And when they’d said what might be their final farewell—tho’ neither had dared utter such aloud—they’d held tight to one another, neither wanting to be the first to break the embrace. And to Branwenn, ‘twas an added blessing that the illness that had been overtaking her these past morns had not occurred on this one. Callum had urged her to exit first, and when she had, ‘twas as if a vital part of her being were being ripped from her body. She’d cried her heart out the entire journey back to her chamber. And now she stood at the window in the solar, nibbling at her thumbnail, blindly looking out toward the garden in the north bailey. ‘Twas naught she could do about Callum’s challenge on the morrow, but there was much that could be done to keep her brothers from issuing the same challenge to Gaiallard, should Callum not survive. Please, Lord, let him live! she prayed once more—‘twas now an habitual incantation. Since thinking of the idea of escaping to Northvegia last night, she’d been ruminating and scheming in her mind to devise an unfailing plan to do just that.
