Highland Dragon

by Genevieve Jack

  The cool morning air gave her a chill, and she dressed quickly, brushing her waves into a bun high on her head. She would never again take central heating for granted. She wrapped her arisaid around her before leaving the room. A wave of guilt hit her when she saw Xavier’s plaid and a pillow in front of the fire. Even the brownie’s simple bed was better appointed. She decided at once that she’d offer to switch places with him that night. Every other night in the bed was more than fair.

  “Good, ye’re up. Have a wee bit of breakfast and we’ll be on our way. The brownie found ye some of that coffee ye mentioned before, although I tried a bit and I don’t understand all the fuss.”

  “You got me coffee?” Avery ran to the brownie and kissed him roughly on the head.

  He gave a little squeak and disappeared. Xavier cocked an eyebrow as she poured herself a mug of the hot brown beverage and added some of the fresh cream Xavier hadn’t fed the brownie, along with a spoonful of honey since sugar wasn’t on the breakfast table. She closed her eyes and took a fortifying gulp.

  “I ne’er thought I’d be jealous of a mug,” he said, giving her a wink. “You look like ye’ve found ecstasy.”

  Her cheeks warmed. “Would you like to try it? I think it’s better like this, with milk and something sweet.”

  He approached and took the mug from her, then proceeded to take a sip from the precise spot where her lips had been. For the entire time he drank, he never took his eyes off her. It was absolutely the hottest thing she’d ever experienced, and she squirmed in her chair. She cleared the thickness that had formed in her throat.

  “Do you like it?” she squeaked.

  He made a deep masculine sound. “Vera much. Yer right, it is sweeter that way.” He handed her back the mug, his crooked grin doing delicious things to her insides. She released a breath when he looked away and said, “Enjoy it. I’m not sure where our friend obtained it exactly, but it isna a popular beverage here.”

  She looked at him quizzically. “How is it here at all? It can’t have been a popular beverage here when the ward went up, and anyway, it tastes fresh.”

  “It is fresh. Before Lachlan, I used to send a brave man or two outside the builgean every few years ta bring back news of the world and a few things we didna produce. When coffee became popular on the outside, we established a few of the plants on the hills behind the castle, right beside the valley of tea.”

  Avery laughed awkwardly. “Coffee and tea can’t grow here. It’s too cold.”

  He gave her a heart-melting, crooked grin and popped a corner of toast in his mouth. “It only takes a bit of magic. ’Tis another reason Lachlan canna kill me. Even if he could somehow replace ma magic in the wards and keep them up, ’tis my power in the ground and in the water that keeps the sheep fat and the cows heavy with milk. The builgean wouldna be sustainable after ma death.”

  Avery remembered Nathaniel’s orange tree. Clarissa had bought him the plant for his birthday many years ago, and the tree still thrived despite its incompatibility with the environment. Dragon magic was a powerful thing.

  “These days, there’s only one man who produces coffee from the beans for the few who drink it.”

  “Mmm. I’ll savor every sip.” She took another gulp, then ate quickly and finished every drop of the coffee before grabbing her bag and joining Xavier outdoors.

  He helped her onto Tàirn, where she pretended not to notice how good it felt to tuck herself into his chest. They set off toward the loch.

  “Avery…” When he said her name, drawing it out and rolling the R, it sent electric butterflies fluttering free inside her. “I’d like to know more about ye. Why is it that Nathaniel sent ye specifically?” His soft voice was filled with sharp curiosity. “Why not a member of the Order of the Dragon?”

  “That’s a good question,” Avery said. “For one, the witches and wizards of the order don’t know everything that happened like I do. Nathaniel has many secrets from them even if they do know he’s a dragon. Besides, although they’re human, they’ve been imbued with this magic. It’s questionable whether they could cross through the gate. Two, the only other human who would be capable of answering all your questions is Nick, and he’s mated to Rowan.”

  “My sister is mated as well?”

  “Yes. And Nathaniel didn’t think she’d do well with the separation.”

