Midnight's Master

by Donna Grant

  “I’m not stupid, Logan. I know you were searching for this Tablet of Orn.”

  “You think I had something to do with this?”

  “You could,” she said and tried to ignore the spark of anger she saw in his hazel eyes. “All this could be some big hoax.”

  He dropped his hands from her arms and took a step back. His face was devoid of expression when he said, “I had nothing to do with the magic you feel inside you. Nor did I have anything to do with the blast of magic toward you a moment ago.”

  Gwynn stared into his eyes and saw remorse and guilt as well as anger and resolve. “How do I know what to believe?”

  “Look to your magic. Every Druid, if their magic is powerful enough, has a certain gift such as healing or talking to trees.”

  “Talking to trees?” she repeated in surprise.

  “Reaghan is able to see truth or lies when she looks into people’s eyes as they speak to her. Maybe you can do that as well.”

  Gwynn was once again forced to consider the magic inside her. Logan couldn’t have had anything to do with that. She hated not knowing what to believe. If only there was a way to discern what was the truth.

  A gust of wind swirled around her. Gwynn froze in her tracks as she swore she heard the wind whisper in her ear.

  “What did it say?” Logan asked.

  Gwynn looked at him, startled. His hazel eyes watched her with curiosity. She hadn’t realized she’d said anything out loud. “I thought the wind said the word “magic” in my ear.”

  “What were you thinking before you heard the wind?”

  “I was wishing there was a way I could learn the truth of everything, of whether to trust you or not.”

  Logan nodded. “I can no’ help you in this search, but I can tell you some of the things I learned from the Druids I knew. Maybe something will help.”

  “You aren’t angry that I don’t trust you?”

  One side of his mouth lifted in a heart-stopping grin. “I’d be more worried if you believed everything without wanting proof.”

  “And you can give me proof?”

  “If Deirdre is here, then aye. If no’, it’ll be a might more difficult. It will mean a trip to MacLeod Castle.”

  “There is no MacLeod Castle.”

  Instead of being taken aback, Logan’s grin grew. “Oh, aye, lass, there is. And that I can prove to you.”

  An unexplainable thrill rushed through her at the prospect. She had no idea why. She’d never even heard of a MacLeod Castle until Logan. Still, something, her magic maybe, urged her to find the castle.

  “How can you prove it?” Gwynn asked as she began walking down the path. “I know there’s no MacLeod Castle because I’ve had a fascination with castles all my life. I researched every castle in Britain through the years. There’s still MacLeod land, though for some reason no one has built on it in centuries.”

  “Aye. Because the MacLeods are there.”

  Gwynn jerked her head to him. “The MacLeods from the story? The brothers?”

  “The verra ones.”

  “Once we find my father, I would like to see this castle that doesn’t exist.”

  Logan winked at her. “It’s a promise then. I’ll take you there myself.”

  Gwynn shook her head and kept walking. Logan was charismatic and entirely too charming, but beneath that exterior she caught glimpses of a different man, a darker man.

  He’d told her about Deirdre’s attack and Duncan’s death, but Gwynn knew he was keeping something else from her, something he wasn’t ready to share. And might never be ready to share.

  She was deep in thought about Logan and her magic when she crested one of the many hills on the isle. The view literally took her breath away.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  The wind alternately howled around her and caressed her skin. She was rooted to the spot, transfixed. Awed. Gwynn found herself reaching for the wind as if she could touch it.

  “Look inside yourself,” Logan murmured in her ear as he came up behind her. His nearness, his warmth spread around her, easing her just as the wind did. “Look to your magic and see if you can discover the answers you seek.”

  “Here?” she asked, her gaze on the startling view of the windswept sea and land before her.

  “Here. Sit, Gwynn. Trust your magic.”

  For the first time that day, Gwynn wasn’t cold. She lowered herself to the icy ground and closed her eyes as the wind’s gentle fingers caressed her cheek.

  “Gwynnnnnn…”

  “I’m here,” she answered.

  “We’ve waited a very long time. You could never hear us.”

  “I hear you now.”

  “You need to build your magic. War is coming. Danger is coming. Beware of Deirdre.”

  “Deirdre?”

  “Hear the music of the ancients. Listen to their words. Feel their magic.”

  Gwynn did as the wind asked. She searched for her magic, and surprisingly it answered her quickly. The magic, pure and sweet, surged within her, filling every cell and making goosebumps rise on her flesh.

  The magic was the most beautiful thing Gwynn had ever felt. It burned bright and warm as white tendrils grew from the center of her chest and seemed to merge with her bone and muscle.

  Gwynn wasn’t frightened, though. It felt right, as if the magic had been waiting years for her to recognize it. As if the magic had been waiting to become part of her.

  She opened herself to it, and as she did, she began to hear distant drums beating in a steady, hypnotic rhythm. With every beat of the drums she found herself floating toward them, yearning to see what secrets they held.

  And then she heard the chanting.

  Hundreds of voices rising together, speaking words she couldn’t possibly understand.

  The drums and chanting grew louder, until she was part of it all. Out of the chanting, Gwynn heard a voice. The female voice began to speak in … Gaelic.

