Curse Breaker (Phoenix Throne Book 7): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance

by Heather Walker

  Christie recognized the tartan. It was McLean. He quickened his pace. His footsteps sounded on the stony ground, but the woman didn’t turn. She showed no indication she heard anything. Maybe she was deaf. He walked around the tree to stand in front of her where she couldn’t fail to see him.

  She stared straight through him toward the northern coast. Christie looked down on her face and gasped out loud. “Ivy!”

  Her eyes drifted up to his face, but she registered no emotion. He dropped on knee and brought his face close to hers. “Ivy! What happened? What happened—to ye?”

  She studied him in blank incomprehension. Little by little, the light of recognition brightened her expression, but she didn’t smile. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her voice cracked when she tried to speak. “You’re…you’re Christie.”

  “Aye, lass,” he stammered, “I’m Christie. What happened to ye, lassie? What in the name of Jesus is the matter? Why has the castle fallen? Where’s Lachlan and the others? Where’s the bairn?”

  She frowned even more. “Where have you been, Christie? We all thought you were dead.”

  “I’m no’ dead!” he exclaimed. “I have been gone less than a month, lassie. Good God, what’s become of ye?”

  “You’ve been gone more than forty years, Christie,” she replied. “No one knew what happened to you. When you didn’t come back, Lachlan sent out scouts to the mainland to search for you. They never found you, and they never returned, either. It doesn’t matter, though, because by then the castle had long since been destroyed.”

  “Destroyed!” he cried. “What happened? Where’s Lachlan?”

  “He’s dead, Christie,” she replied. “They’re all dead. I’m the only one left alive.”

  He staggered to his feet. He looked all around him. This couldn’t be happening. “And the bairn? Is the bairn no’ alive?”

  “The bairn!” she snapped. “There is no bairn. There never was one.”

  He shook his head. He could only stare into the distance where the castle stood in ruins. “It cannae be.”

  “After you left, I got sick—really sick. Lachlan was worried something would happen to the baby. Then one day while I was in bed asleep, Alexis came to visit me.”

  Christie spun around fast. “Alexis!”

  “She used to come to visit me sometimes back then, maybe once every couple of months or so,” Ivy went on. “She used to appear to me for a few seconds and then leave. This time, I was too out of it to see her. Lachlan saw her standing by my bed. At the same time, the whole castle started flying apart at the seams. Stones got ripped out of the walls. The beams fell out of the ceilings. Stuff got thrown through the windows.”

  He stared at her with his mouth open. “What happened then?”

  “She disappeared, but this horrible business still went on. It never stopped. The place just started to fall apart around our ears. There was nothing we could do to stop it. It went on for about a week before I lost the baby.”

  Christie’s knees gave out under him. He sank to the ground. “Oh, lassie!”

  She showed no sign of distress over the tale. For her, it happened a long time ago. She had forty years to get used to it. “That’s when the sickness started.”

  “What sickness?”

  “The gripping pains in the belly. The bleeding out of the nose and mouth and ears. Pieces of flesh getting torn off. It was awful. It just got worse and worse until everybody died. We buried all our loved ones, and then after about two months, I buried Lachlan. There’s nobody left except me.”

  “And ye, lass?” Christie asked. “Did ye no’ get the sickness, too?”

  “It’s weird, you know?” she replied. “After I lost the baby, it never touched me. I never got the pains or the bleeding. It just sort of passed me by. I wish I had died with the others, though. That would have been better than sitting around and watching everyone I know and love die that horrible death.”

  “Do ye still see Alexis?”

  “I never saw her again,” she replied. “After that one time when Lachlan saw her by my bed, she never came back. I don’t want to see her. I don’t want to see anybody. I’m glad you’re all right, Christie, but you can’t know what it’s been like. I don’t know where you’ve been all these years, but you haven’t been here. You haven’t shared our hardships and our grief. Lachlan died alone—all but me. He lost everyone he cared about until I was the only one left. He never had children. The whole family line died out.”

