by Jane Stain
Kelsey had run up beside her. She grabbed ahold of her arm, apparently for support. Then Kelsey gasped, let go of Amber’s arm, and grabbed Tavish’s.
“That’s Sulis!” Kelsey hissed.
Tavish’s forehead wrinkled.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
Amber put her hand on Kelsey’s shoulder.
“What’s the matter? Who’s Sulis?”
Tavish rubbed his eyes and put his hand over his mouth, leaning down on it.
Kelsey swallowed, still staring at Tomas and his girlfriend over the top of their rental car.
“Sulis is friends with the druids who control Tavish.”
“What?”
Dhà (2)
What Kelsey said had minorly alarmed Amber and piqued a little curiosity, but mostly she just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide. She’d left a perfectly good job at the dig in Mexico and come all the way to Scotland — pretty much just to be with Tomas. On hearing that Tavish was here, she’d just assumed Tomas would be here too, single and ready to pick up where they had left off. It had never occurred to her he might have a girlfriend. She was so stupid. She should’ve asked ahead of time. Should’ve asked Tavish for Tomas’s number and called Tomas herself and asked if he was single.
Now she wished she had rented her own car and driven herself here, so she could just leave right now. But she hadn’t. Fiddling with her phone in her pocket, she debated calling a cab. But it would be so expensive to take a cab to the airport. Which wouldn’t be a problem if she hadn’t just quit her job. Ugh! And since every dig had a waiting list of workers ten pages long, she knew her job was long gone by now.
While she debated this silently in her mind, her body moved past people of its own accord, getting them out of her line of sight so she could follow Tomas’s movements. It was stupid, but she couldn’t help it. Her brain knew she should go back to Kelsey’s trailer and wait there until Kelsey came so she could get a ride back to the airport. But her heart kept her body right here. Watching him. If she was honest, she’d admit to herself that she was pining after him. How pathetic.
He went over to help Sulis get out of the car, then back toward the trunk.
But Sulis tossed her hand in the air cavalierly and gestured over toward Tavish as if she were the most gracious being in the world — and spoke in her sickly sweet Southern drawl.
“Oh you can get that later. Right now you should really talk to your brother. We came all the way out here just to see him, after all.”
He stopped and came back to her and stood there like a little boy next to his mom. Or a dog with its mistress.
She brought his arm out and looped hers through it like some Victorian lady. “Let’s go on over and you can introduce me.”
Pretty much everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch the show. Amber looked around, and she and Kelsey were the only women there besides Sulis.
Kelsey was looking at Amber with an apology and a lot of guilt in her eyes.
All of the men — Mr. Blair, Tavish, and all the rest of the construction workers — were looking at Sulis as if she were something good to eat.
Tomas and Sulis walked around their car arm in arm, and Sulis smiled at Tavish indulgently with her one hand on his brother’s chest and her other arm looped through his brother’s arm. And then instead of waiting for an introduction, she asserted her own.
“Well you must be Tavish. I’ve heard so much about you. You’re just as handsome as I thought you would be.” Completely ignoring Kelsey — who was obviously with Tavish, having her arm through his in much the same way as Sulis was holding onto his brother — Sulis just smiled at Tavish and batted her eyelashes. Well, she didn’t quite bat her eyelashes, but she might as well have.
Tavish was tongue-tied, and under ordinary circumstances, Amber would’ve admired anyone who could accomplish that. But this was war.
Amber straightened her back and un-hunched her shoulders. War was not the time to slouch. Besides, Sulis’s posture was perfect, and Amber didn’t want to give the woman any more advantage than she clearly already had.
Kelsey knew it was war, too, because without reaching out to the woman at all, in fact blatantly keeping her hands resting on Tavish, Kelsey asserted her own sarcastically sweet introduction.
“Well it’s so nice to meet you, Sulis. We don’t know much about you at all. Please, tell us the story of how you met Tomas — and don’t forget to tell us how long ago that was.” Kelsey gave the woman her own saccharin smile in perfect imitation of the other. “Please.”
