Binding Vows (22 page)

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“Pull the energy in. Now...look at where you want it to go.”

When her eyes opened, she saw only the dark fireplace, heard only his voice. Her fingers gathered strength. When she could bear the heat no longer she extended them toward the log in the hearth.

To her utter amazement flames leapt from the ashes. “Did you see that?” She jumped to her feet.

“Did you see that?” She clapped her hands like a child receiving a gift on Christmas morning.

His lopsided grin answered her question. “Aye, lass. I saw it.”

“I did it, right? You didn’t help?” She turned an accusing look his way.

He mimicked a movement she had shown him a time or two over the last couple months. He crossed an X over his heart. “Promise.”

“Oh man, that was great.” She searched the room with excited eyes. “What else can I catch on fire?”

He caught her before she could reach for a candle. “Oh, no, you don’t.” He molded her body to his. “A promise is a promise.” He kissed the grin off her face.

****

“It’s called indoor plumbing. Pipes bring water in. Bigger pipes take waste out.” Tara stood in front of a closet trying to explain to Ian, Fin and Duncan the finer details of a modern day water closet.

“How is the water forced into the walls where the pipes are?”

“See now, that’s where you come in, Finlay.” She gave him a hefty pat on the back and tried not to laugh at the baffled look on his face. “You look bright to me. Why don’t you think on it and come up with a solution. If hundreds of teenagers can siphon gasoline out of tanks, than you can figure out how to get water to flow into pipes.” Putting her hands on 187

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her hips she said, “If you want to know about the four chambers of the heart or the way blood oxygenates, that’s where I can provide you with details. Plumbing is a boy thing.” She lifted her skirts and walked away from the men who stood around scratching their heads.

Lora and Myra waited for her in a small private courtyard. It was time for the women to give Tara a lesson in her Druid heritage.

“We’re going to determine if you’re able to move the wind. We all have the ability to a small extent.

But some, like Myra, have mastered it. Show her.”

Out of nowhere, and with no visible sign from Myra, Tara’s skirt started to billow out from under her. As quick as it started, it stopped.

“I will try the same, feel the difference.” Lora pointed a finger at Tara’s legs. Slowly she felt the air stir, barely moving the fabric. “As much as I have practiced, I’m unable to do more, and not without channeling the energy with my hands. My daughter has more skill.”

Myra demonstrated her talent in a more practical manner. “Let’s sit down,” she suggested.

When she did, three chairs surrounding a small table pulled out by themselves.

“Wow. How did you do that?” Tara reached out to feel the weight of the chair.

“Air surrounds everything. Moving the air moves the objects. It was the first gift I knew I had.

Da had taken away a sweet pie from me when I was only four, told me to finish my supper before I could have it. I don’t care much for kidney stew, so instead of eating, I sat and brooded.”

Tara poured tea and listened.

“I stared at the pie the whole meal. I noticed colors in the air, red, blue and white. Before I knew it, the pie flew across the table and ended up in my lap.”

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“We took our meals in private after that,” Lora said. “At least until she was able to control the power.”

“Do you actually see colors in the air?”

“Only when I want to move something. Let me show you.” Myra picked up a fallen leaf and placed it on the table. “Sitting here, there are no colors. But when I think of how I want it to move, up let’s say.”

The leaf started to levitate. “I see red below it, blue above. Like heat rising from a fire or vapor from a boiling kettle, I suppose. Now, if I want it to move faster, or in a different direction, the colors change blending orange with the red and white with the blue. The red and orange push.”

Tara watched the leaf fly to the right of the table and back again. “The blue and white pull.”

“Exactly.”

“I have a difficult time seeing the colors,” Lora admitted. “Then again, ’tis not my strongest gift.”

“You try.” The leaf settled on the table.

Mother and daughter worked with Tara for over an hour. The leaf did move, several times, but not in the direction Tara wanted. Lora said, “Don’t be discouraged. You will find your true gift one day, the gift that will set you apart from all others.