  “What about the Clan?” he asked. “Who’s Chief of the Clan, now that Lachlan’s gone? Is it Robert, up the coast?”

  “I don’t know who it is,” she replied, “but I can tell you it’s no one in the Isles. The whole island got stricken with the sickness. Most everyone fled, and when they reached the mainland, they got better. The ones that stayed all died, too. I don’t know what they did about the Chieftainship. It must have passed to someone far away. It’s nothing to do with our family or with Mull any longer.”

  Christie lunged to his feet. “It’s impossible. Duart was our Clan seat.”

  “It isn’t anymore.” She waved her hand at the rubble pile, and a horrible cackling laugh broke out of her decrepit old throat. “Look at it. It’s trash. The whole island is trash. It’s all trash.”

  “Dinnae say that, lassie!” he moaned.

  She went back to gazing out at the ocean. Her eyes glazed over. “No one comes around the castle anymore. The few people who come to fish or whatever—they stay away from here. They say it’s cursed, and I suppose they’re right.”

  Christie stared down at her. The same inert silence settled over her when she finished speaking. She stopped moving, and her face went blank. He wanted to ask her a million questions, but they wouldn’t come out.

  He couldn’t disturb her grief. He could only stand and stare at the withered wreck that used to be his sister-in-law. Lachlan gone. The bairn lost. All his Clan and kin dead and dispersed. The castle destroyed!

  He turned away and began the long, tortured march back the way he came.

  Chapter 10

  Alexis gazed through the window. A portion of the castle roof showed outside where one section of the eastern wing jutted out from this tower. Alexis watched dragons launching from that portion of the roof. They tumbled and zoomed through the sky, touched down to land again, and changed into people.

  The sun sparkled on their scales, and the people threw their arms around each other and laughed before they hurried away to their business. Alexis could stand and watch them all day. Peace and camaraderie surrounded everything they did. She couldn’t make out their words from here, but she understood the cheerful tone of their voices.

  While she stood there admiring these magnificent people, the bedroom door opened behind her. Grace Spencer walked in, and Alexis turned around to face her. “Alexis!” Grace cried. “Where did you come from?”

  Alexis smiled and returned Grace’s hug. “It’s good to see you again, Grace. I see you’re all doing well.”

  Grace laughed. “We’re all doing well. It’s pretty crazy, living among all these dragons, but it’s great in a crazy sort of way. What have you been up to? I haven’t seen you for ages. Where’s Ivy? How are things going with the curse out on Mull?”

  “Ivy’s just fine,” Alexis replied. “Lachlan McLean brought her up from the bottom of the ocean, and they’re married and Ivy’s pregnant with her first child.”

  “That’s wonderful. How did they manage to do that?” Grace held out her hand and closed her eyes. “No, don’t tell me yet. I’m sure the others will want to hear all about it. It sounds like she lifted the curse then, too.”

  “No, she didn’t,” Alexis replied. “That’s why I’m here.”

  Grace spun around to stare at her. “She didn’t? What’s going on?”

  “She can’t lift the curse,” Alexis replied. “I’m the one who cast the spell. That’s what Lachlan and Ivy found out. I’m the one with the power. Apparently, I’m Faery and
I’ve been Faery all my life. That’s what James says.”

  “Who’s James?” Grace asked.

  “The Faery King.”

  “Oh, of course!” Grace replied. “James Stewart.”

  “Ivy’s not Faery,” Alexis went on. “She’s not anything but human. Apparently, she learned that spell when she was a little girl. She repeated the magic words almost every day in all that time, and she never worked the spell once. She taught the magic words to me, and that’s what caused the spell. She doesn’t have the power to lift the curse, but I do. That’s why I’m here.”

  “Why are you here?” Grace asked. “We can’t help you lift the curse. We can’t do anything about it. You know that.”

  “I know,” Alexis replied. “I’m here to talk to Hazel. I was hoping, since you’re the only person here I know, if you would introduce me to her. I don’t know how to lift the curse, and it seems to be getting stronger. I need her help. She’s the only person I can think of who’s been through this.”

