Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) (3 page)

“
I am called Abby, by my Da,” she stated calmly, giving The MacDuff a firm, very adult, handshake. Letting go, she added, “my mother calls me Abby-honey when she is pleased wi’ me, otherwise I am just plain Ailill. I would tell you all o' my names but I am hungry and it would take all night. There should be a law for how many names a new baby is given.” She scowled fiercely for a brief instant before breaking into a sunny smile. Eyes gleaming mischievously, she added, “besides that, I am not supposed to talk wi’ strangers and that is what you are, even though you look a lot like my Da, but nevermind that. I knew you were comin’, for I saw you as I trekked through the Land o' Nod last night, so I came to meet you. Would you care to come for supper at Hidden Jewel so that we aren't strangers too much longer?”

When the tiny girl’s stomach gave a loud rumble, Fergus MacDuff huffed jovially, delighted by her frankness, enchanted with the sight of her; not the least bit surprised by anything she had said. Straightforwardness of character was one of her birthrights, after all.

“
Aye, bonnie wee lassie,” he answered in a deep, soft burr. “It has been long since I bided up at the ranch and I believe a bite to eat would certainly hit the spot after traversing all the way through
Cachaileith na Sith
to meet ye.”

Grinning sweetly, the little girl turned on her heel, setting off at a goodly pace, her tiny legs moving like the wings of a hummingbird beside the long legs of the boy and the massive, muscular shanks of the man.

Young Tiernan MacDuff's interest was directed solely on the little girl, Abby, as he followed close on her heel, surprised to find that the American-raised lass spoke exactly like his own people. She was the bonniest girl he had ever seen. She had taken his breath away,
and she hardly more than a bairn
, he thought disdainfully, taken aback by his own reaction. He wished she were older, at least a couple years, his own grand age of six. What would it look like to the older lads back home when they all saw him training with her,
and she barely reaching my oxter with the top o’ that fiery red head
, he noted with a grimace; his fingers twitched softly against the roughness of his kilt, each digit suddenly itching to touch the glossy ringlets, to see if they might spring back up with even the slightest tug.

As they reached a sizable apple orchard just past the edge of the wood, one gnarled old tree fair to bursting with fragrant pink and white blossoms overhead, Abby slowed at last, turning to look up at the boy once more with wide, gleaming eyes. “I've dreamt of you,” she breathed softly. “You are one o' the tierce, aye? Once I have found the others, the lost princes I see in the dreamworld, I am to join with you." She glanced down, her intelligent gaze taking in the already impressive breadth of the kilt-clad boy, taking in the differences of her own undeveloped self; she flashed a rueful grin. "Course, that willna be until I have fully grown.” A smile lit her baby face from within; she giggled merrily at the widened black eyes and reached out, taking his smooth hand in her own, her warm flesh still rounded with baby fat. “I am glad to see you are as beautiful in real life as you were in my dream, Tiernan MacDuff
Mac Morna
.”

Her name resounded across the meadow; the woman’s voice calling out
in a decisively impatient tone drew her away at a dead run, toward the massive, three tiered log house in the distance; she pulled the boy along with her as if he belonged there, by her side, leaving a stunned Fergus MacDuff to stare after her in wonderment, boggled, at last, by something the wee Princess Ailill had said.

“
They are arguing wi’ one another still. It seems your mother doesna wish ye to go away...” Leaning closer, Tiernan gazed into the girl’s troubled face, his eyes glowing softly, sympathetic in the half light that seeped through the cracked open doorway; they had come to spy on the adults at her own urging; he'd agreed because he felt sorry for her. “She says why canna ye train here, in the land you’ve been raised, though she kens that it is forbidden and aye,
verra
dangerous. She says ye are but a bairn yet, and a bairn should be wi’ her mother.”

Ailill’s eyes blazed at that, angry that she was still treated as such though she had celebrated her fourth year more than two months before. “I am
not
a
bairn
!” Her tiny leather-clad foot stomped soundlessly on the plush carpeting of the guest bedroom floor and the boy stifled a grin at the proof of her age in the small motion. Turning away so that she would not see the smile in his dark eyes, Tiernan poked his head back out of the door, listening to the ensuing verbal battle. After a moment he felt Ailill move closer, insinuating her small self against his kilted front, her head well below his clefted chin, the long mass of silken auburn hair draped across the bare skin of his arm. She smelled sweet, like honey, and spicy, like some exotic flower; when he'd asked about that odd combination, MacDuff had said that Ailill carried a pheromone, a natural signature of scent, just like a queen bee. He inhaled deeply,  delicately etched nostrils flaring with the various scents of her. On her breath he scented the fresh, creamy milk she had been drinking before they were sent upstairs and when she leaned back into him trustingly, he sighed softly, wrapped his arms about her narrow waist.

