“‘Aye,’ he said again after a long moment. ‘I ken what ye’re saying, Sassenach. I thought my heart would burst when I saw Brianna and kent it was really her, and the bairns…but for all the joy of it…see, I missed them cruelly, but I could take comfort in thinking they were safe. Now—‘
He stopped and I felt his heart beating against me, slow and steady. He took a deep breath, and the fire popped suddenly, a pocket of pitch exploding in sparks that disappeared into the night. A small reminder of the war that was rising, slowly, all around us.
‘I look at them,’ he said, ‘and my heart is suddenly filled with…’
‘Terror,’ I whispered, holding tight to him. ‘Sheer terror.’
‘Aye,’ he said. ‘That.’”