by Donna Grant
“The birthing chamber.”
For several moments Fallon stared at his wife. “I can no’ jump us there. I never ventured to that area of the castle.”
“Then we better move quickly,” Hayden said.
They fell into line once more, moving like ghosts through the castle. Isla could hear people talking and knew that more and more workers were coming into the castle. It was a huge tourist attraction, and it took hundreds of people to keep the castle ready each and every day.
She tightened her grip on Hayden’s hand, and his answering glance told her he knew just how anxious she was. If it wasn’t so important to find the library, Isla would have agreed with the men and returned to the castle.
But she knew how crucial it was to find the spell. Larena desperately wanted to have a family, and she wasn’t the only one. While she and Fallon were both immortal since they were Warriors, the same couldn’t be said for the other women.
Even Isla had no idea if she was still immortal or not, and she didn’t want to tempt fate to find out.
They wound their way through the castle, managing to avoid being detected by anyone, even the security equipment located everywhere.
Isla was out of breath by the time they reached the birthing chamber. The room was allowed to be seen by visitors, so they’d have to hurry.
“Just get us inside,” Fallon said as he kept watch at the door.
Isla exchanged a look with Larena as they went to opposite sides of the dark wood-paneled room. Their search began all over again as they knocked and pushed upon the wood.
“Dammit,” Larena muttered. “I just knew it was here.”
Hayden had stayed near Isla and reached up to straighten a picture when the panel before her popped open.
“You did it,” Isla said as she gave him a smile.
Hayden shrugged. “That’s why you brought me along.”
“Get inside,” Fallon said as he rushed to them. “Someone is coming.”
* * *
Tara came awake slowly as memories of the night before filled her mind. She was lying on Ramsey’s chest just as she had fallen asleep, and the sound of his heart beating steadily filled her ears.
His arms were around her, as if he had held her against him all night. The thought made her grin like a giddy schoolgirl. She might have been on the run for a decade, and though she wasn’t promiscuous, she’d had a couple of lovers. No one, however, compared to Ramsey.
Maybe it was the magic that flowed between them, or the attraction that seemed to connect them so solidly. But all Tara knew was that Ramsey was the type of man she’d always dreamed of finding.
She lifted her head and found him still asleep. Her fingers itched to trace over every line of his face and body as she hadn’t been able to do the night before.
In sleep, the frown that had marked his brow since returning to the castle was gone. His lips were slack, and all too kissable.
Tara bit her lip as she remembered what his mouth had done to her, how he’d made her scream.
“I’ve always been told it isna nice to stare,” Ramsey murmured.
Tara chuckled and folded her hands on his chest so she could rest her chin on them. “How can I resist looking at such a fine specimen of a man?”
One eye cracked open to look at her. “Careful, lass. You’ll make me conceited.”
“Impossible.”
He turned his head and opened both eyes. “Did you sleep well?”
“Exceptionally well, actually. And I believe that was all because of you.”
“Oh, now I know my conceit is growing,” he said with a smile.
“Did you sleep well?”
“I slept,” he replied softly.
She frowned. “Do you not normally?”
“No’ always.”
“Is it good that you did then?”
One side of his mouth tilted in a smile. “Oh, aye.”
Not knowing what else to say to such a wicked, seductive smile, Tara glanced down and just then noticed that no more of the tendrils of magic wound about them.
“What is it?” Ramsey asked.
“The magic around us is gone.”
He rolled her onto her back and kissed the tip of her nose. “I think no’.”
Before she could ask what he was doing, he ran a finger slowly down her stomach. Trailing behind him was a thread of white. It didn’t float around them as it had before, but appeared to be beneath her skin. And glowing.
She blinked up at him. Unable to keep from trying herself, Tara trailed a finger over his shoulder and down his arm. The same glowing white thread appeared beneath his skin.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“Neither do I, but I feel your magic more. Before it would come and go.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing, Ramsey. My magic is too volatile for it to be with me constantly. I could kill someone.”
“Have faith, Tara. All will be well.”
As she looked into his silver eyes, she found herself believing him. It wasn’t that she wanted to, but that she did. There was no doubt in her mind.
“I stayed in Edinburgh those few years because I enjoyed teaching the children, but I never stayed in one place for longer than a month. And when the school let out, I would leave Edinburgh. I don’t know what it means to stay in one place.”
“Then you’ll get to try it out here,” he said with a grin. “You are no’ a prisoner. You can leave whenever.”
“Not if I want to remain a mie. Declan will find me if I leave.”
Ramsey nodded. “He knows you’re with us. We’ve strength in numbers here. Isla and Reaghan have verra powerful magic. He willna be stupid enough to attack us.”
A sick feeling began in her stomach as she thought of Declan. “No, he wouldn’t attack as I heard Deirdre used to. Declan will use different tactics.”
“He’s already tried to gain information by controlling someone’s mind. The poor lass was devastated when she discovered what Declan had done. She threw herself out the tower window into the sea below. But Declan has no’ gotten into your mind. What other way can he harm you?”
