“All of us,” he murmured, certain of it. He looked at the tattoo and saw it differently this time. “Through you and me, it was trying to access what protects all MacLomains.”
“Because it sensed weakness in you and me,” she whispered, then frowned. “I don’t understand...we aren't weak...are we?”
Though tempted to say it may be because his magic was fluctuating or better yet, because they hadn’t lain together yet and come in to their fullest potential power, he wouldn’t pressure her. She needed to be ready. To push past her fear that she would endanger him. Naturally, she came to all the same conclusions and undoubtedly followed his thoughts.
“This sucks.” She frowned at him. “So what’s the right answer? Be with you to save you or get you killed?”
“Like Grant said, you’ll know what to do soon enough,” he assured her, taking in the pre-dawn light. He felt like he’d barely slept. But then, how could he when he’d had her in his arms like that? Wrapped around his waist, ready to sink onto him? “We should prepare to leave.”
Because if they stayed here, he’d never be able to keep his hands off of her.
“Even though I sense he’s not, are you sure your father’s not here somewhere?” she asked. “I could have sworn.”
“Nay, he managed to get through somehow, but he isnae here.” He looked at her with reassurance, convinced da had not only saved them but kept them on the right path from afar. “We’re getting closer to our truth, Julie. I’m certain of it.”
“I hope so,” she murmured.
“We are.” He cupped her cheek and made sure her eyes stayed with his. “You know I willnae pressure you into anything, aye? That what happened in that dream was...a bit out of my hands.”
He tried not to think about just how perfect her arse had felt in said hands. Or how beautiful she had looked flushed with desire.
“I know it was out of your hands,” she replied. “No worries.” Before he could pull away, she put her hand over his. “Just so you know, just so it’s clear, I’m rooting for us, Tiernan.” Her eyes grew misty. “I really am.”
“As am I, lass.” Though more than tempted to kiss her, he held back. Instead, much to his surprise and pleasure, she kissed him. It wasn’t long or overly passionate but heartfelt. As was the look in her eyes when they met his again. She started to speak but stopped and shook her head. Yet he knew what she had wanted to say, and it made his heart soar.
“Pretty soon, Jules,” he murmured in her ear. “Until then, I love you too.”
He hesitated with his lips close to hers before he pulled away and declared it was time to leave. They had another long day ahead. When they exited, Aidan was already taking his tent down, his expression particularly troubled.
“What is it, Cousin?” he asked, taking down his own tent.
“’Tis nothing,” Aidan murmured, truly not himself.
“But it is something, isn’t it?” Julie said softly. She seemed to sense something. “You dreamt as well, didn’t you, Aidan?”
His cousin glanced at her with surprise. “Aye, lass.” His brows pulled together, and he looked between them. “What do you know of it?”
“Not as much as we’d like.” She pulled up Tiernan’s sleeve until his tattoo was visible. “This look familiar?”
“Bloody hell.” Aidan’s gaze narrowed on it. “I was there last night.” His eyes met Tiernan’s before he pointed at one of the arrows or standing stones. “I was by this one, trapped by some unseen force. Maeve called to me from the fog then another lass, but I couldnae see them.” A haunted expression crossed his features. “Then something came...something dark.”
Maeve was the woman Aidan and Cray had loved.
“Something similar happened to us,” Tiernan revealed, remaining vague. “Only we were in the center.”
Julie showed Aidan the new design on her ring, as well.
“’Tis good that,” his cousin murmured. “It must be.”
“It is.” Julie sounded certain. “It’s protection of some sort...the tattoo and the ring, tied in with my magic and Tiernan’s.”
“Five points,” Tiernan murmured, picking up on her magic, feeling his own ignite. “Five Stonehenges.”
“Four in Scotland,” she whispered, her eyes different again. “Those that Grant mentioned.”
“What about the Salem Stonehenge?” Aidan said. “Is it protected too?”
“Maybe,” she murmured. “Because of that feeling...”
