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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Tide was going out, expanding the dance floor with each shortened wave. I didn’t want to think about what would happen when the tide turned.

Actually, I didn’t want to think—at all.

I wanted to dance.

I was holding Borgan’s hand, and he was breaking trail, dodging and weaving in time to the music’s beat, dancers dancing with the dance.

There was a sharp tug on my hand; we dodged to the right, and Borgan spun, claiming three square feet of sand. At the end of his arm, I spun, too, and let myself be drawn close, the music informing us, moving feet, and blood—

My connection with the land, which had gotten loose and warm under the suasion of the music, suddenly snapped tight. The weight of its attention crushed the music beneath it. I stopped dead, turning my head. Borgan, caught on the edge of a swing, staggered, recovered, and stood, holding my hand and watching the side of my face.

Guided by the land, I . . . was staring into the duneside shadows cast by the bonfire, my eyesight sharpened well beyond the ordinary, so that I clearly saw the tall, thin figure standing there, wearing a red circle skirt and a white twinset, a pair of strappy shoes hanging from the fingers of one hand. Her eyes were wide, her lips half-parted, and I felt her trepidation as if it were my own. In another minute, unless something happened, her courage would fail her and she’d bolt.

I took one step . . .

The firelight flickered as Bob moved between it and us. He threw his cigarette into the fire, and half-danced toward the thin, hesitating figure, his arms opened wide.

“Hey, sweetie; lookin’ good! C’mon, gimme smooch!”

She dropped the shoes and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. I blinked away tears of relief, my heart slamming against my ribs as he hugged her tight, lifting her a little off the sand, and spinning her around.

I backed away from the land’s perception, turned and looked up into Borgan’s face. He had been watching the pair at the bonfire; now he looked down to meet my eyes.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

“Cathahouris,” I said, “from the Kite Track. I went out and talked to her this morning. Reminded her it was Midsummer Eve. She said she didn’t care.”

“Looks like she changed her mind,” Borgan said. “You still feel like dancin’?”

I grinned at him, the music filling me again, heating my blood, brain and heart; and the land already dancing.

“I don’t think you can stop me.”

Midsummer is one of the most-celebrated days in the world; a festival of light that outshines even Christmas. Longest day, shortest night, the sun at the height of his powers, recharging the whole world, and everyone on and in it.

Is that a great excuse for a party, or what?

Some traditions have an element of spirituality—of ritual. Some are not much more than a bonfire, and a dance.

Those two things right there—the fire and the dance—those are the two constants, across the world.

In Archers Beach, dancing is the reason for the season. Oh, sure, we have a feast, but that’s because dancing’s hungry work.

It’s a free-form affair; nobody’ll stop you ribbon-dancing ’round a pole, stipulating you could find room on the beach to pitch one, and space enough to swing out. Mostly, though, folk dance with a friend, friends or by themselves—uplifted and informed by the music.

It’s the music that ties us all into a whole; that lifts us out of ourselves and connects us; the music that makes us one will and whole desire; that washes our souls and pours the combined golden energy of us over our land, and everyone on and in it.

I don’t know how long Borgan and I were part of the dance. The music flowed around, through, and between us. We kept hold of each other’s hand, and it seemed that the music became the tide, flowing from me to Borgan; returning from him changed in some infinitely precious way.

It was, if you’ll excuse the expression, magical, and utterly different from dancing down Midsummer Eve with Tarva.

Borgan and I slowed, in obedience to the music’s tempo. We drew nearer, my hand found his shoulder, his palm molded my waist, and we moved, effortless as water, perfectly matched in the music. I looked up, met his eyes, black and brilliant in the fire light. He bent his head, and I raised my face . . .

The music shattered.

We stumbled, snatched at each other, and managed to stay upright, which wasn’t the case for everyone who had been motivated by the music. Nearby, I saw Gaby sprawled in the sand, shaking her head. Further on, there was Moss down on one knee, and Felsic with an arm around Peggy’s waist, and a shoulder against Vornflee’s chest.

The fiddle carried on alone for another bar, two, three . . . and drifted into silence. Land-sharpened sight showed me Henry turning questioningly toward his mates, bow at his side. One of them stepped forward, coming from the dark into the light, and slinging his guitar around to hang down his back by its strap. He was staring to the left, a frown on his not-quite-ordinary human face.

The land murmured then, pleased, but muted. I turned to follow the guitarist’s gaze, saw dazed dancers move aside, opening the way for . . .

Mr. Ignat’ . . .

. . . with my mother on his arm.

She looked like a child, her light curls tousled and tumbled by the breeze, dressed in jeans and a bulky sweater that might’ve been handed down from an older, bigger cousin.

“
Nessa
?” The guitarist sounded disbelieving.

“Andy.” She slipped away from Mr. Ignat’ and walked forward until she was standing in the light cast by the stage lanterns. “Good to see you. It’s been a long time.”

“A long time,” he repeated, and shook his head, his gaze never leaving her face.

“I haven’t danced at a Midsummer Eve since I went Away, all that time ago,” she said softly. “May I dance at this one?”

“Anybody who can hear the music can dance Midsummer in. That’s the way it is. Always been so.”

“Yes,” my mother said, quietly. She paused before adding, “It was wonderful, the music. I’d like to hear more.”

Andy’s mouth twisted. “You home, now?” he asked, like the question had been knocked out of him by a sharp slap on the back.

“Yes,” Mother said. “I’m home now.”

Andy sighed, and didn’t say anything for what felt like a long time. Everyone—dancers and musicians waiting, breath caught—sighed as one being when Andy gave a sharp nod, pulled his guitar ’round and ran out a lick so bright and brittle it might’ve drawn blood.

