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Back Heir to Sevenwaters Save as PDF
Chapters (22)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. CHAPTER 1
  6. CHAPTER 2
  7. CHAPTER 3
  8. CHAPTER 4
  9. CHAPTER 5
  10. CHAPTER 6
  11. CHAPTER 7
  12. CHAPTER 8
  13. CHAPTER 9
  14. CHAPTER 10
  15. CHAPTER 11
  16. CHAPTER 12
  17. CHAPTER 13
  18. CHAPTER 14
  19. CHAPTER 15
  20. CHAPTER 16
  21. CHAPTER 17
  22. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“This is all wrong,” I said, my pent-up feelings getting the better of me. To see capable Muirrin shaking and defeated was deeply disturbing. “I wish she’d let us go in and visit her. She needs people to hug her, cry with her, share her grief . . .” And so do I, I thought, remembering how close I had come to throwing myself into Aidan’s arms not long ago just because he’d spoken kindly to me.

After a moment Muirrin said, “I’ve been doing my best.”

Now I’d hurt her. “Of course. But there’s only one of you, and you’re a healer, you’re busy with other things.”

“Clodagh, I do think we should let Mother go into the nursery chamber as she asked to. That might help her accept that Finbar is actually gone.”

“Isn’t it rather soon for that?” I asked quickly. “It might be too much of a shock. Maybe you should wait a bit. You could consult Conor when he arrives.”

Muirrin looked a little surprised, but she said, “I don’t suppose another day will make much difference. It may be better not to trouble Father with this right now. I expect Conor will be here in the morning.”

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

One day.One day was all I had to save Becan and find a solution to the nightmare that had fallen over everyone I loved. As a druid, Conor would be open to the otherworldly. But he and my father had a long-established trust. They tended to agree about things. He’d probably see Becan the way Father and Muirrin and Johnny did, as a crude simulacrum of a child. I was sure Father would take Conor into the nursery. They would ask me where the manikin was. That meant I had to get Becan safely out of the house before Conor arrived. And that was only the immediate problem. My family was doing the wrong thing; I was becoming more and more certain of it. I wasn’t losing my mind. I refused to accept that. I was exactly the same person I’d been before this happened, whatever anyone else might think. My instincts told me Johnny’s party might search the forest forever and not find my baby brother. He had been taken beyond the world of men.

I sat in my bedchamber with my mind darting from one impossible plan to the next, while Becan slept soundly in his improvised cradle. At some point in the morning he woke and I fed him again and changed his wrappings, which were damp. I made replacements by tearing up an old shift. I had just settled him once more when I heard a commotion from downstairs. My father did not often raise his voice, but he was doing so now: “What? I cannot believe this!” I heard Johnny, who was supposed to be out searching for Finbar, replying in more measured tones.