Soul of a Highlander

by Melissa Mayhue

  PRESENT DAY

  Breathing was the only sound in the small rental car. Her breathing. Unnaturally fast in the otherwise silent space. The old, familiar panic was taking hold, tensing her muscles, knotting her stomach, paralyzing her.

  What had Jesse told her in their self-defense practice sessions?

  “Control your physical and you control your mental. Fear is your greatest enemy, the one only you can defeat.”

  Mairi leaned back against the seat and consciously fought for control of her body, counting each breath.

  One one thousand, inhale, hold. Two one thousand, exhale. Slow down. Relax.

  Just like he’d taught her.

  “I’m no afraid. I am strong. Nothing here can hurt me.”

  There had been a time when she had really believed that. Hadn’t needed to reassure herself by saying it out loud. Seven hundred years in the past. But then her world had turned upside down, she’d been betrayed by a cousin she thought loved her, someone she had trusted to protect her. Lyall had proven to her how vulnerable she really was. How much there was to fear in the world. His actions and her knowledge of what her fate was supposed to have been had undone her, had stripped all confidence from her seventeen-year-old self.

  For the last nine years she’d worked hard, trying to recapture some portion of that confidence.

  “I’m no afraid. Nothing here can hurt me.”

  The words echoed back to her in the small metal interior, sounding hollow to her ears. Before she could allow the fear time to return, she opened the door and faced the obstacle at hand.

  Sithean Fardach. The new version.

  Looking up at it now, she had to admit Connor had done an excellent job in restoring the family castle to its original state. Of course, the grounds were nothing like those of its predecessor. No one had lawns then. But the building, the castle itself, even the outer wall, looked as it had; a massive square structure with a large tower at each of its four corners.

  When she’d first arrived in this time, everything had overwhelmed her. Her first exposure to the pile of crumbled rock that had been her home was devastating. It had symbolized to her all she had lost, all that was gone. She had never wanted to see it again. Even when her brother bought the land, designed and rebuilt the castle, urged her to come with his family each summer, she had refused, using school as an excuse to avoid facing this place.

  Now, here she was.

  And…it wasn’t actually so bad.

  She opened the trunk of the car and pulled out her suitcase, setting its wheels on the rock walk that led from the driveway to the great stairs. Framing the stairs on either side were long stretches of rosebushes of all kinds and colors.

  “Rock under the second rose on the right,” she murmured.

  Yes, there it was, just as Jesse had described. Connor kept a key to the front door hidden in a fake rock under the second rosebush on the right. He’d chosen that spot to make it easier for all the family to remember where to look, assuming everyone would be able to remember his second child, Rose. Mairi smiled. Yes, little Rosie made an impression that was hard to forget!

  After retrieving the key, Mairi climbed the stairs and let herself in the massive front door.

  “By my soul!”

  The rooms appeared to be the same basic size and shape as in her time, but her sister-in-law had done a much better job of decorating. The massive Great Hall now housed a family room with comfortable leather furniture, an entertainment center, and a dining area rather than rows of wooden tables as it had in the past, although the dining table, with its massive chairs, did look as if it could have come straight from the original castle.

  Mairi touched the switch at the doorway and lights, cleverly hidden in recessed areas of the walls and high ceiling, sprang to life.

  Doorways arched over staircases on both the left and right of the Great Hall, two on either side, leading to the towers at each corner of the castle, just as they always had. The farthest one on the right would take her to the master wing, Cate and Connor’s quarters. The nearest to the children’s tower. The closest one on the left should lead to the guest rooms, the farthest, to where her room and Rosalyn’s had been.

  She chose that doorway.

  The main floor had held their sitting room. She opened the door to find a room very similar to what she had known in the past, but more comfortable-looking, furnished with a small desk placed under a large window, a plush loveseat and matching chairs facing a beautiful rock fireplace.

  Closing the door, she headed up to the first landing. She reached for the knob of the door, only absently noting that her hand shook as she turned it.

