Mary Reed McCall (28 page)

“I don’t think you’ll want to be doing that, Duncan. Not unless you’re craving the sight of your beloved lying broken on the rocks below us.” Morgana gave her another shake, and this time Aileana couldn’t prevent the moan of terror that escaped her. She saw Duncan start forward, and in a panic she twisted her head to look at him, silently pleading that he stay back.

Their gazes locked, and in that instant, Aileana felt calm descend on her. It was as if Duncan spoke, but not aloud. His message sang to her heart alone. It seemed to say that all would be well, that together they would conquer this evil. He lowered his hands slowly to his sides. His gaze reassured her, and love shone through the silvery depths of his eyes.

Aileana barely breathed as she watched Duncan slowly lift his right hand to eye level again, the
Ealach
dangling from his fist. Strands of hair blew into her eyes with the wind, but she dared not try to push them away. Duncan’s gaze swung to Morgana, intensity and leashed power sculpted in every inch of his taut frame.

“Here.” He spoke in a calm, deadly serious voice. “I’ll give you the
Ealach
. Only you must release Aileana to take it.”

Morgana stilled behind her, and the pressure of the blade at her throat lessened. Duncan took one step closer, then another, all the while holding out the amulet as an offering, a treasure to be exchanged for the prize he sought himself.

Morgana’s left arm fell from Aileana’s waist so that she could reach for the powerful talisman. She nudged Aileana from behind, pushing to get closer to what she wanted. Closer…

At the moment that Morgana’s fingers touched the
Ealach
, Duncan lunged to the side, swinging his arm and
uttering a growling curse. He flung the amulet, and it spun through the air, up until it formed a silhouette against the crimson sky.

With a bloodcurdling howl, Morgana lunged. Aileana used that instant of distraction to push away, and Duncan caught her against his chest as Morgana fell from the bluff in a vain effort to recover the vanishing talisman.

Burying her face in Duncan’s chest, Aileana tried to block her ears to the sound of her sister’s fading scream. It ended abruptly, and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling Duncan’s warmth and the steady pounding of his heart against her cheek as she tried to slow her breathing. They were both filthy, covered with blood, dirt and sweat, but she’d never felt so relieved, so safe in her life. He pressed gentle kisses to her head, and she clung to him, wanting to anchor herself to his strength as the tears finally came. They spilled down her cheeks, wetting his skin.

Tipping her face to his, Duncan brushed his thumb over the liquid tracks. “It’s finished. You’ve nothing more to fear, I swear by my life.”

“But the
Ealach
—you’ve lost it forever now—”

“Far better that I lose it than you, Aileana. Nothing is more important to me than you. Nothing.”

She looked at him in silence for a moment, overwhelmed by the feelings coursing through her. Love swelled, warm and life-giving, driving out the cold that had been gripping her so tightly these past hours. She nodded, blinking back her tears and reaching up to cup Duncan’s cheek in a tender caress before stepping back. Still holding his hand for support, she peered over the ledge, needing to be certain that it was really over. A bitter ache unfurled in her belly as she stared down at Morgana’s broken body on the rocks below. So pointless.
Perhaps it had been inevitable, after all that had happened, but she couldn’t help remembering earlier times. Times when she was still a child, and knowing Morgana had been good and happy. Her beautiful sister, so full of adventure. She’d adored her, then. Wanted to be like her.

Aileana stepped back into Duncan’s embrace. “God, I just want to forget that all of this happened. I want to go home and never look back.”

Duncan’s eyes clouded. “Home…?”

A shout came from the castle ruin, making them turn to look. Kinnon and several MacRae clansmen charged into the open area, claymores drawn. Duncan stepped away from Aileana for a moment to intercept his cousin.

“What happened? Where’s Morgana?” Kinnon’s breath came hard, and when his gaze flicked to Duncan’s wounded shoulder, to the bruises on Aileana’s face, he clenched his fists. “We charged the fortress not long ago and took a handful of men and two women as prisoners.”

Nodding toward the cliff, Duncan said, “She’s dead. She leapt from the bluff trying to get the
Ealach
.”

“Christ.” Kinnon cursed under his breath. “It is a brutal death, though in her case, I suppose it was just.” He glanced to Aileana, and guilt colored his cheeks. “I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect to you.”

“You don’t need to explain. Morgana’s evil earned its own end.”

