Bound to a Dying Man

es every stone in Donegal look like it has been weeping for a century. I stood with my case at my feet and counted the fishing boats in the harbour. Nine. Then I counted the lights in the

r the ghost of bread. A woman with short copper curls opened the door before I knocked. She

this house, so if you need anything, you ask me and no

aid. "Where'

in. "He's always out. You'll find

ng seaweed over the beams to dry. I have stayed in worse places. I have stayed in better. I put my case down, and when I turne

rk at the edges from water and pale green eyes that found me and stayed there. His face

early,"

ontract, folded and sealed. "Fiadh. H

my skin go warm under the scrutiny in a way that had nothing to do with the fire. "R

me the Alph

ckly buried. Ronan's mouth twitched. He reached out then and took th

wall. His eyes widened a fraction, and he pulled his hand back fast, the way you

" I said. It wa

d. "You're soaked through

h the back door into the rain, and I stood there with m

uld have left then. I have tho

e seaweed harvest and the boats and the Council and the weather, and I let her talk and made the right noises, and all the while I was thi

id at the door. "Rogues have been seen on the north

wander,

dered. I have never once in

back to sleep, and the window showed a strip of silver sea that I could not

wet stone, and the air tasted of iron. I walked north along the waterline, counting the br

ra

n was grey, grey the way a fish is grey, and there was a mark on his chest above the heart, a dark spiral thing like a burn that ha

lt in the water beside h

ng for a dying man. "Go back to the house," he said. Hi

id. "This is exactly my tr

d was soft and the sea kept pulling at my boots. He leaned on me and I felt the heat of him through the

n marks like that once before, in a book my mother h

my mind is running. "We're going to walk to the house

found mine, and there was something in them I had not seen yet

anything on

grey coat with his hands folded in front of him. His hair was black with silver at the temples and he was watching

o's that

and old. "That," he said, "is Lorcan. And you should be very care

wind came off the water and brought his scent to me across the sand. Clean linen. Pape

nty-eight years, stirred once in t