The next morning, Isabeau was at the lake even earlier, when the darkness of night was only just shifting to grey, and dawn was still some way off. Mist hung in lacy wreaths on the air, and most of the forest flowers were still closed, their petals tightly furled into each other, refusing to open until they felt the heat of the sun.

On the other side of the lake, Duggan House was barely visible, a blocky shape peering through the fog.

Tucking her tartan skirt around her ankles, Isabeau sat at the edge of the lake and waited.

When she'd lived with Celeste, she had adhered to socially accepted clothing and worn nothing but dresses, but that had changed once she left to forge her own path. Men's clothes were often more comfortable, and certainly easier to travel in – Isabeau had quickly learned that travelling on foot and traversing forests, mountains, and unfamiliar countries was really not something to be done in high heels and a corset. But she still enjoyed wearing dresses, and today she wanted to greet Aileana looking more like a proper Scotswoman. So she'd donned a dark tartan skirt and a white blouse, with a plaid around her shoulders, fastened above her breast with a ring brooch.

After what felt like an age, but was really only a few minutes, a figure emerged from Duggan House, hurrying down the slope of land towards the lake.

Isabeau stood up, and even though vampires couldn't sweat, she found herself wiping her hands on her skirt. She was nervous, and that made her want to laugh. Including her human life, she was nearly a hundred years old – after all that time, she should have been smooth and confident when it came to women she liked. In her defence, it had been a long time since she'd really felt drawn to anyone, long enough that this almost felt brand new to her.

On the other side of the lake, Aileana undressed and stowed her clothes under the same knot of bushes as yesterday, and then she approached the water, naked, a small, pale shape amid the grey mist.

She dove in, cleaving the water like a blade, and emerged about fifteen seconds later, steadily swimming towards Isabeau.

When she was almost at the other side, she paused, treading water, her dark hair swirling around her. She looked like some mythical fairy queen, come to life in this quiet time between night and dawn.

"You did come back," she said.

"I did," Isabeau said, smiling.

Aileana climbed out of the lake. Just like yesterday she was completely unbothered with her nakedness, and even though the chill air raised goose-bumps all over her skin, she didn't seem to notice.

"Aren't you cold?" Isabeau asked.

Aileana shrugged.

Isabeau unpinned her brooch and took the plaid from around her shoulders. She offered it to Aileana.

Aileana smiled broadly. Her freckles looked darker today, tiny spots of colour on that pale skin. "If you want to warm me up, there are more excitin' ways," she said, putting a hand on her hip.

"You're very forward, aren't you?" Isabeau said.

She was fighting the same struggle as yesterday – trying not to look below Aileana's neck. Then again, maybe Aileana wanted her to look. After all, it was her choice to be naked, and she was standing very close to Isabeau, and the smile on her face was dark and heated, making Isabeau think of soft bodies sliding together and the sound of shared gasps.

What would it take to make Aileana gasp like that?

"Do you mind?" Aileana asked.

She hadn't taken the plaid yet.

"No," Isabeau said.

"Good. I don't believe in bein' coy, Isabeau Aguillon. When I see somethin' I like, I go after it."

"And you've decided you like me?" Isabeau said.

The plaid slipped from her fingers, landing on the ground between them.

Aileana stepped forward, until there was almost no space between then. Isabeau could feel the lake-water chill coming off her skin, and the warm rush of blood beneath it, the eager beat of her heart, the way her breathing was quicker than it had been a moment ago.

"Aye," Aileana murmured, reaching up and trailing one finger down Isabeau's chest. "And I usually get what I want." She stretched up a little, bringing her mouth closer to Isabeau's. Her breath was warm on Isabeau's face

"I can't say I object to that," Isabeau said.

She dipped her head and kissed Aileana. The Scottish girl's mouth was cold against hers, but it quickly warmed up as she twined her arms around Isabeau's neck, pulling her close.

Isabeau's heart was in her throat, and her skin was burning. Aileana's body, soft and strong, pressed up against her, lake-water seeping through Isabeau's blouse. Her hands twisted in Isabeau's hair, then moved down, shaping themselves around Isabeau's breasts, drawing a small moan from Isabeau's throat.

This still felt like a dream, but it was one she didn't want to wake up from.

They made love by the lake, using Isabeau's plaid as a blanket, and Isabeau found out exactly how to make Aileana gasp. She learned all the hidden places of Aileana's body, and shared her own secrets with Aileana in turn, and in some way it felt like coming back to life.

She hadn't felt this need for someone since Beatriz's death, all those decades ago.

Everything about Aileana fascinated her.