  Her room.

  “Oh.” The sigh escaped without thought.

  Cate had outdone herself. It was beautiful, inviting her in, making her want to stay. A large four-poster bed inhabited one wall. It was draped in silky, sheer curtains tied back with cheerful ribbons, the whole of it done in her favorite light blues and yellows. The room seemed somewhat smaller than it had in her time and, looking around, she spied a door in the wall. Peeking inside, she found a full bathroom, decorated in the same colors. She’d have to remember to compliment her sister-in-law on her excellent choice of décor, and her brother on some wise architectural updating. While it wasn’t by any means a duplicate of the way it had been, it certainly was the way she would have wanted it.

  She backed out of the room and continued up the stairs, already knowing that whatever the top room held now, it was the place she needed to start from. It had been Rosalyn’s tower room, the place she kept her herbs and salves, her library, her bedroom, the place in the castle where her magic was strongest.

  As the door swung open, Mairi was again delighted with what Cate had done. It was a library now, the walls lined with filled bookshelves. In the center was a large table, a place to lay your books or papers. Centered down the table were jars of dried herbs, and hanging in the windows were dried stalks of lavender. The smell evoked the memory of her aunt.

  She smiled. If she were the weepy kind of female, this would have done it.

  Kicking off her shoes, Mairi hoisted her suitcase up onto the table, opened it and pulled out a large cloth bag and several garments she had sewn by hand. Shaking out the first, she spread it across the back of the nearest chair and paused, taking a moment to consider what she was about to do.

  While she should only be gone from this time for a few minutes, there was no telling how long she would have to be in the other time. And although she had carefully prepared what to take with her, it suddenly struck her that there were many things she couldn’t take.

  Like that beautiful bathroom on the floor below.

  With a shrug of her shoulders, she picked up the shift she had taken from her case and headed toward the door. One last shower before her adventure sounded remarkably appealing.

  This she would miss.

  Mairi leaned her head back, letting the hot water wash over her face and head, flowing down through her hair. After nine years, how much more might she take for granted that she didn’t even realize? How soft had she gotten?

  No. She wouldn’t allow herself to go there, to second-guess her plan. She had taken two months to prepare, gathering everything she would need, double-checking her research. True, there were gaps in what she’d been able to find. Documentation and record keeping hadn’t always been a priority throughout the years between then and now, but she had all the basics. And she would be traveling to her own time. Well, very nearly her own.

  Besides, she couldn’t have changed that much in nine years.

  She stepped out of the shower, sinking her toes into a fluffy woven cotton rug, and wrapped her hair in a soft towel, warm from the heated rack. The second towel she wrapped around her body before stepping up to the sink and mirror.

  She automatically reached for the hair dryer and turned it on. No sense going on her adventure with wet hair and giving herself pneumonia.

  When her hair was dry
, she pulled it back into a loose braid, tying it with a ribbon. She wore it the same today as she always had. Perhaps a bit shorter, she conceded, remembering her first trip to a beauty salon and the squeals from the women there over the length of her hair. Even now the braid brushed just below her waist, but was a good foot shorter than it had been.

  She unwrapped the towel from around her body and scrubbed it against her skin, liking the rosy glow it brought to her arms. She glanced at herself in the mirror and gasped, her hand flying to her chest as the towel fell unheeded at her feet.

  What is that?

  On her breast, directly above her heart, a deep, dark red mark, shaped exactly like a rose.

  “It canna be.” She traced the pattern with her finger. “It’s no possible.” The pattern she traced felt warm under her hand, the skin starting to tingle.

  “But it is possible,” Pol’s voice whispered in her mind, resonating in the mark on her chest. “You wanted that which was owed you as my daughter. I granted it. All that you asked for. And more, Mairi Rose.”

  “That’s not my name—” she started.

  “It is now, Daughter of my Heart.”

  The voice disappeared and the tingling sensation ceased. An involuntary shiver ran the length of her.