  “Sure, I’ll introduce you,” Grace told her. “I’ll take her to you right now. She’s downstairs having a conference with Angus and Rob about the incursions into Faery territory. Some kind of temporal portal keeps appearing and spitting these weird flying troll things into this world. No one can figure it out. So far, they’ve attacked Faery, but they’ve left us alone, but the guys all think it’s only a matter of time before they come here, too. They want Hazel to use her magic to protect the realm.”

  “I know about it,” Alexis replied. “The Faery King told me. He wanted me to make a study of it and find out if there was anything that could be done, but I…well, I guess I never really got around to it.”

  “That’s perfect,” Grace exclaimed. “You and Hazel can work on it together. We need another witch around the place. Hazel usually works with Ross, but he’s kind of unreliable. He’s always coming and going at the wrong times. I’m sure Angus would be very glad to have you stay here and help us with this. We need all the help we can get.”

  “I think I better get this curse lifted first,” Alexis replied. “Once I get that figured out, I’ll be able to work on it.”

  “Well, come on.” Grace took her arm. “I’ll take you downstairs, and you can talk to Hazel about it. I’m sure she’ll be happy to help you with your curse.”

  Grace led her toward the door, but before they got there, it opened from outside. A tall, slim woman with short curly black hair walked in leading a little girl by the hand. Mother and daughter both wore pants and t-shirts, and the girl’s brown hair stuck out from her head in two pigtails.

  “I told you not to go playing with your sword inside the walls,” the tall woman snapped, “and now look what happened. You stabbed Connell in the leg. Just think what would have happened if you had hit him in the stomach…or the chest. You could have seriously injured him, or even killed him.”

  “I ken it, Mother,” the girl groaned. “Ye have told me a thousand times.”

  “Then why won’t you listen to me, sweetheart?” the woman asked. “I shouldn’t have to tell you a thousand times when it comes to safety. You and Connell play way too rough. It’s only a matter of time before one of you gets really hurt, and then it won’t be fun anymore.”

  “I ken it, Mother,” the girl shot back. “We’re only trying to get good enough to fight the monsters the way ye and Father and Uncle Rob do. We’re only trying to get good enough to join the Guard when we’re aulder. Connell says…”

  “You’re not joining the Guard when you’re older,” the woman barked. “That’s final.”

  “Mother!” the girl cried.

  “Take it easy on the girl,” Grace interrupted. “You can’t expect her to listen to all these stories about fighting and curses and stuff and not want to copy us.”

  Mother and daughter both spun around to stare at her. The girl’s eyes flew open in blessed relief, but the mother narrowed her eyes at Grace. “Don’t stick your toe into this, Grace. When you have children of your own, you can raise them your own way. I’m sure when that happens, you’ll be as concerned for their safety as I am about mine.”

  “I’m sure I will be,” Grace replied. “For now, we have another matter to attend to. This is Alexis…I’m sorry, Alexis. I don’t know your last name.”

  “It’s Morgan,” Alexis told her.

  “This is Alexis Morgan,” Grace went on. “She’s one of the women who came through the portal on the Isle of Mull. She’s here to talk to Hazel about getting help lifting that other curse. Alexis, this is Carmen Hendricks, Angus’s wife, and this is her daughter, Rosa.”

  Alexis bowed. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  “And I’ve heard a lot about you, too,” Carmen replied. “Come on, Rosa. You can come downstairs with us, and you can explain to your father how you stabbed Connell…again. He can explain to you…again, that neither of you will ever join the Guard until you learn to obey orders from your commanding officer.”

  “Mother!” the girl cried.

  Carmen didn’t listen. She grabbed her daughter by the hand and marched out of the room. Alexis hesitated, but Grace only grinned when she motioned Alexis to follow her.

  Grace whispered into Alexis’s ear on their way down the grand staircase. “It’s always like this. You just can’t stop the young ones fighting, and pretty soon, someone gets hurt. It was Rosa last week. She’s always going at it with her best friend Connell. She’s exactly like her mother—and her father. I hate to think what Sadie’s baby will be like.”

