Because in a sense, that’s what it sounded like.
“Whilst the Defiance is plenty large enough to host a gathering,” Adlin began, heading back through the small hallway, “I will need to build cottages around it for my people as well as a stable and at the verra least, an armory.”
When Chara started after the others, Marek took her hand in passing and met her eyes. “Might we take a moment alone, lass?”
She startled then warmed at the feel of his weapon-roughened hand. Then, overwhelmed by the fact they were actually touching beyond a dream, she teared up.
“’Tis all right,” he said softly, hoarsely, just as emotional. More than that, he understood just how overwhelming this was for her. “’Tis to be expected.” Clearly trying to hold back from touching her more, he clenched his free hand. “We will take things as slowly as you need to, Chara.”
“It seems odd, doesn’t it?” she whispered, having trouble finding her voice. “Almost like we’re teenagers again who’ve never,” she blushed, “you know.”
“It does feel that way,” he agreed, unable to stop a small smile. “Though ‘tis safe to say you were a wee bit different in our dreams.”
“Right.” She looked skyward and wiped away a tear. “I was definitely a lot more confident.”
“Because you were used to that version of me.” He threaded his fingers with hers but went no further. “This version, who I am right now, is more like a stranger, aye?”
“No, never that, Marek.” She shook her head and searched his eyes. “You could never be a stranger. If anything, I’d say you feel more like a friend I haven’t seen in a really long time.”
“Well, I am that.” He shifted a little closer but didn’t go any further. “All aside, it’s been some time since I last dreamt of you. And as you know, before that, it was becoming more sporadic.” He clenched his jaw, fighting emotion. “For a while there, I thought I lost you altogether you came so rarely.”
“I know,” she replied, feeling the same heartbreak. “It had to do with us drawing closer to this. To the Brotherhood possessing Balliol’s Disinherited, then going after your family. To whatever Destiny did at the Irish Stonehenge, then the Brotherhood afterward.”
He frowned. “You dinnae know what Destiny did?”
“No, not yet.” She shook her head. “Any more than I know what you and I did in our first life together.”
“But you knew you were once a unicorn,” he said. “And now a dragon?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “Though honestly, I don’t feel like I was or am either of them. My life as a unicorn is shrouded from me, and I’ve never once seen my dragon eyes let alone embraced my inner beast. Destiny says it’s because both creatures were trying to keep me safe. My unicorn’s incarnate and my repressed dragon.”
“At least I ken half of what you’re experiencing,” he said, reminding her how repressed his own dragon was. “With any luck, our inner beasts will help the other surface.” His pupils flared as if his dragon eyes were eager to erupt and finally see her in this state. “Then we will discover a whole new life together.” Promise marked his every word. “A life and reality that will never be taken from us again.”
Based on the look on his face, he was as startled by his passionate declaration as her.
“Our life together was but a dream,” she said softly, curious. “That wasn’t what you were just talking about, though, was it?”
“Nay.” Marek shook his head, clearly trying to hold onto whatever he’d nearly remembered. “I’ve lost it, but one thing was certain.” Unable to hold back any longer, he cupped her cheek. “We did have a life together, lass. A life that never should have been stolen from us.”
“I know,” she whispered, feeling what he’d felt for a flicker of a moment. The incredible love. The untouchable passion.
“Bloody hell!” Adlin suddenly whooped, interrupting the tender moment. His laughter echoed through the Defiance before fire shot up beyond the hallway.
“What the?” Chara exclaimed. They raced that way, only to find Adlin standing far below with his hands flung up in the air. A bonfire had been ignited in the center of the building. Sizzling flames spiraled upward around ley-lines until they nearly touched the ceiling.
She chuckled. “He really is a kid at heart, isn’t he? What’s he doing anyway?”
“I’d say getting a feel for his Defiance.” Marek chuckled as well, and they headed down. “The flames are made of his magic, so he’s getting an idea about how the lines protect this place. In essence, ‘twill likely give him a sense of when evil approaches over the years.”