  “Whoa,” she breathed, then hastily bent and retrieved her towel, wrapping it around her body. “Are you still here?”

  The tingling returned and musical laughter drifted around her, through her.

  “You needn’t worry. I’m not there with you. I can’t see you.”

  “Then how did you know what I did?” She glanced at the mirror, her reflection showing the suspicion she felt.

  “I can feel your thoughts when I choose to.”

  “Oh.” He could just dip into her mind? “Can I do that?”

  The laughter again, gentle as a caress. “I don’t yet know what you can do, Mairi Rose. I won’t know until you know.”

  This time when he left, she felt it, recognized it. She wouldn’t be caught by surprise the next time he came. She knew what to feel for now. The Fae blood had always made her an exceptionally quick learner. Obviously these were simply more skills to learn.

  With considerably more confidence, she reached for the shift she would wear. But didn’t drop the towel until she had checked behind the shower curtain.

  Just in case.

  A girl couldn’t be too careful.

  Mairi hoisted the straps of the cloth bag on her shoulder and brushed her hands nervously down the front of her overdress once more.

  This was it.

  She took a deep breath and consciously relaxed her muscles. She’d know shortly if the powers she’d been granted included what she needed most—the ability to travel through time.

  “Take me back, to the time I must reach to save Marsali Rose, to help Rosalyn. Take me back to this very room.” She waited.

  Nothing.

  “I am not a patient woman,” she grumbled, adjusting the straps of her bag. “Why isn’t this working?”

  She felt his presence a moment before she heard his voice. “Center yourself, Daughter of my Heart. Work from your source of power.”

  “My source of…” She looked around. What on earth could he mean? Unless…

  She placed her hand over her heart, over the birthmark she now bore. The skin warmed, tingled and then pulsed under her fingers, as if it gave off little sparks of electricity.

  “Take me back. Allow me to find my destiny.”

  A green sphere of light formed around her, pulsing in tandem with the spot on her chest. The heat under her fingers grew until she wanted to pull her hand away, but knew she couldn’t. She glanced around, watching the room waver through a shimmering green curtain.

  “Oh, damnation!”

  By the door she spotted the shoes she’d forgotten to put on. A moment later her view of the room was obscured as the shimmering curtain turned to multi-colored lights, flashing and dancing around her.

  “I remember this,” she murmured, just before the lights went out.

  Five

  THISTLE DOWN MANOR

  SCOTLAND

  PRESENT DAY

  Give me the paperwork.” Ian hung up the telephone and held out his hand.

  “Why? What are you going to do?” Sarah had dreaded this moment since she had opened the envelope Mairi had left in her keeping. “You aren’t going to…to go after her, are you?” Damn. She was going to cry again. She could feel it.

  Ian laughed and crossed the room, enfolding her in his arms. “Have you gone daft, woman? Yer brain addled by the hormones?” He held her tightly to him.

  In all probability, the honest answer to that would have to be a resounding yes. The only reply she was capable of, without bursting into tears, was a single affirmative nod of her head.

  “No, luv, I’m no leaving yer side now—no before the babes arrive—so dinna fret yerself.” He stroked her hair. “I’m going to ask Dallyn’s help. You read through the information in that envelope while we spoke to Cate and Connor. And you heard what Cate had to say about traveling through time. If Mairi’s little adventure had gone as planned, she would have returned to this time only moments after she left, no matter how long she spent in the past. Obviously something’s gone wrong and she’s no able to return. Based on what we saw in here”—he tapped his index finger against the papers lying on the bed—“I’m sure you know as well as I do there’s only one logical person to send after her.” He leaned back, cupping her face in his hands and using his thumbs to wipe the tears she hadn’t been able to stop.

  “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” She smiled up at him. Damn hormones were turning her brain to sponge, that’s why. “You’re a genius, Ian.” He truly was. Or else she was completely besotted by him.