  “Aye. A mated dragon has an innate need to keep their mate safe. She wouldna know if he was safe here. It would drive her mad.”

  “Yes. That’s what he said. But in the end, I think his asking me had more to do with the cards.”

  “The cards?”

  “The tarot cards. I was staying with Nathaniel. This is a long story actually.” She combed her fingers through the base of the horse’s mane and wondered how much she should tell him about herself.

  “We have plenty of time.”

  “For you to understand, I have to start at the beginning.”

  When he was silent, she continued. “I was born in Michigan.” She realized he probably wouldn’t know where that was and added, “That’s a state in what is now America.”

  “I know the Americas,” he said. “Although most I know who tried to go there did not come to a pretty end.”

  She narrowed her eyes, trying to remember her history. “It’s better now than when you raised the wards. Established.”

  “Aye.”

  “My sister Raven and I had an ideal childhood there until I turned ten and our grandparents passed away within a month of one another. Grandpa went first. Caught some kind of virus and pneumonia. Once he was gone, Grandma didn’t want to live anymore, and she simply followed him home. My mother said she died in her sleep.”

  “I am sorry.”

  “Oh, uh, the death itself wasn’t hard for me. We weren’t close to my grandparents. They lived in New Orleans, quite a distance from where we lived, and we rarely visited. But the strange thing was that their pub, the Three Sisters, was left to my mother.”

  “Why is that strange?”

  “Because I have an uncle—my mother’s older brother—and he, for all intents and purposes, was closer to my grandparents, but there’s this very strange matriarchal family tradition in my family. All the women keep the family name, and the pub specifically has always been owned only by the daughters Tanglewood.”

  “Tanglewood?”

  “That’s my last name. My, er, surname, Tanglewood. Tanglewood was my mother’s last name, and her mother’s last name, and her mother’s mother’s last name.”

  “Aye. Like for the males here.”

  “Yes. So, when I was ten and Raven was nine, my mother took over the Three Sisters. Our parents moved us to New Orleans in the dead of summer. It was hard on all of us. But for me, the move was devastating. I was already this terribly awkward sixth grader who had to leave all her friends behind. At a time when I was self-conscious about my appearance, the humidity made my hair frizz and all my favorite school clothes were wrong for the weather. I was dreadfully unhappy, but I couldn’t complain about it because my parents were completely overwhelmed with learning the new business.”

  “You didn’t want to be a burden?”

  “Right. I endured. I made new friends. And, of course, I had Raven. She was the only friend I brought with me from my childhood, and we became as close as two sisters could be. And then, in high school, she got cancer.”

  “Whit is cancer?”

  “It’s this disease where these tumors grow inside your body. Sometimes the doctors can stop it and sometimes they can’t. At first Raven went into remission—that’s what they call it when the medicine works. She graduated and attended university on a scholarship.”

  “Were ye also at university, bein’ that ye were the older sibling?”

  “No. I never got to go.” Avery concentrated on keeping her voice from betraying her disappointment. Whenever she spoke about not going to college, her insecurity reared its ugly head, and yet again she wondered if she’d missed
out on an important rite of passage. “The year I graduated from high school, my parents asked me to take a gap year. Raven was sick, and they wanted me close to home. To be honest, I wouldn’t have left anyway. And then when she got better, we knew her remission was probably temporary and my parents needed help at the Three Sisters. I pretended I didn’t want to go to college and stayed at home to help in the pub so that my sister could have the experience while she could.”

  “Ye sacrificed yerself for her happiness.”

  Avery winced but was quick to clarify. “I wouldn’t call it a sacrifice. At the time, I thought I’d have my chance. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or be. But then Raven’s cancer returned. My father couldn’t tolerate the stress that brought on our family, and he divorced my mother. After that happened, any thought of moving on dissolved in the destitution of huge medical bills and my mother’s desperation to keep the pub, which had been in her family since the 1700s, solvent.”

  “Do you resent it, that ye didn’t get the experiences yer sister did?”

