The Magic of Highland Dragons (19 page)

“Aye, lass?”

“Bren, where did he go? Will he be all right?”

Eian laughed softly. “Bren? Oh aye, he’ll be fine. He’s only gone to ride the Mac Coinnach borders and put things to right. Something happened to let Mored come so close without a sign to us, and Bren will find out what and fix it. Mored himself is likely long gone by now, and Bren willna meet up with him tonight.”

The first thing Faith did after Eian left the room was go to the window. Moonlight bathed the valley stretching out before her, and a soft breeze touched her face, bringing the tang of salt water mixed with the earthy scent of the forest. She stood there for some time, watching for any sign of movement, any sign that Bren was returning.
Bren
. Her thoughts flew back now to what she hadn’t let herself think about all evening. What she hadn’t had time to think of, with everything that happened after. What had happened between them. He had seen the ring, recognized it. It had meant something to him, she knew. Something important, significant. And then… then she had wanted him so badly her breath hitched even now, remembering. She had been as wild as the night, desperate, needing… and it hadn’t felt wrong to her at all. It had felt very
right
.

She moved away from the window at last, stripping off her dress and stockings, lying down on her pile of quilts by the small fire in just her shift. Would Bren come to her this night, when he returned from wherever he had gone? Her body grew restless, her breasts felt tight. Would he walk into the room at any minute and take her back to his bed, ready to finish what they had started? Her heart beat faster. Then she thought about something else she hadn’t yet had time to consider. He had power… magic… something she didn’t understand, could scarce believe. The thought excited her. She shivered all the way down to her toes.

She had forgotten for a short time. When he found the ring, when he kissed her, she had been overwhelmed, then completely without thought. But he had been there, in front of her, in her path when she had been running… away from him. He must have used his magic to do that. She clutched her hands to her chest, a slight prickle of uneasiness racing down the back of her neck. What other things could he do?
He is a very dangerous man
… the warning echoed in her mind. She lifted the ring from between her breasts and the red gem glinted with reflected moonlight. “But apparently he’s
my
man, so I’ll have to accept him as he is. Whatever he is.” She couldn’t wait to learn all of his secrets, because she felt sure that in time, she would know all of him.

Faith woke to full daylight, the sound of songbirds reaching her from the gardens below the window.
I fell asleep
.
I can’t believe I fell asleep!
Her gaze skimmed the room. The other women were already gone. He hadn’t come to her. Disappointment washed over her at once, but was quickly replaced by excitement and the anticipation of seeing him again. And, she had to admit, just the smallest amount of relief. Bren Mac Coinnach was overwhelming, both in his sheer size, and the intensity of his passion and emotions. When she was near him, the entire world seemed to compress down until he was all that was in it. She had been so afraid of losing herself to him and all that he was, but maybe she had been thinking about it all wrong. Maybe together, they could be even more, two halves of a greater whole. He would change her, of course, how could he not? But she would change him, too. She had never had such strong feelings for another person, and he had already irrevocably awakened a passion that she never even guessed was inside of her. But she would be all right. And if in the end he broke her heart, she would see to it that he would break his own as well.

She sat up, stretched, crossed the room to wash and get dressed. Last night seemed far away and dreamlike, misty, crazy. Had it even really happened? She picked up the brush on the little table and began to run it through her hair.
Magic
, or as Eian had explained, a kind of control of the laws of physics, inherited, passed down through the generations of the Mac Coinnach Clan. Not so different than other controls humans exerted over the world around them. An incredulous half-laugh escaped her throat. A few short weeks ago, she never would have believed it. Oh, she would have
wanted
to believe it, but she wouldn’t have really been able to. Now… now her life had changed more than she could ever have imagined. She paused… brush held in mid stroke. Would she want to go back, if she even could? Back to America, back to the twenty-first century, back to her tiny apartment and her less-than-exciting job? The answer came to her in a flash, surprising her just a little, but removing any and all doubts she still harbored.

