Dreamer's Daughter by Lynn Kurland

know
he
doesn’t like tales told.”
    The guard shot Quinn a disgruntled look before he turned back to Rùnach. “I’d be about my business, friend, and be on your way before something bad happens to you.”
    â€œA very useful piece of advice,” Rùnach said. “Allow me to buy you and your mates lunch in return?”
    The others seemed to find that an acceptable display of gratitude. Aisling forced herself to breathe carefully as she stayed next to Rùnach while he purchased enough food to keep half a garrison busy for quite some time. She kept herself apart as Rùnach directed a pair of shop hands to give the guards their lunch, offered a banal comment about the weather, then bid them a good day. She followed him without hesitation, forcing herself to simply walk instead of bolting as she so desperately wanted to do.
    By the time they reached the restaurant where she had almost been seen by her parents before Soilléir had hidden her, she wasn’t sure she could go any farther. Rùnach glanced casually at the citizens going about their business on the street, then put his hand under her elbow.
    â€œA rest here,” he said quietly. “A brief one, though. I don’t think we dare linger.”
    She nodded, then waited with him inside the restaurant as a table was prepared for them. She had to admit it was something of a novelty to think she would actually eat in a place she never could have afforded while she’d been a slave to the Guild. She looked at Rùnach.
    â€œI will have to make something lovely for you in return for all the gold I’ve cost you.”
    â€œA crown of flowers for my hair on our wedding day,” he said with a smile. “Or dreams, or whatever it is you lassies of your particular persuasion create. Color it gold if it suits you.”
    â€œYou are a very kind man.”
    â€œAnd you are a very brave woman,” he said, “for more reasons than just enduring me—oh, here is our server.”
    She followed him to a table in a private corner, sat, then found that she didn’t recognize half of what was on the menu. Rùnach seemed to have no such trouble. He ordered for them, then sat back and simply watched the other diners. She would have thought he had forgotten she was there if it hadn’t been for the way he occasionally tapped the side of her boot with his own. For herself, she could do no more than look at the pale amber ale in her cup and hope it wasn’t poisoned.
    If she ate any of the meal that arrived in short order, she certainly didn’t taste it. The only thing that gave her any pleasure at all was wondering if it might have been her parents’ last decent meal before they realized she was not where they’d left her.
    Rùnach was happy to accept the proprietor’s invitation to examine his collection of fine wines and suggested that perhaps a discreet exit out the kitchens might induce him to come back and purchase a bottle or two in the very near future. Aisling knew nothing about wine and couldn’t have cared less about rain—or lack thereof—in the area of Shettlestoune that seemed to produce the perfect grape for something renowned for its dryness. That made no sense to her at all, but it was a decent distraction for a moment or two.
    She was just as happy to leave it all behind, though, and be free of the man’s cellar. Their exit was made, as promised, out the back where there fortunately seemed to be a dearth of guards of any sort.
    â€œSo,” Rùnach murmured as they made their way down the alley behind the restaurant, “that was interesting company your friend Quinn kept back there.”
    â€œI can hardly believe he’s one of
them
,” she said. She looked up at him. “I was very naive.”
    â€œI think you were trusting and innocent. And watched over by very powerful people.” He studied the alley for a bit before he looked at