Ire Taverness's Arc

Chapter 18 of 19

The baby was three weeks old when Kael started packing the cart. Ire watched him from the tavern window with their daughter asleep against her shoulder. He carried bundled cloth, a small crib he had built in secret, jars of preserves from the cellar. He worked fast and quiet, the way he did everything. She knew where he meant to take them before he said it. He came inside and wiped his hands on his shirt. His orange eyes found her at the window first. "The tent," he said. "A week. The staff can hold the tavern." "You already loaded the cart." "I did." She smiled against the baby's head. "Then I guess we're going." He left the next morning before dawn to ride ahead. He wanted to check the wards before he brought them through. Ire watched him mount up in the yard. His lynx ears flicked once toward the upstairs window where she stood. He waved. She waved back with a smile and watched him go. He was gone two days. She kept the baby close and let the floor girl bring her meals up the stairs. On the third morning she heard hooves in the yard and knew before she looked. He came up the stairs slower than she expected. When he stepped into the room his sleeve was torn at the shoulder and there was a shallow cut down his forearm, scabbed already. He saw her looking and set his jaw. "Kael." "It's nothing. A tripwire snapped wrong." "Show me." He held out the arm. The cut was clean. She had set his shoulder once with shaking hands. This was nothing next to that. She let out the breath she had been holding. "The wards?" she asked. "Reset. New cord on the north line. I dug a fresh pit past the birch." He crouched beside the cradle and touched the baby's foot with one finger. "The clearing is ready. Bath filled. Roof patched. I hung a cloth over the crib spot so no light wakes her." Ire sat down on the edge of the bed. She had not known he was doing any of that. She had thought he was only checking the trips. "You built her a place baby," she said. "I built it for you a long time ago. She just gets it too,” he said with a smile. She reached for his hand. He took her’s faster. The baby made a small sound in the cradle and settled again. "We leave at first light," he said. "First light." He stayed on the floor beside the cradle that night. Ire slept in the bed above him with one hand hanging down. Sometime near morning she felt his fingers close around hers. She did not open her eyes. She just held on. At dawn they loaded the last of the bundles and left the tavern behind.