  Gwynn’s heart leaped in her throat, because she understood the woman, understood a language she had never learned. And as the voice continued, Gwynn found herself hearing the same tale Logan had told her the night before.

  When the tale ended, the voice faded into the drums. Gwynn reached for the speaker, but the voice was gone. Gwynn screamed, begging the woman to return, for anyone to return and give her the answers she needed.

  “Gwynn? Gwynn!”

  Her eyes flew open to find Logan looking down at her as he held her in his arms. His face was lined with worry.

  “Gwynn? Are you with me?”

  “I heard them,” Gwynn said. “I heard the drums and the chanting, and then a voice came out of it and told me the story of the Celts and Romans.”

  Logan’s hand paused as he rubbed her back. “Did the voice tell you anything else?”

  “No. But the wind did.”

  “What?”

  Gwynn took a deep breath and slowly released it. “The wind, Logan. The wind spoke to me. It told me war was coming.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Logan rested his chin atop Gwynn’s head and took in what she’d told him. He knew a war was coming. It was destined for this time the moment Deirdre arrived here.

  “Did the wind say anything else?” he asked.

  Gwynn once again pulled out of his arms and gained her feet. She swatted her butt to wipe away the dirt, which only drew Logan’s gaze to her perfectly shaped behind. He cursed his quickening blood that pooled in his cock. He had to keep Gwynn safe, not seduce her.

  Even though it was all he wanted to do.

  He rose to stand next to her and handed her the cap he had inadvertently pushed off her head when he’d grabbed her. When she’d called out, he’d not thought twice. He’d just wrapped his arms around her and did everything he could to reach her.

  “Gwynn?”

  She blinked and looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. “I can hear the wind, Logan. It’s like several voices talking at once.”


  He smiled at the excitement growing in her violet eyes. Her face was still pale against the black locks of hair tangled about her face.

  “The voices said they’ve been waiting for me for years. They said they had tried to talk to me before.”

  Logan tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “You had pushed aside your magic. Of course you didn’t hear them.”

  The smile she gave him made his heart skip a beat.

  “Their voices are the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.”

  “Did they have other warnings?” He hated to ask her, but if she could talk to the wind as Sonya spoke to trees, then they could learn a lot about Deirdre.

  “They warned me that danger was coming. They told me to beware of Deirdre.”

  Logan glanced around them. “We need to get somewhere safe.”

  “No,” Gwynn said and jerked her arm from his grasp. “I have to find my father.”

  Logan silently prayed for patience as he faced Gwynn. “You can no’ find your father if you’re dead or captured.”

  “You’ll be with me,” she argued. “You can keep me safe.”

  Logan clenched his teeth. “You have the rest of the day. As soon as the sun begins to set, I want you in your…”

  “Hotel,” she supplied.

  “Aye. Your hotel.”

  After a moment she nodded. “Fair enough, I suppose.”

  He waited for her to begin walking, but she kept looking over her shoulder. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Logan followed her as she walked to the edge of a small cliff. Below them water swirled as the waves crashed and water was dragged back out to the sea.

  “The tide is going out,” Logan commented. “You can see the rocks beneath the water.”

  “I see it. Though I don’t know what I’m looking at. Something told me to come here, but there’s nothing.”

  “What is the wind saying?”

  She looked up at the sky for several moments, then let out a loud sigh. “Nothing. Either I’m not doing it correctly, or it doesn’t want to talk to me.”

  “Come. You have the rest of Eigg to talk to about your father.”

  For hours they walked along Eigg as Gwynn stopped everyone she saw and showed them the picture of her father. A few looked at the picture longer than others, but eventually said they didn’t recognize him.

  Gwynn and Logan were about to board the ferry to return to Mallaig when Logan spotted a man watching Gwynn with lust in his eyes. Logan growled before he realized what he was doing.

  Fangs filled his mouth when he saw that Gwynn was heading toward the man.

  “Hi,” Gwynn said as she handed him the picture. “I’m looking for my father. He was here about three weeks ago. Did you happen to see him here?”

  The man started shaking his head, then paused and took another look at the photo. “I think I do. Did he like to carry an old leather satchel with him?”

  “Yes,” Gwynn said excitedly. “Where did he go? Who did he speak with?”

  The man shrugged and handed her back the picture. “That I cannot tell you, lass. He got off the ferry and someone bumped into him, spilling the contents of his satchel. That’s the only reason I recognize him. I doona know where he went or when he left Eigg.”

  Logan gave a terse nod to the man and led Gwynn onto the ferry.

  “He was here, Logan,” Gwynn said as she walked to the front.

  “It seems he was.”

  “Where do I go from here?”

  “First, you need to rest. You can no’ continue as you are.”

  She nodded and looked back at Eigg as the ferry departed, the setting sun casting everything in a deep golden hue. “Something tells me we’ll be back to Eigg soon.”

  Logan agreed with her, but not because of her father. He knew they would return to Eigg because that’s where Gwynn would learn more about her magic.

