“And I have a right to protect what’s mine. I’m promising you here and now that you’ll build on this land over my dead body,” Grace hissed.
Dylan felt a shiver race through him at the thought of her death. “I’m certain we can figure out a solution,” he began, and Grace glared daggers at him. He was certain she wanted to shove him, so angry was her expression.
“We could have, yes, if you had bothered to include me in your plans. Instead, I’ve been pushed aside and played for a fool,” Grace shouted, and Dylan realized how wounded her pride was.
“I wasn’t trying to make a fool out of you,” Dylan began again, only to have Grace whirl around and cut him off.
“Then why didn’t you tell me? You had so many opportunities to correct my assumptions. I asked you flat-out on your boat why you came here. Couldn’t you have explained that ‘building your legacy’ didn’t mean a condo building? You had a perfect moment to explain everything to me. But you chose not to. I don’t understand,” Grace said.
Dylan felt his stomach plummet at the shine of tears that slipped into her eyes. “Grace, honey,” he said, stepping forward to try and gather her into his arms. He was shocked to find that an invisible wall had come up between them. It was like his hands were pressed to a wall of ice, and he dropped them immediately. Too concerned for her to even try to fully examine what that little burst of magick was, he tucked his hands in his pockets instead.
“Don’t you ‘honey’ me. Don’t you dare patronize me,” Grace said, delivering each word like a pistol shot. “You liked having the upper hand and you played it beautifully to your advantage.”
Now Dylan sighed and ran a hand over his face. Maybe he had, but not intentionally.
“Grace, I’m used to negotiations and dealing with massive shipping companies, corporations, and multi-level deals. It just comes naturally to me to wait some things out and reveal my cards only when necessary. It wasn’t even intentional, my withholding the information. I just did what I always do, which was let people make the assumptions they want to make. You wanted me to be the bad guy, and I allowed it. But I didn’t mean to hurt you and for that, truly, I’m sorry,” Dylan said.
Being able to read his aura, Grace knew every word he spoke was true. But now she needed to examine herself – had she wanted him to be the bad guy? Why? Was it because she was furious at him for not recognizing her from their past life?
“I suppose it was easy for me to make you the bad guy,” Grace finally admitted, though it cost her. “All I could see was that you were trying to evict me from my land.”
“Which I see now is not going to happen. We’ll figure something else out. It isn’t worth the battle. Maybe the village will work with me on finding a new location,” Dylan said, looking down at the cove. It looked suspiciously like it was shining an odd color of blue.
“Is the cove…” Dylan wasn’t sure how to phrase it. Grace glanced down at the water and her lips puckered, almost as if she’d eaten something sour. Dylan saw the minute her walls went up.
“Pay no mind. Just some of that enchanted nonsense that you like to pretend is small-town craziness. I appreciate your being willing to work out a new location for your center, which I’m sure will be a smashing success and a much-needed benefit to the community. I wish you the best of luck,” Grace said, every word precise and polite.
“And that’s it?” Dylan asked, once more trying to step forward, and once more being hit by some icy block.
“And that’s it, Dylan,” Grace said, an impossible sadness filling her eyes as she searched his face, looking for something he wasn’t sure he could give.
He watched her trudge across the grass – a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in red and white, Rosie at her side – and his heart plummeted. Despite himself, he felt like he was losing everything, even though he’d basically just been handed the permission he needed to build his center. Even when he’d compromised on the location, it still felt empty.
When Grace slammed the door to her cottage, the shining blue light from the waters of the cove far below him winked out, leaving him more confused than when he had arrived. Dylan no longer knew what it was he was fighting for.
Chapter 33
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Dylan said, pausing in front of where Liam leaned against the truck, two stainless steel thermoses of coffee in his hands.
