Lachlan pushed her hands away. “Leave off, Martha. I dinnae need all this. I just need to sit down. Bring me a bowl of soup from the kitchen if ye want to help me.”
She fussed over him a little longer. She followed him upstairs and into a side dining room where the fire blazed on the hearth. He sat down in a chair, and his shoulders slumped.
“You’re soaked through!” she exclaimed. “Take that shirt off, and I’ll give ye a fresh one.”
“I said leave off, Martha,” he snapped. “I dinnae need to be fussed over like a wee laddie at his mother’s knee. I asked ye to bring me something to eat, and I’ll thank ye to obey my orders when I give them.”
She froze and stared at him with wide eyes. Her hand flew to her mouth. “My Laird!”
Lachlan closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Martha. I ken ye mean well. It’s a hard morning I have been on out at sea. Now please leave me alone so I can think.”
She blinked at him once and then raced out of the room. Lachlan let all the energy drain out of his body and mind and spirit. He couldn’t keep this up much longer. How many battles did he have to fight against forces so much stronger than himself? He couldn’t win, but he had to keep fighting until they destroyed him.
Martha came back. She laid a clean dry shirt across a different chair and set a bowl of soup on the table. She left without a word. Lachlan stared into the flames. He couldn’t bring his addled brain to comprehend what he ought to do next. He couldn’t lift his arms to change his shirt or drink his soup. He couldn’t see beyond this moment of warmth and rest.
Just then, Christie strode in. “The lads are ready to meet ye.” He caught sight of Lachlan sitting there in daze. “Are ye coming, mon?”
“I’ll come,” Lachlan murmured.
Christie watched him. “Lachlan?”
Lachlan roused himself out of his stupor. He pushed himself out of his chair and peeled off his sodden shirt. He unbuckled his kilt and kicked it off. He toasted his naked skin before the fire while he sipped his soup.
The scorching liquid burned a fiery path through his insides. It woke his spirit to challenges still to meet. He draped his kilt in front of the flames, and steam rose off the lengths of wool.
Christie stood back and waited in silence. Lachlan turned back and forth to warm himself all over. His fingers and toes tingled with warmth, and he revived. He peered through the window at the gray sea lying calm and serene in the distance. She was out there somewhere. She was waiting for him.
He couldn’t bring her up by himself. That much was clear by now. Magic had taken her down to the bottom of the sea, and only magic could bring her up. Men and boats couldn’t do it, so what could he do?
He searched the surrounding countryside in his mind. He knew a few village witches in the neighborhood and in McLean lands farther afield. None of them could help him. He needed a powerful witch, one like Hazel Green, the young woman who sent herself and her friends to Urlu in the first place. Where could he find someone like that at short notice?
Once he finished his soup, he busied himself drying his kilt while he thought the matter over. He turned the plaid over until the fire dried it. Then he buckled it on and tucked in the clean shirt. He should remember to thank Martha for her kindness. He didn’t mean to be so rude to her, but the more attention she paid him, the more annoyed he got with her.
He brooded over Martha as much as the curse itself. Ever since Sadie Cole left Mull, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He didn’t think about her so much as her kind in general. He’d never met anyone like Sadie and her friends. He didn’t exactly fall in love with her, but she changed his whole idea of women.
He wanted to marry her—or at least someone like her. Once he met her, once he saw her and her friends in battle against the forces of the curse, he couldn’t be satisfied with anything less.
The more time that passed since Sadie left, the more surly and unfriendly he became to the available women around him. He saw himself doing it. He saw himself rebuffing their kindly efforts to make him comfortable and to share his troubles. Their efforts rankled him more than anything.
He’d never doubted before that he would marry and have children and hand down the Chieftainship to his sons. Now he couldn’t be so sure. If he couldn’t find someone like Sadie, he would never marry. He knew that now.
He needed someone strong, someone who could understand and who could help him in this terrible battle. That’s what he found with Sadie, but she fell in love with another man. Now she was gone and her friends with her.