  And if the wind had warned her of Deirdre, then something was definitely coming for her. The when and the what were the questions he couldn’t answer.

  He walked her to the door of her hotel. “I’ll see you in the morn.”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “I’ll be around.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m tired, Logan, not an idiot. You don’t have anywhere to stay, do you?”

  “I doona require much sleep.”

  “It’s still early. Why don’t you come with me? I’ll order us some room service and we can talk about our plans for tomorrow.”

  Logan knew he should walk away. Gwynn was too tantalizing, too intoxicating. Too lovely. But he couldn’t make his feet move. Instead, he found himself saying, “All right.”

  Gwynn was dead on her feet, but seeing the way Logan looked at everything around him with a mixture of awe and wariness made her take a look at her world with new eyes. Everything she took for granted was something Logan had never seen or experienced before—if she could believe his claims about time traveling.

  If his story about Deirdre, the Druids, and Warriors was true, why would he lie about time travel? She found herself believing him, as she warned herself to be cautious.

  Yet how could she not believe him when it was obvious he had no idea about anything in her world?

  When she unlocked the door to her room, he went inside before she could. A second later, he bade her enter.

  Gwynn rolled her eyes at his protectiveness, but then she recalled the warning from the wind. A warning that even now made it feel as if ice were in her veins.

  She closed the door behind her and locked it out of habit. After tossing her purse aside, Gwynn took off her gloves and shoved them into the pockets of her coat before removing her scarf.

  Logan inspected her open laptop while she unzipped her coat and threw it over her purse. “It’s a computer,” she said.

  “What does it do?” Logan asked without looking up.

  “It surfs the internet.”

  His hazel eyes lifted to hers. “It does what?”

  For the next hour, Gwynn explained the internet to Logan and showed him how to use the laptop. To her surprise, he learned rapidly and was soon using it himself.

  She watched him for a long time, amazed at his curiosity. His intellect was remarkable. She’d asked how he was able to read modern English, since languages had changed so much during the past four hundred years. His response was a shrug.

  No matter how many times she asked, he evaded her questions until Gwynn let it drop. For now. With Logan immersed in the computer, she ordered room service and made herself comfortable on the bed.

  “Tell me what has happened in the last four centuries,” Logan urged her.

  Gwynn didn’t know where to begin. She started back as far as she could remember in the eighteenth century and hit upon anything she could drag from her memory.

  When she got to the twentieth century, she went into more detail. Logan had plenty of questions, and she answered any she didn’t know by looking it up on the computer and showing him pictures.

  By the time she reached the current year, Logan’s expression was perplexed. And worried.

  “Would you know if anything odd happened?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “Most likely. The news likes to report on anything out of the ordinary, but then again, they’ll pass over good news for something that will shock the public or send us into an uproar.”

  “I doona know when Deirdre arrived in your time, but if she’s already here, she would have made herself known.”

  Gwynn was shaking her head when she recalled a story that had caught her interest. “A few months ago there were these videos posted on the internet showing a creature no one had ever seen before. It made the news for a day, but when no one could find the creature again, everyone forgot about it.”

  “Can you show me this creature?”

  Gwynn pulled the computer onto her lap and typed in the URL. When the picture popped up, she turned the laptop where Logan could see it fr
om where he sat in the chair next to the bed.

  “Shite,” he muttered.

  “Shite?” Gwynn asked with a laugh. “Don’t you mean shit?”

  A smile split his face. “There are some things that never change.” The smile fell when he looked back at the computer. “That’s a wyrran, Gwynn.”

  She’d been afraid he’d recognize the creature. “Which means Deirdre is here already.”

  “Aye.”

  “What are these wyrran?” she asked

  “Creatures made by Deirdre using her black magic. They issue shrieks that pierce your ears. It’s an unmistakable sound, a sound I doona hope to hear around you.”

  “As far as I know the wyrran hasn’t been spotted since this was taped three months ago.”

  “Good. It means Deirdre is no’ out and about. Yet.”

  “What does that mean for us?” she asked as someone knocked on the door.

  Logan rose swiftly into what was obviously a battle stance.

  “It’s just our food,” Gwynn said as she scooted off the bed and went to open the door.

  She thanked the man and took the food. When she turned around Logan was directly behind her, his gaze fastened on the man walking away.

  “Hungry?” she asked.

  He looked down at her and nodded. “Aye. It’s been awhile since I last ate.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of. I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I ordered a bit of everything.”

  He helped her uncover the dishes she’d set on the small table. Gwynn’s stomach growled, proving that she was also famished.

  It was the best meal Gwynn had had in … years. Not because of the food, but because of Logan. He tried everything, all the while asking her what each dish was and how it was made.

  Some of his questions she could answer; others she couldn’t. She nearly choked on her food when he tasted a bit of her Coke and quickly handed it back to her. He preferred the beer she had ordered.

  Gwynn was so intent on watching Logan that she didn’t realize she had eaten her entire sandwich and all of her chips until she reached for another one and found the bag empty.

  She crumpled it up and wiped her hands and mouth. “What did you think?”

  “Some of the food is delicious. I’ve never tasted so many spices.”