I was too choked with emotion to reply, instead I threw my arms around her neck. Revelling in the freedom we had to embrace, finally.
The two men who attacked me were now being escorted back to the settlement and I understood that hatred was to be expected. Many of them likely blamed me, as well as King Ferchar, for how miserable their lives were in Culhuinn.
Eventually, Nieve loosened her hold on my waist, laughing that we would be more comfortable back in her home and not standing out in the sun.
“Are you okay to ride?” She asked, helping me up into her saddle before agilely swinging up to sit behind me.
“I’m okay. I’m more than okay,” I smiled, leaning back into her warmth.
I was too happy to bother complaining about my aching thighs as we rode deeper into the settlement, humans stopping what they were doing to stare at me in surprise.
As they stared, I wished that I had brought a hooded cloak to hide my face. Instead I hunched back into Nieve, letting my hair fall forward in an attempt to hide my face from their attention.
I didn’t risk making eye contact with anyone, not wanting to see if they were looking at me with happiness, or with hatred.
“You don’t need to be afraid. You’ll never need to be afraid again.” Nieve said, wrapping an arm possessively around my waist and placing a kiss on my cheek.
We rode through the settlement which had been built in a small cleared area at the edge of the forest. We came to a stop at one of the small stone cottages, wedged between the river and the edge of the clearing.
Nieve dismissed her guards, who had ridden with us, before helping me down from the horse. My legs felt shaky and unstable and so I shrieked, but did not protest, when she lifted me into her arms and carried me inside. Locking the wooden door behind her.
“It’s nothing like the castle up in Culhuinn, but its home,” Nieve looked almost ashamed of her modest cottage, with its crooked walls and low ceiling.
“I love it,” I grinned, and then to my embarrassment blurted out. “You look beautiful.”
She did look beautiful. Her hair was a wild mix of loose curls and plaits, which kept her hair away from her face. Her skin was tanned and much more freckled now that she had the freedom to go outside and enjoy the summer whenever she pleased.
Clearly she was eating well as her figure was fuller now and, even through her clothes, I could see that her arms were much more muscular.
“You look beautiful as well. Beautiful but exhausted,” she smiled, helping me pull off my boots and get rid of the cloak I had worn to travel. “Let’s go for a lie down, and then you can see my tattoo.”
I let her pull me down into the pile of knitted blankets on the straw mattress where she slept. I had brought our patchwork blanket with me, but that could wait for now. Now we had months of catching up to do.
It was only once we were comfortable in each other’s arms that I realised what she had said.
“Tattoo?!”
She laughed and gripped me tighter when I half-heartedly attempted to move, holding me close and gently kissing my neck.
Despite my curiosity about her new tattoo, I was content in my love’s arms, for the first time since King Ferchar cruelly separated us and the fate of kingdoms fell on our shoulders.
I covered her hands with my own, threading our fingers together and letting myself sink into her embrace. Safe in the knowledge that we were both finally free.
“G oodbye Glen,” I gave him one last squeeze before letting him go.
“You do remember that my cottage is just down the road from yours?” He teased.
“Shut up, I’ll miss being with you all the time,” I admitted, giving him a shove.
“I’ll miss you too, but right now my bed and a home cooked meal are much more important,” Glen admitted and with that, he ran off down the path towards his family’s stone cottage.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and began wandering home. When we arrived back in Tirwood, Finnian had been there to take us across Loch Fai. This time he made us sit down and didn’t let us anywhere near the edge of the boat.
We hadn’t stayed long in the villages around the loch as Finnian mentioned that the Summer’s End festival was approaching and we didn’t want to miss another festival. We stopped just long enough to stay overnight with Eithrig and Hamish, and for Finnian to promise to visit our village.
The closer I got to the cottage, the more nervous I felt. The whole time we were away I’d wished to be back home, and desperately missed my family. Now I was oddly anxious about what I might find when I returned.
Anything could have happened.
“Morven!” I heard a shout and turned to see Malcolm and Munro running through the field towards me and at once, my nerves disappeared.
Munro reached me first pulling me into a hug and spinning me around in circles. Then Malcolm arrived, pulling us both into a bone crushing hug.
Instantly I forgot all about my aches and pains from travelling. Gone was my exhaustion and weariness. Nothing mattered now that I was reunited with my brothers.
When we finally separated, and made it to the cottage, I was once again pulled into a hug, this time by ma who wasn’t even attempting to stifle her sobs.
“My baby’s home,” she cried, whilst Munro loudly complained that as the youngest, he was in fact the baby.
“Welcome home lass,” da whispered, placing a kiss on my forehead once ma had finally freed me.
To everyone’s relief, Glen and I had made it home in time for Summer’s End. Two days later, I found myself helping ma to chop vegetables, much like I had done for Winter’s End, which felt like a lifetime ago.
The night I returned ma forced me into a steaming hot bath, to wash away the dirt from the road, then she’d fed me up with stew before tucking me into bed.
I fell asleep almost as soon as she finished tucking the blankets around me, exhausted from our hurried journey home.
Since being brought back to life, I felt much the same as I had before. I still got out of breath when I walked quickly or ran. Glen said that I looked a little younger and so we thought that, instead of giving me back the exact same life, Darach must had given me a new one. If that was true then I could have another eighteen years to live, and love, and enjoy myself.
I found myself unable to worry too much about when I would die. We had tried our hardest to save my life, and we now knew that changelings would never again be created.
I was content with that.
“So, tell me more about this young fisherman,” ma said with a grin, making me groan and blush.
When I woke the next day, the family had pounced on me, wanting to know everything that had happened on the journey.
