by Kelly Moran
“Nothing sordid.” Though there had been quite a bit of kissing, caressing. Strange how she couldn’t remember much about that part. Almost like it was hidden behind a fog. “We talked a lot.”
“Talked,” Riley said, deadpan. “You got no game, brother.”
Ceara leaned forward. “If you’ve encountered one another in dreams this long, and all you did was talk, you don’t seem to know much about each other.”
“We weren’t allowed.” Brady scratched the dark stubble on his jaw. “From the start, if we said any defining facts like names or locations, we were immediately yanked from the dream.” His mossy green eyes held Kaida’s, lost and found in the same beat. “I know she likes blueberries in her oatmeal and hates the sound of car horns, but I had no clue where she lived, worked, or came from.”
“That was probably to keep her from finding you before it was time.” Mara strolled into the room carrying a tea tray with fixings and a small red bag. She set the items on the coffee table and handed a steaming cup to Fiona and Ceara. “Black tea with a little hazel for communication.” Passing one to Kaida, Mara winked. “Green tea with ginseng root for energy. Wore yourself out, you did.” She strolled across the room to Tristan, who eyed the mug she held without accepting it.
“What is it?”
“Green tea with jasper for stress relief.” When he merely stared, she insisted. “Go on. You’re wound tighter than a German clock.”
Riley snorted. “Tea’s not going to cure that.”
Tristan frowned, but took the mug, sniffing it. “Is this a...potion or something?”
Mara tilted her head back and laughed, her white strands flowing. “No, dear boy. It’s just tea. If you drink it, I’ll getcha something stronger afterward.” She moved onto Riley next. “Chamomile so you can sleep better tonight.” Before he could retort or ask how she knew whether he’d slept, she offered the last cup to Brady. “Black tea with basil for healing.”
Brady accepted the mug and took a sip, no questions asked. “Thanks.”
Once he took another, his brothers did the same.
Tristan’s brows lifted. “It’s not bad. Not much of a tea fan, but it’s tolerable.”
Mara, seemingly unoffended, perched on the edge of the table in front of Brady. “Let me get a look at those cuts, then we’ll see what’s what about the rest. Ceara, start a fire, would you? All of you will catch your death sitting around in damp clothes.”
Ceara flicked her wrist, and flames roared in the hearth behind her.
Riley leapt off the cushion. “Son of a bitch.”
“Oh, relax.” Fiona rolled her eyes.
“Relax? Hilarious, Fi.” Tentatively, he sat down, eyes trained to the fireplace. “It’s one thing to suspect witchcraft, but another to witness proof.”
Kaida was still getting used to all of this, too, and understood the guys’ hesitation. Though Riley and Brady appeared more shocked than anything else, Tristan seemed scared and was covering it with irritation. Stiff, he glared at her sisters.
Weary and wanting bed, she took a sip of her tea. The bitterness of the ginseng hit her tongue, followed by an earthy-sweetness similar to carrots. It wasn’t coffee, but she could deal. “Tristan, why don’t you take a load off? Just watching you is draining my last reserve.” The poor man.
“I’m good here, thanks.”
“Please?” Ceara glanced at him, composed and illustrating none of the tension he emanated. “We have matters to discuss.”
His hard gaze softened the longer he stared at her, and Kaida had to wonder what it was about her sister that deflated the unforgiving nature in him. Twice now she’d seen it happen. Nothing obvious unless one was really looking, but there nonetheless.
Finally, he let out a quiet breath and made his way over, claiming the spot next to Riley. Downing the tea, Tristan set his cup on the tray, saying nothing.
Meanwhile, Mara cleaned Brady’s scraped knuckles with items from her red bag like World War III wasn’t brewing in her house.
“What is that?” Brady eyed the salve she applied.
“Cayenne, an herbal blend. It’ll help your cuts heal quickly.” Mara patted his forearm with a smile. “Fiona’s good at tonics and potions.”
“Well, good thing.” He whipped Fiona a steely glare. “Since it’s her fault I got scraped up in the first place.”