Myra suggested they practice for a set time daily, and Tara enthusiastically agreed.

****

When the lesson was finished, and the giggling over, what one of the knights decided to wear started to dominate the conversation, Lora took her leave.

“They were too tight,” Tara went on. “It’s like he was asking every maid and lady to look at his package.”

“And not very impressive from what I could tell,”

Myra said, rolling her eyes.

Tara squealed. “Oh, you saucy wench. I can tell we’ll have lots to talk about once you pick a 189

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husband.”

Wistful, Myra glanced up at the sky, “Maybe someone will come to the wedding and catch my eye.” “It’s coming so fast, at times I want to pinch myself. I want to remember every detail.”

“The celebration will last for a week,” Myra explained. “So I doubt you will remember everything. It can be quite exhausting.”

“Why so long?”

“Traveling takes time. Knights from surrounding villages will bring their Lords and Ladies. Weddings are where many find future husbands and wives.”

“Are there any knights invited who you have considered?”

“I wish! The Lancaster’s will bring their son, Matthew and daughter, Regina. Regina has her eyes on Finlay, but in truth, I don’t think he cares much for her. Matthew is too short, too shy, and unless he is talking about birds, he has nothing to say. The man can’t stand up for himself if you ask me. He’s the butt of every jest amongst his peers. I’d feel sorry for him, if they weren’t so true.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you really think?”

“He is all that and more. You’ll see. There are others, but none whom I fancy. Da promised he would give me a choice. I pray he keeps his word.

Being un-married at twenty and one raises questions among the men.”

“And if none are worth choosing?”

Myra watched the clouds part. “Someone will come. I’ll know when he does.”

****

Brother Malloy made his life’s work joining together sinners in matrimony. His arrival to the MacCoinnich Keep and the surrounding village was much anticipated and welcomed. His arrival also 190

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brought changes in sleeping arraignments, at least for Duncan and Tara.

He made it very clear the good book did not give excuse for lustful behavior in any form. A marital bed was only to be used for the sake of creating life.

Therefore, the unmarried couple were to abstain from inappropriate behavior until after the nuptials.

Then the life they would create would be right with God. Duncan pissed and moaned to the point Brother Malloy threatened to leave without performing any service.

“Think of all the trouble Lora has gone through.

Guests have already started to arrive,” Tara pleaded with him.

“But we are already married.” Duncan argued in hushed tones away from the meddling clergy and his parents who were trying to convince the priest to stay. “Handfasting is not the same, and you know it.

He even said there have been brides and grooms who have called off the actual marriage after being handfasted.”

“Most of those are due to a woman being barren.”

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t make it right.”

He knew the injustice of this fact. “I agree.” He glared at the priest and looked back down at his bride.

They read each other’s internal thoughts with ease.

Her brow had turned in. “Would you think differently about me if I were unable to have children?”

He was being foolish. His selfishness was concerning his wife. “Nay, my love.” He cupped her face in his hands, brushed his lips over hers. “We are joined as few are, even without
his
vows.”

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“Good,” she said a bit louder. “Than a few days in separate beds won’t be such big a deal.”

“This is what you want?” He searched her eyes.

“I want to be your wife. And if Brother Malloy leaves, it could take months before another will come in his place.”

He hated her logic. “My bed will be lonely without you,” he whispered against her parted lips.

“As will mine. Send me a warm thought or two.”

He can’t stop us from this.
I can say completely
inappropriate things in my mind.
“Besides, it will make the wedding night all the more exciting. Don’t you think?”

He growled, placed his forehead against hers.

Your words make me so stiff I cannot move. Days of
such talk will drive me mad.

It’ll be worth the pain. I promise to make it up.

We will take to our bed after the wedding and stay
there for a week. I’ll put a white flag on the door
when someone needs to bring us food.

She chuckled.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Brother Malloy said, giving them a look of stern disapproval.

