A Kind of Magic

Seventy-Eight

Fiona woke up in Peregrine scented darkness, wishing to go back to sleep, to forget about all the pressing matters she had come to the Highlands to settle. She wished she could just lay, shrouded in her lover's arms and the blankets he had pulled up to her chin, and catch up on sleep after all the restless nights she had had since he and later Freddie left the castle, followed by the exhaustion of the journey. 

She sighed, still keeping her eyes closed as she remembered the flight, the memory of how cold she had felt up in the air on dragonback making her shiver. Sensing that Peregrine was awake, she moved her head for him to be able to reach her lips, making him chuckle. 

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he muttered after having delivered the kiss she desired. "Our friends are already having breakfast, I told them not to wait for us when Annwyn came to look for you."

"How late is it?" Fiona muttered, snuggling closer into him, making him sigh contentedly. 

"By the old gods, I missed you, Bella," he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead. "It's mid morning, we really should get up if you want me to take you to see the dragons' camp... I suppose that's what you want to do today? Try to get a glimpse of Freddie? I wish there was more I could do here but observe, but before either Ancalagon or Alaric decide to make a move..."

She nodded. "I'd love to see Freddie unless it's too dangerous. Freddie said that Lagon knows about you being here."

Peregrine shrugged. "I had a feeling that he had known all the time. But he doesn't know about you and the others, he doesn't suspect my connection to you and Freddie. He takes me for Alaric's spy, and he doesn't seem to be willing to make the first step in this war he had planned. I believe that he would prefer Alaric accepting Freddie as his heir in peace, as Ancalagon's, a Highlander's son, making his father, who already declared himself the king of all dragons, the Regent of Silmarea. I suppose that if Alaric accepts all this, there will be no war..."

"But Alaric can't agree to this," Fiona muttered. 

"No, he won't. And if Freddie is right and Emrys is on his way-- and he won't come without at least a battalion of soldiers-- it might just open Ancalagon's eyes and force his hand to attack. So, whatever you want to do here, let us act before Emrys appears and then try to avoid the worse."

Fiona nodded. "I just want to see Freddie with my own eyes." She might also show herself to Lagon and try to talk some sense into him, but she wasn't sure. She would have to observe the situation and act on impulse rather than to plan this. It had been too long since she had seen Lagon, and he wasn't who he had pretended to be in London. Fiona didn't know how he would react to seeing her now, she didn't want to put any of her friends in danger. 

"Come on, you two, we're waiting for you," Annwyn's voice followed an impatient knocking on the door. 

Peregrine sighed, apparently frustrated by his sister's insistence, and Fiona gigled, caressing his cheek soothingly. "We're coming, Annwyn. Just give me a moment to get dressed, please," she begged.

"Finally," Annwyn complained when they appeared in the door separating Peregrine's bedroom from the large open space room filling the rest of the ground floor of the cottage. "He kept sending me away, telling us to keep silent until you woke up! Not that you don't need the sleep in your co..." she continued, pointing an accusing finger at her brother, stopping abruptly when Fiona shook her head at her, frowning. 

Her condition was something she hadn't told Peregrine about so far because she wanted to find the right moment to break the news to him. She wasn't going to use it to tie him down. Should he decide to stay in her life as more than her lover, then she didn't want it to be because she was pregnant. She craved his love, not his feelings of guilt and responsibility. The last thing she wanted was to make him to feel like her condition changed anything between them-- he was still free to do whatever he deemed right, and nothing would make her love him less, she understood his reasoning well enough by now and respected it.