Mara narrowed her eyes on the woman in question.
“What?” Fiona shrugged in bored nonchalance. “He was charging at Kaida like a rabid bull. I was only protecting her.”
“She didn’t need protection from me!”
“Now, now.” Mara patted his arm again. “Do I need to add jasper to your tea, too, or are you going to settle down?”
“Yeah. See, this is not helping us want to climb aboard your crazy train.” Riley set his cup aside. “My brother acting all growly bear? This isn’t Brady. What is going on?”
With her hand trembling, Kaida put her tea down on the table beside her. Brady’s mood wasn’t only unsettling to his brothers, but her, as well. Tonight may have been their first actual face-to-face encounter, yet she’d known him a very long time. He was quick to smile, very intelligent, and great at conversation. She’d witnessed his frustration at their circumstances, sometimes desperation, but never aggression. And, again, she seemed to be the underlying culprit.
“Let’s see if we can’t figure it out.” Mara turned Brady’s hand over, skimming her fingers over the mark on his inner wrist. “How did this happen?”
“Hell if I know.” Brady’s jaw ticked. “That’s why we’re here. For you to tell us.”
“I mean, what were you doing when the branding appeared?”
“Oh.” He looked at Kaida, and all the rigidness in his frame dissolved. Emotion filled his eyes and the sentiment nailed her in the breastbone. “I touched her. Fiona dropped the shield and let me through. Kaida had just opened her eyes after the...episode, and I reached for her.”
Tristan grunted. “They set off some kind of light, too. Brighter than the sun and white hot.”
“Interesting.” Mara pursed her lips. “Celeste put the same inscription on her daughter Hope before the villagers dragged her away. In the same place on her wrist, as well. I’d say this is her doing.”
“How is that possible?” Brady retracted his arm from her hold. “She’s dead.”
“Her magick lives on, both in the generations of witches after her and in the spells she cast.” She sighed. “Including the curse.” She went thoughtful a beat. “In your dreams, did you and Kaida have any physical contact?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Nothing, you know, that physical, but...” He looked at Kaida again, one corner of his lips curving.
Memories of kissing him, being held against him, flooded Kaida’s mind, and her cheeks heated. They’d had moments of undeniable passion, muted by a desensitization that made no sense. In the clearing, that had dissolved and his brief touch had been a jolt unlike anything she’d experienced.
“But tonight was the first time you saw her on this plane and the first point of actual contact.” Since Mara’s statement was obviously rhetorical, no one answered. Her gaze drifted, then she rose and wandered the room as if in a trance, the others silently watching. “Kaida’s mother and I cast a spell when she was an infant. Just a small one to give her hints about the island to call her back here one day. Her premonition gift is rooted in the present, thus it makes sense she dreamed about this place in this particular time.”
She paused, her eyes narrowing. “But your connection began before she came into her powers, and it goes against all the experience I have to guess how she pulled you in with her. I’d say this was Celeste at work, too, but that would mean she’d had to have known all along who you two were and what part you’d play.”
Ceara tilted her head. “Celeste did have the premonition gift, saw future events.”
“Yes, plus the past and present. She was incredibly powerful.” Mara shook her h
ead. “This isn’t as simple as casting a spell. Regardless of whether she foresaw what was to come, free will and factors are accountable. One slip up in the timeline can change everything. I don’t think even she could manipulate to this degree.”
Brady leaned forward. “So you’re telling me you have no clue what’s going on either?”
“The branding? Yes. That I clearly understand.” She faced the group. “The trinity knot could’ve easily been set in motion with the original spell. A sign from her for future generations.”
Tristan paled. “A sign for what?”
“Their role in breaking the curse.” Ceara’s quiet voice echoed like a knell as dawning lit her eyes. “In her spell, she said three tasks await to set us free. It’s begun, and it starts with Brady and Kaida.”
“What tasks? And why me?” Brady scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ve read the words Celeste said that night, can recite them by heart. They were shouted by a scared woman being dragged off to her death. It’s been three-hundred years, and I’m supposed to believe all this is...what? Some kind of destiny?”