Kinnon nodded, his eyes filled with gratitude. After Duncan dispatched a group of men to retrieve and bury Morgana’s body and search for the
Ealach
, they spoke briefly again, deciding that they should seek shelter in the castle. The dark fell fast around them. Only a rim of sun remained on the horizon, painting the sky crimson and purple. As they walked to the ruin, Duncan told
Kinnon where to find Colin, and several of the men went ahead to gather up his body, or if by some miracle he still lived, to secure him for travel back to Eilean Donan and the judgment he would eventually face before the High Council.

When they reached the castle, Duncan left to make some arrangements, and Aileana settled into one of the empty, inner chambers to await final preparations for the journey ahead. Men bustled about, gathering those valuables that they could carry for the clan’s use back home. Aileana watched it all in a kind of daze, empty, detached, and lonely for Duncan’s touch. She looked up when he came in a few minutes later. His shackles were gone and his shoulder was bandaged, but her welcoming smile faded at his serious expression.

He paced to the window, turning to face her, finally. He stepped close. So close that she could see the torchlight glint off the golden strands in his hair. Close enough to feel his warmth. More than anything, she wanted to reach up and stroke his brow, to kiss away the hurt and worry in his eyes. But she held back.

“Did they find the
Ealach
?” she asked softly at last, gazing up at him.

“Nay. They found nothing but Morgana’s body. The waves must have carried the amulet away.”

Silent, she nodded, uncertainty filling her at the troubled look in Duncan’s eyes. He had something on his mind, and it wasn’t good, that much she could tell. Perhaps now that the
Ealach
was gone he’d decided that he didn’t need her in the way he’d thought he did. That he didn’t feel—

“I need to ask you something, Aileana,” Duncan murmured, breaking into her thoughts. “I was going to ask you when Kinnon and the others came.” He looked
away, and Aileana stepped forward, unable to stop herself any longer from being near to him. She took his hands in her own.

“What is it? Tell me, Duncan. Please.”

“Ah, Aileana…” He breathed her name like a prayer, and she felt her heart lurch with hope. He gazed at her again, his eyes bright with unspoken emotion. “I need to know what you meant when you said you wanted to go home. Whether you mean to come home with me to Eilean Donan, or go back to Dulhmeny with your brother Robert.”

Aileana almost laughed with relief. “Is that all?
That’s
what made you look like the sky was about to fall on you?”

With a scowl Duncan mumbled, “I didn’t think it was so small a matter.”

Aileana reached up, caressing his stubble-roughened jaw, the scar that threaded along his cheek. She pressed herself firmly against him, so that he couldn’t help but feel her warmth, her need to be close to him. He felt so strong. So right. They fit together, soul to soul, and she knew that she’d never allow anything to come between them again. She smiled, her brow arching slightly as an idea came to her for helping him to understand that truth.

“Ah, Duncan MacRae. When will you learn to trust what stands right in front of you?” She leaned in, breathing soft onto the exposed skin of his chest. “It’s as clear as glass, if you ask me.” She punctuated her words with gentle kisses to the hollow above his collarbone, along a heated trail that finished just below his ear. A throaty chuckle bubbled up in her as she slid her fingers up his chest to tangle in the golden-kissed waves of hair at the back of his neck.

Duncan stilled under her tender ministrations. His arms tightened, holding her, rigid and uncertain. “You wish to make your home with my clan, then?”

“Nay, not exactly.”

Pulling back, Aileana pressed her fingertips to his mouth to quell the confused protest that rose to his lips. “What I’m saying is that I want to be with
you
, Duncan, wherever that might be. Whether it is at Eilean Donan, or the other side of the world, it will be home to me, as long as I’m with you.”

Love shone from his gaze, so profound that he seemed transformed by it. His gray eyes took on the quicksilver light she’d come to recognize so well. Right now, he appeared to waver between tenderness and playful exasperation.

One corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. “You had me worried for a moment, love. I keep forgetting that my wee mousie has teeth with which to bite me if she chooses.”

She gazed at him, eyes wide-opened and innocent. “Ach, it was just a nibble.”

With a growl, Duncan bent his head, taking her mouth in a kiss of love and passion. She responded in kind, reveling in the powerful give and take of pleasure as he slid his hands down her back to cup her more fully against him.

