The picture crystalized, but when it cleared, she found herself looking, not at some image from the world above, but at a direct reflection of herself. She stood in her room. Tears streaked her face, and her wet hair stuck to her neck and cheeks.
She wore the same clothes Lachlan borrowed from Dougie. Mud and weed stuck to her pants, and the wet shirt clung to her arms and stomach. In front of her eyes, the image showed a dark shadow around her midsection.
Ivy looked closer. Yes, it really was…. The reflection showed a small dark shape curled in a ball inside her lower abdomen. Black fur covered its skin, and pointed ears stuck out of its head. A tiny black wolf pup lay tucked between her hips and just below her navel.
Ivy’s hands migrated to the spot. She hugged the little creature, and her heart twisted with suppressed emotion. Could it be? One night with Lachlan was all it took. She was pregnant, and the baby possessed the McLeans’ werewolf shifter abilities.
Whatever else this baby was or would be, it was a wolf, just like Lachlan. She caressed both her hands around her belly. She stroked it and hugged it and embraced it. If she ever doubted before, all that doubt evaporated now. She belonged to Lachlan and the world above. She belonged to this Wolf Clan for good or ill, but it would always be for good.
She smiled down on her baby, and her heart exploded with love for the little one. She beamed all her joy and love to it, and it twisted and turned over in its slumber. It sensed her communicating with it and loving it, even now.
At that moment, a thunderous crash startled her. She spun away from the mirror and the image vanished just in time. Aegir barged into the room, cast his ferocious glare around, and marched up to Ivy. “Well, I hope you’re proud of yourself, young lady. You’ve caused us all a lot of trouble, but you’re back now, and here you’ll stay.”
“You can’t hold me here against my will, Aegir,” Ivy told him.
“I can, and I will,” he shot back. “You can stay here in comfort, but the walls will never let you out again. You can use your mirror to see whatever you want to see, but you’ll never be able to go anywhere through it again. You had every privilege I could give you, my dear, and you had to go and squander it on some madcap notion of seeing the world above again. Now you’ll stay here until we’re properly married. I’m sorry it had to come to this, but you brought it on yourself. I think even you will admit that.”
“I won’t marry you,” Ivy murmured. “I’m in love with Lachlan McLean.”
Aegir pretended not to hear her. “All the preparations are still in place. Tomorrow is the scheduled ceremony. You threatened all our plans with that little adventure of yours, but since we got you back in time, we’ll go ahead with the ceremony as planned. In a few hours, you’ll be my wife. Then that idiot grandson of mine won’t have any use for you anymore.”
Ivy whipped around to face him. “Your grandson!”
“Yes. Didn’t you know? I thought for sure you knew.”
“I knew,” Ivy replied. “I just didn’t know that you knew. I thought you didn’t know who he was.”
“I know perfectly well who he is,” Aegir returned. “I wasn’t sure, but after the way he fought, I put two and two together. No one in my realm had those powers except Rhona. After I made that connection, I made a few inquiries. You know how it is. I tested the chemical composition of Rhona’s blood versus Lachlan’s blood and presto! There it was.”
Ivy looked away. “Well, now that you got me back, you can leave him alone. He won’t bother you anymore.”
“I will most definitely not leave him alone,” Aegir snapped. “Now I have to kill him. I might have let him live if he was just any old foolish love-stricken man with his heart set on my fiancé. Now that I know who and what he really is, I have no choice but to eliminate him from the face of the Earth. Rhona tainted the oceans with that land-lubber of hers. Now it’s up to me to correct that mistake.”
“You don’t mean to kill your own grandson!” Ivy cried. “Not even you could do something like that.”
“What’s a grandson here or there when you live forever?” Aegir replied. “I don’t need a grandson, and I can’t have someone running around with his powers. He presents too great a threat to my authority. I’ll get rid of him, and peace will be restored to my realm. That’s all there is to it.”
Ivy turned away. She looked into the mirror, but it offered no image now, of the room, of her, or of anything. Its flat surface swayed with the current of the ocean all around it.