“Yes.” Mara turned and faced the floor-to-ceiling stained-glass window, her loose black skirt flowing to resettle at her ankles. “I’ve had countless lifetimes to think about what happened. I suspect everything she did leading up to the night she died was part of her plan. The voyage from Ireland, settling on the island, falling in love with Finn, and even conceiving her daughter Hope.”
When she faced the group again, her blue eyes held the weight of the world in them and her accent thickened to a stronger, sadder brogue. “Meaths and Galloways, forever at odds. It’s a sorry state, don’t you think? After all these years, we’d rather feud than forgive. And for what? Pride? Habit?”
She huffed a laugh devoid of humor and closed her eyes a moment, only to search each one of the present members when she reopened them. “She fashioned three boxes, Celeste did. One for each task the fated had to endure. When complete, the boxes will reemerge, and inside is the key to breaking the curse.”
“Again, what tasks?” Brady asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve offered everything within my power.”
Riley sighed. “Okay, then what’s to stop us from walking out that door and pretending tonight never happened?”
“And why me?” Brady rubbed his forehead. “Why Kaida?”
Mara opened her mouth to speak, but Kaida was finally beginning to grasp the severity of the situation. Maybe she’d just needed time to acclimate or perhaps it took shoving a lifetime of what-ifs in her face before she’d caught on, but the truth rang loud and clear.
“No love will last or ever be found. That’s what Celeste said.” Kaida rested her head on the back of the chair, her eyes drooping as she fought the heavy dregs of exhaustion. “That’s what this all boils down to. Love. Her and Finn’s love was stolen and she was murdered in an act of hate. Both our families are to blame, so both need to rectify the mistakes of our past.”
She focused on Brady, a man she knew yet not at all, and wondered how she’d gone from teaching self-righteous college freshman the basics of Paganism to being a witch at the whim of a scorned woman. “You were drawn to the history of our families and know the background better than your brothers. Of the three, you’re the most open-minded. I wasn’t raised in the craft or among the fray, which makes me as close to a neutral party as we’re going to get. That’s why we were chosen first.”
What she wouldn’t give to have him hold her right now. Erase the distance and years and circumstances to just be her safety net again. The man in her dreams who made no sense, but offered solace. “If we fail in whatever is being asked of us, any chance of happiness for either of our families will never be possible.” She glanced at Riley, at Tristan. “There’s your reason for staying, for putting aside fear and doubt. An opportunity for love and joy that was not afforded to those before you.” She looked at Mara. “And to finally give a certain someone peace.”
Mara nodded slowly and swallowed. “Well said, lass.”
Kaida’s sisters stared at her, acceptance and respect in their eyes Kaida hadn’t earned, while Brady and his brothers did the same with tentative expressions of consideration. Silence hung and the pressure from the past few days nearly dragged her under.
A puff of his cheeks, and Brady expelled a breath. “All right. So we somehow, some way figure out what Celeste wants and do it. I’m assuming there’s a time limit to this thing? How long do we have?”
Useless tears burned her eyes. He was putting his trust and faith in her based off nothing more than a tentative connection born in dreamland. It said so much about his character that he’d set aside logic and suspicion to back her up, and therefore nudge his brothers along, knowing he was the key in this crazy lock they’d been handed. Most men, after what they’d seen and heard tonight, would’ve had the mental ward on speed dial.
It wasn’t simply him ignoring what he’d accepted as reality and making the first step that had her throat tight. His family hated hers, had since the island had been inhabited centuries ago. That he’d not only taken a stand, but had chosen to do so beside her, had the lonely band around her chest loosening. Truthfully, she’d been alone most of her life. Her ambivalent parents aside, she’d never had someone in her corner.
“Well,” Ceara offered, fingering her pentagram charm necklace. “For witches, the trinity knot is symbolic of the threefold nature of the Goddess. Mother Goddess represents creation, the Maiden for innocence, and the Crone for wisdom. It also reflects on the forces of nature—earth, fire, and water. The three interlocking circles are emblematic of our sacred casting circles.”