The bass took up the line, dulling the edge with drive; and the fiddle came in again, singing joy and welcome home. Hearing it come together, instrument by instrument, it struck me that Henry
was
only human; perhaps the only human among the players. He must, I thought, be the safety valve; the guarantee that the music stayed within bounds; that it delighted, healed, and informed without jumping the line to possession, doom, and damage.

“And me without a pair of red shoes,” I muttered, watching my mother sway into a dance all of her own, her eyes still locked with Andy’s. Mr. Ignat’ had stepped back into the crowd; after a search, I spied him, dancing as one of a circle of six.

The music picked at my feet, tempting me, but my stomach had other ideas. Dancing with the fairies is hungry work.

“Something to eat?” I asked Borgan.

“Sounds good.”

We carried our beers and our plates out of the crowd, down to Googin Rock, and made a picnic on the dry apron, the timid plashing of the waves restful and blessedly ordinary, after our immersion in the dance.

“Folk still give it a wide berth,” Borgan commented, after our plates were empty, and our beers nearly so.

“It’s not exactly the most inviting seat in the house,” I answered, downing what beer was left, and setting it and the plate carefully on the stony surface.

It wasn’t, I realized as the silence stretched, the best answer I might have made. A better one might have offered some opportunity for continued conversation.

“How’s
Gray Lady
?” I asked, introducing a topic with more scope. I hoped.

“She’s all cleaned up and shipshape. I built some wards so they won’t be able to do
that
again, at least.”

“And Daph—the
ronstibles
, themselves?”

He snorted, drank off the last of his beer and set his bottle and plate with mine.

“Let’s just say that good fences make good neighbors.”

That was Maine wisdom, right there. Still . . .

“Are they
really
good fences?”

“Think I don’t know how to build a ward?”

“I know you can build a ward. Saw what you did with this very rock, didn’t I?”

“Fairly speaking, I had help.”

“Borgan, seriously—what happens if they get loose again? The
ronstibles
?”

“Well, this is the first time in a lotta years they had a chance to set up an ambush. Generally, I’m careful, Kate—don’t you worry.” He paused, and then said, just a little too casually, “So I was thinking, if you don’t mind walking down to the harbor, I’d introduce you to the
Lady
, an’ you could see if that shelf I left for you’s gonna be enough.”

I stared at him. “You left me a shelf?”

“For your things, like we talked about. You thought maybe you’d only want that change of clothes, but if you need room for more or other, I don’t grudge the space.”

I stared at him. He stared back.

“You’re serious,” I managed.

“Weren’t you?”

I closed my eyes. I had been—serious. Sort of. And now, tonight, having danced, I was even more serious. Borgan was . . . safe?

No, I told myself; he
wasn’t
safe. In fact, I had the fixed notion that Borgan could be extremely dangerous.

But I trusted him.

“Borgan,” I said.

“Kate?”

I took a deep breath, opened my eyes and said steadily, “Kiss me.”

He glanced aside, and my chest cramped so hard I felt tears come to my eyes.

“Well, now,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t object to a kiss. Not at all.”

“You—” I began, and stopped. Because he was right, damn him. It was my move.
I
was the one bringing the baggage into our relationship, if any.
I
was the one who’d kept pushing him away.
Dis
trusting him. That had changed, for me. As he told it, Borgan had been constant as the tides.

“You sure know how to take the spontaneity out of a moment,” I said, and stood up.

He looked up at me, black eyes wistful. I put my hands on his shoulders, bent down and kissed him as best I knew how.

It was clumsy—even I knew that, and my experience could be counted on the fingers of one hand. His lips were warm, and firm, and exciting in a way reminiscent of the rising of power. I felt a pressure on the back of my head and realized he was holding me, pressing me into the kiss.

The added pressure overbalanced me; my feet slipped, and slid in the sand; and I broke the kiss, grabbing Borgan’s shoulders for support. He gave before me, going flat on his back, his arm around my waist as I fell—

Onto his chest.

He was laughing. I was laughing. I got my hands flat on the rock on either side of his head and levered myself up, looking down into his face.

“Now you’re sorry, aren’t you?” I asked him, meaning it for a joke.

“No,” he said, and pulled my face down to his.

It was sweet. As sweet as anything I can remember in my life. I learned that kissing his ear made him shiver and laugh, and that having my throat nuzzled made
me
shiver and laugh.

I learned that it was . . . immensely satisfying to sit on Borgan’s lap, his braid lying heavy between my breasts; my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

We had been arranged like this for some amount of time—I don’t know how long—when the music began again. Whether the band had taken a well-deserved break, or whether Borgan and I had been too involved in each other to pay attention to the music—I didn’t know that, either.

What I did know was, my toes were twitching and my body was responding to the energy of the music.

“Is it too late to inspect that shelf?” I murmured.

“Not late at all,” Borgan answered, which was only true in the context of Midsummer Eve. “Now?”

“I think I’d better not start dancing again.”

“In that case, now it is.

“No navigatin’ through that,” he said, after we’d both gained our feet and stood for several long seconds staring at the dancer-clogged sands.

“And if we tried, we’d be dancing again, no matter what our intent,” I agreed. “Just have to go around, then.”

I grabbed his hand and started walking at an angle, toward Heath Hill, keeping the dancers on my left. Borgan followed without comment—like a cruise ship being pulled along by a tug—his fingers warm ’round mine.

We were halfway up the hill when the land
screamed
.

I threw myself up the remaining vertical feet. Before me was the Wood, slumbering and black . . .

An orange flicker caught the side of my eye and I spun, running toward the fire burning within the shadow of the Wood itself.

The land was barking furiously. Panting, I summoned my power, and threw it like a blanket over the flickering flames.