“Let’s review,” Liam said, motioning for him to hop in the passenger seat as he took the wheel. “First of all, you didn’t sleep last night. You’re infatuated with this woman, you refuse to see her for what she is – basically a badass magickal mermaid witchy healer woman – and she used magick on you in real time, as in real actual life, yet you still are trying to convince yourself that it was some natural phenomenon you can’t explain. I mean, the cove glowed blue, for Christ’s sake. How are you explaining that?”
“Bioluminescence,” Dylan said, but even to him it sounded dumb.
“Right. And they just switch themselves off and on in the middle of the day to light the cove up? Not likely. You know as well as I do that they shine only at night,” Liam said, driving handily along the cliff road that led to the cove.
“Fine, I can’t explain it. But I can’t explain a lot of things right now and it’s messing with my head, if I’m to be completely honest,” Dylan said.
“That’s obvious. Let’s start with the easy one. What’s your issue with magick? You were raised Irish, so you’ve learned plenty of folklore in your time. Your mother delights in all things magickal. As a sailor, you’re naturally superstitious and we both know there’s been a time or two where we’ve seen something on the horizon that we can’t explain. So what’s the deal? Does it scare you?”
Dylan took a sip from his thermos before answering, contemplating just what it was about magick that seemed to shake him so.
“I’m not scared of it, necessarily. I don’t like it because I can’t explain it.”
“You mean you can’t control it,” Liam pointed out.
“Aye, I suppose that plays a part in it. It’s more comfortable for me to be the captain of my own ship,” Dylan admitted, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “And if there really is magick around me then I have no say in anything. It makes me feel like I have no will. That at any point magick can be used on me and it’s not a level playing field.”
“Sure and that makes sense,” Liam said. “But don’t most of these practitioners of magick and all that go by a credo of ‘harm no one’? Isn’t there a way to view it as an added bonus in your life? As in, it can help you, not hinder you?”
“Maybe, but frankly, I don’t see that this matters all that much. I don’t see it playing much of a part in my life one way or the other,” Dylan said, staring out at the water far below him crashing into rocks as gulls made lazy swoops in the morning breeze.
“If you want a life with Grace, it will,” Liam said.
The thought of life with Grace filled Dylan with a warmth, something he’d never known before, almost like a puzzle piece clicking into place.
“I don’t know how I feel about all that. I think about her constantly. A few weeks ago, I never even knew this woman. Now I see her in my sleep. She’s driving me to complete distraction. Then there’s part of me that thinks, if she really is magick, then how do I know she hasn’t just put a spell on me? Made me fall for her?” Dylan said. He massaged his neck, where he was currently carrying all his tension.
“Ah, don’t you see, my young friend?” Liam laughed, for though he was only two years older than Dylan, he liked to lord it over him as though he had all the wisdom in the world. “All women are magickal. That’s what makes them so special. They don’t need potions or chants or ancient rituals to weave a spell over you. It’s done with a smile, or the way they smell like flowers, or the soft little noise they make when they curl into you in their sleep. They trust you with their hearts. And that, my friend, is a magick all its own.”
“You’ve a poe
t in your soul,” Dylan murmured, inexplicably touched by his friend’s words. Liam had always been a romantic at heart, but had never settled for just one woman.
“I’m man enough to know that love, given freely, is the greatest gift in the world. There’s no reason not to celebrate it,” Liam said, a light smile playing on his lips as they pulled to a stop near the cove.
Despite himself, Dylan’s gaze trailed up the green expanse to where Grace’s cottage sat, tucked against the looming hills, looking for all the world like the perfect spot to go home to. Although he owned several homes around the world, he’d never seen anything as charming as this little cottage. Whether it was the woman who resided in it, or the cottage itself, it beckoned to him. If only he could know that the door would open for him if he came calling…
“Should we go tell her what we are doing?” Dylan asked.
“And have her lose her shite on you once again? I think not. I love women to pieces, but sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.”
