by Donna Grant
“What is on your toes?” Elric suddenly asked.
Marin leaned up and lifted her foot. “Nothing.”
“You have colored your toes.”
She giggled and lay back on his chest. “I painted my toe nails, if that’s what you mean.”
“Do you do that often?”
She found his question puzzling, and as she thought of the night and his not knowing what a bra and panties were, she knew something wasn’t right. “How do you not know about nail polish? And for that matter, did you really not know what my bra and panties were?”
“Nay,” he answered without hesitation. “I didna know what you wore, nor do I know about this polish you speak of that you put on your toes.”
Marin sat up and looked at him. At one time in her life, she would have pulled the blanket up to cover her nakedness, but she felt at ease with her body around him. She’d think about that later. Right now she was focused on learning why he didn’t know such basic things. “How is it you don’t know?”
He took a deep breath and ran a hand down his face before he sat up. “Our meeting wasna an accident, lass.”
“What do you mean? Have you been stalking me?”
Elric’s brow furrowed. “I doona know what you mean. I’ve been searching for you, aye.”
“Why me? I’m not anyone special.”
“You’re verra special to me and my kingdom.”
Marin blinked, her heart missing a beat. “Did you say kingdom?”
“Aye. I am from Scotland, Marin, but no’ the Scotland you know.”
Her skin went cold as his words penetrated her mind. “You’re scaring me.”
Elric rose to his feet and reached for his kilt. “That isna my intent. There is so much to tell you, but I doona know where to begin. I had thought this would be easier.”
“Just tell me. Please.” Since he was getting dressed, Marin reached for her bra and panties and slipped them on, then hurried to finish dressing. She was zipping her boots when she looked up to find him braced against one of the windows as he gazed outside, a longing on his face that made her take a step toward him.
“My family is cursed, Marin. It’s a curse we are likely to never break.”
She considered herself a realist, but she was never one to doubt the unexplained such as ghosts, vampires, witches, and such. So many questions rushed through her head, but she settled on one for the moment. “Why were you cursed?”
“My ancestor dabbled where he shouldna have.”
Now her curiosity was near to bursting. “Dabbled with who or what?”
Slowly, Elric turned from the window to face her. “The Fae.”
“The Fae.” Marin wasn’t sure what she had expected him to say, but it wasn’t that. When he didn’t smile or laugh, she took a deep breath. “As in faeries?”
“Aye.”
She had two options. She could either believe Elric had escaped from some mental institution or there really were Fae. Since she didn’t want to think she had experienced the best sex of her life with a crazy person, she opted to believe him. For the moment. “Can you prove it?”
Elric chuckled. “Aye. I know it sounds as if I’m daft, but I’m no’.”
“All right. So, there’s Fae and your family was cursed. Tell me how you were cursed.”
He leaned back against the stones and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re taking this all very well. Too well actually. I expected many things, but no’ the calm way you’re standing there.”
“Right now I’m listening. I’ll form an opinion later.”
“It’s only going to get worse, but I’ll tell you everything.”
She gave him an encouraging smile. Worse? Oh, God. “Good.”
“In order for my kingdom, Drahcir, and its people to survive, each generation must leave the kingdom in search of their mates. We are given a certain amount of time in which to find, and convince, our mates to return with us to Drahcir. The mates must return willingly.”
Marin swallowed as chills raced over her spine. “Mates? As in soul mates?”
“Aye.”
“You’ve been searching for your mate?”
He nodded and let his arms drop. “I was searching. I found my mate, Marin. It’s you.”
Words eluded Marin. She could only stare at him, now wondering if she was mental since she actually believed him. Or was it that she just wanted to believe him? It was too confusing, her mind jumbled with emotions she couldn’t even begin to sort through there were so many.
“Oh, God,” she whispered and put her hand to her head. “Let me get this straight, because I must have misunderstood somewhere.”
She licked her lips and clasped her hands in front of her as she began to pace. “Your family has been cursed. By a Fae. Because….”
“Because the fool wanted to see if he could make a Fae princess fall in love with him.”
“I gather she did or there wouldn’t be a curse,” Marin said as she glanced at him.
He simply raised a dark brow in response.
“You must return to your kingdom, Drahcir, with your mate before a certain time?”
“Correct.”
Marin stopped pacing. “Did I leave anything out?”
“Nay. But there’s more.”
She didn’t know how much more she could take. She closed the short distance between them until she stood before him. “What’s the rest?”
“Marin, you asked me if I was from Scotland, which I am, but you didna ask me from when do I come?”
“When?” The world began to tilt. She took hold of the wall, the stones both cool and smooth beneath her palm. It helped to right her once more. “I guess that would explain the bra and panties and the toe nail polish.”
“What would?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Sorry. I talk to myself sometimes. It’s a bad habit.”
“There’s worse,” he said with a grin.
She tried to return the smile, but she was too busy trying to take all the information in. “So, when do you come from?”
