“You were up so late last night, I figured you would still be sleepin’ off all of that wine.”
Ach, perhaps it was the wine that made her dream of her mother. Being half-fairy, she had more of a tolerance to the drink than full-blooded humans, but she did have limits.
Her sister-in-law, Nellie, and she had stayed up into the later part of the night, celebrating the fact that they had finally finished their preparations for the Christmas feast. It had come after much persuasion to her half-brother, and Nellie’s husband, Laird Adam Maxwell, who would much rather have the quiet company of his immediate family for the holiday, rather than having all of the nearby lairds and their families come to celebrate. The big feasts were usually saved for Hammish McNill’s parties at Rosach Castle. Adam’s eventual acquiescence to host his own party surprised all of Dunaid Castle.
“Could you be a dear an’ send up a bath with hot water?” Tara asked her maid. She needed a good soaking after that dream. “An’ bring up a bit of that lavender soap, would you?”
Bridget shook her head. “You’re goin’ to run the family’s coffers dry with the fancy soaps an’ perfumes you use,” her maid admonished. “It’s unnecessary.”
“I like smellin’ pleasant,” Tara reasoned. Bridget shook her head and left.
Later, as she sat in the tub, she continued to wonder about her dream. As she remembered it, she began to suspect that the dream was, in fact, a vision. It seemed far too real, and unlike any dream she’d ever had before.
If Una had escaped, everyone in Scotia was in grave danger. Almost seven years ago, she had trapped her mother in the Unseelie Court, after Una had pushed Nellie through the portal that divided the human realm from the dark fairy realm. Una had attempted to get Tara and Adam to follow her through the portal so that they could all live happily together, in her mother’s twisted mind. Tara had pushed Adam out of the way and went through the portal to save Nellie. During that time, she managed to find Nellie, bring her back, and seal off the portal. Soon after, Adam and some of his clansmen destroyed the standing stone near Dunaid Castle that was used as the portal.
Tara had always believed that destroying the standing stone would be a temporary fix, that sooner or later, her mother would come back to seek her out. But part of her, a very naïve part of her, hoped and prayed that it would not actually happen.
She had to tell her brother and Nellie. However, the Christmas feast was today. She didn’t want to spoil it for everyone, especially after Nellie had worked so hard to make it perfect. She would need to tell them soon, though. Una knew where they lived and she was confident that her mother would come for them first.
After she bathed, she donned her newly-made dress, which was a festive green with painstakingly-detailed flower embroidery on the hem and sleeves. With Bridget’s help, she braided her hair and pinned it to her head, adding matching ribbons. Bridget handed her a looking glass and she gazed at her reflection.
She had chestnut brown hair, like her brother’s, as well as bright green eyes. She was taller than most women, with long limbs and a slim, but curvy body, which the dress helped to accentuate. The only semblance she shared with her leannan sith mother was the strange glow of her eyes, which almost resembled the eyes of a cat in that they glowed uncannily in the darkness. She also had some of her mother’s magic, although her mother never did teach her how to properly utilize it.
Tara’s mother was a leannan sith; her entire purpose was to enchant handsome and powerful men to fall in love with her and do her bidding. When Adam’s mother died, Una had enchanted their father, Calum Maxwell, until she ultimately killed him. However, during that time, she attempted to also enchant Nellie’s father, Malcolm Lyall, but when that ended in failure, she laid a curse upon Nellie’s family.
In the back of her mind, Tara wondered if she, too, would become like her mother, especially since she did not know how to use her magic. She had seen how men reacted to her when they came near, treating her like she was nothing short of the Roman goddess, Venus. That horrified her. Adam and Nellie assured her that her constant attention was because she was a beautiful and eligible young woman and men were interested in her because they wanted to marry her, but she didn’t quite believe that.
Tara loved to be around people and meet new faces, but sometimes she felt more like a social pariah. She continued to distance herself from any suitors for fear of enchanting them with an inadvertent spell.
There were going to be eligible men from all over Scotia attending the feast today and it made Tara nervous. Adding that to the sickening dread she felt from her mother escaping the Unseelie Court, and all she wanted to do was hide in her room all day. No, she would face her family and her guests, then wait until the festivities were over to start considering the options.
When she was ready, Tara walked out of her room only to be bombarded with Nellie, who had one young girl in her arms and two boys, just past the toddler years, trailing after her. Nellie was still in her bedclothes, her golden hair unkempt and her eyes a wee bit desperate.
“Tara, there you are. Oh, you’re dressed already? Could you be a dear and watch the children for me? Hilda is getting me ready and everyone else is busy with the last-minute preparations.” Her sister-in-law hadn’t finished speaking when she’d already handed the girl, Deirdre, into Tara’s arms. The twin boys, Alan and Aulay, started pulling at her skirts to get her attention.
“It would be my pleasure, Nellie,” Tara said, smiling. Nellie was lucky she liked kids so much.
The relief was apparent in Nellie’s eyes. She mouthed a “thank you” before she hurried back into her room.
“Well,” Tara said to the children. “Shall we go play before the guests arrive?”
“Aye!” the boys shouted, throwing their fists into the air.
