Logan pulled Cassie against his side, sword ready, as the wind started to whip. Pressure intensified as colors swirled around him. For several long moments, he could make out no one save his lass. Though tempted to wrap his arms around her, he could not afford to take his eyes off of their surroundings.
When things started to come into focus again, they had but a blink to react before they were hit hard and fast. While some of it was magic, a great deal was what he had hoped it would be.
Plain old fighting.
The cave that housed the majority of the Mother Oak’s limbs was high above the ground. Her trunk grew down the side of the mountain. It was not an overly large space so fighting was tight as swords crashed against swords. Many rival warriors were flooding down from the area above where the baby oak used to grow. However, his men were pushing back rapidly and the battling was spreading out in that direction giving them more room to move.
Logan stayed in front of Cassie, running his blade through anyone who came too close. Grant and Ferchar were fighting and chanting, their magic buffering against the enemy’s. His cousins had stayed in the cave, fighting like madmen, livid hatred on their faces as they carried out justice.
Niall was as verbal as ever when he thrust his sword into a man’s gut then stabbed him in the groin with a dagger. “Ye’ll not be using yer bloody cock to take a lass against her will again, aye?”
Rònan roared with crazed laughter as he swung a mace and fell two warriors at once. Other men stumbled back at the mad look in his eyes as he chased after them.
Darach and Machara fought side by side. Of the lot of them, Darach was the fastest on his feet and often managed maneuver’s that won him plenty of praise after battle. This time Logan knew he stuck close to Machara because though she would never admit it, she was weakened by her wound.
Brae was silent, a dark, venomous look in her eyes as she fought. Clyde and his men had made their way up onto the mountain and his bellows of rage were so loud they could be heard over everything.
Yet all the while, Logan kept searching for Cullen Stewart.
“Oh no, ya don’t,” Cassie muttered, up to something he couldn't see.
Logan sideswiped a man with his blade then sliced the back of his thigh open before he cast a quick look over his shoulder and quirked his lips. She had managed to thrust her dagger into the stomach of a man who was sneaking up behind them. He nodded at her with approval but her eyes had locked on the tree. When he swung back, he saw why.
Cullen Stewart.
As tall and muscled as the MacLomain wizards, he was a formidable opponent. Whatever binding magic Grant and Caitlin had used was weakening as the Stewart became visible. But was it their magic holding him? It didn't quite feel like it. Ensnared by the Mother Oak's limbs, it almost for a moment seemed as if the tree helped cloak him as his body shimmered in and out of the leaves.
When their eyes met, Logan felt it like a punch in the gut. Gone was the good natured lad from his youth. Now there was only a villainous darkness churning in Cullen's eyes and swamping his aura.
“I see you, Robert,” Cassie said. “Can you see me?”
Logan frowned and looked back and forth between Cassie and Cullen. Who was she talking too? Obviously Robert but where was he? Grant and Ferchar’s eyes were narrowed on Cullen as well, their chants unending as they battled the Stewart’s magic.
“Nay,” Cullen said. Though his words were soft they were enhanced so that all MacLomain wizards could hear him. His cousins kept battling, but their eyes continually flickered to the tree as the Stewart spoke. “‘Tis time for the future to change.” His eyes fell to Cassie’s ring. “Mayhap ‘tis time as well for the past to change.”
Nearly all the enemy had fallen at this point, more lambs simply led to slaughter by the monster Cullen had become. Great power was building and Logan couldn’t for the life of him figure out where it was coming from. It wasn’t evil but different. Unknown.
Suddenly, everything went very, very silent as the last of the enemy fell and the branches started to fluctuate and bend. A tall, muscled Celtic warrior appeared, his sole focus Cullen. “Ye never should have taken matters into your own hands, laddie.”
“Fionn Mac Cumhail,” Grant murmured.
The god who had overseen the coupling of Alan and Caitriona Stewart within this very tree. The god who oversaw the creation of the original Claddagh rings.
“Och, but we do for kin, do we not?” Brae said, strolling in her brother's direction, a sly look on her face.
