Love Beyond Destiny

by Bethany Claire

  I didn’t miss how she blushed at Jimmie’s words. She might not know exactly what she wanted in her future yet, and she definitely wasn’t ready for marriage, but she was still crazy about the besotted young man in front of her.

  “No, but ye never cease trying to convince me.”

  Jimmie took one step forward, and I was quite afraid that I might start to cry. As if Marcus could feel my emotions start to rise up in my chest, he placed a gentle hand on my back as Jimmie spoke.

  “Aye, until ye know it through and through, I willna stop. Even then, I canna promise ye anything. Lass, I’ve been thinking on what ye told me at breakfast. I think it a fine idea that ye should seek to see more of this country for a time, but I want ye to know just how badly I shall miss ye.”

  I could see in the way Olivia’s shoulders tensed that she was getting ready to stop him, but before she could say a word, he held up his palm to stop her from speaking.

  “No, Liv. Allow me to finish. I can see ye are frightened by what I might say, but ye are wrong. I only mean to tell ye this: I know that I want ye. I’ve seen more than I hope ye ever have to see. I’ve been through things I wouldna wish on my greatest enemy. I’ve had the opportunity to search this land and get to know myself in ways that ye have not. Ye deserve that. But once ye return, I need to know one way or the other, lass. Doona return here until ye can either accept all of me or turn me away. I am in love with ye, Olivia. I doona think ’tis wrong of me to wish to know where yer heart truly lies.”

  Whatever I had expected from the young man, it certainly hadn’t been this. Like the woman he loved, Jimmie was wise beyond his years. I looked into Olivia’s eyes as she stared at him, and I knew—if she wasn’t in love with him before, she certainly was now.

  She would take this time away from him, but when she returned, her heart would undoubtedly be his.

  Surprisingly, despite their young age, I was at peace with it.

  I couldn’t see her ever finding a better match.

  Chapter 31

  One Week Later

  * * *

  The journey to Cagair was long, but not nearly as difficult thanks to Marcus’ rather generous use of magic. I knew him well enough to know that had it only been him traveling, he would never have indulged in such a way, but he was intent on making certain that Liv and I were safe, warm, dry, and relatively comfortable the entire way there.

  Olivia’s excitement was bubbling over by the time we could see Cagair in the distance. The entire journey she’d badgered Marcus and me with questions about twenty-first century life and the wonders she was going to get to see and experience.

  She would be useless in our search for information—all Olivia wanted to do was explore and marvel at all the new things that awaited her. That was just how I wanted it. While I knew we would eventually have to begin searching for Ross, I wasn’t in any hurry to do so, and I didn’t really ever want Olivia to see him. I was fairly certain she would keep her promise to bloody his nose if she ever did.

  “Are you nervous to go back?”

  I looked to my left toward Marcus’ voice as he pulled back on his reins enough so that Olivia was riding a little bit ahead of us.

  “Yes.” I wouldn’t lie to him. “But I also can’t wait to enjoy some of the simple pleasures I’ve missed.”

  He smiled. “Me, too. I know we have to find a way to save Freya, and I will look endlessly until I do, but I think we’ve both earned a little bit of fun, as well.”

  “What are you looking forward to doing the most? What have you missed more than anything else?”

  He waited for a long moment to answer me and I understood his hesitation. The world both Marcus and I were born in and the world in which we now called our home were like two entirely different planets. It was difficult to pick just one thing.

  “Hmm…” He scrunched his nose and cocked his head to the side. “I’m really looking forward to not using magic for awhile, strangely enough. Almost everything that I use magic for in this time is done with very little effort in ours. I’m ready to give it a rest.”

  I’d always gotten the impression that Marcus quite enjoyed his newfound gift. His statement gave me pause.

  “Won’t you miss it?”

  While we all supposed Marcus’ powers would remain in the twenty-first century, he’d promised all of the members of The Eight that he wouldn’t use them once we went forward. Magic from one drained power from the others, and at such a great distance, they couldn’t afford for their powers to weaken enough to give Machara strength.

  Marcus didn’t hesitate to answer. “Not at all.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. I’ve accepted my magic, but I’m not sure I’ll ever feel like myself with it. It wouldn’t be hard for me to walk away from it.”

  When I said nothing, he directed the subject back to me. “What about you, Silva? What are you most excited about? You’ve been gone for far longer than I have.”

  “Honestly, I can’t wait to sit and binge a whole day of rom-com movies with Olivia. I can just picture how pure her joy will be at experiencing them. I can’t wait for it.”

  He laughed and pulled his horse to a stop to dismount as we neared the pathway to the castle.

  “Then, that’s what we should do tomorrow. It’s been a long trip, and from what Raudrich said, Sydney will be a lot to handle for the first little bit. I think we all need a few days of rest before we really dive in and get to work around here.”

  Nothing sounded better to me.

  Dismounting, I called ahead to Olivia. “Wait up for us, Liv.”

  She waited, but I could see how much it tried her patience to do so. She was bouncing up and down with excitement. When we reached her, we walked forward to the stables together.