“Well, let’s go out into the courtyard, away from everyone. That way, we won’t get under anyone’s feet.”
The courtyard garden was painstakingly maintained by Nellie. The newest addition was a small hedge maze, which the boys ran to first. They found sticks to use as makeshift swords as they disappeared into the foliage.
As it was winter, the blossoms had yet to bloom, but the garden was filled with life and the weather was pleasant. As Tara sat at the stone bench made by her father to his first wife, Isabel, she held Deidre in her arms and listened to the two boys imagine a great battle between the Scots and the English. There was still much conflict going on between the kingdoms, but being so far north in the Highlands, the Maxwells were fortunate enough to be far away from the skirmishes. Tara hoped that the war would long be resolved before Nellie and Adam’s children became of age to fight.
Bridget was kind to stop by sometime in the mid-morning to give her a light breakfast of an apple tart, a sample of the evening’s desserts, which she shared with Deidre. The boys were too busy playing to care about food. Besides, very soon, they were going to stuff themselves silly with the rich meal the cooks were still preparing in the kitchen.
In the afternoon, the guests arrived and began to converge in the great hall. Adam had ordered a new, larger table to be made to successfully seat all of his guests. The furniture was a solid piece of oak and arguably a piece of art, according the Dunaid household.
“So, does this mean we’ll be hostin’ more feasts?” Tara had teased her brother when dozens of servants dragged it into the hall after it had been made.
“Well, I need to get my money’s worth out of the thing,” Adam replied. “So, we’ll see.”
At the start of the feast, Tara, Nellie, and her family sat at the front of the table, leaving a seat at the edge for the Laird of Dunaid. When all the guests were seated, he walked in. Adam was tall like her, and handsome. He was also a quiet man and seemed intimidating to those who did not know him well, especially considering he had a wicked scar that ran between his eyebrows and down his nose, a token from the Battle of Neville’s Cross. However, he had a kind heart, especially toward his beloved wife and t
heir three children.
He welcomed everyone for coming. As he took his seat, the servants flurried out of the kitchen with trays of food. They were started off with a vegetable soup, filled mostly with the produce that came from Nellie’s garden. Then, the courses progressed to more hearty substances like roasted boar and red stag. For dessert, there were indeed apple tarts, but also a myriad of cheeses served with Adam’s best wine that he had been coveting for years before Nellie coaxed him into allowing them to serve it at the feast.
Sitting to Tara’s right was a young man, a cousin of some laird to the east. He gave her his name and title, but Tara couldn’t tell what he said above the loud voices around her. She did not have the desire to ask him to repeat himself. She nodded politely as he told tales of his heroic exploits of clan battles, knowing that he was probably exaggerating to impress her. She did not want to meet his gaze, as was her routine for most men, for fear of enchanting him.
Tara stared ruefully at her food, which, although it was delicious, she hardly had an appetite for. She could only think of her mother. Where was she now? Was she heading toward Dunaid?
After months of waiting impatiently for the feast, she now wanted it to be over—immediately. Tomorrow could not wait. Adam needed to be told—now.
But that proved to be an impossible feat. Adam was bombarded by people left and right throughout the night, and Tara soon found herself in the same predicament. As the food was cleared away and the table pushed to the side, it was time to dance. The man sitting next to her asked her for the first dance. Because she was distracted, she made the mistake of looking directly into his eyes. He was handsome, aye, and that didn’t help. His eyes soon glazed over and he gave her a wan smile.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t,” Tara said, horrified that she’d bewitched him.
“I insist. With a pretty lass as yourself, I fear that I won’t have the opportunity again before this night is through.” At his words, Tara glanced at dismay at a crowd of men, both young and old, looking at her expectedly.
She sighed. “There are plenty of bonny women here to dance with,” she tried to reason with the man. But she was already in his arms, him leading her in the dance that was accompanied by a lively fiddle.
“Aye, but I want to be near you,” he insisted. “You are the bonniest one here.” He leaned forward and breathed into the curve of her neck. “You smell so wonderful, like flowers.” Ah, heaven forbid. She hated the thought of forcing someone against their will. It was one of the cruelest things she could think of, but because she was half-fairy and untrained, she had no control. None at all.
She kept her eyes on her brother during the dance. The moment he broke free from a conversation between him and two other lairds, she pulled away from her suitor.
“Excuse me,” she said to him as she walked away.
“Wait, where are you goin’?”
As she pushed through the crowd, she glanced behind her, realizing that half a dozen men were following her footsteps. No, this would not do. She turned around abruptly and put her hands on her hips.
“Leave me alone!” she shouted at them.
Those who stood nearby turned to look at her in bewilderment. The men who followed her blinked in confusion and sauntered away. Had she broken the spell?
“Tara?” Her brother called out to her, his brows furrowed with concern. “Are you all right?”
She stalked over to him, thankful for the respite. “Adam,” she said to him. “I need to speak to you.”
Perhaps sensing the urgency in her voice, Adam grabbed her arm and guided her out of the great hall, to a quiet alcove where no one could overhear them.
“What is it?” he finally asked.
“I… I had a vision last night.”
Adam frowned at her words. “And what did you see?”