  “Is Sadie pregnant?” Alexis asked.

  “We only just found out,” Grace replied. “She’s got the worst morning sickness you can imagine. She hasn’t left her bed since it started.”

  Carmen burst into the Throne Room dragging Rosa by the hand. She immediately came to a stop behind an enormous crowd of people packed so thick no one could see the Throne.

  Grace and Alexis came up behind them, but Carmen spun away. “We’re not getting in this way. Come on. I know a different way in.”

  She hustled around through a back passage to a small room lined with closets and coat hooks. She paused and opened a little wooden door. It gave a view of the Throne Room from the side.

  Alexis looked in on a huge throne of black wood. A carved dragon stooped over the Throne and surrounded the King with its enormous wings. It glared its slit eyes down on anybody standing in front of it.

  Men in kilts lined up on both sides, and a slender woman with long red hair stood among them. Carmen waved to her and motioned her to come, but the red haired woman lifted a finger to signal delay. That must be Hazel.

  Alexis cast a quick glance around the Throne Room. She recognized Fergus Cameron, but she didn’t know anybody else. The audience all wore the most spectacular outfits imaginable. Alexis never saw anything like it outside the Faery King’s court.

  The King discussed something with the men standing on either side of him. He consulted Hazel, and when she murmured in his ear, he glanced sideways at the door where Alexis watched.

  At that moment, the massive wooden door at the far end of the Throne Room ripped off its heavy iron hinges. It went winging through the room. Its corners clipped a few lords in the head before it whipped up to the ceiling. It smashed into the roof beams and slammed down corner first to the floor. It pinned a different man under it and pulverized him to death.

  The Throne Room erupted in chaos. Alexis could only stand and stare as blocks of granite cracked out of their mortar and smashed through the stained glass windows. Shards of glass sprayed across the crowd. Ladies and dukes and kings stampeded for the open door.

  Alexis couldn’t move. This couldn’t be happened here, too. This horrible curse followed her everywhere. She should leave, transport herself somewhere—anywhere—to stop this happening. She couldn’t move, though. She could only stand rooted to the spot and watch this horror unfold.

  While she watched, the great black throne lifted off the ground. Th
e King jumped up from his seat, but before he could move a step, the carved dragon tipped forward. The wings closed around the man, and the Throne crashed down on top of him.

  Carmen charged for the doorway. “Angus!”

  She raced into the Throne Room with Rosa on her heels. A big man with red curls grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her back. “Get back! It’s too dangerous. Get out of here!”

  “Let me go, Rob!” she shrieked. “Let me go!”

  Rosa ran up behind her mother. She seized her mother around the leg and clung to her with all her might. At the same moment, one of the marble slabs lifted out of the floor. It tipped Rob over, and he lost his hold on Carmen. He stumbled over backward and landed on the floor. Carmen thrust out her hand. “Rob!”

  At that moment, one of the roof beams shuddered in its place. The bolts holding the chandelier overhead tore out, and the ring of candles landed on top of the Phoenix Throne. Melted wax spattered all over the wood. The next instant, the overturned candles set the wax alight. In seconds, the whole Throne went up in flames.

  Grace grabbed Alexis. “We have to get out of here.”

  Carmen whirled around. She saw the Throne on fire, but before she could react, a chunk of flesh ripped out of Rob’s leg where his kilt rode up over his thigh. The ragged flesh went sailing off somewhere out of sight.

  He screamed, and both hands flew to his leg. Carmen whipped around the other way to reach out for him again when a spear that hung on the wall lifted out of its hooks and went catapulting across the Throne Room. It impaled Fergus in the chest and pinned him to a wooden post behind the Throne.

  Hazel ran to him, but the woofing of flames consuming the Throne drowned out her shrieks. At the same instant, another marble paving stone upended out of the floor. It whizzed straight up, hit the roof arch, and came down flat on top of Carmen and Rosa.

  Alexis opened her mouth, but she couldn’t breathe. She had to do something, but her limbs and mind and spirit wouldn’t obey her. She couldn’t bring herself to believe this was happening.