Cullen’s expression was flat as the last of his cloaking magic evaporated. Only then did Logan see his clipped wings and realized the shocking truth. Not only was the Stewart a warlock but…a fallen angel?
“How the bloody hell…” Logan whispered.
Grant shook his head, eyes slits as he watched Brae closely. His damning words sent chills down Logan’s spine. “Bless the all Mighty, it doesnae get worse than this.”
Brae chuckled as she stood between Cullen and them, arms crossed over her chest as she cast Grant a bemused look. “It worked out verra well that ye didnae hear that my brother died a while back."
When Grant frowned, her brows shot up. “Aye, we were battling with another clan and he just happened to trip into my dagger. An unfortunate thing, that.” She snorted and shook her head. “Always with a love for God over the rightful pagan gods, the imposter went and gave him wings.” Then she rolled her eyes. “Apparently he’d been enough of a do-gooder in life. I tend to think the rival God just wanted more soldiers to fight against those gods who were here first.”
Before Grant could respond, Brae shook her head. “It doesnae matter now. When he learned of my new Laird and our plans for the wee Bruce, our plans to see a different future for Scotland, Cullen saw the good sense in it. Yet the only way he could join us was to embrace evil.” She shrugged. “The false God didnae like that so cast him down…” A twinkle met her eyes as she pouted at Cullen’s back. “But left those dreadful half-wings. Use your magic and put them away, brother. They’re appalling.”
Both Cullen and Brae were their enemies?
“Nay, sister, I dinnae think I will just yet,” Cullen growled.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Do ye really think I would have turned from God and become a warlock for a lass who killed me to begin with?” He shook his head. “Nay, I but fooled ye, Brae.” Wrath turned the varied prisms of Cullen’s blue eyes to a piercing glow and the last of his magic fell away to reveal a young boy standing by his side. “I did what I had to do to stop ye from getting yer hands on the wee Bruce.”
“Robert,” Cassie cried, but Logan stopped her when she tried to go to him. Though shaking, the Bruce had his little shoulders back and was trying his best to stay strong.
“Och, nay, ye bloody traitor,” Brae seethed at Cullen. “We’ve the future at our disposal now.” Her eyes shot to Cassie then back. “And one o’ the rings. So much power!”
Logan shook his head and kept Cassie tucked behind him as he glared at Brae. All along they had been chasing the enemy with the enemy. A rather cunning plan to get ahold of the ring and Robert all at the same time. But it seemed Cullen had outsmarted his sister by leading her into a trap. Or so he hoped.
“Ye’ll get Cassie over my dead body,” Logan growled.
“So it seems,” Brae said with disgust. “Yet mayhap not as easily as I had hoped.”
“She’s partnered up with a dark demi-god,” Cullen said to Grant before his eyes again narrowed on Brae, his warlock aura crackling black. "Ye almost managed to make it through the oak ford with not only Robert but another ring, but ye didnae expect Athdara doing what she did, aye?"
Brae bristled and cursed when she understood his meaning. "Yer visionary abilities." She shook her head. "So 'twas ye who contacted Caitlin and set her fate in motion."
Cullen's steady eyes went to Ferchar. "A fate she agreed to willingly if it meant helping Robert." Then his gaze went to Logan. "And makin
g sure ye found yer lass."
Dumbfounded, Logan could barely believe what he was hearing. It had been such a whirlwind during the battle yesterday that it never occurred to him to question why Brae had been so close to the ford in those final moments. It made sense at the time. She was trying to save Robert.
But no.
She was trying to join him thinking that her brother, her ally, waited on the other side. And she would have made it.
Had Athdara not stopped her.
The horse, Caitlin, wanted Brae to remain with the MacLomains. To arrive here with them. That sacrifice cost her life. A life she was more than willing to give up to protect the future king.
And see her son find his true love.
Cullen looked at Logan. “Brae and her dark Laird somehow yanked Nicole back in time because their hope of taking Cassie while under the protection of Grant’s magic was dwindling." He sneered at his sister, their dark power testing one another. "That plan didnae work out so well for ye either, aye?"
Grant’s eyes stayed on Cullen. “Why not contact me, lad? I would have helped ye.”
