Spellbound by the Angui (Cipher's Kiss Book 2): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance

by Heather Walker

  Ellen studied the men around her as if for the first time. They looked different now that she knew their secret. They were bigger in her eyes, more solid, more eternal. All three of them confronted the world with flashing eyes and sturdy shoulders. She could well believe they’d been confronting this threat for thousands of years. They’d mastered it and made it their own. And despite needing something from her, they seemed very different from the men of her time, which was refreshing indeed.

  Ree materialized at Ellen’s side. “Come into my room. I have a dress you can wear so you’ll fit right in.”

  Ellen followed her into the bedroom, sat down on the bed, and gazed through the glass double doors onto the patio outside. Underwater lights set the pool ablaze, casting their ghostly glow throughout the bedroom.

  Ree rummaged around in her closet and brought out a full-length gown of forest green. It laced up the bodice just like something out of a movie. She spread it out on the bed. “I don’t know why I kept this. I thought I’d never wear it again. Sentimental, I guess.”

  Ellen peered into her friend’s face. All the suspicion and ill feeling vanished, now that she knew the truth. “Is that where you fell in love with Ned? Is that what changed between you two?”

  Ree sank onto the bed next to her. “You don’t know how good it feels to finally tell you the truth. I never wanted anything to come between us, but I didn’t know how to tell you. When he sent me back, I had no idea what was happening. I was out of my mind with terror and confusion. You’re so lucky you don’t have to go through that.”

  “It’s okay. I understand.” She squeezed Ree’s hand. “I guess there’s not time for you to tell me everything I need to know.”

  “There’s one thing you really need to know,” Ree replied. “Malcolm is a member of the Falisa. He’s undercover. It’s absolutely critical you don’t let anybody find out. If you meet him, you have to treat him as an enemy of the Angui. Just don’t call them that over there. They use the name Lewis. That’s what everyone knows them as.”

  Ellen let out a heavy breath. “Okay. I’ll remember that. Anything else?”

  A sly smile spread over Ree’s lips. “Only that none of them knows anything about you. You’ll have to convince them. That’s going to be the hardest part.”

  “Any tips on how to do that?”

  Ree’s smile cracked into a wild grin. “You’re on your own there, honey. Before I left, Ned showed me a birthmark on his arm. That’s how I was able to convince him back in Scotland that he sent me. No one could have known it was there. Maybe Louis will tell you something like that, something personal no one else could have known.”

  Ellen nodded but didn’t want to ask Louis for some personal secret she could take back with her. She needed to learn about him naturally if she could ever trust him.

  “You better get dressed,” Ree prompted. “These clothes take longer to put on than modern ones. Here’s a pair of sneakers. No one will see them under the dress, and sensible footwear is essential back there.”

  “What about a weapon?” Ellen asked. “I should take something.”

  Ree’s head whipped around. “A weapon!” Then she softened. “Leave it to you to think of something like that. No, don’t take a weapon. You’ll be able to find whatever you need back there. I’m sure Malcolm and Louis will fit you out once they realize what’s happening. Besides, a modern weapon would stick out like a sore thumb. You need something from that time, and you can’t get that here.”

  “All right. Here goes.” Ellen stripped off her suit until she stood in her underwear.

  Ree helped her put on the white shift, the stockings, the corset, and finally the green gown. Ellen groaned and complained while Ree yanked the corset strings so tight she could barely breathe.

  “Be grateful,” Ree snarled. “I’m leaving them a lot looser than they should be. Most women make them much tighter.”

  “You’re torturing me,” Ellen squeaked.

  “I’m finished.” Ree dusted off her hands. “You’re supposed to be this big tough Amazon, and look at you whining like a baby.”

  “What’s the point of being emancipated if we have to wear this stuff?” Ellen grumbled.

  “Here. Put this on.” Ree slipped the gown over Ellen’s head and laced up the bodice.

  When Ellen looked in the mirror, she didn’t recognize herself. A tall, slender, poised lady stood before her. Her black hair shone in stark contrast against her ivory white bust and emerald-green dress with puffed sleeves that tapered to tight wrist cuffs.

  “You look perfect,” Ree breathed. “You just need a shawl to go over it, or you’ll freeze.” She draped a woolen shawl around Ellen’s shoulders, completing the picture.

  Ellen couldn’t take her eyes off the image in the mirror. She never would have believed she could look like that. The costume tapped a well of femininity inside her she had never acknowledged before.

  Just then, a light knock tapped on the door. Ree opened it. Ellen recognized Louis’s voice without turning around. “Do you mind if I talk to Ellen alone for a minute, Ree?”

  Ree disappeared, and Louis shut the door after her. He glided up behind Ellen, and they studied each other in the mirror’s reflection.

  “You look incredible,” he rasped.

  “Just don’t get any ideas,” she snapped without thinking.

  His breath sent tendrils of spicy excitement through her.

  “Have you forgotten?” he asked. “I said someone warned us. Do you think I don’t remember who it was? I knew you would go back there. I remember it. I met you there. I’ve known you for three hundred years.”

  Ellen’s head shot up, and she found his glittering eyes boring into her over her shoulder. “Why didn’t you say so? Why did you keep that a secret?”

