“O’course, Elspeth, but ye must not give in to this feeling ye have. Ye must try to stay strong. We all need ye.”
Tears fell freely down her face. She was still so stunning that I found myself jealous of her even with her face splotched red.
“I know ye feel ye must go now, but will ye try to be back for the birth in three months’ time? If I am to die, ye will need to be here for Alasdair’s sake. He can bear so much, but this would test him in a way I doona believe he’s prepared for.”
I would go to MacNeal Castle and make preparations for my wedding, but there was no way I would possibly miss the babe’s birth now.
“I’ll be back in two, Elspeth, and all will be well. Ye will see.”
Chapter 36
“Did ye not wish to say goodbye to Jerry, lass? I know the two of ye were verra good friends.”
Henry asked the question two days into our ride, catching me off guard and forcing me out of the silence I’d enjoyed for the entirety of our trip.
I shook my head but kept my gaze ahead. “We were not so verra close.”
“’Tis no matter.” Henry paused, and I could see him looking at me expectantly out of the corner of my eye.
“Why is that?”
“He will be joining us in a fortnight. I heard that yer brother no longer required his services so I asked if he wished to work for me at MacNeal Castle. He agreed as long as his sister could live with him.”
Mary snorted behind me. While I worked hard to remain emotionless, this sudden news nearly caused me to fall off my horse.
Whirling my head toward him, my voice gave too much away. “He what? He’s coming to work as yer servant?”
Henry nodded, and I noticed that his expression was rather furious. I wondered if he’d heard rumors about Jerry and me and my reaction had only confirmed them in his mind.
“Aye, lass. He and his sister.”
I couldn’t stop myself. The words ground their way through my teeth against my will.
“She is not his sister.”
Henry waved a hand dismissively as if he already knew that.
“In truth, I doona care what she is to him. I see no reason to judge a man for how he lives his life in private as long as he does good work for me. I watched Jerry at yer brother’s home, and he is a fair worker. I canna imagine why Alasdair saw a need to get rid of him.”
His tone was accusatory. I saw no need to escalate the situation further.
“How many days until we reach home?”
I intentionally refrained from labeling MacNeal Castle as only his home. I hoped my inclusive wording of the question would cause him to relax.
“Less than a day. We shall arrive by nightfall.”
There was a loud stirring in the trees to our left. Henry halted the horses as we waited for the animal within the brush to either retreat or step into the pathway in front of us. I expected a deer. Instead a tall, strapping highlander tripped his way in front of Henry’s horse.
* * *
“Pretend ye know me, lass. Otherwise, this lad will send me away, and I must speak with ye.”
I heard the stranger’s voice inside my mind as clearly as if he’d said the words aloud, but his lips never moved. The sudden intrusion inside my mind startled me so much that this time, I did fall off my horse. Before I could stand, the stranger’s hands were on my arms, gently lifting me from the ground.
“Remove yer hands from my betrothed, sir.” Henry’s voice screamed as he dismounted and made his way over to us. “Morna, are ye all right, lass? What happened? Did ye faint?”
The stranger kept his grip on my arms and spoke quickly inside my mind once again.
“Did ye hear me? Ye must hurry. Throw yer arms around me and greet me as if ye’ve known me all yer life. Ye can call me Hamish. Tell him I’m a cousin and insist that I come with ye.”
Too shocked and baffled to argue, I did exactly what the man asked of me. Throwing my arms around him, squeezing him with an intimacy that surprised even me, I gushed out loud about this man I’d never before seen in my life.
“Hamish! What are ye doing here? What fortune that our paths have crossed? Ye must join us. We are not far from home now, and ye look bone weary from travel.”
Surprising myself more with each passing moment, I twisted with one arm still around Hamish as I turned to address Henry.
“Ye doona mind if he stays at the castle, do ye? This is my cousin, Hamish Conall, my father’s brother’s son.”
Henry was caught off guard, but he could hardly refuse to shelter a relative of the woman he meant to marry, and I knew it. Masking his frustration, Henry nodded and extended the man his hand.
“O’course. Do ye have no horse? Where were ye headed when ye crossed our path?”
For the first time since his sudden intrusion, Hamish spoke out loud. His voice sounded exactly like it did inside my mind.
“No, I’m afraid my horse was stolen from me. ’Tis indeed great fortune that I stumbled upon ye, for ’twas my cousin’s home where I was headed.”
Mary’s bugged-out eyes caught my attention, and I discreetly shook my head to warn her to say nothing.
“I see. Well, we’ve an extra horse with no baggage. Ye can ride her, though she’s slower than the rest. Ye will have to take up the rear.”
Hamish happily agreed. Once he saw himself mounted, our caravan of travelers continued. The moment all was quiet, Hamish’s voice spoke to me in my mind once again.
“Ye can speak back to me in yer mind, lass. I’m surprised ye havena even tried.”
I was too confused for it to have even crossed my mind. Hesitantly, I attempted to think what I wished to say out loud to him.
“What are ye?”