His cousin frowned. “What feeling?”
“When Julie first felt something for me other than friendship,” Tiernan said. “’Tis part of all this somehow. Part of our magic.”
“We’re going to need to get back to the Calanais Standing Stones eventually.” Her eyes met Tiernan’s. “It’s important somehow. I think our initial dreamlike out of body experience yesterday when I obtained my ring was trying to tell us that.”
He nodded in agreement. “Mayhap, we'll do so whilst traveling today.”
“Right...we’ll astral project.” Because that was precisely what they had done. She shook her head. “But I have no idea how I did that...or if my magic even did that.”
“You did...it did.” He was sure of it. “Do you still see the ley-lines overhead?”
Because he could not anymore. That had evidently been a temporary privilege. A perk of witnessing such old and powerful magic.
“Actually,” she squinted at the sky in surprise, “I see them, but they’re a little different today.”
“How so?”
“I dunno,” she murmured. “Some are just...different. A bit darker if I’m not mistaken.”
Aidan looked from the sky to her. “Do any connect to you and Tiernan?”
“No, not right now,” she said. “But then I’m not trying to protect him.”
“Well, we cannae complain about that.” Aidan swung up onto his horse. “I’m going to check on wee King David. I will see you two en route.”
As it happened, they didn’t see his cousin again until much later in the day. When they did, he still seemed troubled, and unusually edgy.
“What is it, Aidan?” Tiernan asked. They rode alongside him. “I sense a growing unrest in you.”
Which was bloody good in its own way, considering he hadn’t sensed much off his fellow wizards lately.
“’Tis hard to explain,” Aidan replied. “Other than to say, my dream feels like it’s consuming me.” A heavier frown than he already wore settled on his face. “As though Maeve and the other woman are trapped on the other side of some unseen barrier that I cannae get beyond.”
“A feeling of growing helplessness, right?” Julie asked. When Aidan nodded, she went on. “I know it’s hard, but you need to ignore it.” Her eyes met his. “I’m not sure how I know this, but I’m fairly positive that a dark force is trying to mess with your head.”
“To what end?”
“I’m not sure. All I know is that we need to try to get past it and realize it’s not real...not yet.” She looked at Tiernan over her shoulder. “Because I know it’s been growing inside you all day too. Except yours is more jealousy than anything else, right?”
“Aye,” he replied. “All I can think about is that the dark force nearly had you. A force that felt masculine.” He scowled. “’Tis sometimes hard to remember that ‘twas only a dream.”
“And that’s what it’s...they're counting on,” she said softly. “I’d put money on your other cousins having had a dream about that circle last night too. And I'll bet they all dealt with a dark force that wasn’t just one but several.”
“’Twould not be good for the dragons,” Aidan said. “As you saw, they are struggling more than the rest of us right now.”
Tiernan nodded in agreement.
“Whoever they are,” Julie muttered, “they’re coming at us from all angles, aren’t they?”
“Whoever they are,” he said softly, eyeing her. Why did it almost sound like she knew who they were? Something
in her tone bespoke a sense of familiarity. Yet did she even realize it? “Who are they exactly, lass? Do you know?”
“The damn disinherited.” She frowned. “Or nobles, warrior monks, whatever you wanna call them.”
“’Tis as you said, then. They’re at the root of this.” He sensed something more, though. A strong sense of certainty. “They are the disinherited.”
“They are, aren’t they?” she murmured. Her eyes turned to his again. “Not just men who felt screwed out of Scottish land but something more.”
“Aye,” he agreed, positive they were onto something. What that was, however, remained just beyond his grasp.
“What was that?” Julie exclaimed.
“What?” he barely got out before she reached over his shoulder, and grabbed an arrow moments before it pierced his skull.
Their eyes met each others in alarm seconds before the forest exploded with men.
Her magic hadn’t protected him like it had before with a bluish-green light.
“But it definitely warned me,” she said into his mind, tossing aside the arrow. “And gave me the speed and know-how to catch that arrow.”