  “You had to choose for yourself. You had to make that decision. If I had told you, you would have dug in your heels and never gone back. You have to go back. You have to see it for yourself. That’s the only thing that will convince you.”

  “Well, now I’m going,” she returned. “You accomplished your aim, so you can go now.”

  “Not yet. There’s one more thing you need to know—actually, two things.”

  “Tell me, and then clear out, will you? I need to think so I can prepare myself for this.” Now wasn’t the time to sort out whether he’d acted honorably or manipulatively, so she filed the thought away for a later date.

  He took hold of her shoulders and turned her around to face him.

  For some reason, that dress made her so much more malleable in his hands than she ever wanted to be. She imagined him pressing her close to him and leaning in for a kiss, then shook the thought off.

  “The first thing you need to know is my name,” he told her. “Just remember, I’ve never laid eyes on you before back there. We’ll be meeting for the first time. When you tell me you know my name, I’ll have no choice but to believe you.”

  “There must be a lot of Louis Kirks around back there,” Ellen remarked.

  His cheek twitched as he suppressed a grin. “Not that name. I’m talking about my real name.”

  Ellen’s eyes widened. “Your…real name?”

  He rested his hands on her arms, his face hovering within inches of hers. “My real name is Urikki Dragusha. Ned’s real name is Dagar Lumani, and Malcolm’s real name is Luppaki Hoxha. When you repeat those names to me and explain that the three of us sent you back in time to warn me, I’ll listen to you.”

  Ellen took a deep breath. “All right. I can remember that. What’s the second thing?”

  “It’s this.” Before she could react, he darted in and kissed her.

  She stared into his eyes, beyond his nose. His powerful presence filled her to the breaking point, but she couldn’t wrench herself away.

  He severed the contact with her lips first, breathing into her mouth. “I’ve waited three hundred years to kiss you again, Ellen. You don’t know how I’ve dreamed of seeing you again after a
ll this time.”

  She tried to speak, but only a hoarse whisper came out. “What are you talking about? How could this happen to…to us?”

  “It happened back there,” he replied. “Just remember this. I know. Remember that when the time comes. I know. You can trust me. When the time comes to tell me, I’ll understand. I’ll be there, and I’ll remember. I remember even now. I could never forget.”

  “Remember what?” she breathed.

  He eased away and shook his head. “Just remember this moment, Ellen. It’s going to be okay. I promise you that.” He backed to the door and slipped out.

  Ellen stood there in a daze, then turned around to stare at herself in the mirror one last time. Whatever he wanted her to remember, or to remember that he remembered, she would only find out on the other side of that time portal.

  The seeds he’d planted in her soul with that kiss took root and sprouted. Something serious must have happened between them back in Scotland. Did she really have the courage to find out what it was? Either way, she couldn’t back out now. She said she would do this. Now she had to go through with it.

  Chapter 6

  Louis’s heart pounded against his chest. He stayed as calm as he could manage until he returned to the living room. He found Ned, Malcolm, and Ree waiting for him, but he couldn’t face them.

  None of them knew. He’d kept the secret from them all this time. Why? He couldn’t understand his own behavior, but some hidden part of him didn’t want to share Ellen with them. They would have her for the next several thousand years if this project succeeded.

  For three hundred years, he’d held her memory sacred. He’d closed his eyes and inhaled her scent every night before he fell asleep. He’d reveled in her softness and the mystic depth of her eyes. He’d lived there for three hundred years, and the memory of her had kept him alive.

  In a few hours, she would come back from Scotland and remember everything that happened. They would never part again. He only had to get through the rest of this night, and she would be his.

  He crossed the room to the window and stared out into the night illuminated by the swimming pool. He had to remain calm. He couldn’t reveal his innermost feelings, not even to the men with whom he’d spent his life.

  “Is she okay?” Ned asked.

  Louis nodded but didn’t turn around. He couldn’t meet their gaze, or he would lose his nerve altogether.

  Ned murmured in his ear, “Urikki? What did she say?”

  Louis waved his hand. A knot of tension stuck in his throat. The room’s reflection overlaid the image of the pool in the window.

  Malcolm and Ree were watching him too, but he couldn’t answer.

  Ellen emerged from the bedroom, swishing into the room with her long hoop skirts and wide bustle. Now Louis had no choice but to turn around and look at her.

  Her gaze skipped around the room, registering every face in turn before resting on Louis one last time. A wealth of knowing passed between them. She didn’t understand yet but knew she was on her way to understanding.

  Malcolm approached her, cutting off Louis’s line of sight, but she still haunted his mind. She would always live there, no matter where she went.

  “I’m going to teach you the spell,” Malcolm told her. “Once you learn it, you’ll be able to send yourself back and forth at will. You won’t be stuck back there. You can come back anytime you want. Understand?”

  Ellen swallowed hard. Her voice trembled with apprehension. “I understand.”

  “The thing you have to remember about the spell,” Malcolm told her, “is that there are lots of different ways to do it. When Ree went back, she cast the spell by skipping stones on a pond. I don’t do it that way. I do it by passing my thumb across the person’s forehead, like this.” He demonstrated by tracing a line back and forth along his own brow.

