Charming the Highlander Laird

by Verlin Underwood

  “Very funny, Colin,” Tara said, laughing nervously. “But could you let me through? My feet are tired.” Sorcha had given her fancy slippers to wear, but they were not made for long walks.

  “The laird asked you a question,” the guard growled.

  Tara narrowed her eyes. “Colin, it’s me, Tara.”

  “It’s Laird Morrison,” the guard said, looking like he was about ready to shove Tara down the steps.

  “That’s enough, Daniel,” Colin said. He turned back to Tara. “How do you know my name?”

  “We’ve known each other for weeks, Colin. We’ve traveled up from Haddington together.”

  “No, we didn’t,” Colin said simply. “I traveled up here with Baldric.”

  “She’s mad, m’laird,” Daniel insisted. “Do you want me to take her to the dungeons?”

  “No, that won’t be necessary,” Colin told him. “But I do want to ask her more questions.”

  “Da, it’s Tara, remember?” Baldric said, tugging at Colin’s hair.

  “All right, Baldric. Run inside now.” Baldric gave Tara a sad look and retreated into the castle. “And you,” he said, pointing at Tara. “Follow me. I want to speak to you.”

  They walked down the steps to the beginning of the hedge maze, out of earshot of the guards. Colin turned around swiftly and pointed an accusing finger to Tara.

  “How in the hell did you find my son?” he asked.

  Tara was stunned. For a moment, she couldn’t find any words to speak.

  “Colin… He… He escaped from the castle sometime in the night. I found him in the ocean up by Inverness. He was with the selkies. He…”

  Colin’s eyes darkened, causing Tara to trail off. She took a step back and found herself backed up against the hedge. The prickly branches scratched through her thin dress.

  “Get out of my lands, now,” he hissed at her.

  Tara stared at him, dumbfounded. Then a sickening realization swept through her. Was this because of her magic? Or lack thereof? Since Una also took her leannan sith magic from her, Colin was no longer enchanted. Was this man who stood before her truly Colin?

  So he was enchanted by me this whole time.

  Her heart felt like it was being split in half by a dull sword. “I apologize,” she said. She hung her head down. “I will go, as you requested.”

  Colin stared at her suspiciously as she turned around and left. But where was she to go? Back to Dunaid? She couldn’t go back without figuring out how to deal with her mother. It would be the death of all of them. She had to figure out a way. But how?

  She felt Colin’s eyes on her as she walked back down the road, away from the castle. She sniffled back a few tears, annoyed that she wanted to cry. She wasn’t going to give up now. She was stronger than this. She didn’t need her magic, nor Colin’s help.

  At the very least, Baldric and Colin appeared safe in the castle. Even if Colin didn’t remember her, it was better than them being dead.

  Aye, she could do this. She bit back her tears and held her head up high. It was now time to save the Maxwells.

  Chapter 21

  Who the hell was that woman? As he washed Baldric and changed him into clean clothes, Baldric kept insisting that the woman was someone he knew. Tara Maxwell. Was she from the Maxwell clan to the south? Why was she this far north? How did she know about the selkies?

  The whole thing was alarming, but at least Baldric was now safe. Colin thought he had lost him forever, waking up at some point in the night to find the bed empty. It was something out of the ordinary. He always made sure Baldric was safe and being watched at all times. What happened last night that distracted him from checking on his boy?

  After Baldric was cleaned, he tucked the boy into his bed. Tonight he would sleep alongside Baldric. He was never letting him out of sight again.

  A sudden knock came on the door just before he retired from the night. “You may enter,” he said called out.

  His mother quietly opened the door. Even in her night robe she still looked elegant, with her hair done up nicely and jewels adorning her body.

  “Colin, I need to speak with you.”

  “What is it, Mother?”

  She came in, holding a bundle of folded papers in her hand. She sat down at the edge of Baldric’s bed and said quietly, “I’ve been receiving more letters from your brother.”

  Colin’s heart turned cold. “What do the letters say?”