“I’m afraid to even think about it.” A shudder of foreboding rolled down her back. “But I need to be prepared for anything. Because I cannot help but think that when it happens, he’ll come directly at me.”
Ramsey’s silver gaze bored into hers. “Nay. I willna allow it.”
And somehow Tara believed him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Ramsey didn’t want to let go of Tara, but dawn had come and another day was in progress. He needed to shower and get downstairs, though he hated to wash her scent off his body.
The smile she gave him as she looked over her shoulder, her naked ass tempting him to follow, made him hard in an instant. The only thing that stopped him from going after her were the words she’d spoken about Declan.
They’d left him cold. Because he knew she was right.
Ramsey kept the smile on his face until he heard her turn on the water. Only then did he let the smile slip as he swung his legs over the bed and rested his elbows on his knees.
Once more he realized things had been made worse by him not killing Declan when he’d had the chance. Ramsey couldn’t believe he’d failed so miserably.
With a curse, he jerked on his jeans, grabbed his shirt and shoes, and made his way to the tower. He should take up residence in the cottages, but he wanted to be close to Tara.
“Morning,” Reaghan said as she passed him.
Ramsey didn’t miss the way she looked at his hand where he held his shirt and shoes. “Morning.”
“How is Tara?”
Ramsey paused and slowly turned to Reaghan to find her watching him intently. Her small grin told him that regardless of his answer, she knew where he’d been.
“She’s taking a shower. She should be down in a bit.”
Reaghan smiled. “Good. I’ll make sure Galen leaves food for both of you.”
“You had best do so. I wouldna want to blacken his eyes,” Ramsey said as he continued to the tower.
Reaghan’s laugh followed him down the corridor.
He wasn’t the kind who did a lot of joking, so he wasn’t sure why he had jested with her. But it felt good. Maybe he was too cautious. Maybe he needed to … what were the words Gwynn used? Oh, mellow out more.
The smile was still on his face when he entered the tower and tossed his dirty shirt on the bed before heading to the shower.
It was while he was shaving that he thought again about the magic between him and Tara. Why had the tendrils stopped? He hadn’t stopped feeling her magic. If anything, the feel of her magic had increased.
He had no idea why the tendrils of magic had begun either. Did it have something to do with his magic? Or the Druids he descended from?
Ramsey knew how the Torrachilty Druids had gotten their magic. He knew why only the men could handle it, but he had a feeling that despite all the history lessons he’d had, there was something missing. As if he might have learned the part they had kept from him had he not been captured by Deirdre.
As he washed his hair and body, remembered conversations with his father filled his mind. Many times his father had warned him to be choosy when picking a wife. Many times even his uncle had told him to tread carefully when dallying with a woman.
He’d questioned them, of course. Their answers had been that he would know everything in due course. Well, he hadn’t learned everything. Instead he’d had his god unbound and now lived as an immortal.
Ramsey wiped the water from his face after rinsing and turned the shower off. He reached for the towel he’d flung over the glass shower door and began to dry off.
Just as he stepped out of the shower he heard someone come into his room. He wrapped the towel about him and held it together at his waist as he walked from the bathroom.
Arran was leaning against the opposite wall, his arms crossed over his chest. “So much for staying away from her, aye?”
Ramsey rolled his eyes and pulled out clothes from the bureau.
“No’ that I blame you,” Arran continued while he gazed out the window. “She’s a beauty, and there’s no reason we can no’ have some fun. We’ve killed one evil. And if we can take down Deirdre, we can take down Declan.”
Ramsey glanced up at Arran as he tugged on his jeans. “Did you come here just to annoy me?”
“Nay. I came to tell you Fallon has left with Larena, Isla, and Hayden to look for the hidden spell in Edinburgh.”
“The spell that would once more bind our gods?” Ramsey pulled on a solid black tee and frowned. “Do you really believe they’ll be able to do that?”
Arran turned with a shrug. “I’d like to think they can. Laria said there was such a spell.”
Deirdre’s twin had told them that bit of news right before the great battle. Laria had known she wouldn’t survive if Deirdre was to die, but Ramsey wished she had told them more about the spell than just that it had once been housed in Edinburgh Castle, hidden within the scrolls and books in its library.
“Laria wouldna lie about something like that,” Ramsey said.
“But?” Arran urged.
Ramsey chuckled. “But … anything could have happened to that spell. Aye, it was hidden in Edinburgh Castle amid other scrolls, but someone could have taken it or destroyed it without knowing what it was.”
“And we doona even know when it left Edinburgh.”
“Precisely.”
Arran shifted from one foot to another, his gaze on the floor. “Ramsey, do you want your god bound?”
For several moments Ramsey thought over Arran’s question. “In a way, aye. I’d like to be able to do my magic without fear of harming someone. Yet, at the same time, if we were no’ Warriors, no one would have been able to defeat Deirdre or to fight against Declan.”
“The MacLeods want the spell.”
“Aye. As I’m sure every Warrior with a wife does. They want to live normal lives, to have children, and to grow old with their women. I understand that.”
Arran rubbed his palm along his whiskered cheek. “Phelan told me he wouldna ever bind his god.”
