by Donna Grant
Charlie’s head bounced and rolled down the hallway as his body collapsed at Arran’s feet.
“Holy Hell,” Quinn said as he slid to a halt beside Arran.
It was Hayden who gathered Danielle’s unconscious form in his arms from where she had fallen to the floor.
“I wish you would have let me have a go at him, Arran,” Hayden said.
Arran looked from Charlie’s body to Hayden then Quinn. “This is my fault.”
“Nay, it’s mine,” Hayden interjected. “I watched Charlie walk to Quinn. I assumed he’d stay there.”
“And I assumed Charlie was returning to help Arran as he said he was,” Quinn stated. “The blame doesna lie on just one person.”
Arran looked at Danielle and the bruises forming on her throat. “Damn.”
“Ian,” Hayden said with a frown.
Quinn slowly let out a breath. “If he’s as attuned to Dani as I think he is, he had to have felt her fear.”
“I’ll tell Ian,” Arran offered.
Hayden grunted. “It might be wise for all of us to go.”
“My fear is that he willna be able to listen,” Quinn added.
Hayden nodded and said, “He’s going to need to see Dani for himself, but first, we take her to Sonya.”
“He asked Danielle about the artifacts,” Arran said as he clutched the hair on Charlie’s head and lifted it in his hand. “The bastard was after the artifacts.”
“Ian and Dani knew the entire time. They tried to tell us,” Quinn said.
Hayden said, “They were no’ the only ones. Camdyn and Arran both had reservations about him.”
“It doesna matter now,” Arran said. “Get Dani to Sonya while I clean up this mess.”
“I’ll help,” Quinn offered.
Arran and Quinn worked wordlessly to remove all evidence of Charlie in the castle, but no amount of scrubbing would allow Arran to forget he had nearly caused Dani’s death.
He found the key on one of the lower steps leading to the tower. Arran had never seen anything like it before, so he put it in his pocket until he could ask about it later.
Arran could be to blame if Ian had given in to his god. He wanted to go to Ian immediately, but once they reached the great hall and heard his bellows, all of Arran’s fears for his friend flooded his mind.
“He’s strong,” Quinn said. “He willna give in easily to Farmire.”
Arran swallowed and proceeded out of the castle, Ian’s roars ringing in his ears. “I pray to God you’re right, Quinn.”
Quinn glanced at the door down to the dungeon and briefly closed his eyes. “So do I,” he whispered.
* * *
Larena stood next to Malcolm and refused to believe he wasn’t the same caring, helpful man who had been willing to stand with her against Deirdre.
“I’m sorry,” Larena said. “I should have told you the Monroe name was on the scroll I carry. I wanted to protect you.”
Malcolm shrugged. “If I had told you I was leaving, you would have let me know it was on the list and that I could have the god inside me.”
“We all knew you had it inside you, Malcolm. None of the Warriors wanted you to endure what they had gone through. We thought as long as you were at the castle you could be kept from it. I knew you were miserable. I just didn’t know how much.”
He looked down at his right arm and held it up to her. “Deirdre healed me. She took away the scars. They’re gone from the outside, but they’re still there inside, Larena. They’ll always be there.”
She put her hand on his cheek and smiled into his blue eyes. A laugh escaped her when a lock of his blond hair fell into his eyes. “I’ve missed you terribly. I’ll do anything you ask, but please come back with us. Stand with us against Deirdre.”
“I wish I could, but I didna lie. I’m lost to you. Save your words, Larena, because I willna be swayed.”
“Why?” she demanded and dropped her hand. “I know you, dammit. I know what a good man you are. There is nothing besides family that would make you agree to align with Deirdre.”
And then it hit her.
“Oh, God,” she muttered and covered her mouth with her hand. Tears gathered in her eyes as she shook her head. She dropped her hand and said, “It’s because of me, isn’t it? You’re staying to protect me.”