“No. I am
here
now.”

***

Faith looked up from where she was sitting in the garden talking with some of the other woman after breakfast, startled and surprised to see Dirc gesturing to her from the edge of the wood. Now where had he come from? She hadn’t seen him in… well, nearly a week anyway. Not since he had left her at the castle, in fact. And so much had happened in that short time. There was so much to tell him, and so many questions to ask. She got up, excusing herself, and went to see what he wanted. He immediately pulled her away into the trees, his face lit with excitement. He hadn’t shaved since he had been away, and a short beard covered his face, dark brown, liberally laced with white.

He took her hand, squeezing it as he spoke. “Faith, I’ve been to see yer father, and he is most eager to bring ye home. In fact, he’s coming for ye himself!”
And if that doesna force the laird’s hand, nothing will.

Faith stared at him blankly. She didn’t consider even for an instant that Dirc was correct in thinking he had seen her father. He had to be wrong; after all, her father would not be born for hundreds of years yet. She shook her head.

“No, whoever you’re talking about can’t be my father. I never knew my father, but he was a man in my time... hundreds of years from now.” She paused, her pulse jumping as she had a sudden thought. “Unless… you didn’t bring him back here, did you?”

Dirc was watching her with a fathomless expression. “Gods, ye dinna ken, do ye? She never told ye.”

Faith felt icy fingers race down her spine. “Don’t know what?” she asked uncertainly, not sure she really wanted to know, after all.

“I suppose, then, the task falls to me.”
As
it usually does
. Dirc let out a gusty sigh as if this was the last thing in the world he wanted to do right now. “Sit. Listen. It’s time now for ye to ken.”

She carefully lowered herself onto a fallen log, and he sat on a large rock opposite her. He leaned forward and grasped both of her hands in his. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her lip began to tremble, knowing somehow that what he was about to tell her would change her forever. It did.

Chapter 10
҈

“Yer mother”, Dirc began. “She came from a village not fifty miles from here. She was the daughter of a laird, born… it must be nearly forty five years ago now.”

Whatever Faith had been expecting him to say, it was not that. She pulled back a little in shock at his words. “No… no my mother was born in Colorado, in America… in the nineteen-sixties. You know that, you brought me here, and you asked me what century I had come from. I said the 21
^st
, remember?”

Dirc shook his head slightly, carefully holding her gaze with eyes deeper and older than his face. “Faith, I am telling ye that yer mother was born here, in this time. She never belonged in the time ye lived in. Think. Feel. Ken for yerself that what I speak is the truth.”

Her eyes fell to the ground. She nodded slowly. No relatives. No old photos. No roots. Since she had grown up that way, she had never really questioned things. That was just how things were for her. Other kids had fathers and grandparents. She didn’t. But in a crazy way, what Dirc was telling her did make sense. Against all odds and all logic, her whole conception of reality, she knew in her heart it was true. Her mother hadn’t belonged in the 21
^st
century… and neither had she.

“Why?” she asked in a strangled whisper. “I don’t understand… why?”

“For ye… to protect ye Faith. Even I didna ken where they sent ye and yer mother, only that it was necessary to keep ye safe.”

“I… I was born here too?” She felt herself growing dizzy, a little unfocused.

“Aye. Ye were just a babe when ye left, ye wouldna remember being here in this time. Feelings, perhaps, but no’ real memories.”

Faith felt her back slump as she gave in to the emotions slowly filling her, and she buried her face in her hands. Maybe that was why she felt so at home here, so content when she should have been so desperately frightened.

Dirc reached out to gently touch her hair. “Ah lass, I ken it’s hard. But ye belong here. Ye always have. Ye’re home now, dinna ye see?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me”, she mumbled into her hands. “My whole life… my whole damned life has been one big lie! I can’t believe it… I just can’t believe it.” She sat there for some time, in a kind of numb state of shock and disbelief. When at last she looked up, she had to blink away a few large tears, though she refused to break down completely.

