by Donna Grant
“I think it’s time you told us who the male Druid from Torrachilty Forest is,” Fallon said.
Ramsey slowly sat up from his reclining position. “You said you trusted me.”
“And we do. I’d feel much better if I knew who the Druid was.”
“He’ll be there,” Ramsey vowed.
Saffron had been witness to enough tension between her parents while her father had still been alive to become uncomfortable in the silence that followed.
It was Camdyn who broke the quiet. “We all know Deirdre put Charlie here as a spy. We’ve no idea how much information she obtained before Arran killed him, but the simple fact of the matter is, we’ve waited centuries to kill this bitch.”
“I agree,” Logan said with a gleam in his eye.
Ian nodded. “I’m eager to end her once and for all.”
Larena, her hand atop Fallon’s, said, “It won’t be over then. We’ll have Declan.”
“One villain is better than two,” Quinn stated with a shrug.
Marcail worried her bottom lip with her teeth a moment before she said, “We need to find the spell to bind the gods inside you Warriors. If I had remembered it all before Deirdre tried to kill me then—”
“Shh,” Quinn said as he took her in his arms and kissed the top of his wife’s head. “We’ll find a way.”
“And if not, my magic will keep all those mortal immortal inside this shield,” Isla said as Hayden took her hand.
Aiden slammed his hand on the table. “And what if we doona want to stay in the castle? What if we want to see the world?”
Saffron looked from Aiden to his parents, Quinn and Marcail. Saffron could see the apprehension in Marcail’s turquoise eyes and the resignation in Quinn’s green ones.
“I’ve only asked that you wait until Deirdre, and now Declan, are ended before you leave,” Quinn said.
Aiden’s jaw clenched, the muscle ticking. “I’ll wait. But as soon as they’re dead I’m leaving. I doona care what evil suddenly springs up. I’m tired of being caged.”
Saffron looked down at her hands to find they were clasped together tightly. A similar conversation between her and her parents had occurred years ago when she had wanted to see the world while her parents wanted her to begin college in Colorado immediately.
“Saffron?” called a male voice she recognized as Galen’s.
Her head snapped up to find every eye on her. “Yes?”
“Are you all right?” Galen asked.
She swallowed and forced a smile, a smile she had learned early on in her life to call up when necessary. “I’m fine.”
One of Lucan’s dark brows rose in response. “We’ve been calling your name for quite some time, lass.”
Saffron licked her lips as embarrassment washed over her. “Apologies. I was … somewhere else for a moment. What is it that you need?”
“Have you had any visions?” Fallon asked.
She cleared her throat softly and found an interesting spot on the table to stare at as she said, “No.”
Using her thumbnail, Saffron outlined the knot in the wood over and over as she listened to everyone speak of the stone circle. She had been unconscious when they’d learned they needed to go to the Orkney Islands to find Laria. So she sat and listened, blending into the background.
Her stomach grumbled, reminding her it had been hours since she had last eaten. Saffron rose and quietly walked to the kitchen and got some eggs, sausage, and biscuits out of the refrigerator. She had turned on the stove and was cracking the eggs when Fiona walked into the kitchen.
“Would you like some help?” the Druid asked.
Saffron smiled. “That would be nice.”
They worked in silence for several moments before Saffron asked, “Do you regret spending all these centuries in the castle as you watched the world change around you?”
“Nay,” Fiona said without looking up from cooking the sausage. “My priority was keeping Braden alive at all costs. With Deirdre out there, our only chance was here in the castle where everyone welcomed us. Thanks to Isla’s magic, Braden was able to mature while I didn’t age. It was more than I could have hoped for, especially since I have very little magic.”
“And now Braden isn’t aging.”
Fiona glanced at Saffron and grinned. “Aye. There are times I see him staring from the battlements. He’s been out in the world several times with Aiden, and I know both of them want to see what else is out there. They want to visit the places they see on the Telly. And they want their own women and families.”
“But you’ve kept him here.”
“Never. I was made to stay in our village near Loch Awe. Reaghan was also kept there, though for a different reason. Still, she will attest to how the elders manipulated us into staying when all we wanted to do was leave. Braden has stayed here because he wants to help.”
Saffron poured the eggs into the pan, remembering her own desires to see the world. After college she had done just that. She’d had the time of her life until Declan found her.
“Do you think we can really end Deirdre?” Fiona asked.
Saffron began to scramble the eggs. “Everyone has worked tirelessly to attain the artifacts needed to awaken Laria. Some have even lost their lives. So, yes, I do think they can awaken Deirdre’s sister.” She paused and looked at Fiona. “Then it’ll be up to Laria to kill Deirdre.”
“Aye,” Fiona said with a sigh. “What about Declan? I’ve heard so many things about him.”
Saffron found herself squeezing the handle of the spatula. “Declan is mine to kill.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the way Fiona’s head jerked toward her, but Saffron didn’t care. After what Declan did, after the life he had taken from her, she would make him pay.
“That smells delicious,” Gwynn said as she checked the biscuits in the oven. “Reaghan said Galen already raided the kitchen this morning, but he’s hungry again.”