“I’m the same as ye, lass. I possess magic, and I felt yers vibrating through the forest from far away. I’ve been trying to meet up with ye for days.”
This man wasn’t the same as me. If he was powerful enough to communicate with me in such a way, he possessed more power than I’d known was possible.
“Where are ye from? And why were ye trying to meet me?”
“I make it a point to speak with everyone I meet like us, lass, though we are scattered few and far between. I’m from Allen territory, Morna. I believe yer brother sent someone after me many months ago. I’m sorry it has taken me so long to find ye.”
The druid Alasdair sought, the one he believed could teach me everything I needed to know about magic, was here.
Suddenly, the darkness of the past week seemed a little bit brighter.
Chapter 37
MacNeal Castle—Two Weeks Later
* * *
It took less than a day of settling into his own territory, in his own home, around his own servants for me to see exactly what everyone warned me about Henry MacNeal. The man was an arrogant brute who thought himself better than anyone below his station. He was disingenuous in everything he said, and I suspected that his tendency toward violence was something he struggled to restrain daily.
If not for Hamish’s presence at the castle, I would’ve fled with Mary and Kip the day after we arrived. But the one positive thing about being in Henry’s home was that I rarely saw him.
He never visited my room, he hadn’t touched me since we arrived, and his days were spent tending to tasks left unattended while he was at Conall Castle.
It meant that I had the castle, or at least the rooms he’d given me, entirely to myself. I spent my days with Hamish. He taught me more in the span of a fortnight than I’d learned in the past decade.
The lessons were a glorious distraction from so many things I didn’t want to think about. Unfortunately, Hamish didn’t allow me to stay in bliss for long. On the day Jerry and Grier were set to arrive at the castle, the mysterious druid told me he was leaving.
“Must ye go? I could spend years working with ye and not learn all that I wish to.”
“Aye I must, lass, though leaving ye ’twill sadden me more than ye know. If I d
inna already know yer heart belonged to another, I would’ve spent the past fortnight trying to earn yer heart rather than improving yer spells.”
I could never tell when Hamish was teasing me—he so often said things I found surprising. I’d never mentioned Jerry to him, and I suspected he knew the truth of my feelings for Henry.
“Just who do ye think my heart belongs to?”
He shrugged in a way that only accentuated the length of his arms.
“I doona know, but I know ’tis not Laird MacNeal.”
I didn’t want to speak about Jerry. I only wanted to beg Hamish to stay.
“Please doona leave. I need ye. I went too long without someone to teach me.”
Dropping to his knees, Hamish situated himself on the floor and patted the ground so that I would join him.
“I must leave, but I will always be willing to teach ye. Ye are welcome in Allen territory any time. Those with magic are safe there, and our practice is looked at in a verra different way. Ye would like it.”
Perhaps I would follow him. Once I ended my engagement for good and Elspeth’s babe was safely delivered, I could go to Allen territory and devote myself to a life of learning. There were many other possible futures that seemed much worse to me.
“Do ye mean it? I will come then. There are things I must see to first, but later, I will come.”
Hamish smiled and nodded.
“’Tis settled then. I shall count the days until I see ye again.”
I laughed, again unsure if his small flirtations were genuine or meant in jest.
“How far is yer home from here?”
“’Tis closer from here than ’tis from Conall Castle. Though in truth, ’tis not all that far from Conall Castle either.”
I thought of the months Jerry had been away while searching for him. It had to be further than Hamish realized.
“It took a man I knew weeks to reach the village when he went in search of ye. How is that not too far?”
“’Tis our magic. The forest surrounding us is spelled. Unless we know ye are coming and can clear the path for ye, anyone searching will have a verra difficult time finding us. ’Tis a wonder the lad ever found it. This lad ye speak of—is he the one who holds yer heart?”
“No one holds my heart, Hamish.”
“Aye, someone does. For if not, ye would belong to me by now. Did ye know, lass, that if I were to say four simple words, I would break the spell ye’ve cast on yerself and ye would fall to pieces here in my arms? There is a pain inside ye that ye have buried so deep ’twill poison ye. I understand what ’tis to hurt, lass, but hiding from how ye feel only keeps ye blind.”
While the thought had crossed my mind the day I found Jerry and Grier together, I’d not truly thought it possible. Had my feelings truly been so overwhelming in that moment that I’d cast a spell on myself unwittingly?
“Do ye mean I’ve a spell on me in a literal or figurative sense, Hamish?”
He smiled. “Literal, lass. Quite a powerful one. Do ye wish me to break it?”
Bracing for the pain I knew would come, I nodded.
Rather than the breaking of a dam, it was like a slow trickle of rain. The feelings came in a slow steady stream. As Hamish opened his arms to me, I leaned into him and told him everything.
* * *
By nightfall, Hamish was gone. While a sense of misery hung over me with such intensity that I had to remind myself to breathe under the weight of it, I was grateful that I felt like myself for the first time in weeks.
I could see things clearly. I knew what I had to do.
I couldn’t marry Henry. And I had to find out if Hamish was right. His last words to me would haunt me until I did.