Admiring her friend’s chutzpah, Amber winked at Kelsey.
Kelsey winked back.
But to Kelsey’s obvious chagrin, Sulis took charge just by starting to walk. Like a tigress in high heels, swinging her imaginary tail back and forth with her elegant yet short skirt, she led everyone on a leisurely stroll toward the sea cliff, where the sun was just starting to set.
Even the construction workers walked with her, visibly enthralled with the way Sulis walked, the way she carried herself, how pretty she was, and whatever else men got enthralled about.
Kelsey was in charge of the dig, but Tavish was the construction foreman. Kelsey wisely didn’t tell the men to get back to work, although Amber could tell she was dying to deprive Sulis of her audience.
As the statuesque blonde strolled past the other cars and the trailers toward the gorgeous view ahead — sort of dragging Tomas along with her by the arm, not that anyone but Amber and Kelsey noticed — she did tell the story of her and Tomas’s meeting. However, she told it in a way that made her storytelling seem like it was her idea, rather than an answer to Kelsey’s demand.
“Oh, it was so romantic. I was in the area with my… religious group. We’d had a… celebration that day, but there was nothing scheduled for that evening. So I ducked into the cutest antique shop I ever did see — you know, just to pass the time.”
She smiled at all the men around her, and they nodded and smiled back at her encouragingly, eating up every word she said.
If it weren’t for Kelsey’s being here, Amber would’ve gone back to her trailer rather than hear this drivel. She met Kelsey’s eye behind Sulis’s back and put her finger down her throat and pretended like she was making herself vomit.
Kelsey mustered a tiny smile in response.
Now approaching the wonderful view down the cliffs of the sea crashing on the rocks below — and Ireland peeking out of the multicolored mist in the distance — Sulis gestured proudly as if this were all her creation, enjoyed the appreciative nods from the men, and then continued her story.
“Well, of course Tomas was the only one working in the antique store. His parents run it, you know — I mean, they own it.” She cuddled up next to him with her cheek next to his cheek in a way that made Amber want to vomit for real. “And Tomas will own it after they’re gone. Won’t you, dear.”
Amber gave Kelsey a “yeah right” look. Tomas and Tavish had two more brothers and a sister, and Sulis obviously didn’t know that — but she was stupid not to include Tavish in her flattery about owning the antique store.
Kelsey gave Amber a worried look in return. Uh oh.
But Tavish didn’t say anything, and Tomas just nodded at Sulis with a big dopey grin on his face.
And Amber’s heart dropped into her stomach as Sulis reached up over her shoulder and slowly ran her fingers along Tomas’s jaw, making him close his eyes in apparent ecstasy while she continued her tale.
“So, you know how it is, gentlemen. I looked at all the wonderful antiques in his parents’ store, asking him to show me how this dagger works and how that sword hefts. Meanwhile, between demonstrations of his fighting prowess, he kept looking at me. Eventually he asked me out, and the rest is history.”
Kelsey shrugged and put her hand out as if to say “And?” But when that didn’t produce any results, she put her hands on her hips in frustration and voiced the question that was on Amber’s mind to
o, because it didn’t make sense.
“Hold on a minute. You said you were just in the area for a religious gathering. If you weren’t from around there, then how did you and Tomas keep seeing each other?”
Sulis gave Tomas a very pretty smile and straightened the collar on his poet’s shirt, which didn’t need straightening at all.
“Well, Tomas didn’t want to be without me after even that first meeting.”
She looked around at all the men and received the confirmation she obviously wanted: from the look of their smiles and nods, none of them wanted to be without her after this first meeting, either.
“So, he moved to Greenwich Village with me after my week’s vacation was over.”
She dramatically sighed as if she’d just remembered something.
“Oh, and to answer your other question, Kelsey…”
She smiled prettily at Kelsey, but obviously it was for the benefit of the men, because Kelsey was scowling at her. So was Amber, but Sulis was plainly just ignoring her.
