At dawn he whispered. “Good morn, mo reul-iuil.”

He had shifted in the night onto his back in a more comfortable position. I was beside him, my hand resting on the front of his shoulder. My lips touched the curve of his tricep. My fingertips brushed his neck. It was all in focus now. His skin. His smell. His taste.

“I love you.”

“Say it once more.”

“Are you going to be bossy with me again today? I thought you were going to let me go slow.”

“Twas slow. Three days is plenty slow enough.” He chuckled. “And I am nae commandin’, I am askin’. Say it again.”

“I love you, Magnus.”

“And ye are my wife?”

“I am. I am your wife. And I’m really glad you’re back in my arms.”

“Aye, tis good.”

“And I’m really, really happy you’re back between my legs. You rocked my world.”

He raised his brow and a cocky smile spread on his face. “Ah, a compliment to my manliness. Ye are a verra good wife.” His fingers trailed up and down my arm.

“How long do we have before they come for you again? Before you’ll have to go again?”

He raised his head to look me in the eyes. “I am nae goin’ anywhere, mo reul-iuil. It has been enough.”

“But you have vows, and duties, Lady Mairead, a kingdom…”

“Nae. I have done enough.“

I raised up on my forearms to look down at him. “Sean may be right about it though. You can’t just turn your back on it.”

“Aye…” he sat thoughtful. “I — you are right, I canna. I ken I have a duty tae fulfill. But I vowed tae ye before God that I would tie my life tae yours. How do I reconcile the two?”

I pressed my lips to his shoulder. “I don’t know. I only know that I can’t let you go again.”

“Nor I, mo reul-iuil. You are all that matters tae me — wakin’ up beside ye. Tae have ye smile up at me. There is nothing else, but—”

“Magnus, love, don’t put a ‘but’ on that. There is nothing else.”

I wrapped around his arm. “I don’t know how you reconcile a duty to a violent future-kingdom with your vow to love me in Florida. I don’t have an answer. But maybe we don’t need an answer today. Maybe all we need is this — waking up beside each other, talking through our day, planning together. This is what we want. So every morning we’ll do this.”

I clasped his hand in mine. “And if you wake up and look over and I’m not here beside you then we’ve screwed up somehow and we need to fix that. Together.”

I pulled my head up to look down at him with a smile. “Get it? I’m not there, but we still need to fix it ‘together’? What I’m saying is ‘together.’ That’s the point.”

He chuckled. “From this day forward I will look down for your mornin’ smile and if ye are nae sprawled across m’chest I will say, ‘Kaitlyn where are ye?’ And then we will find ye, together.”

“It’s a perfect plan.”

“I had many dreams of ye, Kaitlyn. They felt so real. I was callin’ tae ye and ye couldna hear me.”

I rested my chin on his shoulder. “I had dreams like that too. You were with me but I couldn’t reach you. Grandma said it’s because we are entangled. That when we made the baby I took bits of your DNA and bits of the baby’s DNA and I have them inside of me now.” A tear slid down my nose. “And so even when you’re gone…”

“I winna be gone anymore.”

“And even though the baby is gone…”

“He is still a part of ye, mo reul-iuil. He is still with us.”

I nodded and sobbed into his chest and he held me while I cried.

Then I said, “I need a Kleenex in the eighteenth century.” I laughed through my tears.

“Aye, ye have a bit of it comin’ from your nose.” I scrambled off the bed for a napkin that Zach packed in the cooler and blew my nose.

I sat on the edge of the bed, naked, fiddling with the now soggy napkin. “I feel a lot better. Not perfect, but having a plan that we’ll stay together helps.”

“Twill take a long time, mo reul-iuil, tae feel perfect again.”

“So tell me about Lunessa Llama’s day today.” I giggled. “What is it?”

“Lughnasadh is a harvest festival. We will go tae church. There will be much prayin’ and blessin’ over loaves of bread.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Oooh, fun.”

He grinned. “Then we will eat bread and we will declare it delicious.”

I jokingly grimaced. “There is not enough yoga mat in it.”

“Explain what ye just said.” His strong hand stroked up and down on my thigh.

“A few years ago it was in the news that there was an ingredient in store-bought bread that was the same ingredient in yoga mats. You know, like that one I keep rolled in the corner of the bedroom?”

“Whatever for?”

“I think it was to make it softer and lighter.”

He shrugged, “Well, tis delicious.”

“I agree. We should begin to dress though, probably.” I stood up, his eyes following me. “This isn’t me pulling away.”

“I ken.”

“Good. Because though that was really hot last night, you probably shouldn’t get in the habit of bossing me around like that.”

“Only if ye arna listenin’ tae me.” I rolled my eyes and smacked him playfully on the shoulder.

I pulled the shift over my head covering me completely.

He sighed dramatically. “And the fun is over.”