After the last shuddering throes of bliss ebbed away, they stole a few more moments together, lying tangled in the plaid, arms around each other. Aileana was breathing hard, and the lake-water on her skin had been replaced by a sheen of sweat.

"Good thing I'm swimmin' back, isn't it?" she said, as if reading Isabeau's mind.

"Do you have to?" Isabeau asked, splaying her hand across Aileana's stomach.

"You tryin' to keep me here?" Aileana said.

Isabeau made a soft noise and nuzzled into Aileana's neck. "Absolutely."

Aileana made a noise like a groan and playfully pushed Isabeau away. "Don't go startin' that. I have to go. They'll dock my pay if I'm late, and my Ma and Da need the money."

"Do they live in the house with you?" Isabeau asked, looking across the lake at where Duggan House had emerged from the fog. Early light was starting to gild the window-panes.

"No, they live a few miles away, but Da's got a bad leg, so he can't do as much work as he used to, and I've got five brothers and sisters who all need feedin'. They're countin' on me and I can't let them down." She nibbled at Isabeau's lip. "Not even for the beautiful stranger in the woods."

"I hardly think we can call each other strangers now, not after everything we just did," Isabeau teased.

"Maybe not." Aileana climbed to her feet and stretched, and Isabeau ran her gaze over Aileana's body. She wouldn't stop herself from looking now.

"Will I see you again?" she asked, and suddenly the nerves were back, writhing like snakes in her stomach.

What if this hadn't meant anything to Aileana?

What if, now she'd had Isabeau, she didn't want her anymore?

What if –

"Aye," Aileana said, breaking through the fears in her head. "You know where I live, and I come swimmin' most mornins', so as long as you're here I'll see you."

"Until tomorrow then."

Aileana smiled mischievously. "I'll try and come a bit earlier tomorrow. The more time we have the better, right?"

"I like the sound of that."

Aileana stooped to kiss her, then she walked to the edge of the lake, waded in up to her calves and dove deep, surfacing further into the water.

Isabeau wrapped the plaid around herself and stood up, watching Aileana swim away.

She couldn't wait for tomorrow.

Isabeau didn't mean to fall in love with her.

But their morning meetings by the lake quickly became a regular occurrence. All throughout summer and autumn, Aileana swam across the lake and though Isabeau offered to walk around to Aileana's side, Aileana always refused. It was too close to the house for comfort. The woods were thick and secret on this side of the lake, and they had more privacy.

Isabeau started renting a room at a lodging house in a nearby village, within walking distance of Duggan House and the lake, and though the accommodation was distinctly spartan, it was worth it to be nearer to Aileana.

Every morning, Isabeau would walk the mile and a half to the lake, and wait on the shore for Aileana to arrive. Every now and then she didn't, because she was too tired, because she had fallen ill, because she was away visiting family, and those days felt grey and empty to Isabeau. But Aileana came far more often than she didn't, and though they had less than an hour together each morning, each second was a treasure.

Things changed once winter fell. Aileana didn't feel the cold much – for a human, anyway – but even she couldn't handle swimming across the lake once it started snowing, and then the lake froze over, and she couldn't swim even if she wanted to. So she took to wrapping up warmly and walking around the lake, away from the open grounds of Duggan House and into the woods. Isabeau, of course, wasn't affected by the cold, but even Aileana drew the line at getting naked in the frigid middle of winter. There wasn't time for Aileana to travel to the room that Isabeau rented, so sex was not an option until the weather grew warmer, and as much as Isabeau missed that, as much as she tried to wish the snow away so she could feel Aileana's naked body in her arms again, she also relished these icy winter mornings because it gave her and Aileana time to get to know each other on a different level.

She learned about Aileana's brothers and sisters, and what their childhood had been like, how they'd always been short of food and money, and though this sometimes strained things between them, they all loved each other fiercely. Aileana had jumped at the chance to work at Duggan House because getting out from under her parents' roof meant they had one less mouth to feed, and because she could send most of her wages home to them. She learned that family was the most important thing in the world to Aileana, and that even with her job at Duggan House, she worried about them. Even if she sent them every penny she earned, it wouldn't be enough for them all the live comfortably. She wanted to give them more, but she didn't know how.

In return, Isabeau gave her an abridged version of her own past, focusing more on her human history. It wasn't always easy – she had to remember to keep quiet about so much of her life since she couldn't tell Aileana that she had been born in 1705.

Eventually the snow melted and the ice thawed, and spring bloomed in the woods. Aileana started swimming again. The physical side of their relationship resumed with something close to desperation. Both of them had felt the weight of months without sleeping together, and as soon as sex was possible again, neither of them could get their clothes off fast enough.