“Clever.” She eyed the fire warily not because of its heat and proximity but rather something she couldn’t put her finger on. “If not a little uncomfortable.”
“Aye.” Marek seemed optimistic. “’Tis good you feel that way.”
“Why?”
“Because it means your dragon is alive and well inside you.” He shook his head. “Our inner beasties dinnae much like magical fire that doesnae belong to us. And that,” he gestured at the flames, “is wizard’s fire.”
“Ah.” She peered at it. “Why don’t we like fire that doesn’t belong to us?”
“In part, because our inner dragons run rather arrogant,” he conceded. “But more so, because we dinnae trust anything we cannae control. Anything that has power rivaling our own. Especially when it comes to our own element of fire.”
“I get that.” She smiled over her shoulder at him. “Or should I say I feel that?”
“You should keep an eye to the stairs,” he replied, concerned about her. “Until you’ve use of your wings and learn to fly.”
“I can’t even imagine.” Though she could and had on more than one occasion. Especially during their long conversations about what it was like being a dragon. “Though you gave me a good idea.”
“So you realized you were dragon around the time my tattoos began appearing?” he said when they reached the bottom. “Why not tell me? ‘Tis a big thing to learn about yourself. I would’ve liked to have been there for you.”
“Destiny felt it was best that I not tell anyone until you and I came together beyond our dreams,” she explained. “She’s hoping that us coming together will draw my inner beast to the surface.” She looked at him with sympathy, knowing how hard it must be to have his dragon repressed. “With any luck, it’ll draw yours to the surface as well.”
“If ‘tis going to come for anyone ‘twould be you,” he relented. A hopeful glint lit his eyes before his mouth turned down, and he shook his head. “Then again, if the Brotherhood is responsible for my dragon being repressed, I fear you being anywhere near it or me.”
“Whatever happened, Marek,” she stopped him before they joined the others in front of the fire, “it’s not who you are in this life. Nor is it who you were in our first life. I might not know what happened, but that I know for sure. You would only ever sacrifice yourself for another.” She touched the scar at his temple gingerly, remembering how he got it. What he had done for her. “For me.” She met his eyes again, never more serious, suddenly sensing something. “In fact, you did, didn’t you?”
“Yes, he did,” Destiny said softly, her voice close and far away all at once as she revealed something neither could have imagined.
Chapter Nine
FOR A MOMENT in time, Marek couldn’t hear Destiny because he was back in a dream with Chara. Back reliving the moment he knew he wouldn't just keep her safe but die for her if need be. A thousand times over if he had to.
He was seventeen and she, fifteen.
Not for the first time, she’d been commenting on how they always seemed to frequent the same locations.
“Why is that?” She frowned. “I only ever see your castle from afar, and we always end up in the same three places. Either at our pond in the cave, on a cliff overlooking the ocean or in these woods with the sound of the ocean in the distance.” She picked a flower as they continued. “And wherever we
go, I always see these same unusual golden clovers.”
“I dinnae know what to tell you.” He shook his head. “Besides my castle, these places are unfamiliar to me. They dinnae exist in reality any more than the flowers do.” He took the clover and tucked it behind her ear. “I always did find this particular place most complimentary to ye, though.”
“Why?” she replied, a little breathless. “Because the flowers match my hair?”
“Not yer hair.” His gaze dropped to hers. “But yer bonnie eyes.” He traced the pad of his thumb along her brow then the corner of her eye. “There’s just something about them...ye...this place...almost as though I should remember it. And not in a dream.”
“Like we’ve been here before in another reality,” she murmured. “Almost as if we should remember...”
“Aye,” he said softly when she trailed off. Tired of waiting for at least this, he stepped closer and cupped her cheek. “I want to kiss ye, lass. Nothing more right now. Just a kiss.”
“But what if—”
“It willnae betray the words on my arm,” he cut her off gently. “’Twill be just a kiss. Nothing more.”