  “I didn’t at first. To be honest, I never loved school, and the traditional college experience maybe wasn’t for me. But I do resent that I never even stopped to think about what I wanted. That’s not on anyone else, just me. One year led into the next and I simply kept going, never really thinking about what I was doing at all, only that I was doing it for my family.

  “And then, like a miracle, Raven got better. Gabriel fed her his tooth and healed her.” Avery shook her head, still awed by how everything had happened for her sister. “Afterward, you’d think something would’ve changed, but it didn’t. I was still doing the same things, only now there wasn’t a purpose in it. Gabriel paid off her medical bills. My mother’s business recovered. My father moved on with his life. And I still worked at the Three Sisters. I still hadn’t stopped to think what I wanted to do, so I kept doing what I’d always done.”

  She looked down at her fingers as they threaded into the horse’s mane. “I just woke up one day and realized I wanted to live for me.”

  “Aye.” His chin brushed the side of her head as he nodded. “I remember feeling a similar way in Paragon about our royal duties. I would ne’er be king, yet every wakin’ moment I was forced ta train for the crown. Train in the pits I told ye about. It was tradition there, one of the many royal duties expected of us despite all the honor going ta Marius as the firstborn. I suppose I shouldna have minded. In the end, he lost his head for it.”

  “I heard. But then you ended up here, ruling your clan. I guess it turned out okay for you, aside from being captured and imprisoned by an evil fairy.” She chuckled darkly.

  “That one thing, yes, hasna gone my way.” They both laughed together. “I suppose it’s been lonely a time or two as well. Aside from ma Glenna, I’ve had ta watch friends come and go. Human lives are short.”

  As a human herself, Avery frowned at that. Her life was short. She wished she knew what to do with it.

  “Nathaniel told me you were married once. Do you miss her?”

  For a long time, Xavier didn’t speak. Avery wondered if she’d dredged up bad memories. She considered apologizing and suggesting he didn’t have to give her any details. But he sighed and answered in a soft, even voice.

  “No. I never loved her properly. Truth is, Jane was mentally unfit, which is why her father put her in ma care. I tried, ye ken. I protected her up until the day she… fell from her window. I never loved her though, and our marriage was in name only.”

  “Oh.” Avery silently chastised her heart for giving a little leap. What kind of sicko was happy about a man living out a loveless marriage that ended in his wife’s probable suicide? Her, that’s who. Some part of her wanted Xavier, and the idea he’d loved someone else enough to marry them had been a pinprick deep inside her heart. No matter how much her brain told her it was a nonsense thing to think, she secretly wanted to be Xavier’s first and only love.

  Avery shut her mouth to keep from blurting out her inappropriate feelings. Silence descended as Tàirn’s hooves thunked against the trail.

  Finally Xavier cleared his throat and spoke again. “How did you end up here? You said it was because of Nathaniel’s tarot cards?”

  “Ah, yes.” She swallowed. “Nathaniel read my cards and told me that I was a caterpillar who had already made itself a cocoon and if I returned to New Orleans, I wouldn’t do so as a caterpillar but as a butterfly who had cut off its own wings.”

  “Oh. If that ain’t a punch in the gut.”

  She laughed. “I know, right? At first I was really shaken by it. But then I realized the cards were showing me the truth. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, and everyone around me was pushing me this way and that. Nathaniel wanted me to work in his bookstore. His mate, Clarissa, wanted me to be her personal assistant. My mother offered me a huge promotion to return to the Three Sisters. And the truth was, I didn’t want any of it. But if I chose one of those things, I knew it would keep me from what I was meant to do.”

  “This was an escape for ye?”

  “Yes, in a way.” Avery’s heart beat faster. Was she really doing this? Was she going to tell him the truth? Maybe it was the rhythm of the trail or the warm press of him against her back, but the words flowed out of her like tugged ribbon. “I saw your portrait hanging in Nathaniel’s house, and I… well, I wanted to meet you. I know that sounds insane. There was just something about it. I wanted to be the one to find you, so I volunteered.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  A buzz traveled through Xavier’s blood as if he’d swallowed strong whisky. Had he heard her correctly? She’d volunteered to come for him, curious after seeing his portrait? That would indicate an attraction. Could it be that the lass experienced the same heat in her blood when she looked at him as when he looked at her? His dragon stirred at the thought, and he inhaled deeply of her wisteria-and-linen scent.