Dylan knew that Liam was itching to go into the cove, to see if he could really feel any of the energy there. The man loved nothing more than an adventure, and finding out if this cove really was enchanted rated high up on the list of daredevil things to do. It was what made Liam a consummate storyteller – not only did he have a wide-open heart, but he was virtually fearless in everything he took on.
“I want to just say this once more, even if it brands me as a scaredy-cat,” Dylan said, turning to look at his friend. “But I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“We’ll soon enough find out, won’t we?” Liam said, ever affable, as he climbed from the truck and hightailed it to the trail that led into the cove. Dylan knew he was moving quickly so that Grace wouldn’t catch sight of him from her window, and stop them before Liam satisfied his taste for adventure.
Dylan approached the cove with trepidation. Visiting here on his own last time had not provided the best results, but hopefully with the two of them together there would be no incidents. He knew Liam craved some adventure, or to even witness some magick, but that was not the type of trouble Dylan cared to court.
The morning sun filtered through the entrance to the cove where the cliff walls almost met in a ragged C shape. The water this morning was calm, a brilliant blue – almost deceptively calm, if Dylan had to describe it. His pulse picked up as they approached the beach. In all respects, it was a picture-perfect morning with beautiful weather and an idyllic beach. So why had a faint sweat broken out on his brow?
“Liam, man, wait up,” Dylan called, not realizing that Liam had picked up his pace and was virtually skipping in delight across the sand of the beach.
“Do you see this place, man? It’s amazing! Heart-stopping! And not a soul for miles. Oh, I could spend hours here – no, days, camped out on the sand, cooking food over an open fire, making love to a good woman. Oh, yes, this is the place that dreams are made of,” Liam called, spinning around.
He never saw it coming.
But Dylan did, watching it unfold second-by-second, in horrifying slow motion. He watched, helpless, as a rogue wave towered over his friend from behind, casting him in shadow, and then seeming to devour him. Dylan screamed as the wave appeared to toss Liam neatly up in the air, impossibly high, then his friend’s body crashed down to the rocks below, broken and bent at an impossible angle.
He ran.
Chapter 34
Grace had been in a particularly nasty funk all morning, so much so that even Rosie wasn’t having anything to do with her mood and had taken herself off to lie on Grace’s bed and stare out the window.
She knew she was sulking. No matter how many times she tried to tell herself that a strong woman would forget about Dylan and move forward with her life – she had all these amazing things planned for herself, after all – she just kept circling back to the emptiness she felt in the pit of her stomach at the loss of him. Which, she reminded herself, was exactly what she’d been hoping to avoid, because she didn’t want to let a man hurt her the way Dillon had when he’d left her life forever. Hadn’t she promised herself to keep her walls up? And yet here she was, moping about after the damn man once again.
Sighing, Grace pulled a sweater over her head and shoved her feet into her boots. Perhaps a walk through the garden to harvest some herbs would help with her mood. Digging her hands into the dirt and inhaling the damp scent of earth never failed to center her.
At Rosie’s sharp bark, Grace’s head popped up. Rosie rarely barked with such a shrill note. Then the dog lost it, racing to the door, her small body vibrating in hysterics as she threw her head back and howled. Grace’s eyes widened. There was trouble.
“Show me, girl,” Grace commanded, opening the door. Rosie burst out like a race horse from the gate and beelined straight for the cove. It was only when Grace’s eyes landed on Dylan’s truck that ice raced through her blood.
Grace hit the top of the trail at a dead run, her eyes searching the beach as she half scrambled, half ran toward the bottom. When she saw Liam – his body broken and bent, Dylan kneeling at his side – her stomach plummeted. Liam had been nothing but kind to her, Grace thought, shooting an angry look at the waters – waters she herself had enchanted – as she skidded to a halt where Dylan knelt by his friend’s side. All the color had drained from his face and his eyes, wide with shock, met Grace’s.
“I can’t… I can’t move him. I think it’s his spine. Help me.” Dylan’s voice cracked. “I don’t know what to do. My cell phone won’t work down here, I can’t reach the paramedics. Please, help him. He’s… he’s a brother to me.”