“Are you sure,” she whispered, seemingly unable to find her voice. Her gaze stayed on his face, eager yet wary. “How do you—”
That’s all she got out before he took the matter out of her hands and finally kissed her. Not a soft peck like he’d given her on the cheek a time or two but his lips on hers. His mouth against her mouth. Like her, he’d never kissed another but watched his kin do it enough to get the idea. When it began, however, it all came rather naturally. But then when one fantasized about such for years, how could it not?
He cupped her other cheek and slanted his mouth over hers, taken by her sweet taste. By the breathy little moan of surprise she made when he flicked the tip of his tongue over the seam of her lips.
Hungry for more, he coaxed her lips apart only to sense something a split second before he heard it. He spun and shoved Chara behind him moments before a dagger intended for her slashed his temple.
“It would have killed you, Chara,” Marek murmured, returning to the present. “And we dinnae even know where it came from nor where it vanished to.”
“It came from the past,” Destiny replied. “An echo of another event for lack of a better explanation. Much like what Ethyn experienced battling you in the woodland on his adventure without it ever really happening.”
“Yet in the end, it did eventually happen.” Marek frowned. “So, can we expect that dagger being whipped at Chara again?”
“It's hard to know,” Destiny replied evasively though he sensed she did, in fact, know. “Either way, that dagger, and the scar it gave you made the Brotherhood take notice. It started all this.”
“So they found Marek and Chara in their dream,” Leviathan surmised. “When they did, it began the disruption in Scotland? The weakening of all magic?”
“Yes.” Destiny looked at Marek and Chara. “Essentially, it created the crack in time they'd been waiting for to put their plan in motion. To harness their dark power and go after the MacLomains. So I influenced the creation of the next round of Claddagh rings and began the last leg of a battle that’s been simmering for over a millennium.”
“Claddagh rings ye say?” Adlin pondered before he focused on the matter at hand. “I take it ye were there at the onset of this great battle ye speak of, aye, goddess?” The wizard flicked his wrist, and a small buck roasted over a fire that had shrunken down considerably. Another flick of his wrist and chairs appeared around the inviting flames. “Come, sit, warm yerselves and share for ‘tis clearly quite the story.”
Like Leviathan, Marek wasn’t sure he could trust Destiny but nodded at Adlin, agreeing to join him. Pleased, the wizard flicked his wrist one more time, ensuring they all had whisky in hand when they sat.
“Is this why the Brotherhood can possess me so easily?” Marek asked Destiny, touching his scar. He had boundless questions but supposed this was the best place to start. For it had never healed as well as it should and became a constant source of concern for his parents. “Is my scar some sort of tracker?”
“No.” She shook her head, remaining vague. “Though I can’t speak in-depth about it at this point, I can say it’s intricately tied with your affiliation to the Brotherhood.”
“Which was what exactly?” He frowned and shook his head. “And why, if you initiated the creation of the rings, do you wear one when you arenae even a Broun?”
“To keep me hidden as long as she could,” Chara revealed. “If the Brotherhood thought Destiny was meant for you, Marek, they would focus less on me.”
“You,” he murmured. “The grand prize when it comes to Broun lasses, aye? The root of all their power at one time?”
“So it seems.” Chara looked at Destiny. “Why not tell us everything now? Wouldn’t we be better armed going into all this if we knew the truth about what ultimately happened? What led to my unicorn being sacrificed?”
“When it comes to magical mayhem, I have always been of the mind that ‘tis better to learn things in stages.” Adlin perked a brow at Destiny. “And we are speaking of some sort of magical mayhem, aye?” He narrowed an eye, thinking about it. “Mayhap even mayhem mixed with curses and prophecies and all sorts of mystical mischief.”
Destiny offered a small smile and shook her head. “Now, what would I know of mystical mischief?”
“Och, ye’d know a great deal, I suspect.” Adlin met her small smile, his powers growing by the moment. “But then ye’ve had to be clever indeed over the course of yer existence, have ye not?”