Aegir changed his tone. “Don’t be angry with me, darling. Let’s let bygones be bygones and start over fresh where we left off. I know we’ll be happy together as soon as we put this whole unfortunate episode behind us.”
Ivy didn’t answer. She clung to that image of her baby inside her, Lachlan’s baby. At least she still had one piece of him left, even if she couldn’t see him. Aegir said the mirror would still show her what she wanted to see. That meant she could still see Lachlan every now and then. That gave her some hope for the future.
Aegir came up behind her and put his arms around her. He kissed her neck and nuzzled against her ear the way he used to. His beard tickled her skin, and his breath filled her mind. “I still love you more than anything, darling. I still dream about you at night. I’ve been going out of my mind since you left. I could never rest until I got you back and made you my bride.”
Ivy leaned into him. How easy it would be to just go along with all this, to give up the fight and be at peace for the rest of her life. She didn’t want to fight anymore. She wanted a warm, comfortable, safe place where she could close her eyes against all her worries.
Aegir dragged his lips across her ear. His hands migrated around her stomach and up toward her breasts. At that moment, he raised his head and opened his eyes. He looked straight ahead, straight into the mirror.
Ivy didn’t see any image there, but Aegir stiffened like a shot. He froze, and all his muscles tightened against her. His voice snarled in her ear. “You slut!”
She started to say, “Aegir, I can explain….”
He seized her by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. “You soiled yourself with him! Didn’t you? You gave yourself to him—to him of all people! Now you’re tainted, the same way Rhona was. You filthy whore! I loved you, and this is how you repay me! Do you know what this means? You’re spoiled. You’re degraded. You’re worthless to me.”
She tried to say something else but he whirled away from her. “Do you know what this means? We can never be married. You can never be my Queen. Oh, what a fool I was to put my faith in such a heartless woman. You’re carrying his filthy spawn, too. You wretch! Torture and maiming aren’t good enough for you. Oh, I’d like to gouge out my eyes so I would never have to look at you again. How could you do this to me?”
Ivy’s surprise turned to anger. She flew at him spitting mad. “I gave myself to him, and I’m carrying his child, and do you know what? I’m glad. If I never see you again, it’ll be too soon. You took me when I first showed up in this crazy world, and you never once let me choose for myself if I really wanted to marry you. You pulled the wool over my eyes, and the minute it lifted and I decided for myself what I wanted, you turned against me. Now you’re doing the same thing with Lachlan. You never cared about me. I never want to see you again. Go on! Do your worst. Throw me out. That’s what I really want you to do. I don’t want to marry you or be your stupid Queen. Go get yourself another braindead patsy to dress up and parade around your banqueting hall and leave me alone.”
His massive hand clamped around her neck. For one terrible moment, he choked the life out of her. Then he flung her full force across the floor. “I’ll kill you!” he thundered. “I’ll destroy you and that worthless whelp along with you. You think you can waltz out of my life and live happily ever after with that stinking dog up there? You’ll never see him or the world above again. You’ll die down here. You’ll be food for the sharks. He’ll never know he ever spawned that scrap of fles
h in your putrid body.”
He raced out of the room and disappeared. Ivy lay sprawled across the floor where he threw her. Her body and soul ached. She held herself together until he left. Then she collapsed howling and sobbing on the floor.
How did it come to this? How could she know such happiness with Lachlan, just for one night, only to wind up here again? She never doubted Aegir’s ability to execute her for betraying him. That guy could carry out a vendetta if anybody could.
She peeled herself off the floor, but she couldn’t stop crying. She had to find a way out of here. She had to survive for her child’s sake if not for her own. She had to acknowledge the truth, though. It looked pretty hopeless.
She saved Grace from execution at Aegir’s hands, but no one would save her. She knew no one here who wasn’t directly loyal to Aegir. She made a lot of false friends down here. When the chips came down, they would stay true to Aegir. They would throw her on the pyre along with her baby.