“It’s a wee bit harder to answer than that. Drahcir was not only cursed, but it was also hidden from the known world.”
“When, Elric? I must know when.”
“Time goes differently in my kingdom. I’ve been gone nearly three years, yet by the time I return it will have only been months.”
Marin sank onto the blankets as her knees gave out. “The only explanation is that you time traveled here.”
“I did, aye,” he answered. “A Fae helped me since someone made sure my mate wasna in my time.”
She rubbed her forehead as a headache began to develop. “I’m confused.”
“I know,” Elric said with a deep sigh as he squatted down. “I’m making a bloody muck of it.”
“No. It’s just a lot for me to take in. Try to explain the time travel part again.”
Elric moved until he sat opposite her on the blankets. “Drahcir is hidden deep in the Ben Nevis Mountains.”
“That’s the tallest mountains in Scotland.”
“Aye, and near frozen as well. When we were cursed, the Fae also hid our kingdom. With it being so deep in the mountains, no’ many dare to venture into them. We may come and go as we please, but we can never share the location of the kingdom. If any outsiders ever discovered it….”
“Your kingdom would no longer be yours.”
“Aye,” he said with a nod. “Through the generations, we’ve been able to venture out of our kingdom, unaware of the year we were stepping into, but it has always been that our mates would be in that time. We just had to find them.”
“And they were always in Scotland?”
He nodded.
Marin leaned to the side and braced herself on her elbow. “Now, the twenty-first century woman in me says that’s a crock.”
“A what?” he asked, his forehead creasing in a frown.
“Not believable,” she answered. “If you and your kingdom were curse
d, don’t you think it’s a little convenient that you can venture out at any given time and your mates will be waiting for you? And in Scotland as well?”
“You make it sound easy, but in truth, it is anything but. In the three years I’ve searched, I didna find you. It took a Fae to discover that someone had moved you to this time. The Fae are no’ supposed to interfere, yet Aimery did.”
“Why did he? What happens if another Fae finds out he helped you?”
“Aimery is the commander of the Fae army and a verra powerful Fae. He answers only to the king and queen as commander.”
Marin nearly rolled her eyes. “Then, if he can shift you through time, why can’t he erase the curse?”
“No one can. Once a Fae curses you, it lasts until they say otherwise.”
“Can’t you and your family talk to this Fae princess and right the wrong that your ancestor did?”
Elric chuckled. “If only it were that easy. That Fae princess disappeared after she set the curse, never to be seen or heard from again. Some say she turned into a dark Fae, others that she died. We’ve asked the Fae many times, yet no one can give us an answer.”
“Wow.” Marin fell back on the blankets and looked at the ceiling of the castle. “What a mess.”
“That’s one way of putting it. Do you have any more questions?”
She had several, but none that she was ready to ask. She was still reeling from the ‘mate must return’ part. And though she had greatly enjoyed their lovemaking and conversation, it didn’t mean she was ready to go anywhere other than out to dinner with him.
Marin sat up and gave him a bright smile. “I’ve had a lovely night. Thank you. But I think I’m ready to return to my hotel.”
He sat up with her, and the regret in his green eyes sent warning signals off in her head. “You can no’ do that, lass.”
Chapter Seven
Elric saw the fear enter Marin’s hazel eyes and regretted it instantly. “There is much we still need to discuss,” he said quickly. “If I let you return now, you may leave, and if you leave and I return without a mate, my city and all its people disappear.”
“What?” she cried as she scrambled to her feet. “Why are you lying? I liked you, Elric. I had even hoped to see you again, but your stories are scaring the shit out of me.”
He knew he was making a muck of things and wished he had Sorin’s smooth tongue to aid him now, but his gift had been seduction, not talking. He stood and walked back to the window where he looked out over the village. He didn’t like this future time he was in. Things were too different, foreign. He saw signs of his Scotland, but it wasn’t the same. If only he could return to Drahcir.
“I’m no’ lying. Nothing I’ve said tonight has been fabricated.”
“Then let me leave.”
He dropped his head against the cool stones. How he wished he could ask his father for advice. “I can no’. All of my people are counting on me.”
“Please,” she cried and moved toward the door.
Elric wanted to let her leave, to see the trust once more in her eyes. He couldn’t take her back to Drahcir unless she was willing, and she was certainly anything but willing. Yet, he couldn’t make her stay here either. If he wanted her to trust him, he was going to have to trust her as well.
“Before I take you back, I must tell you the rest,” he said as he faced her.
“There’s more?” she asked, her eyes wide.
He nodded. “If I had never found you, you would’ve been able to go about your life as normal. I’d have had to return to my kingdom and watch it and all its people disappear forever.”
“But you did find me,” she said softly.
“Aye. And now that we’ve shared our bodies, things have…changed.”
Her tongue peeked out to wet her lips. “How exactly?”
“We were given special ways in order to be able to detect our mates.”
“What was yours?”