Fiona laughed as the sausage began to sizzle in the skillet. “Galen is always hungry.”
It didn’t take long to finish cooking the meal and the others to take it out to the great hall. Saffron felt something in her head shift, a warning that a vision was on its way.
She leaned her hands against the counter and took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. Throughout her life she’d always had visions. Some were so horrific they would leave her with nightmares, and some brought a smile to her face.
Always the visions were about someone other than herself. Not once had she had a vision about her own future. Nor could she call up the visions on her own.
They came and went like the wind. And normally they came to her when she least expected them.
But more than that, she was tired of people wanting her because she was a Seer. It was the reason Declan had sought her out. The MacLeods might have saved her, but they had seen the wisdom of having a Seer on their side.
Until her blindness had been reversed, Saffron had been powerless to leave. Now she could, but in order to kill Declan she would need the help of those at the castle. So while they were using her, she was using them.
Just when she thought the vision would wait, it slammed into her mind. She heard screams echoing in her head and blood coated the walls. A woman fought against a man who held her back against his chest.
“Where is she?”
Saffron’s eyes flew open as Declan’s voice reverberated in her mind: The images faded, and she felt herself falling.
Suddenly, strong arms were around her and she inhaled the scent of cedar, sizzling power, and man.
Camdyn.
She knew it was him without opening her eyes. His scent, the way he held her. There wasn’t another man in all the world who could come close to Camdyn MacKenna.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered close to her ear so no one else could hear.
He alone knew how her body shook after a vision, and how weak she became. He knew because he was always there, always ready to catch
her should she fall.
A girl could certainly get used to that, and Saffron feared she’d already become used to it. The thought frightened her. Yet, instead of pulling away, she clung to him as much as her shaky arms allowed.
With one of his hands splayed on her back holding her close against his rock-hard chest, Saffron rested her face in the crook of his neck as his other hand held the back of her head.
She might feel weak, but in Camdyn’s arms she knew nothing could harm her. And after all she’d endured with Declan, she was amazed that she could feel that way.
“What was the vision?” Gwynn asked, her Texas accent coming through thick with emotion.
Saffron’s heart pounded as she lifted her head to look at Gwynn. “It was Declan.”
Without a word Gwynn walked to her and put her hand on Saffron’s arm. Gwynn and Logan had had their own run-in with Declan that had nearly cost both of them their lives. Gwynn’s father had also been recruited by Declan to translate a magical book, and he hadn’t survived.
Saffron held on to Camdyn long after she should have released him. Camdyn didn’t move, he simply held her as footsteps approached the kitchen and Danielle appeared. Dani paused, and then rushed to her.
The three of them were the only ones from the U.S. Gwynn was from Texas, Danielle from Florida before she came to live in Scotland after her parents’ death, and Saffron from Colorado.
“What did you see?” Dani urged.
Saffron shivered as she recalled the hard sound of Declan’s voice, and Camdyn’s arms tightened a fraction around her. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes as she thought over the vision.
“Declan is looking for someone. Or he will look for her. I don’t know her name, or why he wants her,” she said and opened her eyes. “But I felt his need to find her, and it was great.”
Gwynn leaned back and rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
“Declan’s magic is gone,” Dani added. “I know because I pulled it from you.”
“No one can touch you here,” Camdyn said, his deep voice filling the kitchen.
Saffron nodded and tried to believe their words, but it was difficult when she knew in her gut that things with Declan were just beginning.
She looked up and her eyes met Camdyn’s dark chocolate eyes. He looked only at her, his gaze penetrating, probing. Utterly captivating.
“You’re safe.” His voice was smooth and deep. The timbre of it made her blood heat.
And her heart race.
Dani cleared her throat and grabbed the basket of biscuits. “I think we need to take the rest of the food out to the others.”
Camdyn took a step back and dropped his arms from around Saffron. “Are you all right?”
Saffron licked her lips and nodded. Camdyn frowned and turned on his heel and left.
“That’s a strange one,” Gwynn said.
Dani shrugged. “Not so strange. Just … quiet and withdrawn. I think there’s more to him than anyone realizes.”
Saffron merely watched his retreat without adding to the conversation, because she knew there was much more to Camdyn.
CHAPTER
FOUR
Camdyn resumed his seat at the table, inwardly chiding himself for racing to Saffron. Just because he felt the fear in her magic.
He wasn’t her protector, nor did she need one in the castle. Especially now that she could see again.
So why had he found himself in the kitchen before he realized what he was doing? Camdyn dearly wished he knew the answer. Whatever it was about Saffron that pulled at him was a damned inconvenience. And he wanted it to stop.
Immediately.
He couldn’t concentrate on the tasks at hand with his need so close to the surface and surging to life whenever she was near.
“What’s this about a vision?” Larena asked when Saffron, Dani, and Gwynn emerged from the kitchen.
Saffron swallowed, nonplussed by the knowledge that Larena’s advanced hearing, as well as that of the rest of the Warriors in the castle, had enabled her to hear about the vision.