“Because he has always been a rebel who tends to take matters into his own hands.” Fionn Mac Cumhail glowed golden as his discontent grew. "'Tis both a gift and a curse being such a powerful visionary. Cullen ultimately followed the course of action that saw the least amount of MacLomains killed and still put ye wizards in Brae’s way at the end."
Fionn's disgruntled eyes went to Cullen. "Still, ye gave up too much for this, warrior.”
“See, the Celtic gods have no use for you either, brother,” Brae spat, expression exceptionally upbeat considering how sorely outnumbered she was. Then magic began to hiss and spit around her as something started to change in the air and Logan realized she wasn't defeated by any means.
“No god matters when it comes to the safety of the future King of Scotland,” Cullen responded to her taunt, the undercut of his tone fierce. “A king that doesnae belong in the hands of evil.”
“But ye are evil now, ye bloody fool!” Brae threw back her head and laughed as the air started to bubble around her. Whoever she was in league with was fueling her own intense magic. A dank smell started to saturate their surroundings.
Fionn’s eyes widened as his magic pushed against hers. “Ye harness the power of the Genii Cucullati, the hooded spirits. ‘Tis ill that.” His gaze blazed with gold and he seethed, “Flesh eaters.”
Grant’s lethal eyes swept over Logan and his cousins in a flash. “None of ye get involved in this. The magi is far too strong.”
Wind started to roar around them as not only Fionn but Grant, Ferchar, and even Cullen started to fight her with magic. Black and murky wind mixed with gold and blue as Brae shook her head and kept laughing.
“What the heck?” Cassie muttered.
Momentarily distracted by the immense power being unleashed, Logan loosened his grip on Cassie just enough that she took advantage. Hell, if the woman didn't barrel straight toward Robert. Heart in his throat, he watched the horrific scene unfold. Her eyes never having left the little boy, Cassie saw something nobody else had.
Three shadows, inky and dark, were heading right for him.
Cassie, not thinking of her own welfare, bolted through the storm of magic fluctuating between his kin, Cullen, and Brae. Magic so great and with such a mix of good and evil, he was surprised she wasn’t ripped to shreds in an instant. When Logan flew after her, he slammed into a wall of Fionn Mac Cumhail’s making. Furious, he roared at the Celtic god, but it made no difference. Cassie might have slipped past, but he was not letting anyone else.
Each step difficult, she had her head down as she struggled toward Robert. Trembling, eyes wet, the boy shook his head as the shadows edged closer.
“I’m coming, Robert,” Cassie cried, her words garbled and warped in the whipping magical cyclone.
When the Bruce started running toward her, he was scooped up by the shadows. Cassie broke from the storm and ran after him. Terrified, Logan watched as she dove straight off the cliff and grabbed Robert’s ankles. So fast the eye barely caught it, Cullen spun and grabbed her calves. The creatures, Robert, and Cassie swung down as if they were falling, but the Stewart still held on over the edge.
Though infuriated at first, there was a tinge of triumph in Brae’s eyes when she roared, “Get me out of here. The ring from that screaming banshee of a lass is nearly ours. ‘Twill be more than enough to get the Bruce later.”
Fionn Mac Cumhail, Grant, and Ferchar threw everything they had at Brae, but it was too late. The three shadows released a blood-curdling scream and swooped around her until her form mangled, twisted then trailed away in a thin stream of dust.
Free of the god’s magical grip, he raced to the edge of the cliff as Cullen hauled Cassie and Robert up. Logan pulled them into his arms, shot the Stewart a grateful look then buried his face in her hair and held on tight. He didn’t let them go as Robert snuggled close and cried.
Logan didn’t miss what was happening nearby.
Fionn spoke softly to Cullen. “Ye always were a good lad.” He shook his head. “But ‘tis a wicked life ye embraced to stop Brae. Ye cannae stay here now. Ye cannae be of further use to your sister because ye will be whether or not ye know it. Somehow she will manage to use ye to get the wee King through yer blood connection. ‘Tis the only way it can be with twins conceived beneath this tree. Twins who embraced evil. Her Laird willnae be tricked again by yer ability to see bits of the future. Celtic demi-gods never make the same mistake twice.”