It was when they were lying together, Aileana still gasping for breath, a week after spring had arrived, that Isabeau realised she had fallen in love with this woman.

It wasn't the same feeling that she'd had for Beatriz, but it was love nonetheless.

She loved the shape of Aileana's body, her carefree attitude, the wild mass of her hair, the delicious burr of her Scottish brogue, the way she sometimes slipped into Gaelic when Isabeau did something that she particularly enjoyed. She loved the way Aileana laughed, a sudden loud burst of sound that sometimes scared birds from the trees. She loved Aileana's passion for her family, and her determination to make things better for them one day.

She wanted a future with Aileana.

But the only way that was possible was if Isabeau told Aileana what she really was. And that made her hesitate.

She had loved Beatriz, and Beatriz had been murdered on the night that Isabeau had planned to finally tell her the truth. It wasn't like the same thing would happen again, but it was still such a huge step, and all Isabeau could think about was how badly it had gone wrong last time.

Her relationship with Aileana wasn't the same as it had been with Beatriz, but it wasn't entirely different either. Both women had come from poor families. Both had worked hard to provide for those families. Both of them had journeyed into woodland to visit Isabeau.

Beatriz had been dead for more than fifty years, and though Isabeau would never forget her, Beatriz's loss was no longer an open wound. Loving Aileana was not betraying Beatriz's memory.

But did that mean she was ready to trust Aileana with her greatest secret?

She loved Aileana, but things weren't always that simple.

Aileana's family relied on her income from working at Duggan House, and Isabeau couldn't ask her to give that up so she could be with Isabeau. Maybe Isabeau could try and get a job at the house herself?

She didn't exactly relish the thought of working as a servant for anyone, but it wasn't a big price to pay to be with the woman she loved.

But if that was an option, what should she do first – get a job at Duggan House or tell Aileana that she was a vampire?

Should she broach the subject of working with Aileana before trying to get a job?

Not for the first time, she wished that Jeanne was here. Her old friend might have been able to offer some sage advice.

But Jeanne wasn't here. These were decisions that Isabeau needed to make herself.

It took her a long time to think about them.

Summer had rolled around again by the time she knew what she needed to do. The woods were blooming with flowers, bright splashes of colour among the trees, and the lake was as flat as a mirror, almost the same colour as the predawn sky.

Isabeau sat in her usual spot by the edge of the lake, her arms locked around her knees, nerves forming a hard ball in her stomach.

Today she was going to talk to Aileana about getting a job at Duggan House.

She had to broach that first, because if Aileana wasn't ready for that step, then she certainly wasn't ready to learn that Isabeau wasn't human. A year had passed since she'd met Aileana, but that didn't mean Aileana was ready for their relationship to advance. If she wasn't, then that was alright. Isabeau would simply wait until she was ready.

A soft splash heralded Aileana's arrival, and Isabeau stood up, watching as Aileana swam across the lake.

After a year together, she had become familiar with every inch of Aileana's body, but watching Aileana climb out of the lake, water sluicing down her skin, following the curve of her hips and breasts, she felt that same flare of raw desire that she always felt around this woman, as if she was seeing her for the first time all over again.

She held out a hand to help Aileana out of the lake, and Aileana took it but she didn't smile, didn't show Isabeau that gorgeous gap in her teeth. Isabeau got the distinct sense of coolness coming from the other woman, and it had nothing to do with the lake-water.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

Aileana's family? Had someone fallen ill? Perhaps her father's health had got worse.

Aileana seemed to search for the words, then she shook her head and smiled, but it was close-lipped and didn't quite reach her eyes. "Not at all."

"Are you sure?"

In reply, Aileana kissed her. Her mouth was as soft and warm as ever, but something still felt wrong, and Isabeau couldn't put her finger on what it was.

"There's something I want to talk to you about," she said.

Aileana waited.

"How would you feel about me getting a job at Duggan House?"

Surprise flitted through Aileana's eyes, but her mouth was turned down at the corners, which was hardly the reaction Isabeau had been hoping for.

"Why?" Aileana asked.

"Because I want more than simply sharing an hour with you in the mornings. If we work together, then we could be together properly."

"Isabeau," Aileana started, then shook her head.

"You don't want that," Isabeau realised, her heart starting to sink.

She had known that this was a possibility, that she would be ready for the next step before Aileana was, but it still stung.

"There's somethin' I need to tell you, lass," Aileana said.

"What?"

Aileana took a deep breath and looked Isabeau right in the eyes. "I'm gettin' married."

2/3