“It’s not for me! It’s not for me!”

“No one is eating him!” she snapped, yanking the reins from him and pulling the horse toward her.

“No, no. He’s not for eating. He’s for you. I bought him for you.”

“What?”

“Sam the horse dealer was in town. Aidan says that most of the Cadwaladrs get their horses from him.”

“He’s expensive.”

“I have some gold,” he said, looking a bit insulted. “Anyway, I picked another one, but Aidan said you’d like this one. Even though he’s cranky and scarred and considering how many times he’s bitten me in the back of the head . . . mean, but Aidan said this was more your type of horse. He’s strong, I know that. And if you bond with him, Sam says he’ll be loyal to you to the end. And I promise not to eat him if he gets killed in battle.” He glanced off. “That will not happen again, I can assure you.”

Caswyn shrugged. “Anyway, this is just a little something to say I’m sorry about . . . Puddles.”

“But you didn’t think you did anything wrong.”

“No, but . . . I want to stay friends with you, and Aidan said this would be a good way to start.”

“Aidan just came up to you and—”

“No. I went to him. I was thinking armor or a new weapon. You know, something like that. But he said, ‘You ate her horse. Get her a bloody horse.’ Once he said it, it made sense. And he knew just the kind of horse to get you . . . which is apparently big and mean.”

“Oh, gods!” Brannie gasped. “I’ve killed him.”

Caswyn’s eyes grew wide. “What?”

Brannie didn’t answer; she just ran back into the hall, but her male kin and Aidan were gone.

Imagining them burying the poor bastard alive in a grave, Brannie stood in the middle of the floor, turning in circles, looking for any sign.

That’s when she caught sight of her mother. With a disapproving shake of her head, Ghleanna jerked her thumb toward the back hallway and Brannie took off running.

She bolted through the back door but slid to a stop when she saw Aidan standing by her father’s book tower, gazing up at the sky.

Worried he was internally bleeding and would drop dead at any second, she charged over to him, stopping right in front of him.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He peered at her. “You tried to get me killed.”

She opened her mouth to absolutely deny it but all that came out was, “Sort of.”

“Seems a little harsh for telling you I love you.”

“Izzy says it was the meanest thing I’ve ever done.”

“If it were anyone else . . . it would have been.”