“Aye,” he agreed, spurring the horse.
They needed to get to wee David.
“I think from here on out we should ride closer to him,” she said. “Why weren’t we to begin with anyway?”
“Because Thomas was confident there were no enemies in this area,” he muttered, slashing his sword across a warrior’s throat as they rushed past. “Bloody foolish.”
“Yeah, it was.” She grabbed a dirk out of his satchel and whipped it at another man, hitting him square in the forehead. “My magic’s definitely at work...or you just taught me well.”
He had tried whenever he visited, hoping that someday she might travel back. That she would need such skills.
“There’s David,” she cried, pointing to their left.
The boy stood behind a wall of warriors, oddly calm, considering his circumstances.
“Let me down,” she ordered, already attempting to get off the horse.
“Och, lass, nay,” he roared, trying to stop her, but it was too late. Despite slowing the horse, she slid free of his grasp and hit the ground pretty hard. He leapt off, his heart in his throat, but she was already scrambling in the lad’s direction.
“Bloody hell, Cousin, what’s she doing?” Aidan exclaimed, off his horse as well, sword-fighting with a man as he attempted to follow.
“Julie!” Tiernan tried to race after her, but too many men were coming at him. “Stop!”
Terrified for her, he fought like a berserker, cutting down man after man, without really seeing them. All he could see was her as she dodged left, right, leapt over a dead body, and made it to wee David before he was run through with a blade.
Instead, much to Tiernan’s horror, she flung the boy aside and took the blade herself.
Chapter Seventeen
“I THINK ‘TIS time you learn to fight,” Tiernan announced.
“I know how to fight a little bit.” Julie chuckled. “The dragons taught me some when they were here.”
“Not nearly enough, though.” He stopped and looked at her, serious. “I know they taught you to use daggers.” He unsheathed his blade. “But what about a sword?”
“Nope, and you know that.” She looked around. “You seriously want to do this here? Now? In the woods?”
“Why not?” He gestured at the stones then headed in that direction, calling over his shoulder, “The ground is flatter at the Stonehenge. We will practice there.”
“But I don’t have a sword,” she called after him.
He sheathed his own and manifested another more suited to her size. “Now, you do.”
“Then I guess I’m learning to swing a sword,” she muttered, following him.
The truth was, she was fine doing whatever he wanted because it meant spending more time with him. He had been visiting New Hampshire less frequently since he’d become chieftain, and it bummed her out. She missed him. More than that, she’d developed a pretty intense crush on him despite knowing nothing could come of it. Still, she loved being around him, so why not entertain the fantasy awhile longer?
“First,” he said when they arrived at the Stonehenge. “You must learn to grip and swing it properly.”
He handed her the sword then stepped behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her to show her the correct placement of her hands.
“They should be like this.” He placed his warm hands over hers and murmured in her ear, “Your grip should be firm, the blade an extension of your arms.”
She tried to respond but only swallowed hard at the feel of him all around her.
“You must think only of defeating your enemy,” he whispered, his voice a little hoarse. “You must...”
“Must what?” she whispered, meeting his eyes over her shoulder.
Lost, gone in an instant, her eyes lingered on his.
The moment stretched.
Consumed her.
Meant everything.
That’s when she realized this wasn’t just a mere crush but much more. Something brand new had blossomed between them.
Something she had never felt before.
“You must protect yourself, lass,” he whispered moments before light blue magic flared in his eyes.
Seconds later, searing pain ripped through her. He wasn’t behind her anymore. Rather he knelt in front of her, horrified. Full of fear when he was always so courageous.
Why was he looking at her like that?
What had happened?
Suddenly, her memory of them at the Stonehenge became the harsh reality of a sword protruding from her gut.
“Tiernan,” she tried to whisper but couldn’t. Warm blood trickled from her mouth. The world grew darker and darker before all went black, and everything snapped away.