Rosie whined by her side, licking Dylan’s palm and leaning into his legs.
“Please, may I touch him?” Grace asked, gently putting her hands over Dylan’s and pulling them away from Liam.
“Don’t… don’t hurt him,” Dylan said, his breath ragged as he struggled to hold back his tears.
“I won’t, I promise. But I need you to give me some space so I can see what we’re dealing with,” Grace said, nudging Dylan with her hip until he sat back on his knees and watched her. Grateful that the fall had knocked Liam out, Grace closed her eyes and went deep within, not caring what Dylan would see or know. It didn’t matter anymore, not at this point, if she showed all aspects of herself to him. He’d already shown her that he didn’t trust her enough to be a partner to her – to share his truth with her.
Holding her hands out, she ran them over Liam’s body, keeping them just above his skin, never touching him, but only feeling. It was as she suspected, and her mind reeled at the sheer amount of strength and knowledge it would take to heal this man. And she couldn’t do it here. Turning her head to look over her shoulder at Dylan, she met his ravaged eyes.
“I can help him. But you have to trust me. Is this man your brother? Would you do anything to save him?”
“Aye, he’s my family, my brother, my best friend. Whatever you need,” Dylan pleaded.
“Then you have to promise me that you won’t interfere with anything you’re about to see. I don’t… I don’t heal using traditional methods. It may be scary, but we’ve no time to get him care. His light…” Grace clenched her hand to her chest. “It’s dying, you see?”
“Save him. Please, Grace. I promise to not interfere.”
“We have to get him back to the cottage. I have what I need there,” Grace said and stood.
“But… can we move him? How? He’ll be paralyzed, no?” Dylan stood, wobbly on his feet.
“You said you’d trust me. No more talking. I mean it, Dylan. One word and you can ruin everything,” Grace said. Perhaps it was slightly dramatic, but she would need every ounce of her focus to heal the broken man at her feet. Closing her eyes, she began to chant, calling on the elements, the angels, and the goddess herself to lift this man and carry him home.
Dylan’s shocked gasp didn’t deter her. Instead, she grabbed Dylan’s hand and continued to chant, never breaking her ritua
l, never losing her focus as they ran across the beach, Liam’s broken body floating in front of them, her sheer will and the power of all her angels bringing him to her cottage doorstep.
True to his word, Dylan had remained silent, but when they approached the cottage he raced forward and opened the door. With magick alone, Grace carried Liam to Fiona’s old bed and laid him gently onto the coverlet.
“Get the amethyst necklace on my bedside table,” Grace ordered, and ran to the main room to gather all the elements she would need for what would be the hardest healing session she’d ever undertaken in her life. “Fiona, I beg of you, if you’re near, I need you now more than I ever have.”
Handing her the necklace, Dylan whirled around to see whom she was talking to, but Grace just shook her head and moved past him.
“Stay back. Don’t touch me, don’t touch him, and don’t get in the way of my view out the window.” If Grace didn’t send the darkness somewhere physical, it would consume and kill her. As it was, she’d already be taking on something that would bring her to the brink of her own life.
“Is it worth it?” Fiona asked, coming to stand by Grace as she stood over Liam, her hands running gently over his body.
“It’s my cove. My enchantment. My responsibility,” Grace bit out, shooting a look at Fiona.
“Aye, it is. But he knew the dangers. Free will,” Fiona said.
“Either help me save him or get out,” Grace said.
Fiona nodded. Her Grace knew the consequences of what she was doing, and the decision was made.
“I’ll help,” Fiona said, and laid her hands on Grace’s shoulders, pouring power into her like a pitcher full of minty lemonade – a golden zesty energy of refreshment – and Grace closed her eyes to channel the flow of it.
In moments, she’d gone completely under, almost trancelike, and focused all her power and magick into saving the broken man who lay before her.
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