She was breathless when he released her mouth, still hungry for the taste of him, the feel of him beneath her hands and along the burning length of her body. Duncan held her close, and she settled into his embrace, lulled by the steady beat of his heart. When he spoke, his voice caressed her, soft and tender.

“It was true, you know. What you said before.”

“What?” Aileana lifted her head from his chest.

He gazed down at her, and again she felt bathed in the warmth of his love. He looked into the very recesses of her soul, and it was as if she could feel him melding to her, becoming one in a way that could never be broken by time, age, or any power on earth. He traced his finger over her lips, brushing his mouth along the same path before he spoke again. “You were right when you said that I looked as if the sky was about to fall in on me. It was. Because if I lost you, I’d lose everything.” Duncan’s gaze caressed her, pulling her deeper into the mystery of his heart. “I love you, Aileana. You are my heart, my soul, my eternity. You and no other.”

A swell of love rose up in her, bringing tightness to her throat and burning behind her eyes. “With all that I am, I love you as well, Duncan,” she murmured through tears of happiness. “You and no other, until the end of time.”

He touched his forehead to hers. “Always, Aileana,” he whispered.

“Aye, my love.” She gazed into his beautiful gray eyes and pressed her lips to his. “Always.”

Nine years later

Loch Duich, near Eilean Donan Castle

M
ama was going to be so surprised.

Rowena smiled as she clutched the crumpled spray of flowers tightly in her small fist, watching where she put her feet as she clambered up the slope heading back toward home. Bridgid shook her head and called from the top of the bank for her to come along, but Rowena needed no further encouragement. She was too excited; aye, she might be three years younger than snooty Fia, but it didn’t mean she hadn’t done a fine job in seeking out a present for Mama anyway. In fact, she’d found
two
presents to celebrate their new baby sister’s birth.

Scrambling the last few paces up the slope leading to Eilean Donan’s causeway, Rowena slid to a halt. She panted with her exertions, disappointment spilling
through her at the sight that greeted her. Fia was dancing around Da and Bridgid, her arms filled to bursting with flowers from the wood beyond the glen. Because she was eight, Fia could go to the edge of the wood now by herself, while Rowena was only allowed to walk the rocky edge of Loch Duich within sight of Bridgid or whoever else had been placed in charge of her at the time. They treated her like a baby.

Her eyes stung as she looked at the wilted stalks in her hand before catching a last glimpse of Fia skipping up the causeway with her bountiful present for Mama clutched to her chest; Bridgid followed close behind. Walking slowly forward, Rowena met Da, feeling a little less sour when she saw his smile and the twinkle in his eye. She couldn’t help smiling back, certain in her heart of hearts that he was the most handsome, wonderful Da in the whole wide world. He impressed other people, she knew, by the very fact that he was Duncan MacRae, laird of the mighty clan MacRae. But to her he was finer than the sun and the moon together, and he always made everything better when she was feeling worst.

“And how’s my wee sprite, this morn—did you find some pretty flowers for Mama, then?” he asked with a grin, reaching down to swing her onto his shoulders.

Rowena giggled, wobbling precariously as she clung to his head, which made her drop her handful of wilted blooms.

Da laughed and righted her, preparing to lower her again to retrieve them, but she patted him to stop him, calling, “Nay, Da, go on. I’ve another present in my pocket for Mama. I found it next to the loch. Now gallop me to the castle yard, please? I want to give it to her right now. Oh, let’s gallop!”

He twisted his neck to look up at her, making such a
funny face that Rowena giggled again. “You found a pretty pebble for Mama, did you, lass?”

“Aye, it is very pretty,” she murmured, nodding and patting the necklace in her pocket. She felt excited again, thinking of the cool, milky stone with those sparks of color shining from it. That it was circled in gold only added to its magical beauty, she thought. It was going to be great fun to give Mama such a fine gift. “It’s not as pretty as Mama, though,” she said, finishing her thoughts aloud.

“Right you are in that, lassie.” Da chuckled and faced forward again as he prepared to gallop her to the yard. “There’s nothing in this world as beautiful as your mother—except you and your sisters, perhaps.” He gave her a little jounce and set her to laughing again. “Are you ready for your ride now, milady?”

“Aye, Da—giddy up!” And as he galloped forward Rowena squealed with delight, one arm wrapped around his head and the other hand pressed tight to her pocket…keeping safe the precious, opalescent gem resting inside.