“You’re tired, shocked and upset,” Cathal said. Now he sounded like a father counseling a wayward child. “If you weren’t, you’d never dream of considering this, Clodagh. You’re Lord Sean’s daughter. I’m . . . what I am. If I let this develop any further I’d be taking advantage of you at a time of weakness, whether you choose to call it that or not. Save yourself for Aidan. You’ll be grateful to me, believe it.”

“Bollocks,” I snapped, a tide of humiliation sweeping over me. “Forget the whole idea. Clearly I misjudged the situation.” I tried very hard to conceal how close I was to tears. “Pass me that salve, I’ll tend to my cuts myself.”

“I’ll do it,” Cathal said. “It’ll be an exercise in self-restraint.”

And it was, for both of us. Whatever his motives were for rejecting me, I had been wrong to think for a moment that he was indifferent. His fingers were as gentle as the first time he’d done this, but far less sure. They were shaking as they moved along the lines on my face. I saw the desire in his eyes, and in the softening of his tight lips, and I heard it in his breathing, as unsteady as my own. I kept very still. Tears brimmed in my eyes but did not fall. I hadn’t misjudged the situation so very much after all. He was making no attempt to disguise the fact that he wanted me. “When we get home,” I whispered, “I’m not letting you run away. I just won’t have it.”

“Ah, well,” said Cathal, “if that day comes, I might have some things to say to you that can’t be said now.” He reached with his thumb to brush the soft skin below my eye, arresting the spill of tears. “This job is done, and now you should try to sleep, Clodagh. Whatever happens tomorrow, you’ll need your wits about you. These folk twist our minds with ease. I’m hoping your dog-masked guardian will stay by your side while you finish your quest, and keep you from straying again. I’d rather not have to restrain you by force.”

“I can’t bear to think of Finbar so close and being taken out of reach again. They didn’t seem interested in Becan at all.” I glanced over at the sleeping child, a tiny mound under his blanket.

“A trick. Whoever that was at the gate, it was not the person you must deal with here. These are not the kind of folk who grant favors without payment. It must be an exchange, as you expected. I can’t say I took to that thing in the dog mask, but the evidence suggests you will be safer trusting it than these others.”

“Because of the bond of kinship, you mean?”