“The lad still holds yer heart, lass. If he truly loved her, ’twould have been released back to ye. I suspect she’s spelled him. The only way for ye to know for certain is to get him far away from her and see if he begins to wage a war within himself. If he is spelled, he canna do so while near her.”
Chapter 38
Mary and I created a plan, albeit a faulty one, in the little time I had before dinner.
I would extend my meal with Henry for as long as possible. While he was eating and distracted, Mary and Kip would ready our horses. We both knew that once the engagement was broken, it would be in our best interest to leave MacNeal Castle with haste.
In the meantime, I simply needed to pack all of my things and have them ready to be loaded before dinner.
With everything folded, I bent to my knees to put everything away.
Jerry’s letter fell to the floor from the folded clothes the moment I opened my chest. I’d not thought of it once since he’d given it to me weeks ago.
Sinking to the floor, I opened it with shaking hands.
* * *
My dearest Morna,
Oh, how I wish our first night together had not ended in such tragedy for you. There were so many things I wished to tell you that next morning, so many ways I wished to show you just how much I treasure your heart.
These past days have been a misery for me. You should not have to go through such grief alone, though I understand why your brother has asked me to stay away.
Lass, I know you worry that you are somehow responsible for pulling me from my own time. It is a waste of time. I don’t care who brought me here, I am only glad to have arrived.
Do you know how many times since meeting you I’ve looked up into the stars and pondered how I could have been so lucky? More times than I can count.
I’m an ordinary lad who until vanishing through time lived a very ordinary life.
You have made my life spectacular. And you have done the impossible. You made me love you more than I love myself, and we both know that I love myself a great deal.
I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into, lass, for even if you were to wish it now, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. You possess my very soul—you stole it the moment I laid eyes on you.
There is naught in this world I wouldn’t do for you.
All my love,
* * *
Jerry
Only someone who was exceedingly cruel would take the time to give someone such a letter if they intended to leave them the very same day. Jerry was anything but cruel.
* * *
Our plan went disastrously wrong from the start. I arrived at dinner to learn that Henry had chosen to skip it. Panicked that he might see Kip and Mary readying our things and take preventative actions to keep me from leaving, I went in search of him.
It didn’t take long. Only a few steps outside the dining hall, I could hear Henry screaming at someone. His tone was angry and violent. I hurried in its direction to see what was happening. He was in one of the castle’s four main towers, and I ran up the steps.
The charming, seductive man I knew was unrecognizable as he stared down at a girl younger than me who stood shaking before him.
I didn’t know what she’d done to upset him, but the moment I stepped into the circular room, he slapped her. Without hesitation, I launched myself between them, pushing him away as I ushered the girl from the tower, whispering in her ear for her to run.
When I faced Henry, his face had drained of color. He preferred to lose his temper in private, when no one was watching. He believed this was the first sign of it I’d seen, and he was visibly embarrassed for being caught.
He attempted to give an explanation, but I held up a hand to interrupt him.
“No, it doesna matter what the lass did to ye, ’twas no reason to hit her.”
Glancing down, he pretended to be regretful.
“Ye are right. The stress of all the work that awaited me when I returned here wears on me. I shouldna have lost my temper.”
I was so angry that the sole reason for finding him was no longer at the forefront of my mind.
“From what I’ve heard, ’tis not the first time ye’ve lost yer temper with a servant.”
His left brow twitched ever so s
lightly—a small flash of anger that he masked quickly.
“Have my servants been speaking to ye, lass? They know they are to leave ye be unless ye require them.”
“’Twas not anyone here, though I suspect they are all too terrified of ye to say anything. ’Twas friends from Conall Castle. No one thought I should come here with ye.”
He seemed to be searching for someone to blame—someone he could take his anger out on.
“’Twas Kip, then. Aye, I yelled at the lad once. He deserved it. I was verra clear on which stall I wished for my horse to stay in. He disobeyed me.”
I could feel the magic begin to twitch within my fingertips. Even with only two weeks of training, my powers were more integrated into my being. It took little for me to call on them now, and my anger had it at the ready.
“Kip doesna take orders from ye. Not at Conall Castle and not here. I am sorry to break my word to ye Henry, but I canna marry ye.”
He laughed and stepped forward to pin me against the wall.
“I’ve tried to be patient with ye, lass, but ye have overstepped. Ye are in my home. I shall treat my servants however I wish, and I doona allow anyone to break their word to me.”
“The man I see before me now is not the man I agreed to marry. I’m under no obligation to stay here. My brother will welcome me back with open arms. My horses are ready. I plan to leave at once.”
For a moment, I thought he would step away, that things would end peacefully, but as the silence stretched, I watched him change his mind. One moment, his palms braced the wall on either side of my head, the next his hands were on my waist, squeezing as he pushed me into the stones so hard that I feared my ribs would break.
He leaned in close, and the warm breath that once threatened to seduce me now made my skin crawl.
Love Beyond Reach: Book 8 of Morna’s Legacy Series Page 17