Malcolm looked away from her, but it was all the answer she needed.
“I can take care of myself. You of all people should know this,” Larena argued.
Malcolm snorted. “I seem to recall you dying in my arms after having drough blood put inside your wounds.”
“I’m stronger now. I’m also more prepared. There are Warriors at the castle ready and waiting to attack Deirdre.”
“And to awaken her twin, Laria.” Malcolm glanced at her and nodded. “Deirdre knows. She gets visits from the Devil, if you can believe that. He told her about the artifacts and what they could do. He also told her to forget them, but she’s obsessed. She will stop at nothing to keep you from awakening her sister.”
“So she sends you to kill children.”
Malcolm shifted uneasily. “I’m here to find a Druid, as I’m sure you’ve deduced by now.”
Larena didn’t see any point in keeping it from him. “We have. We also knew it was Deirdre who sent you and not Declan.”
At the mention of Declan, Malcolm’s lips twisted in a sneer. “That obscene man? He kept Deirdre trapped in his mansion for over a month. He has delusions of having her as his own and ruling with her. You know she willna share with anyone.”
Larena was absorbing all the information and filing it away in her mind. “Deirdre will fall, Malcolm. I don’t want to fight you.”
“Then keep away.” He turned his head toward her. “Have one of the others kill me, and quickly. Even if I returned with you, my soul is black now. And dead.”
She watched him walk away toward the school. Larena knew she should go after him, but his words had pierced her too deeply.
“Larena?” Fallon asked as he pulled her into his arms. “We got close enough to hear most of what was said.”
“We need to go after him,” Broc said.
Larena pulled out of Fallon’s arms and wiped at her eyes. “No. I saw into his eyes. Somewhere, deep inside, he’s still the same man I knew. He doesn’t want to kill the children.”
“But he will do so to keep you safe,” Isla said softly.
They turned as one to the school where the children were lining up to return to their classrooms. Most of the teachers were together, but off to the side stood three women.
“The Druid is there,” Broc said as he pointed to the three women.
Fallon nodded in agreement. “Aye, and Malcolm has seen her.”
“We aren’t seriously going to allow him to take the Druid, are we?” Isla asked.
Before Larena could respond Malcolm disappeared behind one of the buildings. A moment later there was an explosion. Chaos ensued as everyone screamed and tried to run away.
Larena ran toward the Druid with Fallon right beside her. They leaped over the tall fence that separated the school from the street and dodged the kids and adults running away.
When they looked up, the Druid was gone.
“Here,” Broc called from across the way.
Larena and Fallon dodged more people until they found the narrow doorway where the Druid must have disappeared. They ducked through it and found themselves in a small courtyard where Malcolm and the sandy-haired Druid had faced off.
“Malcolm, stand down,” Fallon demanded.
“You know I can no’.”
The Druid flashed her blue eyes from Malcolm to Fallon. Out of the corner of her eye, Larena spotted Broc and Isla as they approached from the opposite side.
Isla took a step toward the Druid, but the Druid held up her hand, a pulse of magic vibrating around her.
“Stay back,” the Druid said.
“We’re here to help.” Larena spoke slowly. “We know you�
�re a Druid. We can feel your magic.”
The Druid’s brows furrowed. “I won’t hesitate to kill all of you if anyone takes another step closer.”
Malcolm chuckled. “Your magic is strong, Druid. But it will take much more than your magic to kill me.”
“No,” the Druid said as she shook her head, her short sandy hair just reaching to her chin. “The only ones I wouldn’t be able to kill are Warriors.”
Malcolm clapped his hands slowly. “The Druid knows her history.”
“Enough, Malcolm,” Larena said, and started for him.
In an instant Malcolm released his god, his skin shifting to dark burgundy. “I asked you no’ to fight me, cousin.”
“And I’m begging you to remember the boy who found me in the woods, the boy who brought me food and befriended me when my own clan banished me. I’m begging you to remember that boy who grew into a man and forsook his own father’s orders to stand by my side even when you were mortal.”