“But then why was I sent away? And why was I brought back now?”

“There was simply nay one strong enough to protect ye, after ye were born. It was a verra dark time, the future uncertain. As the only child of Loghan McAlpin, you were- are-, heiress to the castle, the lands, everything. The castle sits atop one of the greatest centers of power. Mored would stop at nothing to have it. As long as ye live, it is protected.”

Faith looked at him, horrified understanding dawning in her eyes. “But Mored is still alive.”

“Aye, he is.”

“And presumably he still wants to kill me?”

Dirc looked away. “Aye.”

“So you brought me back here
knowing
that someone is trying to murder me?” Her voice felt squeezed tight in her throat. She gasped in a breath.

“Aye lass, all that is true, and more, but there was nay other way. When Bren came into his power, Mored had finally met his match. Since then, things have been… better. But there is still the matter of…er…the next generation. Which there must be, or the battle will start over from the beginning again. ”

Her eyes flew open wide, and she held up her hand. “Enough, for now. I don’t even want to think about what you are implying by that. My… father, when will he be here?”

Dirc looked up at the position of the sun, past the zenith and making its way across the western sky. “Why any time now, I should think”. He looked her over. “Ye should probably go and prepare yerself. Pack yer things. He’ll want to leave straight away, I’m sure.”

She stood and took a step, her thoughts overwhelmed by the mere fact that she had a father and that she would be meeting him soon. But then she paused. “Does Bren know? About my father?” She had been so shocked when Dirc told her that her father was coming for her, she hadn’t considered until this moment that it would mean leaving Creagmor… and Bren. She didn’t want to leave Bren… not anymore. All right, to be honest, not from the first moment she had laid eyes on him.

A mischievous smile lit Dirc’s face as he turned to look at her. “Nay, he doesna ken. He is on his way home even now, and I will tell him when he arrives. Dinna worry lass, he willna let ye go for long. He canna.”

***

Faith went to her chamber. Luckily none of the other women were there at the moment, because she didn’t feel like company. How many life-altering revelations could one take in, exactly, before losing their mind? She was afraid she might just find out. The oddest thing was, she wasn’t as upset as she should have been. It was more like… as if she had known all along, and was only now remembering… or realizing the truth. She went to the window and took in a deep breath of fresh air. “I have a father.” She said it out loud, but that didn’t make it any more real to her. It would take time, she supposed.

Her eyes flew to a movement in the distance. Riders. They came closer until finally she could see who they were. Bren had returned. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was safe, not even knowing how much she had worried for him until a hard knot in her chest was suddenly gone. She watched as he rode into the bailey, pulling up and swinging off his horse in one smooth and graceful motion. Dirc was there, waiting for him. She pursed her lips, well aware of the confrontation that was about to take place. Bren strode up to him, hands fisted at his sides, obviously prepared to reprimand him for his little disappearing act. Dirc was speaking to him, holding up his hands as if to calm him, or hold him at bay. Bren had stopped, was listening. His posture stiffened, and though she could not see from here, she imagined his nostrils were flaring, as they did when he was very angry. He turned suddenly, and violently drove his fist into the stable wall.

Faith winced and clenched her teeth. That had to have hurt. Bren disappeared into the keep below her window, and her gaze returned to the bucolic scene outside, with the hills and meadows bright green with spring grass. In truth she wasn’t very happy to be leaving Creagmor, and Bren, even for a short time. She did love it here, with the shining blue water and the mountains in the distance rising up as if to enfold and protect them all. It was peaceful, and Bren… he made it exciting. No, there was no question in her mind, she would come back here, back to Bren, after she spent some time getting to know her father. She was tied to the Laird of Creagmor, Chief of the Mac Coinnach clan in a way that went beyond all rational thought. And now that she had given in to what her heart had been trying to tell her, what even the damned
ring
had been trying to tell her, she couldn’t wait to give him everything. Her father would just have to understand.