“Just a sense,” he said. “A rightness about you that was lacking in all the others.”
She smiled and leaned against the door. “Go on.”
“Even though we were given the special ways to help ensure that we didna make a mistake, the Fae gave us another way of seeing we made the right choice.”
“And what would that be?”
Elric sighed, knowing this might be the one thing that sent her screaming from him. He quickly removed his tunic and held out his left arm. Even in the dim candlelight, the markings were beginning to darken.
“A tattoo?” Marin asked.
“In a manner,” he answered. “It has always been on our skin, but when we find our mates and share our bodies, it brings out the markings.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said and ran her hand over the intricate knotwork that ran from his shoulder to his elbow.
“You’ll have one as well.”
Her gaze snapped to his. Then, slowly she began to pull off her sweater. Elric kept his breathing calm, but inside his heart raced. She peeled back her shirt and he spotted the markings.
“Oh my God,” she murmured. “This can’t be happening to me. Nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened like this.”
Elric clenched his fists as he fought the urge to take her in his arms, yet he sensed that she needed to gather her thoughts and sort through everything first.
“Is there anything else?” she asked as she jerked her sweater back on.
“Actually,” he said hesitantly, “there is. When I said things had changed, I wasna lying. Now, if you decide against returning with me, you’ll never find happiness. Neither of us will. We’ll only be happy with each other.”
Marin sighed and briefly squeezed her eyes shut. “Unbelievable. Take me back,” she said, her voice shaking. “Now.”
Elric went around the room and doused the candles before he reached for the torch. He led the way down the stairs where he once again set the torch in its holder and walked Marin to the horse. Just as he was about to lift her onto the horse, he stopped and listened.
“What is it?” she whispered.
Though she might be distraught over everything she had learned, her fingers dug into his arm and she moved closer to him. She instinctively knew he’d protect her, and that was a good start to his way of thinking.
“We’re being watched.” He looked down into her hazel eyes and tucked a lock of auburn hair behind her ear that had gotten caught in the wind.
“Do they mean us harm?”
He shrugged. “I doona know.”
“It’s probably just some drunken men from the festival.”
He wasn’t about to tell her that he thought it might be a Tnarg and he needed to get her to safety fast. “Stay here,” he said and turned to a pile of rocks several paces behind him.
Since the men of the time didn’t walk around with weapons, Elric had buried his sword. He shifted aside some of the old, crumbling stones and pulled out his weapon. After he fastened it around his waist, he walked back to Marin.
“That’s real, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Verra.” He grabbed the horse’s mane and vaulted onto his back, then held out his arm for Marin. He easily swung her up behind him, and when her arms wrapped around his torso, the desire that flared within him had him shaking.
With a quick tap on the horse’s flanks, they set off. The horse must have felt his agitation and worry because he snorted and jerked his head up and down several times before he settled into a comfortable gallop. Elric was vigilant of his surroundings at all times. The noise of Marin’s time made it difficult for him to discern where the threat to them was, but he caught a glimpse of a dark haired beast just before they reached the village.
It was the Tnarg.
Elric cursed under his breath and knew he would have to stay with Marin at all times until she made her decision. He maneuvered the horse to the inn’s stable and dismounted. When he reached for her, she easily slid into his arms.
“Are you still angry wit
h me?” he asked and ran a hand down her face.
She shook her head. “It’s hard to take it all in at once, and based on the tattoo on my left arm, I know you aren’t lying. But, you’re asking me to leave all that I know, my time, my friends…my life…to go to an unknown place that is stuck in some kind of time warp. How do I know I’ll be happy?”
“How do you know that you willna? Are you so happy here that you are willing to risk your future and my kingdom?”
“Don’t,” she said and backed away. “I have enough to think about without the added stress of thinking of killing all the innocents of your kingdom. Just let me think on this for a while.”
Elric was just glad to hear she wanted to think on it and hadn’t run away from him. “How long do you need?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “Give me a few days.”
He didn’t like it, but he would do it. He gave her a curt nod and dragged her against him for a long, slow kiss. He wanted her to remember his taste as she fell asleep, he wanted her to dream of him and his touch.
When he finally lifted his head, her lips were swollen and desire blazed in her eyes. “You can no’ deny the attraction between us.”
“No, I can’t,” she said and took a step back. “And I won’t.”
“Doona go out alone at night,” he called as she reached the stable door.
She stopped and turned to him. “You’re keeping something from me.”
Elric offered her his arm. “I just worry. Let me walk you back inside.”
She hesitated only a moment before she took his arm.
* * * *
Marin shut the door to her room and leaned back against it. Her mind reeled with everything Elric had told her. It was hard to discount any of it though, especially with the mark on her arm.
She walked to the bathroom and took off her sweater. For long minutes she stared at the elaborate knotwork and Celtic influence of the marking. It had darkened since she had first looked at it, making it nearly black now.
“The proof I’ve asked for is before my eyes,” she said to her reflection.