“That was almost exactly two months ago, when Tomas moved with me to Greenwich Village. So as you can imagine, we’ve been really busy.”
She tilted her head just so then, and all the men grinned. Some of them actually giggled. She cupped Tavish’s face with her hand.
“Otherwise, Tavish, I’m sure he would’ve come to see you sooner.”
Surprisingly, at this, Tomas woke up from his zombielike state and said more than ‘Yes, Sulis; right away, Sulis; let me be your slave, Sulis.’
“Oh, I don’t know about that. My brother’s been off gallivanting around on his own ever since we turned twenty five. He doesn’t need me anymore.”
At that, Sulis turned to him with a hard look in her eye. It was the kind of look that would make most men break up with a woman right there and then — cold and calculating and obviously uncaring. And then she whispered something unintelligible in his ear before she put on a sweet face again and spoke up for her audience.
“Tomas honey, I’m more tired from our trip over here to Scotland than I at first thought. I’m sure these people put on a lovely spread, but I want to go eat dinner near the hotel. Be a love and go get the car, will you?”
Amber could barely control her excitement, waiting for him to explode at Sulis for ordering him around, let alone looking at him with such contempt. This was going to be good.
To her shock, he calmly nodded and started walking toward their rental car as if she’d never looked at him like he was a slave that she could whip for disobeying her. Nuh uh. This was so not the Tomas she knew and loved. No. Something was wrong with him. He must be on cold meds or something, and if so, he shouldn’t be driving!
Amber went to follow him.
But she felt an arm around her waist, jerking her to a stop.
Amber turned to tell Kelsey it was fine, that she was just going to make sure Tomas was okay to drive. That she knew what she was doing.
But it was Sulis.
“Hello, doll face. I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I’m Tomas’s girlfriend, and I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t go with him to the car.”
Amber saw red and twisted out of the woman’s grasp. Who was she to say where Amber should go? This witch with a B might be his girlfriend, but…
“Listen, Sulis. I’ve known Tomas for eleven years. You may be his girlfriend right now, but I am his friend-friend. If I want to talk to him, then I am going to talk to him, and you can complain all you want, but you aren’t going to stop me, so just get out of my way before I—”
Of all people, Tavish came over with a take-charge attitude and put his hands between Amber and the other woman. And addressed himself to Amber.
“Now Amber, Sulis has a point. She is Tomas’s current girlfriend, so I think you ought to do as she asks.”
What!
Amber looked over at Kelsey and gave her a look — asking for verification that Tavish was being nuts.
Kelsey blinked a few times to show that she agreed, but then she put on a reasonable face and walked over and took Amber’s hand.
“Amber, I think you and I ought to go back to my trailer and rest a bit.”
Tomas drove up then and parked between Amber and Sulis, who made a pretty show of waving goodbye to Amber over the top of the car. While the look in her eyes said ‘Sulis one, Amber zero,’ she called out in her cloying Southern accent.
“I think that’s a good idea Kelsey. You get that girl to rest up a bit and listen to Tomas’s brother, who’s trying to talk some sense into her.” She turned and smiled and waved at all the men gathered around. “We’ll see y’all tomorrow. Bye now.”
All the men smiled at her and waved.
“Bye.”
~*~
Once she and Kelsey were in their trailer and had privacy, Amber blurted out what was on her mind.
“I can’t believe I came all the way out here thinking I was gonna see Tomas and not realizing he might have a girlfriend. I’m so stupid, Kelsey. Why am I out there even arguing with her when she obviously has a claim on him? He looks at her with such puppy dog eyes, I can’t even stand to be around them. Maybe they won’t be here very long and I can come back after they’re gone, but for now, I’ve got to leave. I was thinking I’d fly back home, but really I can just go stay in a hotel far enough away from here that I won’t see them. If you just take me into town, I can rent a car and handle everything on my own. I’m sorry to do this to you, but —”
But Kelsey was shaking her head no and had a panicked look on her face and kept trying to interrupt. Finally, Amber stopped and let Kelsey talk.