  I wasn’t a bit surprised to see Sydney standing outside waiting for us.

  “You’re here! Everyone is so excited!”

  She turned away from us just long enough to call after two workers in the stables who quickly came out to see to our horses. The moment they were led away, she waved us in for a big group hug.

  “Okay, I know you all must be exhausted, so I’m going to fill you in on everything as quickly as I can. The plans have changed in the past week since you headed in this direction. The moment I received Raudrich’s letter detailing how you all intended to go to Boston, I tore it up and said hogwash with all of that. It would be far too complicated since Morna is out of touch for the time being.”

  I was increasingly curious about this Morna person so many of them spoke of. I sincerely hoped that at some point I would have the opportunity to meet her.

  Marcus spoke up as Liv and I attempted to pull ourselves out of the team huddle. “So, we’re not going to Boston?”

  Sydney righted herself while shaking her head and turning to walk toward the side of the castle. Instinctively, we all followed along.

  “No. None of you have passports. While we dabble in magic, we’re not really running a criminal enterprise here, so without Morna, none of us have the slightest clue how to forge one for you. Instead, Gillian and Orick have flown to Boston where they will collect everything that Kate left behind in Laurel’s apartment relating to The Isle.”

  Marcus cast me a quick, wide-eyed glance as if to tell me that Raudrich had definitely been correct about Sydney’s whirlwind personality.

  “How will they get into her apartment?”

  Sydney threw a quick smile over her shoulder at us as she continued to march on. “Kate left her keys to the place here since we live in the twenty-first century most of the time, in case anyone ever needed to go back there. Gillian and Orick have been at Laurel’s old place for several days and are flying back tomorrow.”

  She suddenly stopped in front of an oddly shaped door at the side of the castle before she faced us and continued speaking. “In the meantime, I ordered every book and video I could find about The Isle online, and I already have them set up in a study room that is exclusively fo
r your use while you are here. We’ve also set up three rooms, but you’re free to...” She paused and waved a finger between Marcus and me, “...combine rooms if you like. Just let me know if that’s what you’d like to do so we can open up the extra room to other guests.”

  Sydney stopped and looked at Olivia straight on to address her. “If you’d like, once you have the opportunity to explore and enjoy things for a few days, we thought we might offer you a small job while you’re here. We’re an inn, you see, and we need someone to work the front desk for a few hours each afternoon.”

  Olivia beamed. “A job? Truly?”

  Sydney smiled. “Yes, and we will pay you and everything.”

  Olivia turned bewildered eyes on me. “I’ve never had my own money before.”

  I mouthed the words thank you to Sydney before answering. “Then, it’s well past time for you to do so. Once you get some saved, I’ll even take you shopping for some special things you can bring back with us when we go home.”

  Olivia looked as if she might cry. Before she had the chance, Sydney started up again.

  “I also went shopping for all of you. There’s a small, but livable, selection of clothes and toiletries in each of your rooms. I hope they suit your tastes.”

  I reached out to squeeze Sydney’s arm. She must have been working around the clock to prepare for us. We all couldn’t have been more grateful.

  “It will be perfect.”

  She clapped her hands together excitedly. “Great. Are you ready to travel through time?”

  She pushed open the door to the strange stairwell that led to what looked like just another wall at the bottom.

  It took Olivia all of three seconds to take off at a sprint toward the bricks.

  She didn’t flinch as she stepped through them and disappeared.

  Glasgow, Scotland - Present Day

  * * *

  Was he having a heart attack? The pain in his chest never left him, but why was it suddenly worse?

  He slumped to the ground in his shabby apartment as realization hit him.

  It was her.

  She was here, and the pain of feeling her once again was most certainly more than he would be able to bear.

  Chapter 32

  July

  * * *

  Tension radiated off Marcus as he parallel parked our tiny rental into the tight space outside of the professor’s home. I waited until he turned off the engine and grabbed the door handle before reaching for him.

  “Breathe, babe. I know you’re stressed. I know it’s been a frustrating few months. But let’s go in with an open mind, okay? It’s kind of this man to invite us to his home.”

  Marcus sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest. “The man is a quack. He invited us to his home because after years of every professional in his field ridiculing his work as pure fantasy, someone has taken him seriously. He’s flattered.”

  “Marcus.” I crossed my arms until he lifted his head to look at me. “You are a black man born in Boston, Massachusetts in the twenty-first century who is now a member of a druid sect that is bound to protect an isolated island from the powers of a vengeful faerie in the seventeenth century, and you’re calling this man a quack because he believes the old legends about The Isle? Please tell me you realize how crazy that makes you sound.”

  He stared at me a long moment before he laughed and shook his head as he leaned against the steering wheel.

  I knew how stressed he was. Our inquiries into Ross’ whereabouts had come up empty. And even after months of researching, reading, and traveling to libraries and universities, we still knew nothing that would help us save Freya. He was worried that we were running out of time.

  I was worried too, but I knew that giving up meant certain failure.

  “You’re right.”