None of that mattered now. He had to concentrate on the curse and how to break it, but the problem still nagged his mind. He wasn’t half as good a leader as he could have been with this hanging over his head. He needed a wife, a partner, a soulmate.
The Urlus all had their lives’ mates at their sides. That’s what made them so strong. He needed the same thing. He would rather not be Laird without that.
Christie didn’t disturb him while he got dressed. Once Lachlan got his shirt tucked in and his belt buckled, the two men marched out of the room. They crossed the passage to another doorway. The chamber across the way couldn’t be called a room or a hall. The roof opened out onto the wide sky overhead. Broken beams, slates, and debris of all kinds piled up to block off three quarters of the room.
Lachlan and Christie entered the ten-foot square space remaining and found a group of Highlanders waiting for them. Six of them wore McLean tartans. The others were Montgomerys. Lachlan swept his eye over the group. He knew every one of them. The McLeans were his cousins, along with his brother Arch. The Montgomerys he would fight and die for in a second, and most of them he already had.
“Well, lads,” he began.
Ronald Montgomery spoke up from Lachlan’s right. “I have another hooker secured for when you’re ready to go out again.”
“I’ll no’ go out again,” Lachlan replied. “That’s twice the sea has attacked us. If we tempt it, it’ll destroy us all next time and then there’ll be none to break the curse.”
“How’ll ye find the woman, then?” Arch asked. “How can ye bring her up without a boat?”
“We must use magic,” Lachlan replied. “We’re only men, ye and I. We must fight fire with fire. We must find a witch as strong as the curse.”
Christie rubbed his chin. “Where’ll ye find that? Fergus Cameron says the woman cast that spell. You’ll find none as strong as her to break the curse.”
“We’re no’ to break the curse,” Lachlan replied. “We’re to do naught but bring her up. She’ll break the curse herself once that’s done. We need a witch to bring her up—naught else.”
“There’s no witch in this country as strong as that,” Clyde McLean replied. “You’re talking about the forces of the sea. Who’ll be able to defeat that?”
“I ken it’s asking a lot,” Lachlan replied.
“A lot doesnae begin to cover it,” Christie added. “You’d need something on the level of a god to defeat it.”
“We may no’ need to defeat it,” Lachlan replied. “We must only break out the woman. Naught matters but that. Now ye lads’ll stop arguing with me. I have given my word, and ye must help me find a witch to do it.”
The others exchanged glances.
“No ideas?” Lachlan asked.
Colin McLean broke in on the conversation. “Ye must look beyond the Isles. That’s certain. Ye must look to the mainland.”
“Where?” Lachlan asked.
Another man spoke up from the other side of the circle. It was Aiden Montgomery, Blair’s younger brother. “There’s a magician back home as could do some of the stuff that strange witch of the Camerons could do. I have seen him heal wounds the same way.”
“Who is he?” Lachlan asked.
“Now ye mention it, he’s my uncle’s cousin. His name is Kincaid. He was trained by the auld time Druids, and he served the auld Laird in Glasgow afore the man died and his son turned to the church.”
�
��Where can we find him?” Lachlan asked.
“Och,” Aiden replied, “he’s down there in Kintyre, but he lives in deep retirement. You’d have your job to bring him out, especially over a matter of this nature.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lachlan asked. “What’s the nature of this matter that he’d no’ help us if we asked?”
Aiden shrugged. “Well, ye cannae but ask. Ye can do no harm in that.”
“You’re the one as kens where he is,” Lachlan replied. “Ye must go and get him and bring him back
Arch broke in on their conversation. “Kintyre’s miles out of our way. It’d take weeks to send for him, and we cannae spare a man. We need these and a thousand more to keep ourselves alive that long.”
“A thousand more willnae do it,” Lachlan replied. “We cannae win by arms alone, no matter how many men we may have. We must use magic—strong magic. If this Kincaid can do it, we must get him at all costs.”
“What’re ye goin’ to do—send another boat down the coast to pick him up?” Arch asked.