Cullen had a stony look on his face but as Logan suspected he had done several times before, the Stewart wasn’t shying away from his fate but looking it dead in the eye. “What will ye have of me then?”
“If it could be any other way ‘twould be but I cannae risk ye being here any longer.” Fionn sighed. “I’m banishing ye to the twenty-first century. When there seek out the Worldwide Paranormal Society. They’re warlocks born of a man named Calum. He was of a Celtic lineage related to the Broun clan. They will be able to keep ye well hidden from your sister.”
“He doesn’t deserve that,” Cassie broke in, lifting her head. “He just saved us!”
“Shh.” Logan pulled her head back against his chest. “Fionn means to keep him safe, lass. There is no other choice.”
“Och, the bloody future,” Cullen muttered. “For how long?”
“‘Tis hard to know,” Fionn said. “Mayhap indefinitely.”
Cullen wiped a hand over his face and shook his head. He didn’t look at Logan or even his cousins, men who had cared so much about him. No, the decisions he made, even if for the right reasons, had caused him to fall from grace. Even before accepting the essential darkness of a newly made warlock, a man like the Stewart wouldn’t think he deserved the kinship or forgiveness of his brethren if God Himself had cast him out.
He would go it alone.
Jaw set, eyes hard, Cullen said, “If it will help keep the Bruce safe.” His eyes dropped to the boy in Cassie and Logan’s arms and his gaze softened before the sentiment vanished and he looked at the god. “Just do it.”
“Wait,” Niall and Rònan said at the same time but it was too late. Fionn whipped out his hands and bright white light flashed. When it faded, Cullen was gone. Logan closed his eyes and murmured a prayer for the Stewart’s soul. Might he find redemption wherever he ended up.
“Bloody hell,” Rònan murmured.
Niall swore under his breath, plunked down on a thick branch and held his head. Machara and Darach had equally disturbed looks on their faces as they started to wipe the blood from their weapons.
Fionn turned to Grant and Ferchar. “Ye and yers stay here for the eve. ‘Tis well protected by my magic now that I’ve a better idea of what we are up against. The Genii Cucullati willnae return here anytime soon nor will any Celtic god save myself.”
“The Genii Cucullati,” Grant murmured. “Not only do they eat the flesh of the soul…” He shot Fionn a co
ncerned look. “But ‘tis said they have a tendency to hover around births. Though not a birthing, could they have done such when Brae and Cullen were conceived here?”
“I would have known,” Fionn replied but there was a perturbed look on his face and Logan wondered if he truly believed his words.
“‘Twas ye who helped Robert’s mother, Marjorie visit her son all along, wasn’t it?” Grant said, evidently trying to piece together several things at once. “‘Twas yer glamour that enabled her to look like Aline.”
“Aye, as it was me who told Adlin MacLomain of Robert’s destiny so that ye could make sure Logan saw him safely into this world.” Fionn gave them all a pointed look. “And so that ye could keep the King safe through this difficult period.”
Logan remained curious about something. "Why disguise the Countess to look like Aline? 'Twas risky considering Aline herself was in the village."
"That is where the story grows more interesting," Fionn said. "As it turns out Robert was not just visiting the MacLauchlin village the day of the raid but lived there. 'Twas where he received his fostering." A twinkle lit his eyes. "And 'twas Aline herself who often helped foster the lad."
"Och, I always did wonder about that," Clyde MacLauchlin mumbled somewhere in the background before he chuckled. "My wee lass fostering someone so important. Well how about that."
"So Aline knew you glamoured the Countess to look like her when she visited the village and I assume she made herself scarce on such occasions," Logan said.
"Aye," Fionn said, sadness flickering over his face. "But not nearly scarce enough that dreadful day."
Logan was curious why the god did not just protect the Bruce himself but supposed there was likely a good reason. Perhaps because of the love of the couples the rings were meant to bring together. Or perhaps even the relationships they would all likely forge with Robert before everything was said and done.
“What of this demi-god Laird that Brae has involved herself with?” Ferchar asked. “Do ye know who he is?”
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