“It is his choice. If the spell is ever found, I know the MacLeods would keep it safe so that anytime those who chose no’ to bind their gods could change their mind.”
“There’s a certain advantage to being immortal,” Arran said. “To no’ having to worry about disease or anything. And if we do get wounded, we heal.”
Ramsey didn’t bother to mention drough blood. He knew his fellow Warrior hadn’t forgotten that important bit.
“You doona need to ask anyone’s permission if you wish to stay a Warrior,” Ramsey told him.
Arran’s pale brown eyes met his. “It willna be the same if everyone binds their gods but me and Phelan.”
“You’ll always have Phelan as a friend,” Ramsey said with a grin.
Arran laughed and shook his head. “I doona think I’d last an hour alone with him. He … what’s that expression Dani uses? Ah, he carries quite the chip on his shoulder.”
“We all do to an extent. But think how much Phelan suffered while growing up imprisoned in Cairn Toul. Then, when he reached manhood, to have his god unbound.”
“It’s why I give him so much slack for his attitude,” Arran said softly. “I’m amazed he came out of there with his mind intact.”
Ramsey recalled how he and Broc watched Warrior after Warrior succumbing to Deirdre because their minds weren’t strong enough to withstand her and their god.
“Phelan has come through for us on a couple of occasions. He didna have to help us with Deirdre, nor did he have to heal everyone from Declan’s last attack.”
Arran suddenly smiled widely. “Aye, I know. Listen, I’m up for a workout. Care to spar?”
“Sounds perfect.”
Arran let out a laugh and flung open one of the tower windows. His skin turned the white of his god as he leaped onto the sill. “I’ll see you below,” he said before he jumped.
Ramsey smiled as he rushed to the window and watched Arran land near the cliffs. In a heartbeat Ramsey called up Ethexia. Fangs filled his mouth and claws lengthened from his fingers.
He caught his reflection in the glass from the window and stared for a moment at the bronze skin that covered him, and the bronze eyes blinking back at him.
And then he jumped out the window, the air whooshing by him as he fell. He landed with his legs bent in the snow, and a huge smile on his face.
Arran called out to him a second later. Ramsey watched him jump over the cliffs to the beach below and quickly followed.
The spray of the sea as he landed on the beach hit his face and body, but he didn’t care. He was searching for Arran who had disappeared, but then again that was their game. How long would it take him to find his friend?
Ramsey chuckled as he picked up Arran’s trail amid the rocks and hurried after him. He spotted the Warrior just as he was about to leap back up the cliffs to a cave.
With a low growl Ramsey raced after him and tackled Arran to the ground. The two came up smiling, ready to spar as only Warriors could.
* * *
“My God,” Hayden muttered as he looked around the small room and the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stacked with not just books but weapons and small chests and other things that Hayden couldn’t begin to know what they were.
“This room hasn’t been disturbed in decades,” Isla said.
“Centuries,” Fallon corrected as he peered at something on one of the shelves.
Larena blew out a breath. “All right. We need to look for a scroll, or maybe even a book. Anything that might be what we need. If we have to, we’ll take it back to MacLeod Castle to look it over.”
Hayden gave a nod and began to search through the shelves nearest him. It wasn’t long before he began to hear the sound of voices outside that told him the city hadn’t just awoken, but that people were about to flood the ca
stle.
They worked quietly and quickly looking at every item on the shelves and every page of the books. Hayden closed a huge tome and was about to replace it when something caught his eye.
“What’s this,” he murmured, and reached into the bookshelf to find a small book with its black leather binding coming undone.
He opened it and read aloud, “A listing of items taken from Edinburgh Castle to London the year of our Lord 1132.”
“What?” Isla asked.
Hayden didn’t answer her right away as he ran his finger down the pages looking for mention of a scroll. Soon, the other three were beside him as they all looked over the pages.
“These are things that the crown wanted to be secreted away,” Larena said.
Fallon shrugged. “But why? No one has been in this chamber for a verra long time. Those items could have been kept here.”
“True enough,” Isla said. “But take a look at what’s listed. Most are items that some people thought could hold magic.”
“Bloody hell,” Hayden said.
Fallon ran a hand down his face. “That means the crown knew of Druids and magic for far longer than I had expected them to.”
“If they know about us, do they know about the Warriors?” Isla asked.
Hayden softly closed the book and shook his head. “We better assume they do. And we better make plans to get to London for the scroll.”
“You found a listing?” Larena asked.
He nodded and handed her the book. “It’s on the verra last page of the book. All it says is ‘Scroll,’ but noted beneath it is a small message that says the words to the spell were deciphered and the scroll burned.”
“Damn,” Fallon said.
“Wait,” Isla said. “There’s a final notation here. The contents were split into three wagons, each taking a different route to London. Two by land, and one by sea. Two of the three made their destination, but one by land went missing.”
Larena ran her finger over the spine of the book after she closed it. “We can’t know until we look in London whether the spell is still missing or not.”
“We need to get back to the castle and discuss this with the others,” Fallon said.
They joined hands, and in a blink they were once more in MacLeod Castle’s great hall.