“Amber, Sulis is a druid, and she’s using her magic to compel Tomas —”
What? Amber crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Kelsey.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. You know, you always had a vivid imagination, and that was fun when we were teens. But we’re grown women now. You’ve got a PhD, Kelsey. You don’t have to make stuff up anymore to get attention—”
But Kelsey was shaking her head no and holding her palms out. And laughing just a tiny bit.
“I know it sounds like something I would have made up when we were younger, but think about it… if you remember the look in Tomas’s eyes — the look in all the men’s eyes — you’ll know what I’m saying is the truth. Sulis has a way of bewitching men so that they see her as some sort of ‘do no wrong’ person.”
Yeah. That was exactly what Amber had been thinking.
Despite how stupid it sounded, she found herself actually entertaining the idea that Sulis was using magic. Because really, the woman was nasty. And in Amber’s experience, most men saw through that stuff. But not around this woman they didn’t. There had to be a reason. Sulis was beautiful and charming, yes, but she was only human… or maybe she wasn’t.
Amber gave her friend a speculative look.
“Okay, you’re right about that. The men were falling all over each other trying to please her, all two dozen of them. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m listening.”
Kelsey nodded sharply.
“Darn straight I’m right about that. Her spell doesn’t seem to work on women, but it sure is working on the men. She has them all wrapped around her little finger.” Kelsey met Amber’s gaze and held it with an intense look of her own. “Please don’t go. Tomas needs our help, and you may be the only one who can get through to him.”
Amber lowered her chin and looked up at Kelsey, making her skull earrings jiggle painfully on her ears.
“Me? Why me? He hasn’t said a word to me the whole time he’s been here.”
Kelsey gave her a look that said, ‘The whole time he’s been here? It’s only been half an hour.’ But when she actually spoke, her voice was sincere.
“Because you care about him so much. Tavish does too, but Tomas is angry at Tavish, so his brother may not be able to get through to him. You can’t tell me you didn’t notice?”
Trì (3)<
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That night, Amber lay awake in her tiny trailer bedroom, tossing and turning. Everything Sulis had said kept running through her mind, and over and over again she saw how dead Tomas’s eyes looked, and how he followed Sulis around — not even like a little puppy. Puppies were alive. He was lifeless. More like a slave. It tore her up inside.
Finally, she gave in and got up. No, there was nothing she could do to help Tomas tonight, but she knew herself well. When something was on her mind, her body needed to get good and tired, or she would never fall asleep. And then she would be useless at helping him, not to mention useless at work tomorrow.
Normally, on days when her coworkers didn’t organize a basketball game — the real kind, with fruit baskets hung in trees out there near the dig site in Mexico — she did jumping jacks and then jogged in place. But that would shake the ‘check’ out of this trailer and wake Kelsey up. There was no need for both of them to pass a sleepless night.
Besides, after eleven years of only dreaming about being here someday, she was finally in Scotland! And the full moon was shining through the window.
Not bothering with any makeup or jewelry, she quickly dressed in black sweats, her older pair of Doc Martin boots, and her coat, then snuck outside into the damp night air. Looking up at a bazillion stars despite the full moon, she popped in her ear buds and cranked up the music, then walk-jog-danced along the cliffs over the ocean.
It was a magical clear September night even if it was freezing cold here.
Shoving her hands into her pockets, she made a mental note to get some mittens next time someone went to town. And a thick wool scarf to put over her mouth and nose. She shuddered. Bbrrr! For now, she pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt and drew the drawstring tight, tying it in a bow, then stuffed her hands in her pockets.
But it really was beautiful here.
Moonlight hit the ripples in the ocean on her left and the grey stone hills that surrounded the grassy valley on her right, yet she could still see more stars than she ever had at home — or on any other dig.