  “He is still asking where you are, but now he’s become more insistent. I’ve been getting a letter from him every day now.”

  “It looks like you have more to say.”

  “Aye, I do. “

  “Yes? What is it?”

  “How about I tell him that you and Baldric perished at the battle of Haddington?” she proposed. “So many people died that it would be impossible to refute. And I wouldn’t think he would believe that his own mother would lie to him. I’m sure the Lord would forgive me if it means that I am saving two precious lives.”

  It was as good of a plan as any. And he hoped it would buy Colin some time. He had been thinking about traveling north, to the far reaches of Scotia where it was so remote his only neighbors would be the red deer that roamed freely along the plains. “Thank you, Mother. I pray that it will work.” He paused. “Mother, do you know of a Scottish woman named Tara Maxwell?”

  His mother furrowed her brows. “Maxwell? Hmm. There is a Maxwell clan in the south by the Firth of Lorne. Why do you ask?”

  Why would the woman be all alone this far north with Baldric? It made no sense why she should appear. It was irritating that he couldn’t get the woman out of his thoughts. Was it wrong to kick her off his doorstep? What if she needed help?

  “Colin, did you hear me? Why are you asking about the Maxwells?”

  “Oh, no reason.”

  Chapter 22

  Tara made west toward home, following her mother’s tracks, but to what end? Nothing she could do would prevent Una from laying waste to her brother’s land.

  She tried not to think about how much it hurt that Colin had forgotten her. She had to tell herself that it wasn’t his fault, but her own to fall in love with a man that would never actually love her back.

  But maybe now that her magic was gone, she could finally go after her heart. She thought of falling in love with someone else, but all she wanted was Colin.

  I guess I am destined to be a spinster.

  As she walked, she tried to think of her options to defeat her mother. She had no magic, and she had no army.

  What other choices did she have?

  Or allies?

  Tara turned around to gaze at the forest north of Aengus. There had been a standing stone in front of the forest that she had passed unnoticed during her haste to find Baldric. But she could see it clearly now. It stood taller than the stone that used to stand by Dunaid Castle, which had been the link to the Unseelie Court. That standing stone had been destroyed after she trapped her mother.

  The stone by the forest stood as a watchful guardian. It was no doubt a portal to the Seelie Court. Tara could sense the benevolent magic of the fairies even from where she stood.

  As she stared at the stone, she thought of another option. It seemed so absurd that she didn’t think it might be possible, and with her magic gone, would she be able to do it?

  Well, she had no choice. If it was indeed a portal to the Seelie Court, and since she had Seelie blood, she could try to travel through and beg the Seelie Queen to help her stop Una.

  Ach, if only I could change into a creature faster than a human, she thought begrudgingly.

  Her legs already ached from the journey back from the ocean earlier, and the slippers she wore, as beautiful as they were, made her feet hurt. She almost wept with relief as she finally reached the stone, which stood as tall as the birch trees and almost half as wide. She limped up to it and stared at the craggy surface, wondering if she could actually achieve what she had planned.

  She put
both palms of her hands on the stone and closed her eyes. Deep within the stone she felt the pulsating of magic, much like a heartbeat.

  I am Tara Maxwell, she told the guardian stone. I come in peace and seek refuge in the Seelie Court to tell the queen that she and her kingdom are in grave peril.

  The stone lay quiet, as though it were considering her words. Even the heartbeat pulsation slowed until she could barely feel it. Then a familiar rush of magic flowed into her, feeding her from the stone. Her eyes flew open.

  The trees in the forest in front of her grew several feet taller. The white bark changed into more of a twilight blue, matching the darkening sky, and the leaves in the trees sparkled like millions of diamonds. It was one of the most beautiful sights Tara had set her eyes on, and for a moment she stood there silently, taking in the beauty.

  She was now looking at the Seelie Court.