She sat on her bed until she stopped crying. She wanted Lachlan. She wanted all the wolves of Clan McLean. She wanted their hard life in all its raw beauty. She wanted the world above with its bracing air and its freezing rain. She wanted anything but this clean, comfortable room under the ocean.
She shed all the tears she had to shed. She pulled herself together and got to her feet. She had to think of a way out of here. She crossed the room to her mirror. She wanted to see her baby again. That would give her all the motivation she needed to stay focused.
The surface undulated and reformed, but it didn’t show her a reflection of herself with her baby inside her. Instead, she saw Lachlan lying on a magnificent bed, but Ivy didn’t recognize the room. Pictures hung from the white plaster walls. Curved arches surrounded every window recess and doorway.
The mirror frame moved around to float above Lachlan’s face. He tossed in his sleep, and his eyes opened. He looked up at Ivy, and their eyes met. He smiled and put out his hand to touch her face. She put out her hand at the same time, and they touched each other through the water.
Ivy glided closer to the surface. They held each other, and his protective presence filled her with contentment. Was she just seeing what she wanted to see, or was this really happening? Did he see her and touch her, or was he just a figment of her imagination come to life in that mirror?
Somehow, they wound up standing upright, still clasped in each other’s arms. Lachlan kissed her, and his essence flooded her mind. They were together after all. He dropped onto his knees and kissed her belly where the child slept.
Ivy hugged his head against her and stroked his hair.
Chapter 26
Lachlan woke up early the next morning. He buckled on his kilt and tucked in his shirt. Then he belted on his saber, stuck a dirk in his belt, and put on his sporran. He combed his hair in the glass above the washing strand and took a look through the window at the weather.
He went downstairs. All the servants of Duart Castle already bustled about their work. People bowed and curtsied to Lachlan when they passed him. “My Laird.”
Lachlan wasn’t used to living around so many people. Noise and shouts and laughter filled the castle. Children ran and played. They collided with Lachlan and ran on their way without so much as an apology. They had no idea who Lachlan was. He’d been gone too long.
He stopped by the kitchen. The cook and the maids flew into a frenzy. “Och, let me set the table for ye in the dining room.”
“I’d rather eat in here,” he told them. “Please, just set me a bowl at the table. I’ll eat me food and be on my way. I’ll give ye no bother.”
It took some arguing to convince them he didn’t want to eat a state breakfast with all the Clan heads in attendance. In the end, he had to order them in the strictest terms to set him a place at the kitchen table and leave him to his business.
The maids set the place, and the cook served him a bowl of porridge, unsweetened. Lachlan sat down and picked up his spoon. The three maids stared at him like he dropped out of the sky.
Lachlan waved his hand. “You’re dismissed.”
The maids exchanged glances. Then they ran weeping from the room. Lachlan bent over his bowl and started eating. The cook went about her work by the fire and said nothing for a long time. After a while, she murmured under her breath. “Your father did it the same way. Do ye remember?”
Lachlan’s head shot up, and he saw the elderly lady smiling at him. Lachlan blinked. “Aye. I remember, but I dinnae remember everyone making such a fuss over it.”
She chuckled and went back to her work. “They got used to it after a wee while, and they’ll get used to it with ye as well. It might take a few years, but they’ll learn. Ye just have to stick to your guns.”
“Right.” He drained his bowl and got up. “Thank ye. I’ll see ye tomorrow morning, bright and early.”
She bobbed a curtsy. “As ye say, my Laird.”
Lachlan left the kitchen. He stopped by the front door to get a better look at the weather. When he turned around to reenter the castle, he came face to face with Christie. “Well, lad?”
Christie nodded. “They’re waiting for ye in the Great Hall. They’re all in a dither about Arch.”
“And ye?” Lachlan asked. “Are you in a dither about Arch, too?”
“Me? No, I’m no’ in any dither about Arch. The way I see it, we’re all walking corpses anyway. It’s only a matter of time afore we all wind up like him. It’s only a miracle we didnae all get wiped out afore now.”