  He kissed her on the head and turned her around by her shoulders, pushing her toward the bed as if she were an errant child up past her bedtime.

  “It’s after midnight. You need yer rest. Put on yer nightie, snuggle into bed, and I’ll be back to rub yer feet before you know it. And here.” He handed her the little electronic device on a key chain and she laughed in spite of herself.

  “I sincerely doubt I’ll go into labor while you deliver these things to Dallyn.”

  He held up a hand to stop her. “We’re taking no chances. If you feel anything, and I do mean anything, you press that and my beeper will alert me.”

  “Okay, fine. Go. The sooner you speak to him, the sooner all of us can stop worrying.”

  He kissed her forehead again, scooped the paperwork back into its brown envelope and trotted out of the bedroom. She had no doubt but that he would run all the way there and back.

  Poor Cate. The woman was sitting at her home in the States right now with a ranting husband flat on his back, unable to do anything. Sarah knew her friend. Cate would be feeling a world of guilt over this, though they all understood there would have been no way to stop Mairi from going through with her plan.

  Sarah thought of her husband’s suggestion on how to approach this problem as she slipped into her nightgown and brushed her teeth. It truly was the perfect solution. For everyone.

  Now if Dallyn would only agree.

  What a delightfully interesting night this was turning out to be.

  Dallyn leaned back in his chair, propping his feet on the table, arms behind his head.

  First there was the visit from Pol demanding, in his uniquely Prince–like way, that a Guardian be assigned to protect one of his recently discovered “daughters.” Apparently the infallible blessing Pol had used to guarantee protection to his descendants had somehow failed this particular female.

  “Oh, one more thing.” The Prince had stopped at the door as if he’d just remembered an inconsequential little tidbit of information. “She could be somewhat difficult for the Guardian to locate since there is a relatively good chance she is time traveling.” He raised an eyebrow before adding, “Naturally we will want to keep that little fact t
o ourselves.”

  Naturally.

  At the time, Dallyn would have sworn nothing could possibly top the Prince’s appearance and request.

  Of course, that was before the midnight visit from Ian.

  Seems the lovely young woman Ian had introduced him to day before yesterday at dinner was in trouble—time-travel trouble of all things.

  What were the chances of a coincidence like that? Slim—unless you happened to be a believer in the Fates playing right into your hands. And Dallyn certainly believed.

  He had known when he met the woman there was something special about her, something that just begged him to get to know her better.

  She was one of Pol’s descendants. One of those the Prince thought to keep secret from the High Council and all the other Fae. One of those he thought to keep separate from the Guardians.

  Until now.

  Dallyn looked down at the thick brown envelope in his lap. The information he held in his hands indicated they were embarking on a quest such as none of them had encountered before. He could only guess at the ire of the High Council—and the Earth Mother—should they find out about this.

  At least the woman was smart enough to leave them a thorough trail in case she needed help. And Ian’s assessment of the best course of action had been spot-on, as usual, though his reasons were not the same as Dallyn’s own. Ian sought only a solution to the single problem at hand. Dallyn sought resolution to a much larger issue.

  A brisk knock at the door interrupted his musing.

  “Come in.”

  “You sent for me?”

  Dallyn’s latest recruit. The man was six feet, four inches of honed muscle, coiled to strike at an unknown enemy. Long, shining black hair pulled back from his face highlighted intense blue-green eyes, haunted by a past no one could change. Though he had grown to adulthood in the lap of luxury, he’d taken to the training like a warrior born, and excelled at it.

  The means of resolution had arrived.

  “I did. I have an assignment for you.”

  “Already?” As he approached the High General of the Faerie Realm, Ramos Servans watched closely for any indication of the man’s true feelings. As usual, he saw none. Dallyn was a master at masking his thoughts and emotions. Even when Ramos used his inner sight, only the incandescent glow of a full Fae was ever visible. “We’d discussed it taking several more months to establish the necessary security clearances in the States.”