A muscle in Malcolm’s jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth. He squeezed his eyes closed. “Larena.”
His voice so full of desperation and despair brought more tears to her eyes. She took a step toward Malcolm, but before she reached him, his eyes snapped open, and he rushed the Druid.
“No!” Larena screamed at the same moment the Druid threw her magic into Malcolm.
Malcolm went tumbling backward head over heels and slammed against the brick of the building behind him where he slumped unconscious.
Fallon held up his hands when the Druid turned to him. “I’m Fallon MacLeod. If you know what Warriors are, then you must know my name.”
“You cannot possibly exist. There’s been no word of you in…”
“Centuries,” he offered. “I know, but it is me. We can protect you from Deirdre if you come with us to the castle.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“He’ll only find you again,” Broc said. “Deirdre sent Malcolm because she needs a Druid. He was supposed to kill all the children in order to draw you out. Next time, you willna be so lucky.”
The Druid looked behind her at the school. “I’ll make it on my own.”
The sound of sirens fast approaching took their attention off the Druid. In that instant, she was gone.
“I can find her,” Broc offered. “She couldna have gone far.”
“We’ll keep an eye on her, but for now, we need to leave,” Fallon said.
Larena hurried to Malcolm. He lay unmoving, but he was still alive and his god clearly visible. “We can’t leave him like this.”
Fallon gave a great sigh and hefted Malcolm on his shoulders before he teleported away. In an instant, he had returned and took the three of them back to MacLeod Castle.
Only to find the castle in an uproar.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
The first thing that popped into Danielle’s mind when she opened her eyes was Ian.
“Easy,” Saffron said with a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve just been healed.”
Danielle shrugged off Saffron’s hand and threw back the blankets. “I need to see Ian.”
“I doona think that’s a good idea.”
Danielle turned her head to the doorway to find Ramsey standing there. Her stomach fell to her feet as she realized just what his words implied. “I can reach him, Ramsey. I know I can.”
Ramsey moved from the doorway farther into the chamber. “Arran and Quinn have been with him for hours. He’s no’ even showing he knows they’re there, Dani.”
Danielle rose to her feet, her legs shaky beneath her weight. “I’m going to him.”
She walked past Ramsey and out of her chamber. The cold stones penetrated her wool socks as she walked silently down the corridor then descended the stairs.
The great hall was filled with every member of the castle. She paused as she saw them sitting still as stones, the Warriors wincing every once in a while. But no one said a word. There was no sound other than the wind from the sea.
Danielle proceeded to the doorway down to the dungeon, and the closer she got, the more she caught a faint sound from below. But when she opened the door and heard Ian’s roars, her knees buckled.
She caught hold of the doorway to keep herself standing. Then, after taking a deep breath, she walked through the door and shut it behind her.
Each step down into the dungeon was like a knife through her heart as she heard Ian’s bellows and his claws scraping on the stone.
Her feet became as heavy as stone the closer to Ian’s cell she walked. When she finally saw him, she took a step back, her hand over her mouth.
“Oh, Ian,” she whispered, tears blurring her vision.
He had shredded his shirt, which hung in tatters around his broad shoulders. Blood stained his chest from wounds he had inflicted on himself but had already healed. The stones along the back of his cell were scoured with claw marks, evidence of how badly his fury raged.
She winced when he punched the wall and she heard the snap of bone.
“Ian!” she called as she walked to the bars. “Ian, stop this!”
He continued on as if he hadn’t heard her. Danielle wiped her tears away. Ian didn’t need tears. He needed strength. She was more afraid than she had been when her parents had died, but for Ian, she would find that strength.
For him, she would walk into Hell itself to bring him back.
Because she loved him.
Danielle bit her lip as the truth of it filled her. She loved him with every fiber of her being, and she would fight for him.