  With his nose close to her ear, he asked, “Da ye regret comin’ now that the task before ye is more than ye expected?”

  “No,” she squeaked, turning her head so that her mouth was close to his.

  He was suddenly and completely aware of her presence between his thighs. He shifted in the saddle, uncomfortable as his body responded to her nearness.

  “I don’t regret coming. This is the most alive I’ve felt in some time.”

  “Aye.” He tightened his hold on her waist, and she leaned into him as they rode.

  It was late afternoon by the time they arrived at the MacEacherns’, and he helped her down from Tàirn. He’d changed his appearance as they’d approached the cottage, and now Xavier watched the corner of Avery’s mouth twitch as she took in his balding head, bulbous nose, and soft belly. He’d taken three inches off his height as well, adjusting his clothing with the illusion to appear as a common farmer.

  He helped Avery cover her hair and smudged her cheeks with a bit of dirt but found it hard to believe the disguise would fool anyone. The woman would look like a queen in a grain sack.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

  “Hmm? Nothin’ but that it takes effort to make ye look common.” He smudged more dirt on her other cheek. He caught her trying to hide a smile. “Try not to draw attention to yerself.”

  She nodded, then shifted her gaze toward the water. Avery blinked at the overcast loch edged in fog. “What do you call this place?”

  “This is Loch Seinn. Ned MacEachern is one of the few souls brave enough to live this close to the fairy hills. As I recall, he’s a wee bit odd. Makes his livin’ as a fisherman.”

  “I can handle odd.”

  A wide dirt path led up to the stone house with its thatched roof. Three goats met them at the door, noses sniffing curiously, and then bleated and pranced off to more important adventures. Behind the house, the water lapped against a rocky shore.

  Xavier rapped on the front door and waited.

  A few words of Gaelic filtered through the wood, and then a woma
n with pale skin and large brown eyes opened the door. “Can I help ye?”

  “I hope so,” Xavier said in a voice that was not his own. “My wife and I heard the great-great-great-grandson of Neil MacEachern lived here. We have an important question for him, if he’s willing to speak with us, and some whisky for the both of you as a way of sayin’ thanks.” He extended the brown bottle he’d brought from the brownie’s cottage toward her.

  “Aye, well, ye better be comin’ in then. He’s tending the horse in the stable. Fergus, go and fetch your father.” She slapped the shoulder of a dark-haired boy who was whittling something near the fire, and he dropped what he was doing and ran out the door.

  The air inside the cottage was close and warm, and Xavier folded his hands politely.

  “Would ye like some tea? Have you come a long way?”

  “Aye, vera kind of ye,” Xavier said.

  Moments later, cups in hand and gathered around the table, they were joined by a stoic gray-haired man who greeted them politely but only sat reluctantly at his wife’s pleading.

  “Are you Ned MacEachern?” Xavier asked. They’d agreed in advance that he’d do the talking, considering Avery had lost Nathaniel’s magic and her accent might cause suspicion.

  “Aye. Who’s asking?”

  “I’m Oliver and this is Elsbeth from Clan MacTavish,” he said. “We need yer help.”

  Ned narrowed his eyes. “MacTavish, you say? I thought I knew every MacTavish from our kirk?”

  “We’re not from Cnocmeall but Gleansrath Kirk.”

  “Gleansrath. You have come a long way. Whatever can we do for ye?”

  “My wife, Elsbeth, and I have recently lost a child.”

  “Oh, I am terribly sorry ta hear that. Sometimes the Lord’s will is hard ta understand.”

  Xavier shook his head. “’Twas not the Lord’s will. The fairies stole her. Stole her right from our home and took her to the land of light.”