He felt as if he were holding her up while they unashamedly eavesdropped on the adults’ conversation, as if she truly needed him; he guessed that, in a way, she did, considering that the entire stramash downstairs, the arguments of the past weeks,
everything
was about her; a bitty wee lass with the potential to become the most powerful leader of all the Tribes. It was an unexpectedly comforting feeling, her need, which dredged up thoughts of his mother, lost to him for all his years; sometimes he could remember the woman, his Mam, though how he could pull up images of a woman who'd died when he was barely a half-hour old, Tiernan did not fully understand. All he did know was that her death had been the very beginning of terrible losses for his own Da, and that he had two brothers somewhere in this world who had been born along with him. MacDuff told him once that, as long as Tiernan was alive, he kent with certainty that the others were as well; the man had also said that  Ailill was the key to finding his stolen sons, whatever that meant. Holding tighter to the tiny child in his arms, Tiernan hoped that what she had dreamed would come to pass; that she would find the others, his brothers, and that the changes which would mark them both as fully grown in the eyes of the Elders might lead to their union in about ten years time. For now, comforting her would be enough.

The voices below grew more vituperative. As the volume increased every word that was said was clearly audible, rather than scattered bits of broken sentences. Finally, Ailill’s father’s voice rang out clearly, his tone full of regret, yet ringing with finality.

“
Abby will go with you, Duff, as was planned the last time you came, although I, myself, wish it didn’t have to be like this. We lost her once. I trust that it won’t happen again, under your watchful eye. You’re free to take my daughter to Heartfire.”

“
Aye,
Shaemus
, and I thank ye for the trust which ye have shown me. Ye have my word, and the wee lass has my fealty, as ever before. She willna lack for anything, and she will ken all that she should when next ye see her. Ailill will always be safe within the walls of Heartfire keep and in her own lands," Fergus MacDuff vowed, his tone formal.

Ailill’s mother made a soft sound of derision, not yet ready to hand her young daughter over to the man whom she had known and trusted for decades; for far longer. “It will not be easy for her. I remember well the physical and mental strain, the constant struggle to conform to what was expected of me, and my daughter has already proven far stronger of will than I. She is a free spirit with a pure selfless heart. You will not be able to stop her heart, Duffy,” she intoned quietly. “My daughter knows exactly with whom she is meant to be. Strange as it sounds, I believe she was born knowing far more than she lets on. I've had that impression too often to discount it, regardless of her years.”

“
Aye, Annie, I ken it. She said as much when she met us in the wood. The bitty wee thing told Tiernan that she had dreamt of him; that she knew they were meant to be joined. It fair stunned me to silence when she said it.” MacDuff’s deep voice still held a touch of awe weeks later. He had many expectations regarding wee Ailill, but that had not been one of them;
Imbas Forasni
did not normally show so strong in one so very young. A supernaturally strong birthright, indeed. “She has proven to be full o' surprises, and I believe that with the proper training and a bit o' discipline our lass will prove any doubts wrong.”

“
Yeah, well. Did she tell you that she dreams of the...uh, others, too? She still doesn’t know where they are and I’m sorry about that, for your sake. We've carefully questioned her, each time, but...” James’ tone was uneasy, his voice low; knowing what his daughter must endure, what had already been decided for her, filled him with fury whenever he gave it more than a passing thought, in spite of how much he liked the Scotsman. “Abby tries to hide it, but that doesn’t change the fact that deep down she
knows
what’ll come. And, it doesn’t change the fact that there ain’t nothin’ right or fair in the entire ordeal, not for her. Her life has been normal so far, we’ve made sure of it, and now it won’t be. In ten years time... well. My daughter should be given the right to choose where her heart sets, is all. Not forced into more than she wants or needs."

“
She will have the right, Jamie,” Annie put in gently, a frown marring her smooth brow.

“
Not like you had the right to, when you chose me.”

“
No, but I willingly gave up everything I had been working toward when I gave my heart to you; when you
won
the right to have me. I did not know, at the time, that Kiah would find some way to exact vengeance upon me, upon
all
of us, when I spurned him. I truly had no idea he would take things so far. This was the only way I could save Ailill, and well you know it. I
won’t
lose my daughter again, and neither will her people.” Sighing her displeasure, Annie added, “you may take her, Duffy, if only because she will be safe from harm, but I would advise you to tread with caution, even at Heartfire. She has already captured one lad’s heart, I can sense it even as we speak. Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t lose all of my abilities when I chose to follow my heart instead of my mother’s whims.”

“
I will raise the two as siblings until they are old enough to understand, Annie, ye have my word.”

“
You know as well as I do that Ailill could choose anyone, even a brother if she had one, and still carry the purest blood of us all. Keep her safe, MacDuff, that is all I ask.”

“
With my life, Annie darlin’. I will let the laddie know the why o’ it all when he is a bit older, even if he is far taken with her by then. ‘Tis a waiting game, is all. Same as it was for you. We shall wait for her to find the lost princes, if she is able, and then we will tell them all. The lad will win her eventually, I have no doubt, even if it means he has to share... the wee Herself has already proven an ability to draw much love; even from me.” MacDuff’s deep laughter rolled up the stairway like a warm wave, sweet and light as his sense of accomplishment.

Tiernan felt the tiny girl in his arms relax, the tension flowing out of her soft body as smoothly as if it were water. When she turned to look up at him, her eyes sparkled, iridescent in the dim; the points at the back of ears like miniature clamshells were even more pronounced than they had been. When she smiled at him, her tiny baby teeth as shiny as new pearls, his young heart thumped in answer and melted into a gooey puddle at his feet. He smiled back and took her hand.

        “
Dinna fash, my wee Princess,” Tiernan whispered calmly. “I willna let any harm come to ye.
We
will be married after all. I will find a way.”