  She had read tales about this land in her mother’s books. Invisible to humans, it stood as a mirror image of the birch forest. Unlike the Unseelie Court, which thrived in an underground realm, this one existed alongside the humans’ world. However, few except those sensitive to magic sensed it.

  Tara stepped into the forest, which quickly covered the sky above her like a shroud. Somehow, there was still light in the forest, glowing from the treetops, illuminating her path deeper into the kingdom. Tiny fairies floated by her, so small that they were only balls of light to her eyes. They floated around her head curiously before wandering off on their own trajectory. Tara hoped the small path she walked down led her to the castle the queen lived in and that she wasn’t walking to her own doom.

  Time seemed to have stopped while she walked. As the sun was totally obscured by the magical trees, she didn’t know whether it was still daytime or sometime in the night. She briefly thought of Una and where she might be and almost felt a panic.

  Was she wrong for attempting to plead to the Seelie queen?

  Tara almost turned around to head back to the portal. However, at that moment, a brownie came up to her and handed her a bowl made from a giant leaf. Inside the bowl was a clear liquid.

  “Drink it,” the brownie said. “And you’ll feel better. I promise you that.”

  She took the bowl, held it to her lips, and almost sipped it, but then remembered a stark warning she had heard about the Seelie Court. A person should never consume any food or drink while in the realm, unless they wanted to be trapped there for eternity.

  Aye, the Seelie fairies weren’t as dangerous as the Unseelie fairies, but they were still dangerous in their own right. They were still tricksters, even if they didn’t enjoy killing. She handed the bowl back to the brownie.

  “No, thank you,” she told the fairy. The fairy glowered at her and said something in an unknown language before disappearing off into the trees.

  Tara let out a breath, shaking off her close encounter, and continued walking. She noticed how everything in the forest was starting to look the same. Was that the same rock she just passed by? And was that the same bush? Alarmed, she turned around to look behind her and realized she stood in front of the standing stone at the forest entrance.

  “How did…” she began, then stopped. Although she had whispered it, her words echoed startlingly throughout the forest. The leaves rattled, and the ground shook. Tara froze in place like an animal caught in a trap.

  Then she heard footsteps.

  “A human,” one voice, full of disgust, said.

  “Nay, there’s something more to her than that,” another female voice said.

  Two brownies appeared out from behind the bushes. They looked humanoid in appearance, save for their large, pointed ears and verdant hair. The first one was the brownie who had handed Tara that strange liquid and the other was a male brownie who looked almost exactly like the female brownie, save for his shorter hair and broader shoulders. They were small, the tops of their heads coming up to Tara’s navel. Still, their slight stature didn’t mean that they weren’t dangerous.

  “Hello,” Tara said carefully. “I’m here to speak with the Seelie queen.”

  The fairies acted like they didn’t hear her. The male snapped his fingers. “Ach, I know what it is. She’s Unseelie.”

  “If she’s Unseelie, then how did she get through the portal? The queen is the only one who lets Unseelies through, you stupid clout.”

  “I’m not a stupid clout, you are!”

  They smacked each other much like siblings, momentarily forgetting about Tara. Tara took the opportunity to continue down the road. She just wanted to get away from the two brownies as quickly as possible.

  “Hold on, will you?”

  Tara stopped and sighed. “What is it?” she asked them.

  “No Unseelies are allowed in the forest. Any trespassers are to be taken to her.”

  “Her? Do you mean the queen?”

  “Aye, that’s exactly what I mean.”

  Well now she had a sure chance of meeting the fairy queen. “All right, then. Arrest me.”

  Immediately, her hands were bound up, and she was hoisted into the air. Surprisingly, her injured arm did not hurt at all from being tied in the unnatural position. The two brownies walked ahead of her as she floated behind them, tied up like a hog about to be roasted.

  They led her to a clearing in the forest where the Seelie castle stood. The castle looked as though it was carved into the branches and trunks of multiple trees—a design that only magic would be able to create. The structure was a beautiful work of art, and the windows and doors in the multiple tiers of the structure cast an ethereal blue glow all around.