“Undoubtedly, if she’s half Norse.” Leviathan narrowed his eyes at her. “You never did say who your parents are. Which one is a dragon and which a god.”
“Nor will I until I deem it appropriate,” Destiny replied, speaking with a dash of the haughtiness gods were known for. “And I’ll likely never tell you because it’s none of your business.”
“So you hope.” Leviathan’s gaze never left her. “Yet, as you said, I’m here, in part, for you, am I not?”
“What makes you think that?” Chara frowned at the Viking. “What makes you so sure you’re here for my friend?”
“You mean your guardian,” Leviathan corrected.
“No, I mean my friend.” Chara glanced from Marek back to the Viking, her gaze going from hard to curious as she seemed to sense something. “Is it because she’s a protector like you? Overseeing something bigger than herself? Guiding and coaxing those under her care to some ultimate outcome?” She cocked her head and looked back and forth between them. “And both of you dragons, even Norse.”
“Technically, my blood is of Múspellsheimr,” Leviathan said at the same moment Destiny said, “I do not acknowledge my Viking side.”
“Viking to be sure,” Leviathan murmured, looking at her oddly again, almost as though he were trying to place her. “Not of the inland but of the seafarers.” His eyes narrowed once more. “Why do I get the sense I know you?”
“I have no idea.” She shook her head and drank before making it clear where she stood. “Whatever the reason, you should understand upfront, and as I said before, I don’t recognize my Viking blood. Nor do I embrace my dragon.” Her gaze narrowed on Leviathan in return. “Above all, I don’t affiliate with your kind, Ancient. Any more than I do my own kind nowadays.”
Not put off in the least, but rather based on the devil in his eyes, drawn to her defiance, the corner of Leviathan’s mouth shot up. “Yet here you are affiliating with me because you have no choice.” His gaze flickered over Chara. “Not if you hope to save your unicorn dragon.”
“Unicorn dragon.” Adlin grinned. “I rather like that.”
“I assure you I’m not unicorn anymore.” Chara sipped her whisky and sighed. “As to the dragon part, we’ll see.”
“We will see, and your dragon will be beautiful.” Destiny’s gaze gentled on Chara every bit as much as Marek’s always did. But then how co
uld it not when dealing with such a sweet spirit? “I’ve never, not for a minute, doubted that you would find your way free of all this.” The goddess nodded at Marek before looking at Chara again. “That you would be with your mate as you should be and finally find the happily ever after you deserve.”
“Though I might not like that you know so much more than me, Destiny,” Marek relented, taking Chara’s hand, offering her comfort, “I will always be thankful that you saw after my lass.” His eyes met Chara’s. “My mate.”
Chara looked at him with appreciation, clearly grateful for his kindness to her guardian. Leviathan, however, true to form, remained blunt. But then his kind was rarely anything but.
“How long have you mentored Chara, Destiny?” he asked. “Moreover, where did she come from? What happened to her parents?”
“They died in a car accident,” Destiny said softly. She gave Chara an apologetic look before turning her frustrated gaze on Leviathan. “Only five at the time, Chara was thrown free of the wreckage and survived. I found her in the forest,” she hesitated, “well cared for.”
“Five?” Having never heard about this, Marek looked at Chara curiously. “So the same year we met in a dream?”
“The same day,” Chara revealed. “I remember the car tumbling, a bright light then overwhelming sadness. After that, it was all a blur. My parents faded from my memory as if they never existed.” She pressed her lips together, emotional. “All I knew at first was that I didn’t want it to be over. That I didn’t want it to end.” Her eyes welled as she looked at him. “Then, you were there.” She offered a wobbly smile. “You were there, and you made everything better.”
“Aye, lass,” he whispered, wishing for a moment he could scoop that little girl up and offer her comfort. Wishing he could do the same now to the woman she had become. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
A Scot's Retribution (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era Book 5) Page 6