“My mother… Una. I believe she escaped from the Unseelie Court.”
“How do you know this?”
“I saw the vision through her eyes, Adam. She found another portal an’ managed to escape.”
Adam’s face paled. “Do you know where she is? And where this portal is?”
Tara shook her head. “I know not.” She paused. “But I don’t think she’s near to us. I don’t have that same connection with her as I used to when I was younger an’ she was still in the human realm.”
Adam nodded. He did not look happy. There was a time, Tara learned, when he loved his stepmother. That had caused great fiction between him and Nellie after Nellie had revealed to him that Una had cursed her family. But he had long since recovered from that, and as painful as his past was, he still despised the woman.
“We’ll figure somethin’ out,” he reassured her.
Tara nodded wordlessly. But what could Adam do? He had a family to take care of, and even then, he was no match for an Unseelie fairy such as Una.
This matter was all in Tara’s hands. She wished she had some way to figure out how to harness her power to get rid of her mother once and for all. However, she didn’t even know if she was strong enough to ever accomplish such a feat. Tara had seen both in person and in her vision how powerful her mother was. She would not hesitate to kill for her own gain.
Tara left the feast early, not having the heart to even pretend like she was enjoying the festivities. Back in her room, she pulled the ribbons from her hair and undid her braids. After she washed her face and settled into her bed, she thought of the castle her uncle Bearnard left for her. Finding no desire to leave Dunaid, she had only been back to Murdag Castle a handful of times. In her mother’s room, Tara had seen piles of books with titles pertaining to magical spells and history. Would Tara find answers if she were to look through those books?
Some of the guests had stayed the night, and the next morning, they were scattered here and there at the oak table, waiting for their morning meal. Tara took two steps into the great hall, saw the crowd, and turned around and left. She called on Bridget to take food to her room instead, not wanting to speak to anyone.
She had decided to head to Murdag Castle that day, and she had no time to lose. After she ate, she quickly dressed in her traveling clothes, putting on her boots and wrapping her wool breacan around her shoulders. Nellie, an advocate for women to know how to defend themselves after her own experience warding off attackers, gifted her a few years back with a dagger made by a nearby blacksmith. She also fashioned for her a harness so that Tara could strap the dagger around her calf and hide it under the skirt of her dress.
When she was ready, she stopped by Adam’s study to let him know she was to be at Murdag Castle for a day or so. “Bridget is comin’ with me,” she told him as he leaned back in his chair and considered her announcement.
“You’ll need more than Bridget to come with you,” he said.
“I still have the men I hired to guard the castle. They are sworn to protect me.”
“I’m not talkin’ about those already at Murdag. I do not want you ridin’ alone.”
“Verra well. Can Alister accompany me, then?” she asked, speaking of their cousin who lived with them at Dunaid Castle.
“Alister doesn’t want to leave Isla’s side,” Adam replied. “She’s come down with the ague overnight an’ is bedridden.”
“Ach, fine. Then who will you send with me?”
“I’ll do it, m’laird.”
Tara turned abruptly toward the door. “You are not going with me,” she told Ealair, who was standing at the threshold. He was a young man close to her age, and a guard hired by Adam two summers ago. He was also the most annoying man in all of Dunaid Castle.
“That’s not for you to decide,” Laird Maxwell said coolly to his sister. Tara closed her mouth. “Ealair, you may accompany the lady to keep her safe as she travels to Murdag Castle.”
“Thank you, m’laird.” Ealair grinned at Tara. “I’ll get your horse ready.”
When he left, Tara rolled her eyes. “Adam, you couldn’t have left me with a more annoyin’ person to travel wit
h. He talks nonstop about the most ridiculous things he can think of.”
“He is also loyal an’ good with a sword. He would do well in protectin’ you from brigands,” Adam said. He noticed her dismay and shrugged. “You can ignore him for the entire trip, if you so choose.”
“I do so choose,” Tara said tartly.
Adam chuckled under his breath and quickly sobered. “What is your reason for goin’ there, sister? Does this have to do with Una?”
“Aye, my mother left many books at the castle. Magic books, if I recall correctly. I want to look through these books an’ see if there’s anythin’ I could glean from them that can help me find a way to send my mother back to the Unseelie Court. An’ perhaps I can find a way to learn how to use my own magic.” She paused. “Aren’t you worried about my mother, Adam?” she asked him.
Adam considered her question. “If I see her, I might start worryin’. But until then, I have my family to think of. I will try to think of somethin’, but this fairy business is beyond me. I’m just hopin’ she stays far away from Dunaid.”
“Well, I’m goin’ to make sure it doesn’t come to that,” Tara said adamantly. “I’m goin’ to figure out this fairy business, as you call it.”
Also by Verlin Underwood
Highland Magic Series
Book 1: Lady Nellie
Story of Story of Nellie, Adam and the return of the vengeful fairy
Link: Book 1 - Lady Nellie
Book 2: Lady Tara
Story of Tara, Colin and the boy of the water
Link: Book 2 - Lady Tara
Book 3: Coming soon…
Lady Nellie: Highland Magic Series (Scottish Paranormal Romance) Page 20