  Blue fire crackled from the sconces as she and her captors ascended up a spiraling staircase toward the center of the largest tree. Around her, a few fairies sang, plucking small harps that they held in their arms. It was very reminiscent of the selkie realm.

  Tara was then dropped unceremoniously onto the ground in front of a dais, where she saw the elegant feet of the great queen. Her hands still bound, Tara found her own footing and stood up slowly, struggling for balance with no arms for support.

  As she straightened her legs, she found herself face-to-face with the fairy queen, who looked at her as a person would look at horse dung on the bottom of shoe—with apathy and a hint of disgust.

  The queen had long auburn hair and unsettling blue eyes that seemed to pierce right into Tara’s own. She found that she could not look away from her, no matter how frightening she was.

  “Who have you brought to me?” the queen said, her voice reverberating through the trees. The singing stopped, and even the birds and the insects grew quiet.

  “She’s an Unseelie whelp who wandered through the portal,” the male brownie explained.

  “You can smell the Unseelie stench from her,” the other fairy added.

  “You can probably smell it all the way from the other side of the forest,” the male said, pinching the tip of his nose and holding his head up.

  “That is enough,” the queen admonished. The fairies slunk away, dejected.

  “Aye, I am Unseelie,” Tara said, willing herself to not be frightened by the woman’s unnerving stare. “But I am also Seelie. That is how I suspect I came through this portal.”

  “Yet I sense no magic flowing through your veins,” the queen remarked.

  “That is true. And that is partly why I have called upon you today.”

  The queen turned and walked over to her oaken throne and sat upon it. She nodded to a servant behind Tara. The servant brought up a hassock for Tara to sit on as well. “Why are you here then, lass?

  As she sat down, Tara realized that her legs were shaking. She was grateful to sit, for if she stood there any longer she might collapse. She took a deep breath.

  “I need your help on a grave matter...”

  “You’re requesting help from me? A Seelie queen?” she asked haughtily. “I cannot grant you your wish of marrying your sweetheart, nor cursing some woman who took him from you. That is something for the
Unseelie queen to delight in. And I don’t think I can give you your power back when I don’t know where it is or what it is to begin with.”

  Her tone was irritatingly arrogant. All around her, fairy servants were kneeling, taking care not to look directly in the queen’s eyes. Tara wanted to turn around and leave, but she had a mission and couldn’t end it now.

  She lifted her chin up high. “I am not askin’ you to give me my power back,” Tara told her patiently. “Nor do I want you to give me some sort of love spell. I believe you will be interested in what I have to say, for it involves your kingdom as well as the human kingdom.”

  That seemed to get the fairy’s interest. Good. “Carry on, then,” she said, leaning back in her throne and resting her head on her hand as though she was bored.

  The female brownie from earlier came up to the queen and offered her the bowl of liquid. This time, the liquid was a light green color. The queen took the bowl idly and sipped it, waiting for Tara to speak.

  Tara cleared her throat, doing her best not to fidget. “The Kingdom of Scotia is in grave peril,” she began. “The English are burnin’ villages to the ground and murderin’ people in the Lowlands. Along with humans, they are also killin’ fairies and half-fairies.”

  The queen waved her hand dismissively. “It is the fairies’ choice if they want to live with men. They know the dangers of living with such a chaotic species.”

  Tara wanted to laugh. At times, the fairies seemed more chaotic than humans, but she wasn’t going to argue with her. “Be that as it may,” Tara said. “This is different. My mother is an Unseelie leannan sith and she is the one enchantin’ King Edward to take over Scotia. She wants to take over Scotia for herself. She also wants to burn everythin’ down. This forest would be included.”

  “Does the Unseelie queen have no control over her people?” The Seelie queen asked sourly. It sounded like it wasn’t the first time she’d spoken of the Unseelie queen in that manner.

  “The leannan sith has escaped after being imprisoned in the Unseelie Court.”

  “And the queen let her free?”