“Lady Eira,” MacKay called out. “Where are you?”
She turned back, seeing he had dismounted his horse and was headed right toward the cave. She stepped back into the darkness hoping he wouldn’t find her.
MacKay could barely see through the snow, but he knew his wife had to be here somewhere. He found her horse and followed her tracks in the snow that led to a cave. There were the tracks of two people, not just one. Both looked to be the feet of women since they were smaller than a man’s footprints.
Still, he couldn’t be sure of anything in his state. This could be naught but a trap for all he knew. He slowly slid his sword from the scabbard, holding it in front of him as he made his way to the cave. Besides the stream of light in the entranceway, it was dark inside. He was sure he heard someone breathing. He stepped into the cave. From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure slip out of the shadows heading for the door. He spun around and found himself holding the tip of his sword to Eira’s throat.
“Wife!” he said. “Who is here with you?”
“I’m by myself,” she spat. Her hand came up and knocked his blade away. “Put that thing away before I pull my blade on you in return.”
“I apologize, my sweet queen. My mistake.” MacKay slid the sword back into the scabbard. “Why are you here? Were you trying to get away from me, or were you meeting a secret lover?” he asked, thinking about the second set of footprints.
“If you consider an old woman my lover then you are even dafter than I thought.”
“Old woman?” By the way his scar started throbbing, he knew exactly who she meant. “Hecuba,” he ground out. “Where is she? I need to have a word with her.”
“She’s gone,” said Eira. “Tell me, how do you know her?”
MacKay took a moment for his eyes to get accustomed to the dark. Looking around the cave, he decided Eira told the truth that Hecuba was no longer there.
“I don’t know why you are meeting in secret with that witch, but I forbid you to talk to her again.”
“Forbid me?” Eira laughed. “As if you could stop me from doing anything. I am Queen of Skol Island. Even if you are my husband, you will not tell me what to do or what not to do again.”
“If you want my help leading your army when Ailbert arrives, then let me give you some sound advice. Nothing good can come from being friends with that witch.”
“I don’t believe in witches,” she sniffed.
“No? Then you’d better change your belief.” He picked up the end of his tunic and showed her his scar. “This is what happens from trying to fight her. Because of Hecuba, I have been cursed.”
“Isn’t that my tunic?” she asked.
“Forget the tunic, I am showing you evidence that Hecuba is no good and not to be trusted.”
“Stop it, that is nonsense.” She walked past him toward the opening of the cave. His hand shot out, and he pulled her back.
“It is not nonsense. I warn you, don’t have anything to do with that witch or you will be sorry.”
Her gaze traveled down to his hand and then up his arm. Her bright blue eyes almost seemed to glow in the daylight streaming into the cave. Her pale skin lit up with a rosy glow, making her look beautiful to him even though she was wearing a tunic and breeches again instead of a gown.
“She asked me to befriend her daughter, Medea, and to mentor her in the ways of war,” said Eira.
“Why would she do that? Hecuba is Medea’s mentor.”
“The woman is very old and I think, perhaps, she is dying. She wants me to look after her daughter when she’s gone, and I think I am going to do it.”
“Eira, don’t be a fool,” he ground out. “It is just one of Hecuba’s tricks, can’t you see that? She is immortal and cannot die. Besides, Medea has a lot of darkness in her. She can’t be trusted. You don’t want to get involved.”
“You will not get in my way,” she told him. “You have no interest in my affairs, and certainly not something that has to do with a beautiful woman like Medea. You will stay away from her. Do you hear me?”
“Egads, woman, you don’t understand.” He released her arm, and clenched his hand into a fist. “I don’t want anything to do with either of those witches.”
“I don’t believe you. And stop calling them witches. I saw the way you looked at Medea. You want her in your bed, don’t you? Just admit it.”
“I promise you, Medea will never, and I do repeat never, be taken to my bed.”
“You promise that now, but all men are betrayers. How can you be so sure you won’t change your mind later?”
“Eira, my wife, you don’t understand. I am not interested in Medea the way you think I am. You see, Medea is my half-sister.”
Chapter 12
Eira sat at the dais for the meal, ignoring MacKay altogether. Once she found out Medea was his half-sister, she left him in the cave and rode back to the castle, angrier than ever. He betrayed her. Already. Why hadn’t he mentioned that fact? Hecuba was correct in saying he would deceive her. She started to wonder what else he was hiding from her and if he would try to escape from the island again.
“Eira, talk to me,” said MacKay, looking at her over the rim of his goblet. She didn’t know what to do. Feeling furious with him, she wanted to yell. But now that she realized that would only make him like her more, she decided to stay quiet instead. Confusion filled her being and she was no longer sure she wanted to be married to him. She had acted irrationally and was now trapped because of her carelessness.
“Why did you keep the fact from me that Medea was your half-sister?” She had to ask and broke her silence.
“You don’t understand. I didn’t want to say anything to you because I didn’t know what Medea was going to do. She’s got a very dark side to her. I don’t even know her well. After all, she was just born recently and didn’t even exist a few months ago.”