Fiona nodded. “The Celtic Christian church also used it to represent the Holy Trinity. The origins not only date back to both our Irish heritages, but our faiths. It makes sense it’s the symbol Celeste used to bind us.” She shared a speculative look with Ceara. “Three is powerful to Wiccans and Christians. I think it’s safe to assume that’s not the timeline, though. Too long. My guess is one.”
“One what?” Brady’s brows furrowed. “Day, month, year?”
Mara folded her hands in front of her, her steady gaze on him. “One lunar cycle of the moon. That’s how long you have.”
Chapter Seven
Brady followed his brothers to the door, having had his fill of magick and witch talk for the evening. Or a lifetime. But at the threshold, he couldn’t make himself leave. That invisible magnet kept pulling him back to Kaida, and some inner fear he hadn’t known existed made him worry he might not see her again.
Turning, he flicked a glance at Ceara and Fiona, still perched on the sofa, then settled on Kaida. “Would you mind walking me out?”
She offered a wan smile and rose. Grabbing a quilt off the back of her chair, she wrapped it around her shoulders and preceded him onto the porch.
The humidity from earlier had weaned and a brisk spring breeze scented with brine slapped his face. A dense fog covered the dark grounds, as ominous as his mood. The roar of the ocean hitting the cliffs on the other side of the Galloways’ house blended with the crackle of leaves. Otherwise, all was quiet.
He shut the door behind them and faced his brothers. “Give us a minute.”
When they headed down the steps and halted in the driveway out of earshot, he stared at Kaida. Just stared like he had nothing better to do than watch her. Damn, she was beautiful. The real life version of her was breathtaking in a stop-traffic kind of way. Her hair alone invoked fantasies he could spend a decade exploring. All that caramel in thick waves.
“I know I’ve said this upwards of eighty times, but I can’t believe you’re here.”
Her smile widened, and he bit back a groan at how badly he wanted to kiss those plush lips. “My sentiments, too.” Cerulean eyes swept over him, then reclaimed his. “You must be in system overload. How are you dealing?”
His dream woman wasn’t an illusion, she and her sisters were witches, he’d witnessed powers he never ima
gined were possible, and he’d just been told he was part of some threefold destiny centuries in the making. How was he dealing? Not at all.
Another breeze blew between them, taking a few of her strands along for the ride. The scent of rain from her shampoo blended with rosemary from her skin, and memory slammed into his head. Her, him, together in the meadow by the cliffs. The sound of her laugh and the tone of her sultry voice. Countless times he’d been with her, but none of it held a candle to this moment.
Nothing else mattered.
“Never mind me. Are you all right? You look wiped.” He thought he’d never get his heart beating again after she’d collapsed in the clearing. Though she seemed no worse for wear, her lids were heavy and her mannerisms sluggish.
“Just tired. I’ll sleep it off.”
He nodded, figuring she was having an adrenaline crash or something. “Will it sound pervy if I admit how badly I want to hug you?”
There. Mercy, her laugh.
“No. Considering our history, I’d say it was a normal response.” She chewed her lip. “Might be a good idea to hold off, though. We still don’t know exactly what happened the first time we touched.”
Light blasting. Unimaginable heat. Their new tattoos.
“Yeah, I’m with you there.” He almost didn’t care what consequences Celeste Galloway or the universe thrust at him. Kaida’s pull was that fierce. “What are you up to tomorrow? Can we get together for lunch or a drink?” He needed to see her again. Soon. Have a conversation without their siblings and figure out what the hell was going on.
“I’d like that.” The sleepy smile lit her eyes. “Fiona and Ceara planned to show me around town and take me to their shop. I can sneak away for a bit.”
Her sisters’ store, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, was on the island’s main strip, smack in the center of the tourist hotspots. A public scene would probably be wise. “There’s a cafe right next door. Noon?”
“Definitely.” She paused, tilting her head. “Goodnight, Brady. Sweet dreams.”