“I saw Declan,” Saffron said as she took her seat. “He was looking for a woman, and it was important. He was … anxious to find her.”
“That doesna bode well,” Galen said around a mouthful of food.
Saffron dished some eggs onto her plate before passing it on. “As I’ve told you all before, what I see in my visions is always incomplete. I don’t know when it will occur or if it’s something that has already happened.”
“But you do know he’s looking for someone,” Ian said.
“It appears so,” she answered. She sighed and licked her lips. “The female he was questioning feared him. Immensely. She’s older, so the woman he searches for could be her daughter or niece.”
Marcail leaned forward to look at Saffron. “You didn’t happen to get a name, did you?”
“No. I just saw Declan, the woman, and someone holding her. Declan was furious and irritated.” Saffron paused, her brow furrowed. “Almost as if he needed to find this other woman soon.”
“Let us know if you learn any more, Saffron,” Fallon said. “The more we know about Declan the better.”
Camdyn watched her eyes harden and her lips flatten out of the corner of his eyes. He understood Saffron’s anger. He had his own for Deirdre. If anyone was justified in killing Declan it was Saffron, for the spells and torture he put her through for those years. And God only knew what else the demented man had done to her.
Camdyn knew how vicious her nightmares were. The terror and dread that mingled with her magic when she was caught in a nightmare left Camdyn ill at ease. Agitated.
At least now he no longer felt that thread of drough magic mingled with Saffron’s. He never thought anyone could rival Deirdre’s black magic, but Declan, it seemed, came mighty close.
That Declan had been able to penetrate Saffron’s mind and mix with her magic had definitely made Camdyn wary. But despite all that Declan had done to her, Saffron was steadfast in her views and her magic.
Declan might have taken her eyesight and her life for those years, but he hadn’t dampened her spirit or destroyed her magic.
Although Camdyn would have liked to learn more about what Declan had done to Saffron, everyone’s attention was focused on getting to Laria and ending Deirdre. So his curiosity would have to wait. Which was probably for the best since he didn’t trust himself to get too close to her.
Whenever he did, he wanted to hold her as he’d done in the kitchen. Granted, she’d been about to fall, but he’d held her much longer than he had needed to.
He fisted his hands as he thought about how she had trembled, her hands clutching at his shirt as she buried her head in his neck.
He recalled the feel of her curves against him, her breath against his skin. It was too much for a man that hadn’t allowed himself pleasure in a very long time.
The need was tantalizing, the desire irresistible. The hunger … absolute.
How easy it would have been to tilt up her chin, to seal his lips over hers. Her hands had been eager to grasp him, and her body had molded to his.
“I think we should go back to the Ring of Brodgar right now,” Arran said as he finished the last bite of his breakfast and pushed his plate away.
Reaghan set down her fork slowly before she looked at Arran. “My father told me there was a secret passage in order to get into the maze.”
“The same father who told you Laria was buried in the mountains?” Broc asked. There was no anger in his voice as he repeated what Reaghan had told them after being released from her spell.
Reaghan shrugged. “I don’t know how to answer that, Broc. Whenever he spoke of Laria it wasn’t to say where she was buried, but what I would need to awaken her.”
Galen put his hand atop his wife’s and met Broc’s gaze. “I’ve thought of that also, my friend. I suspect Reaghan’s father knew she would go from artifact to artifact until she found the map hidden in the Tabl
et of Orn as Logan and Gwynn did.”
“The stone rings have always been revered,” Camdyn said. “They are places of significant magic. It makes sense to have put Laria inside one instead of a mountain.”
Reaghan smiled at him before she said, “The spell I used to erase my memories was meant to keep information from Deirdre. It could be that if she discovered something, all she might have gleaned was that Laria was buried in the mountains.”
“Thereby sending her on a wild-goose chase,” Broc finished with a slight smile. “I doona fault your father, Reaghan. I merely want to make sure we doona find ourselves on something like that.”
“We’re all in agreement there,” Fallon said. He looked at each person at the table and sighed. “I’m more than ready to end Deirdre. I have to agree with Arran on this. I think we need to go there now and find our way in.”
Lucan leaned back in his chair and put his arm around Cara. “We know Deirdre hasna been there. Broc, where is she?”
Camdyn and the others watched as Broc closed his eyes. At one time, all Warriors had to call up their gods and transform before they could use their magic. But the longer a Warrior housed a god, the stronger that power became until it was part of the Warrior just as breathing was.
Broc had had centuries to master his god and his power, so all he needed to do was to call up that power.
“She’s in her mountain,” Broc said after several moments of silence. He opened his eyes and smiled. “We should do it now. She willna be expecting it.”
Fallon nodded and stood, his chair sliding back on the stones. The sound of the other chairs scraping back filled the hall as everyone gained their feet.
“I’ll bring everyone in groups. The castle will be safe and hidden with Isla’s magic.”
“Nay, Aiden,” Quinn said when his son also rose.
Aiden clenched his jaw. “I want to help.”
Fallon raised his hand before Quinn and Aiden could bicker more. “As leader here, Aiden, I need you, Braden, Fiona, and Kirstin to remain behind.”