“That is a bold-faced lie.” She slammed down her goblet and got to her feet. “How can you sit there and tell me a woman nearly twenty years of age was born recently?”
“She was. Medea is a child of magic and aged one year every day for the first eighteen days of her life.”
“Enough!” she shouted, not wanting to hear any more of this nonsense.
“Ask her if you don’t believe me. There she is now, coming into the great hall.” MacKay nodded. “While you are at it, why don’t you ask her why she didn’t mention to you that I was her half-brother.”
Aye, why hadn’t Medea mentioned it? Now Eira didn’t want to talk to her either. Once again, everyone in her life was betraying her. She needed to be alone to think.
MacKay took her hand in his and kissed it. He gazed up at her with that foolish grin on his face. “Are you ready to go to our bedchamber and make love again, Wife?”
“Nay!” She pulled her hand out of his.
“You know how that attitude turns me on.” He started to get out of his chair, but she pushed him back down and hurried from the great hall.
“Lady Eira,” Medea called out, but she kept running. Eira entered her bedchamber and bolted the door. Then she raced over to the bed and flopped down upon it, burying her head in the pillow.
That was a mistake. She smelled MacKay’s scent on the pillow, and it only made her want him more. If he was cursed as he claimed, then perhaps she was cursed, too. If not, why did her heart ache for him even though she was angry with him because of his words and actions? None of this made any sense.
“Have you decided?” came the voice of Hecuba.
She shot up to a sitting position, her eyes scanning the room. “Show yourself,” she shouted. Then, to her surprise, the chair in the room started moving. The old woman emerged from its form.
Scared out of her mind she backed up against the bedpost, holding her hands out in front of her. “Stay away!” she shouted. Her body trembled in fear at what she just witnessed.
“Oh, you must have never seen someone shapeshift before.” The old woman cackled.
“Y-you really are a witch then?”
“That is what we’ve all been trying to tell you. Do you believe me now?”
“I – I do.”
“And have you decided if you will mentor my daughter when I am gone?”
“Why did you choose me? Surely there is someone better fit for this position.”
“Nay, there’s not. I see the look of disappointment and betrayal in your eyes. You will best understand my daughter, what she’s been through, and what she is yet to endure.”
“No, you’re wrong.”
“You are a warrior with a hardened heart. That is why you’re called the Snow Queen, isn’t it? You have a heart of ice.”
“I might have had one, but not anymore.”
“I don’t believe it,” said the witch.
“I’ve changed.”
“No, you haven’t.”
“Yes, I have.”
“Then why have you locked your husband out of your bedchamber, Ice Queen?”
Pounding came from the other side of the door.
“Eira, open up,” MacKay called out, his voice slightly muffled.
“Go away,” she shouted. “I want to be alone.”
“I hear voices in there. You are not alone.”
“Tell him,” said the witch. “Tell him you don’t want him and that he is a betrayer.”
She wanted to, but something about it didn’t feel right. Even as angry as she was with MacKay, he was still her husband.
“I will not be your daughter’s mentor, and neither will I turn away my husband. The woman I used to be might have done that, but I will prove to you that I’ve changed.”
“Go ahead,” said the witch with a chuckle. “But when you realize that MacKay has changed and you can’t do anything to make him into the man you want him to be, you’ll take me up on my offer after all.”
“What offer?” she asked. “You want something from me, but you have yet to tell me what you will give me in exchange.”
“Open the door, Eira.” MacKay pounded on the wood even harder.
“Oh, I suppose it slipped my mind,” said the witch. “After all, I haven’t been myself lately. I will offer you the thing you want most if you agree to mentor Medea and watch over her if anything happens to me.”
“What could I possibly want that you have to offer?”
“Come on and open the door, Eira. I can hear you talking to someone. You have no idea how badly I want you right now,” MacKay continued.
“I will offer you my services in your army,” said the witch.
“You? An old woman? What can you possibly do to fight off an entire army?”
The witch raised her hand, and a bolt of fire shot from it, catching the wall tapestry on fire.
“Oh, my! That is impressive,” said Eira, holding her hand to her rapidly beating heart. This woman had powers after all. This could come in handy in fighting off an army.
“My powers might be weakening lately, but Medea’s are growing ever stronger.” With a flick of her wrist, Hecuba put out the flames. “You don’t need MacKay. He is a fool and worthless. With Medea at my side, the two of us can take down the entire army for you. Therefore, if you give me your promise, I will give you what you want as well.”
“Is that Hecuba’s voice I hear?” shouted MacKay. “Don’t listen to her, Eira. She’ll trick you.”
“What is your answer?” asked the witch. “You’d better hurry. MacKay is about to break down the door.”
Eira glanced at the door, thinking about her new husband. Then she looked back at the witch, wondering about the mighty army she would make with her daughter at her side. With just the two of them, Eira would be able to find vengeance and retribution for Ailbert killing her family. It was too good of a deal to let it pass her by.
“I’ll do it,” she told the witch, feeling a pain shoot through her heart as soon as the words left her mouth. It was almost as if she’d made a deal with the devil.