“Precisely,” Lachlan replied.
“It’s no’ that far,” Aiden pointed out. “It’s just a short sail around Jura and down the Gigha coast. We can be there in…let me see… I put it at three weeks on the outside.”
Arch threw up his hands. He rolled his hands to Heaven and spun away.
Lachlan faced Aiden. “Do it, cousin. I trust ye. Take this brother of mine with ye. He’s a good hand with a boat.”
“Where’ll we get the boat?” Arch asked.
“That’s for ye to sort out,” Lachlan replied.
“I told ye I had another boat ready for ye,” Ronald put in. “Take that.”
“There ye go,” Lachlan replied. “Leave now. Dinnae delay. Get him and bring him back.”
Aiden grasped Lachlan’s hand and left the room. Arch took a little longer to glare at Lachlan. “You’re a dead man. Ye realize that, do ye no’?”
“We all are,” Lachlan replied. “It’s our only chance to bring the woman up, and I’ll no’ waste any more lives searching for her without the right tools to do the job. Now go. The sooner ye go, the sooner ye come back, and I need ye both here.”
Arch left, but he didn’t look happy. The rest of the men disbanded as soon as Lachlan gave his orders, but he no longer put his heart into defending this House. He migrated to the window and looked out at the restless sea.
She was out there. He had to bring her up. She consumed his every waking thought. His destiny lay with her and nowhere else. He could let everything else go. He only hoped he could bring her up before the next epic battle ensued.
Chapter 3
Ivy slid back the glass door and peered around the house. Potted trees sat in the living room corners, and ferns hung in baskets on the patio. A cat licked its shoulder on a padded recliner, and the animal blinked at Ivy when she walked in.
Faint music drifted to her ear from somewhere out of sight, and a delicious smell wafted to her nose from the kitchen. Sun and warmth streamed through the windows.
While Ivy took in the whole scene, an elderly lady strode into the room from somewhere. She wore a white terry-cloth bathrobe and bedroom slippers. She wore her hair up in curlers and carried a newspaper. She walked into the room, petted the cat, and headed for the patio before she spotted Ivy.
The woman started back with an astonished cry. Her hand flew to her heart.
Ivy smiled. “Hello, Aunt Lucy. I see you’re doing well for yourself.”
Lucy stared at her. “How…how did you get here?”
“Did you think I was a prisoner or something? I can come and go as I please. My husband gives me anything I please. He would never do anything to make me unhappy.”
“Your husband!” Lucy exclaimed. “What husband?”
Ivy blushed. “Well, he isn’t exactly my husband—not yet, anyways—but he might as well be.”
The surprise melted off Lucy’s face. She narrowed her eyes and compressed her lips. “What did you come to see me for, then?”
“I just wanted to see you, Aunt Lucy,” Ivy replied. “I can come and see you every now and then, can’t I?”
Lucy didn’t soften. “You’ve got some other reason to come. You want something from me. What is it?”
“What makes you say that?” Ivy asked. “What makes you think I didn’t come just to see you—just to see an old relative I care about?”
Lucy shook her head. “You made a life for yourself out there. You wouldn’t come to see me if you wanted to see an old relative you care about. You would have seen your sister or your mother or someone like that. You’re here because you want something, so out with it.”
“All right,” Ivy replied. “Some people think… well, some people think you taught me a magic spell that sent me there.”
“That’s right. I don’t see any other way you could get there. Do you?”
“Some other people think,” Ivy went on, “that some other people are trying to find me and bring me back. Do you know about that?”
“Of course I do,” Lucy replied. “Everybody knows about that, and you know about it, too, so there’s no reason to pretend you came here to ask me about it.”
Ivy wilted. She glanced around the room. She would have liked to sit down somewhere, but she couldn’t exactly help herself to someone else’s house when Lucy hadn’t invited her to sit down.
This world exhausted her. She’d expected Lucy to throw her arms around her lost niece’s neck and weep over the prodigal returned. Ivy should have known better. If she wanted that, she would have gone to her mother or sister. They would be sure to do it.