“Protect yourself, lass,” he whispered into her mind, almost as if the man from her past spoke to her now, protecting her from far away. From another time and place. “Protect yourself and come back to me. Stay with me.”
Terrified not of dying but leaving him, she struggled toward his voice. Toward his presence in her mind.
Where was he?
Where’d he go?
Then she felt him all around her like she had at the Stonehenge. Part of her in a way that would never vanish. Inside her in a way he never had been before. As if his magic felt the connection, his blue magic filled her vision, driving away the darkness, and she opened her eyes.
Where was she?
What was going on?
“’Tis okay, Jules,” Tiernan murmured. He pressed what felt like a cool compress to her forehead, his brogue so thick with emotion she barely understood him. “Ye’re all right. Ye arenae harmed, lass.”
“What?” she tried to ask, but her throat was too dry. He held a cup of cold water to her lips, and she drank before trying again. “What happened?”
The moment his eyes met hers, everything came rushing back. Him kneeling in front of her, horrified. The sword in her gut. The blood. She looked down, expecting to see a bloody bandage at the very least, but instead, she appeared completely unharmed. She touched her midriff, but there was nothing there. Not even an ounce of pain.
“’Tis a bloody miracle,” he said softly. Fear warred with relief in his tender gaze. “One moment ye were dying in front of me...the next, completely healed.” He squeezed her hand, knowing what she would ask next. “Wee David is well. Ye protected him like the hero ye are.”
From what she could tell, they were in the chambers of what appeared to be a castle or some sort of stone building.
“I just did what anyone would.” She kept inspecting her stomach, trembling. “How is this possible? I felt the blade...the blood...” Her eyes rose to his. “Then, I was with you. Not where I fell but back at the Salem Stonehenge.”
“A memory then?”
“Yeah.” She smiled and shimmied over on the large canopi
ed bed. “You remember the day.” She patted the bed beside her, wanting him closer, wanting the peace of his arms around her again. “You taught me how to use a sword.”
“I remember.” Understanding what she needed, he pulled off his boots, lay down beside her, and simply held her. “’Twas a good day. You were a fast learner.”
“And you were a flirt,” she whispered, closing her eyes, grateful when her trembling began to subside. She inhaled his scent, taking comfort in the safety he offered. The freedom from the quickly dwindling terror of being on the brink of death. “You were telling me that I had to protect myself, then your magic ignited.” She looked at him. “I don’t recall it doing that back then.”
“It didnae.” He considered what had happened to her. “It sounds like my magic was protecting you via a memory.”
“Is that even possible?”
He brushed her hair back from her forehead, his eyes still remarkably tender. “When it comes to ye, I wouldnae doubt it for a moment.”
“It didn’t just protect me,” she said, “but healed me, Tiernan.”
“Or,” he countered, “it protected you before you ever actually got wounded.” His brows swept up. “Mayhap, whilst we saw one thing here, in truth, the magic was one step ahead.”
“Can that truly happen?”
“As I said, when it comes to you, I think my magic is capable of anything,” he murmured, tracing her jaw line. “There isnae anything I would not do to save you, Julie.”
“I know,” she whispered. Though vaguely curious where they were, she was unable to tear her eyes away.
“We are in the king’s holding,” he divulged, following her thoughts. “A bath is waiting for you when you’re ready.” Before she could ask him about everyone else, he went on. “All is well enough. Several died, but there are many here to protect wee David.” He pressed his lips together in disappointment. “Unfortunately, however, the enemy remains at large.”
“None were caught, then?”
“Nay.”
For a split second, she felt like she had more answers about why that might be, but the sensation fled only to be replaced with another one entirely. Genuine appreciation and naturally when it came to Tiernan, desire. So much unchecked desire that it was getting harder and harder to think straight. She knew part of it was her body's way of trying to relieve such incredible stress, but a much larger part was simply him. What he had done for her. How he made her feel.
A Scot's Pledge (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era, #1) Page 11