“Good,” said Hecuba with a nod of her head. “Then, I will find Medea, and we will prepare. I have already felt the arrival of Ailbert and his army. They will be here in two days from now.”
“They will?” Panic-filled, she needed to know more, but it was too late. With a loud crash from behind her, the door to the room banged open. MacKay ran in with his squire right behind him.
“Hecuba!” cried MacKay, pulling his sword from his belt.
“Put away the sword, you fool. You know you can’t hurt me,” warned Hecuba. “Besides, mayhap it should be your wife you point the sword at since she just made a deal with me that you are sure to hate.” Cackling, Hecuba disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
MacKay felt the pain in his chest as Hecuba disappeared from the room. He bent over, feeling the ache in his heart stronger than ever now. He looked down to his tunic to see the glow of the scar on his chest emanating right through his clothes. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but the pain was becoming unbearable. He felt dizzy and lightheaded and didn’t know if he wanted to scream, retch, or die.
“MacKay, how dare you break in my door,” Eira snapped at him.
MacKay slowly stood up and slid his sword back into his scabbard. Ollie was silent, standing at his side.
“Did you just make a deal with Hecuba?” he ground out, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice. He didn’t want her to know how much that upset him.
“I told you in the cave, she wants me to mentor and take care of her daughter if anything should happen to her.”
He rubbed his chest, wondering why Hecuba would even ask this. Something was amiss, and he wasn’t sure what it was. “What did she offer you in return?”
“Why should you think Hecuba offered me anything?”
“Because you are not the type of person who is apt to go around doing favors out of the goodness of your heart.”
She stared at him. Her eyes narrowed. Her mouth was set in a firm line. He was sure she was going to yell at him but, instead, she smiled and spoke in a sweet tone. It almost made him sick.
“Yes, she did offer me something in return. She offered me magic from her as well as from Medea in fighting off Ailbert and his army who are due to arrive here two days from now.”
“God’s eyes, please tell me you didn’t agree to the deal, Eira. Hecuba is not to be trusted.”
“Neither are you or anyone else to be trusted. I have lost my entire family. I cannot risk the fact I will lose my land and my throne as well. Skol Island is all I have left. I will do anything to keep it.”
“Then it’s too late. You already accepted Hecuba’s offer.”
“I did,” she admitted, batting her eyelashes, acting like it didn’t matter.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“I did what I had to do in order to keep what was mine.”
“I told you I would help you, but you obviously didn’t believe me. In accepting Hecuba’s offer, you pushed away the only person who cares about you.” He turned to go, but her words stopped him.
“Where are you going?” she asked. “I thought you wanted to spend the night together.”
“Not anymore,” he said, without turning to look at her. Another pain shot through his heart and he covered it with his hand. He hoped to hell she wouldn’t start yelling or he’d not be able to keep himself from turning around, throwing her on the bed, and making love to her again. Please, don’t be mean, he begged her in his mind. If she could be kind for just a few seconds longer, it would enable him to walk away before the bloody curse took control of his mind again.
“What do you mean, not anymore?”
Good, she sounded hurt and meek. All he needed was another second or two, and he would be out of the room.
“I don’t want you, Snow Queen. I want nothing to do with you ever again. I will not stay on your island anymore, and the last thing I will do now is fight for you.” He had one foot out the door when a metal tankard hit him on the back of the head almost splitti
ng his skull open. He turned around slowly, feeling himself losing control to the curse.
Eira stood there with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. If looks could kill, he’d be dead. Damn, that made him randy.
“Don’t do it, my lord,” warned his squire. “Don’t let the curse control you or you will be sorry on the morrow.”
“Yes, you’re right,” he said, turning to leave the room once again.
“You bastard!” she spat, making him stop in his tracks. Another pain passed through his heart. When he looked down to his tunic, his entire chest was glowing. “You think you can walk into my life, make me your wife and plant me with your seed, and then just turn around and leave? You are a filthy cur, and I want naught to do with you, either.”
“Ollie, I can’t fight it any longer,” he whispered to his squire.
“Nay, my lord. Don’t turn around. I beg you not to give in. Follow me, and we’ll leave right now before it’s too late.”
“All right. Let’s go,” he said, but only to trick his squire. His body ached to have Eira. There was no way in hell he could walk away from her now. She threw her shoe at him next, hitting him in the back. It made him smile. It was too much stimulation. He could no longer fight it.
He slammed and bolted the door, leaving his squire out in the corridor.
“Open up, Sir MacKay.” Ollie banged on the door. “Don’t give in. Cover your ears. Sing or shout, but just don’t listen to a word she has to say.”
MacKay turned around and faced his wife and then stalked her like a wildcat as he made his way toward the bed.
“What are you doing?” she asked, backing away from him, actually sounding scared.
“You should never have thrown things at me or yelled at me because you know it only makes me want you more.” He stripped off his clothes, standing there only in his braies.
“You’re not touching me. Get away!” She pulled the dagger from her waist belt and aimed it at him. Damn, the woman was so desirable that he couldn’t resist her if he tried. He reached out and knocked the knife from her hand and pulled her up against him, kissing her hard.
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