****

Duncan left with Fin on an errand before the guests started to arrive. He needed a diversion from his bride. Not that he didn’t love how she taunted him with her secret words. He did. However, not being able to touch her was maddening.

No one would say they were growing apart by not sharing a bed. In fact, to the contrary, they grew closer every day. He didn’t know exactly when he fell in love with her, but there was no denying he had.

He wondered now, as he often did, if she felt the same love for him. Was it only their Druid vows binding them so closely together? Would the deeper words of love bring them closer still?

He couldn’t think of her without joy piercing his 192

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heart. Even now sitting on his horse with his brother at his side, his mind was on Tara and what she was doing. The farther away from the Keep they rode, the harder it was for him to hear her. But he felt her, and the happiness emanating from her.

Fin slowed his horse, peered at his brother, then rolled his eyes. “Good lord, get that blasted look off your face. Someone would think you daft if they saw it.” “Jealous, Brother?”

“Of how she has turned your brain to mush? I think not.”

“You would be lucky to find a woman like mine.”

Duncan liked putting possession behind how he referred to Tara.

She was his!

“One as beautiful, I would agree. But her tongue can cut like a knife.”

“But never undeservingly so.”

Fin shifted his reins in his hands. “Still, I want my bride to be more subdued.”

“Like Alyssa, from the village?”

Fin looked away. “She may be subdued in voice, but not in bed. There she has too many desires, which don’t always require the same bed mate.”

Duncan’s brow creased with the weight of his brother’s words. “’Tis unfortunate. She has Druid blood as well. I thought you two made a good match.”

“As did I.”

They rode in silence for a while, enjoying the quiet and opportunity to think.

“Have you spoken with Tara about the vows you took in California?”

“The subject hasn’t come up.”

“Are you content with leaving it?”

He shook his head. “Nay, but what am I to say? I tell her constantly we are already wed. She knows we are connected with our thoughts.”

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“You are hoping she will come to the conclusion on her own?”

“Maybe.”

“I hope you know what you are doing, brother. I wouldn’t want to get on Tara’s bad side. Something tells me she could bring down the Ancients themselves to fight for her if she pleased.”

“I’ll wait for the right time. Tara is a reasonable lass, she’ll understand.”

Fin kicked his horse to a faster pace. “I hope so.”

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Chapter 17

A few days, turned into five. Five long, painfully slow days, and even longer nights.

If not for the many guests distracting them, Duncan and Tara would never have been able to make good on their promise to stay away from each other.

Two nights before the ceremony, Tara sat opposite Duncan at the other end of the huge table set in the center of the main hall. She was surrounded by strangers who made polite conversation during supper.

Celeste and Haggart had married that day, along with several other couples from the village. All were asked to join the MacCoinnich’s in celebration.

Knights surrounded the table, their pages and squires sat at another.

Some of the men were none too happy about sharing their meal with commoners from the village, but none voiced this opinion to Ian or Lora. They wouldn’t dare. Laird Ian ran his home as he saw fit and defied any to question him. He raised his sons to do the same. When Duncan’s time came to rule, Tara knew the villagers and all their children would pledge their loyalty to him.

She listened to the daunting conversation between Myra and Matthew of Lancaster. He was attempting to impress Myra with his knowledge of the migrating birds near his home. He ignored the quips from some of the men and took advantage of the fact his father was seated several feet away and 195

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wasn’t able to silence him.

Myra had been right about him, Tara mused. He was not at all her type. In fact, he was a chore to listen to and if the subject moved away from birds, he had nothing to say. Those around him, moved the discussion away from birds as often as possible. He was enthusiastic about his subject, and determined to return to it.

I’m going crazy down here.
Tara sent a silent plea to Duncan.

Duncan glanced her way, looked around her, and smiled.
Ahh...Lancaster. Boring you to tears is
he?
It’s Myra I worry about. If she could, she would
spike his drink with arsenic just to shut him up.