Glen and I had debated all the way home about how much we should tell them, eventually settling for telling them the truth. Our story was filled with sadness and fear, but also excitement and adventure.
As predicted, it made ma cry to hear about the enchantment we fell under and our imprisonment in Norbroch, but da gently reminded her that I had made it home which cheered her up.
What no one would forget though, was Finnian. I had blushed the whole time I spoke about him and given away my true feelings.
Now the whole family teased me about him constantly. I was embarrassed but also secretly pleased. I looked forward to Finnian visiting our village and was glad my family was just as excited about meeting him.
“You’ll meet him soon,” I said, flustered, and she let it drop with a grin.
That afternoon the whole village climbed to the top of the highest hill, where we had races and danced to the musicians who brought out their drums.
I had countless people ask me about our journey and soon Glen had taken over and was wowing the crowd with tales of our adventures in Culhuinn and Norbroch.
Instead of being inside the castle, like at Winter’s End, we brought the chairs outside to make the most of the long summer night. The sky looked like it was burning
a vibrant mix of pink and orange as the sun finally began to set.
There was a light rain falling, which meant that the Others had seen our festivities and bonfires, and would protect our ripening crops.
I’d wrapped myself up in a tartan blanket and sat with da, watching as Munro and Rhona, who were now a couple, danced wildly to the music.
“Do you wish you could meet her?” I asked suddenly, needing to know.
“Meet who?” Da asked with a smile, not looking up from where he was distributing blaeberries to the twins.
They would go away to dance and then come running back for more, their little hands stained red from the juice.
“Your daughter.”
“My daughter is sitting right beside me, fretting needlessly,” he grinned, and I rolled my eyes.
“She’s the ruler of a new independent human kingdom,” I reminded him.
“That’s all she is to me, a name, a stranger, not the wee girl I watched grow up. I don’t know what that fairy said to make you doubt it, but I’ll remind you every day that we, your family, love you.”
With that, the lingering worry I had carried all the way south began to ebb.
It would take me a while to forget what Darach had said, but I knew that I would get past it with my family and Glen’s help.
This was my family and my village. As I sat there, my heart beating in time to the drums and the light rain cooling my face, I vowed never to let anyone make me doubt it again.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I must thank my family. Mum, Dad, Karen, Gran and Grandpa. You all supported me from the moment I told you I had started writing a book about a changeling. Thank you for always encouraging me and supporting everything I do. It means the world to me.
Next, I must thank Mia Kuzniar, I couldn’t have done this without you. You were the first person join Morven and Glen on their adventure. You put so much time and effort into editing this book, and I will never be able to thank you enough. My book couldn’t ask for a better Auntie!
Lauren Cassidy, the day we met back in 2015 you came with me to buy a notebook, in which I began planning this book. Thank you for your work on the title design. As I am writing this it’s been 145 weeks since we first spoke on Instagram, who would have thought we would end up here?
Nazima and Vicky, two of my favourite people in the world. Thank you for being some of the first people to read my book and supporting me throughout. You never fail to make me smile and keep me positive!
Thank you to the gals: Alexis, Alison, Andi, Carol, Laura and Samantha. I am so glad that the book community brought us together! Thank you for always being there for me and putting up with me when I was stressed.
Thank you to the wonderful people who beta-read this book, your feedback and kind words made all the difference. Melissa, Morgan, Amy-Rose, Shazina, Liv, Anna, Rebecca, Ann and Amy, thank you for joining Morven on her adventure.
A very special thank you to Brittney (reverieandink) for creating the artwork I used to reveal the title of my book, it was so wonderful to work with you.
The wonderful Liza Vasse brought my world to life when she created the map. I can’t thank you enough. I will never stop being amazed by how perfectly you captured the world.
Thank you to amazingly talented Leesha Hannigan for the beautiful cover artwork. I will never get tired of staring at it. It was wonderful to work with you. Thank you for bringing Morven to life!
Josephine Boyce, author of Rebellion, Resistance and Queen, deserves a huge thank you! Thank you for putting up with me asking a million questions about self-publishing over the last year or so. I doubt I could have made it through the self-publishing process without you!
A huge thank you to Ben Alderson and C. M. Lucas, author of Mist and Whispers. You both went above and beyond to help me release this book and I will be forever grateful. I will never stop being amazed by the wonderful job Claire did on my cover design (with her book design company Eight Little Pages).
I would be here for weeks typing out the names of everyone who wished me good luck with my book, or was rooting for me in the book community online.
If you’ve ever tweeted me or commented on my Instagram about my book, then this is for you. If we’ve ever chatted about writing then this is for you. I am not sure if I would have had the courage to self-publish if it wasn’t for the wonderful book community.
You can’t exactly thank a country, but if I didn’t live in such a beautiful place, filled with folklore and magic, then I would never have been inspired to write this book. I tried my hardest to capture Scotland in every aspect of this book. I hope that I managed to share my love of my beautiful country with you.
Finally, thank you! It means the world to me that you gave my book a chance and joined Morven on her journey. The Changeling’s Journey is my introduction to this world and I hope to see you again for the next adventure.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christine Spoors is a Scottish writer who recently graduated from the University of Glasgow with a B.Sc. in Geography. She wrote the first draft of The Changeling’s Journey in her third year of university and edited it during her fourth. Her fantasy world was the perfect escape from journal articles and essays.
Christine has been part of the online book community since 2014 and you can find her social media links below.
Instagram - @WeeReader
Twitter - @WeeReader
Goodreads - Christine Spoors
Pinterest - weeereader
Blog - weereaderblog.wordpress.com
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