“Why do you think I never worked the spell before now?” Ivy asked. “How could it just up and happen like that when I never did it before?”
Lucy’s head shot up. “What?”
“Don’t you think it’s odd that I had the spell in my mind all these years and even said the magic words out loud before, and it never worked?” Ivy asked. “Don’t you think if I had that power I would have done something with it before now?”
Lucy stared at her with wide eyes. She barely spoke above a whisper. “What are you saying, girl?”
“I’ve seen him,” Ivy replied. “I’ve seen him searching for me, and I’ve seen him in conference with his people about what he’s going to do when he brings me up. He wants me to use the spell to help his people, to lift the curse.”
Lucy nodded, but she couldn’t speak. She didn’t even blink.
“What do you know about the Urlus?” Ivy asked. “What do you know about how they lifted the curse? Did they use the spell?”
Lucy swallowed hard before she got her voice to work. “They didn’t use the spell. They used the spell to fight the forces of the curse, but it took something else to repair the holes. The woman who made the curse had to repair it with her power. She did that somewhere else, without the spell. By the time she got that much power, she didn’t need the spell any longer. She just went to the fabric and repaired it.”
Ivy turned away. “I thought so.”
Lucy lunged forward. “Where are you going?”
“I have to get back,” Ivy replied. “My husband will be waiting for me.”
“Isn’t there…?” Lucy broke off.
“Do you know where Alexis is?” Ivy asked.
Lucy lowered her eyes to the floor. “No. I can’t see that.”
“Do me a favor, will you?” Ivy asked. “If you see her, tell her I need her. Tell her to come back and find me.”
“What do you need her for?” Lucy asked.
“To lift the curse, of course.”
Ivy slid the glass door back and stepped through. She glanced back once at Lucy’s astonished face. The next instant, the vision blurred, and Ivy found herself on a sunny hilltop overlooking a wide blue sea. Islands dotted the horizon as far north and as far south as she could see.
A long, low island stretched out before her with a thin sliver of gleaming ocean be
tween. From the hilltop, she saw the wide, rugged land rolling in mountains behind her. She took a deep breath of the brisk sea air.
Living underwater had stifled her vitality in ways she hadn’t realized. She’d never really acknowledged the pleasure of breathing until she spent months underwater without drawing the air into her lungs.
A sizzling crackle sounded behind her. She turned around to see a flash of white light and Lachlan McLean appeared before her. He whipped around from right to left. His whole body tensed to spring into action.
Ivy stood back and watched him check his surroundings. He caught sight of her, but he didn’t relax. “What in the name of Heaven is going on?”
“You’re Lachlan McLean, aren’t you?” Ivy asked.
He fixed his hawkish eyes on her. “Who are ye?”
“I’m Ivy Tennant,” she replied. “I believe you’ve been looking for me. Well, here I am.”
He narrowed his eyes and took a step toward her. He cocked his head to listen. “You’re one of them, aren’t ye? Ye talk like them. I recognize your strange speech from them. You’re one of the friends of the Urlu.”
“I’m the woman you’ve been looking for under the ocean,” she replied. “I’m not friends with any of them. I met Grace Spencer when she fell into the water. That’s all I know about them. I’m from the same country. That’s all.”
He frowned even deeper. “Then what’re ye doing here? I was…”
“Yes?” she asked. “You were what?”
He waved his hand and took another look around. “I was walking on the coast south of my House. I went to see the ship that was wrecked off our coast.”
“I know all about that,” Ivy replied. “I watched the whole thing.”
“I was thinking on that wreck, and I bent down to put my hand into the….” He froze.
Ivy waved at the coastline. “I brought you here so I could talk to you. I wanted to explain.”
“Ye!” he exclaimed. “Ye brought me here?”
“Yes. My husband—at least, the man who will become my husband—he’s God of the Sea. He gave me a mirror that lets me see anything I want to see and go anywhere I want to go. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
Sea Queen (Phoenix Throne Book 6): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 2