  “So what am I supposed to do?” Ellen asked.

  “I can’t tell you that,” Malcolm replied. “That’s what I’m trying to explain. You have to do something to activate the spell, but it’s different for everybody. I’d like to tell you exactly what you need to do, but it probably wouldn’t work. You have to figure that out for yourself. You have to use your own power to activate the spell, and that means it’s got to come from within you.”

  Her eyebrows flew up. “My power? I don’t have any power.” She burst into nervous laughter.

  Malcolm smiled at her. “Everyone has some power, but you women have more than most. Anybody can see that.”

  Ellen glanced around the room.

  Everyone looked back at her, but she must have read the truth in their faces. None of them found anything funny or out of the ordinary in the notion that Ree and Ellen and their friends had some kind of magic power. In fact, everyone in that room took it for granted.

  “I’m going to teach you the magic words right now,” Malcolm went on. “Once you learn them, you’ll just have to search within yourself. Something will come to you spontaneously, and you’ll know what you have to do to activate the spell. Understand?”

  She nodded again, but her face registered only confusion and fear. She had no inkling of the world she planned to enter. She could never have anticipated venturing into a world of spells and power and magic when she volunteered for this trip.

  Malcolm murmured under his breath, “Eshmun Hamilcar hanno ashtzaph byblos rae; Zephon anana akilokipok silatuyok anik toe; Takiyok keorvik suluk yo; Uyarak ek chua lo.”

  Ellen took a moment before she realized what he was saying. He got halfway through the spell before she turned her full attention on him and listened.

  He repeated the charm again and again.

  By the third time through, she was reciting the words along with him. She stumbled over their strange sounds, but after a few repetitions, she said the words louder and more confidently.

  Adrenaline burned Louis’s insides. This was it. In a few seconds, she would wink out before his eyes. Would he ever see her again? What if the Falisa caught her and killed her back there? What if she did something to change the course of time? He would never remember her. He would have no idea she ever existed. He gulped down acid bile. No one in this room understood his whole future hung in the balance.

  All at once, Ellen’s eyes snapped shut. She kept reciting the magic words in unison with Malcolm, but the next time he completed the rhyme, he stopped while she carried on.

  Her voice boiled out of her chest in a loud rumble and built up volume until she bellowed the words at the top of her lungs.

  “Eshmun Hamilcar hanno ashtzaph byblos rae

  Zephon anana akilokipok silatuyok anik toe

  Takiyok keorvik suluk yo

  Uyarak ek chua lo.”

  Her hand drifted up from her side. Without opening her eyes, she extended her arm in front of her. Her hand wavered up and down in a rapid undulating movement, and she passed it back and forth across her mental landscape. She chanted the words, louder now. When she thundered out the last word, she thrust out her hand and punched her fingers into the air. Her eyes popped open, and she stared in stark astonishment at something no one else could see.

  Her stare shot straight through Louis’s being.

  Out of nowhere, a howling tempest blasted in Louis’s face and stung his eyes. Ree threw up her arms in front of her face for protection, but the wind didn’t affect her or anybody else. It caught hold of Ellen and ripped her feet off the floor.

  In a split second, she dove straight into the wind. It sucked her across the room, where the screaming storm vanished into an invisible hole in mid-air and took her with it. The next instant, dead quiet enveloped the room.

  Louis stared transfixed at the spot where Ellen disappeared. She was gone.

  Which was worse—being around her without her knowing about their connection, or not being around her at all? Maybe he never should have let her go back. He could have loved her and enjoyed her company here, and she never had to know what happened between them back in Scotland. He c
ould have manipulated the situation so she never went back. Now he had to face the possibility that she would never return. How could he live through the next few hours until she came back?

  Malcolm and Ned and Ree stared at each other. Louis couldn’t bear the awful silence a moment longer. He couldn’t stand being in that room without her in it, so headed for the door.

  “Wait a minute, Louis!” Malcolm called after him.

  Louis didn’t reply. He barged out into the night and let the door bang behind him. He blasted into the dark where the cool silence enveloped him. He didn’t want to hang around waiting. He didn’t want to exist until she came back.

  Chapter 7

  The wind tossed Ellen’s hair into her face. She clamped her eyes tight until the gale died out a few seconds later. She dared to peek and found herself drifting down between a bunch of trees. She landed on her feet in a leafy dell, a few paces away from where a trailing footpath crossed in front of her.

  She looked all around, relieved to find that no one had seen her land. Her chest hurt from holding her breath tight so long, so she paused there to calm down and catch her breath.

  Yes, she really was in an ordinary wood. The trees were all real enough, and the scent of moist earth floated into her nose from the dead leaves underfoot.

  A woman came into view, walking down the footpath arm in arm with a teenaged girl. They both wore long dresses and shawls like Ellen’s. Their hats were perched on their heads with their braided hair twisted up in knots behind. They both smiled at Ellen and strolled on their way out of sight.

  Ellen hardly dared to breathe, but the women showed no sign of surprise at seeing her there. She blended in—all except her loose hair and no hat. After several more minutes of waiting and holding her breath to listen, she started to relax.