  Of course I was. In my mind, our discovery of the twenty-five-year-old documentary by the then student—now professor of Scottish legends and lore—Dougal Anderson was the exact break we’d needed in our search.

  While much of what the documentary alleged didn’t line up with the reality we knew on The Isle, it was evident that the passionate young creator of the film believed that all legends hold at least some basis in truth. That—to me anyway—was reason enough for us to reach out to him. To my everlasting gratitude, he’d promptly replied. After a week of correspondence in which he’d recommended another dozen readings for us, he’d invited us to his home.

  “Besides,” I said, as I leaned over to kiss his cheek, “once we’re done here, we get to go and enjoy the fancy dinner we reserved. And you know what else?” I turned his face toward me as I kissed him. “I brought a dress that’s going to knock your socks off.”

  He laughed into my mouth as he answered me. “Everything you wear does that.”

  I pulled away and shook my head dismissively. “You’re sweet, but you haven’t seen this yet. You’re not going to be able to keep your hands off me on the drive back to Cagair tonight.”

  He groaned and pulled me in to kiss me just as there was a quick rap of knuckles on Marcus’ window.

  We both jumped and turned to look over at the most amazing looking man I’d ever seen.

  Professor Anderson couldn’t have been much taller than four feet six inches. He wore gray slacks with a bright pink and green plaid button-up shirt underneath a purple vest. He looked like someone from an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.

  His snow-white hair was thick and messy on top of his head and his glasses magnified his shockingly blue eyes to three times their normal size.

  He grinned widely as Marcus moved to roll down the window.

  I knew right away that I would like him.

  “Ye’ve made it. Come in, the both of ye. I’ve the kettle on and biscuits baked.”

  He didn’t wait for us to answer him as he turned and marched back into his home.

  I couldn’t wait to see inside. With such a vibrant personality, it was bound to be eccentric.

  “Well,” Marcus laughed as he opened the door to step out into the unusually hot day,

  “at least he’s excited we’re here.”

  Eager to begin our conversation, I stepped out of the car and all but ran into the old man’s home.

  It did not disappoint.

  “Whatever led ye to believe that ’twas years after the arrival of the first woman that tested Machara before the last one arrived?”

  I glanced over at Marcus as Dougal questioned us. I’d just finished explaining to him that we were doing our own research for a future book we hoped to write on the subject and that we were having difficulty piecing together a timeline of events. I told him that we knew it was thought to have taken a very long time, but we couldn’t know for sure. I had hoped that if the professor could give us a more definite time frame, it would narrow down our search, and we could begin to look for other clues in books about the women who might arrive after me on The Isle. But Dougal’s question gave me pause. Had we actually ever read anything to that effect, or had that been our blind assumption?

  I knew we were trying to speed things up by searching books for clues about who the other women might be, but was it possible that things were supposed to move quickly after Laurel’s arrival, all along?

  “I…” I opened my mouth to answer him, but found that I had no good answer. I shrugged, feeling bewildered and foolish. “I don’t know.”

  Dougal eyed me suspiciously from over the top of his mug as he sipped on his fourth cup of tea. Slowly, he lowered it as he spoke. “Unfortunately, legends are never history. Was Machara truly from the world of the fae?” He paused and pulled his lips to one side. “Most would say no. Were the men who lived there truly druids? Mayhap so, but if they were, ’tis likely they had no real power.”

  I looked over at Marcus and did my best to suppress a grin. The corner of his mouth was twitching. Even though he wasn’t nearly as attached to his magic as the other members of The Eight, I could see that part of him wanted to sh
ow the old professor just how much magic he actually possessed, but sensibly, he refrained and gave me the slightest nod as his way of encouraging me to continue.

  “What do you believe truly happened there?”

  “The Isle is still such a place of mystery. Few like to visit there. That alone is proof that the legends carried enough truth to be passed down through the centuries. I believe there was evil there, but all one needs to do is look around this world as it is now to see that just as much evil resides in the physical realm as it does in the supernatural. I believe there were eight men who banded together to stop whatever ’twas that threatened terror on The Isle. And most importantly, I believe ’twas the wisdom of the women in these men’s lives that ultimately restored peace to this secretive spot in Scotland.”

  “But you don’t believe that it took years for these women to come together on The Isle?”

  He shook his head. “No. None of my research into the legend supports this theory. In fact, I’ve found multiple writings that detail that after the first two women married into the clan, the rest arrived at the castle within a year.”

  My heart sped up as hope filled me. It wouldn’t be long before I’d been at the castle a year, which meant that it was plausible that we would succeed in finding the remaining women needed to defeat Machara and hopefully save Freya’s life.

  For the first time in over an hour, Marcus leaned forward to speak. His voice was filled with excitement. “Have you come across anything that tells where these other women came from?”

  He shook his head. “I doona know. There is little written about any of them, and I believe ’tis because it all ended rather quickly after they came together on The Isle. And this…” He paused as if he was unsure if he should finish his thought. When I nodded him on, he continued. “There is no evidence for this—’tis just my belief based on my knowledge of the legends. I believe all the women were somehow connected to the first. There is a common thread between them—something that tied them all together.”