“Ian, I’m here,” she said calmly. “Look at me, Ian. Hear me.”
His eyes were crazed, and his roars deafening, but she kept up her soft words. She had no idea how much time had passed. When her legs grew tired from standing, she sat next to the bars, never halting her words.
Slowly, she began to see a change in Ian. His bellows began to lessen. A short time later he stopped hitting and clawing the stones as much. Until finally he sank to his knees, his chin lowered to his chest as it heaved.
“Ian?”
He sat with his back to her, but still made no sign that he heard her.
The fact he had calmed gave her a little peace. Danielle kept trying to reach him with her words. She rose up on her knees when his skin began to flash from the pale blue to his tanned skin.
He gave a jerk, his muscles straining in his neck, and held himself rigidly as if he were in great pain. He threw back his head and roared.
And then collapsed.
“Oh, God,” Danielle cried as she rose to her feet. She yanked on the bars. “Ian? Ian, wake up, babe. Wake up and look at me. Ian?”
She pulled on the iron bars, but if Ian couldn’t get out of the cell, then she certainly couldn’t get in. And she knew Fallon wouldn’t give her the key out of fear for her safety.
There had to be another way in. She had to reach Ian. He needed her, and she needed to touch him.
Danielle closed her eyes and called up her magic. She had never tried to use her magic to find something before, but the few times she had searched Saffron’s mind had given her the idea that maybe she could.
With her concentration on finding a key into Ian’s prison, Danielle moved with the rhythm of the drums she heard in her mind, swayed with the chanting only a Druid could hear.
It would be so easy to become lost in them, but Danielle kept herself from doing so. She thought of Ian, of how she had to get to him, and it helped her to keep her concentration on the key.
She soon found her mind moving all about the castle searching towers and chambers, and even the dungeon. The next thing she knew her mind had taken her outside the castle walls into the village.
After every cottage had been looked at, her mind took her to the ruins of the abbey. But she didn’t find a key there either.
Then suddenly, she could feel something cold and metallic through the dirt and the snow. She followed the strange, unusual pull until she found herself
outside the kitchen near Cara’s garden.
Danielle’s eyes snapped open, a smile on her lips. She had found another key.
She got to her feet and looked at Ian. He hadn’t moved, and it propelled her out of the dungeon as if Deirdre herself were after her.
Dani only paused when she got to the door leading into the great hall. She quietly opened it, and when no one was looking slipped out and hurried into the kitchen.
She ran out into the snow without any shoes and didn’t care. Her only objective was to find the key and get back to Ian. She walked in circles until she found the exact spot. Then, on her hands and knees in the thick snow, she began to dig.
The icy snow cut her hands, and the frozen earth bent back her nails until they bled. But she felt none of it. Blood oozed between her fingers, helping to coat her hands against the hard soil.
Elation swept through her when she caught sight of something metallic in the soil. A few quick digs, and Danielle held the key in her hand.
With her teeth chattering, she hurried back into the kitchen.
“Dani?” Cara called. “What are you doing outside?”
“Getting some air,” Danielle answered and kept walking.
“Is that blood on your hands?”
Danielle didn’t want to ignore her, but she couldn’t answer her. She stopped in the great hall and looked at Fallon.
“Ian has collapsed. Will you let me in to see him?”
Fallon shook his head, his eyes on the table. “I can no’, Dani. We doona know how he will awaken, and I willna put your life in danger. Ian would never forgive me.”
Danielle had wanted to give him a chance. She gave a nod and hurried back to Ian. Her hands shook so much she could barely get the key into the lock.
When she heard the latch click open, she threw the door wide and raced to Ian. She wiped her hands on her shirt to get most of the blood off before she touched him.
His skin was on fire and his heart raced, but he didn’t move. Not even when she maneuvered him so that his head lay in her lap as she leaned against the bars. She stroked his hair and his chest all the while calling his name, begging him to open his eyes.
