale, or too edgy.”
    â€œSo, maybe we can make a night run at it. I don’t know. Something to think about. That’s haggis, isn’t it?” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m skipping that.” She leaned a little closer to him, lowered her voice. “Larkin says the word’s gone out on how you dealt with the guy who tried to kill Moira. You’ve got the castle guards and the knights behind you on that one.”
    â€œIt hardly matters.”
    â€œYou know better than that. You get what’s essentially going to be this army’s first line not just accepting you, but respecting you, it matters. Sir Cian.”
    He winced, visibly. “Just don’t.”
    â€œKind of rings for me. This Jell-O sort of thing is a little gritty. Do you know what it is?”
    Cian waited, deliberately, until she’d taken a second bite. “Jellied internal organs—likely pig.”
    When she choked, the laugh just rolled out of him.
    It was such a strange sound, Moira thought. To hear him laugh. Strange, a little wicked, and very appealing. She’d made a misstep with the clothes she’d sent for him. He was too much a creature of his own time—or what had come to be his own time—to put on garb from hers.
    But he’d come, and she hadn’t been sure he would. Not that he’d spoken a word to her. Not a single word.
    He’d killed for her, she thought, but didn’t speak to her.
    So she would put him out of her mind, as he’d so obviously put her out of his.
    She only wished the evening would end. She wanted her bed, she wanted sleep. She wanted to peel off the heavy velvet and slide blissfully—for one night—into the dark.
    But she had to make a show of eating, despite her lack of appetite. She had to make a pretense, at least, of paying attention to conversations even though her eyes wanted to close.
    She’d had too much wine, felt too warm. And there were hours yet before she could lay down her head.
    Of course, she had to stop, to smile, and to drink every time one of the knights was moved to toast her. At the rate they were moving, her head