“Tonight’s encounter or tomorrow night’s,” Mac Dara said, sharp as a knife. “Because that is the other condition. If my son can’t perform, if he’s incapable of bedding you tonight, then I have you tomorrow. That way you get two chances of a child. The bargain’s not ungenerous. If it’s a girl, as so many of my progeny have been, you’ll get your daughter to keep with no conditions at all. If you don’t conceive, you can go home and put all this behind you. You won’t be pristine on your wedding night, but it seems that doesn’t bother you.” His lips twisted in a smile that was the twin of Cathal’s at its most sardonic.

I drew a deep, shaky breath. “I agree to your terms if you agree to mine,” I said. If this went wrong, if I were forced to lie with this hideous man, my life and Cathal’s would be forever blighted by it. If it went as I planned, I promised myself I would never, ever take risks again. I would devote myself to a life of mending my husband’s shirts and cooking him nourishing soups. “You’re to leave us alone tonight,” I reminded him. “No spying. No scrying. No coming in the door. This is just the same as a wedding night and it’s private.”

He laughed. “I fear you will find it a deep disappointment. But we’ll make up for it tomorrow night, I promise. As for the spying issue, I won’t peep. I doubt there will be much worth seeing.”

“I want your word on it. And that I will be allowed to return home safely afterward.”

He looked astonished, as if it were remarkable that there existed in the world someone who might believe his word was a thing worth having. “I give you my word, then,” he said. “No spying. But I’ll have to leave the guards on the door. I don’t trust anyone, not even those who seem too weak to be a threat. As for the other, I’m willing to spend a night with you to get a child, but I can’t think of any reason why I would want to keep you. Shall we go?”

He led me out of the pavilion. It was quite dark now, a moonless night, and the sward where Mac Dara’s people had been gathered not long ago was completely deserted. A chill breeze sent dead leaves tumbling across the withered grass. I wondered if the glittering company had moved elsewhere once it became clear that their lord did not intend to entertain them tonight. Or maybe time was playing tricks again, and hours had passed while I was pleading my case. I was glad that I need not endure those people’s uncomfortable stares. I felt transparent, with such a tumult of feelings inside me that they must be plainly visible. Mac Dara must know that I planned to trick him. How could he not? Was I walking straight into a trap? Somehow it didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was that in a short time I would see Cathal again.