Lachlan nodded, but he couldn’t smile. He sensed the same thing. Every member of this Clan was living on borrowed time before the hammer dropped and killed them all.
“Have ye sent word to Urlu about those dragons?” Lachlan asked.
“I came to find ye to talk to ye about that very thing,” Christie replied.
“Dinnae tell me ye han’t sent word yet,” Lachlan exclaimed. “Any delay’ll cost us lives. Ye ken that yourself, lad.”
“I didnae send word yet, because I want to go myself,” Christie replied. “Since ye told us about it, I have been thinking on it. I want to go. If someone’s to go, it should be someone the Urlus already ken, and that’s me. Ye cannae send just any auld man. He’s got to be a fighter, and a good one. He’s got to understand these forces to deal to whatever he finds on the road. Let me go, Lachlan.”
Lachlan shifted from one foot to the other. “I dinnae like to let ye go, lad. I need ye here.”
“Ye dinnae need me as much as ye need the Urlus. Name me one man here ye trust enough to send, now that Arch is dead.”
“You’re right about that,” Lachlan agreed. “There’s no man here I trust as much as ye. That’s why I was hoping to keep ye with me. I need ye for a wee mission I have to accomplish.”
“What is it?” Christie asked.
“Come along to the Great Hall, and I’ll explain it to all the lads at once.”
Christie followed him, and Lachlan found twenty Highland men waiting for him in the Great Hall. They broke up their conversations when he entered, and they parted to let him into their circle.
He scanned their chiseled faces. Half fought with him at the Tower House. The others he knew from their previous encounters with the curse. He trusted every man here with a blade.
“Morning to ye, lads,” he greeted them. “All’s well, I see.”
Nods went around the room. “Aye, my Laird.”
Lachlan faced Clyde. “Are the guards all posted and organized into their watches?”
“Aye,” Clyde replied. “The patrols are scouting the southern peninsula, and we have a few posts along the shore to keep a watch for any attack.”
“Good,” Lachlan exclaimed. “Keep all the guards and patrols in place the way it was afore we came back from the Tower House. Keep all our defenses in place as if we never came back.”
The other exchanged glances. “What’s this all about, my Laird?” Aiden Montgomery asked.
“I’m leaving,” Lachlan ann
ounced. “I’m going on a mission, and I want five volunteers to come with me. I want all the defenses left in place without having to depend on us to keep this castle safe.”
“What’s the mission?” Christie asked.
“I’m going to bring back Ivy. I’m going under the ocean, and I want five stout men to come with me.”
“Are ye mad?” Colin breathed. “It’s certain death.”
“Maybe,” Lachlan agreed. “Either way, Aegir willnae stop attacking us until I defeat him, and the only way to do that is to fight him on his own ground. As long as he keeps throwing these sea monsters at us, we dinnae stand a chance. I must travel under the ocean to challenge him one on one. He’s proud enough to fall for it, and if I win, he’ll leave us alone and I’ll bring Ivy back into the bargain.”
“And if ye dinnae win?” Clyde asked.
“Then it’s for the best I dinnae win down there instead of here with all these people at risk. If I sit back and wait for him to come to me, I put the whole Clan in danger. I have done enough of that these last months, and I’ll no’ do it again.”
No one said anything for a moment until Aiden spoke up again. “Can ye no’ just leave Ivy to it? I ken it sounds heartless, but what’s one person to a whole Clan? I’m meaning no disrespect to ye, mon, but do ye really need to run such a risk?”
“I dinnae take any disrespect, and I would leave Ivy to it, as ye say. It comes down to this alone. Aegir’ll come after me, no matter what. It’s naught to do with Ivy any longer. I’d like to believe it did have to do with her, and I’m fighting Aegir for her honor, but it’s just no’ true. He’s after me now. He’ll never rest until he destroys me, and he’d best do that down there away of all this.”
A general murmur of discussion broke out. The men exchanged a heated dialogue with each other over the relative merits of the plan. Lachlan waited in silence. He didn’t have to tell them the truth.
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