The Tartan MP3 Player (Highland Secrets Book One)

by C. A. Szarek

  Claire felt Duncan’s arm around her shoulders move as he shrugged.

  He met her eyes. “Alex is my older brother. We shared a womb, aye. He was born first.”

  She rolled her eyes, and Alana giggled.

  “We must get to the Faery Stones,” Xander urged. “The longer we linger here, the more chance our magic will be discovered.”

  “I can take one person if I blink,” Alana said.

  Duncan cupped Claire’s cheeks. “Go with the princess, mo gradh.”

  Panic rose from the pit of her stomach. “No. I want to stay with you.” They didn’t have much time left together.

  “Alex and I will go with Xander, join you shortly.”

  “Blinking is fast and undetectable. You’ll be safe with me.” Alana’s voice was soft, but Claire had trouble taking reassurance from the sincere violet eyes staring at her.

  Duncan kissed her hard and fast. “I’ll see ye in moments, Claire-lass.”

  Claire’s vision blurred, but she forced a nod.

  Alex tugged Alana to him and kissed her. It lingered and made Claire feel like a voyeur, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from a man who resembled Duncan so much; it was like watching her husband kiss someone else.

  They stayed close, foreheads together after they parted. Alex whispered something to her, and Claire caught a word that sounded close to gradh.

  Probably telling her he loves her.

  Claire’s gut clenched. Words she’d never heard from Duncan.

  Should she bare her heart before she left?

  It won’t matter.

  The scroll would have to be enough.

  She ignored the smile on the Fae princess’s face and her pretty pink cheeks as Alana came to her side.

  “Take my hand and hold on tight,” Alana instructed.

  “What’s going to happen?”

  “You can help me by thinking about the Faery Stones. Do you remember what they look like on this side?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Close your eyes and picture them. We’ll be there in seconds.” The princess entwined their fingers and Claire tried to convince herself tight didn’t need to mean death grip. “Claire, breathe deep with me. It’ll help.”

  She didn’t have a chance to ask help what?

  Wild bright colors flashed in her mind, like the trees in the forest were in a twirling kaleidoscope. She squinted, then smashed her eyes shut.

  Then it was gone.

  Claire’s knees buckled and her ass hit hard ground. She could hear the clash of metal on metal. Then men yelling.

  “Claire, are you all right?” Alana’s voice had an urgent edge, and she felt soft hands on her cheeks.

  She pried her eyes opened and met concerned violet ones. “Aye.” The word came out as a croak.

  “You must stand. We need to move.”

  Her legs wobbled when she tried to make them work, so Claire didn’t push away Alana’s helping hands.

  Fae and the pirates were still fighting.

  How much time had passed?

  Dead and injured littered the ground—only pirates from what Claire could tell, but the flying Fae Warriors hovered in the air and dove after fleeing men.

  Alana took Claire’s hand, and they sprinted to the far side of the platform the Faery Stones were perched on.

  “I must go and turn the red glow off. It’ll cease the alarm, and no more soldiers will come. Only then can I open the gate to the Human Realm.”

  “Okay. Does it take long?”

  “Nay, but there is no way to be invisible. The Faery Stones are warded against stealth magic.”

  “Great. So they’ll be able to see you.”

  “Aye. I must be quick. Our men and my cousin will be here to defend me if necessary.”

  Our men.

  Claire shivered and nodded. She dug her hand inside her trew’s pocket and gripped the small scroll. It grounded her somehow.

  Alana looked up at the dais and sucked in an audible breath. “I shall wait until they arrive.”

  “They said it wouldn’t be long.” Claire glued her boots to the ground so she wouldn’t pace. She studied the soft deer hide.

  A shout she didn’t understand went up, and Alana’s head whipped around. The princess gasped and slid to the edge of the platform, peeking around it.

  “What? Do they know you’re here?”

  “Nay.”

  The shouts continued, and several of the warriors left the pirates they were subduing to join whoever was yelling.

  Claire stood with Alana. The princess was petite, so she could see over her shoulder. Bridei and Riley were running toward the Faery Stones, both had satchels over their shoulders. Fae guards gave chase.

  “What are they yelling?”

  “Thief.” Alana didn’t spare Claire a glance.

  “Ah. Duncan suspected Bridei wasn’t coming home to see long lost relatives.”

  The princess threw Claire a smirk.

  A Fae Warrior swooped down, grabbed Riley and sped into the air. The bag slipped from the pirate’s grip, losing shiny objects as it plummeted to the orange and blue grass.

  Claire gasped when the Fae Warrior snapped Riley O’Malley’s neck.

  The pirate slumped in the soldier’s arms; he hadn’t even had a chance to struggle. Then the flying Fae dropped Riley’s body to the ground.

  An anguished scream rose above the din of the fighting.

  Bridei dropped her bag of stolen goods and pointed at the Fae Warrior who’d killed her lover.

  Wind kicked up out of nowhere, like it had in the cavern on the beach of Skye.

  The seer’s skirts swirled, then her hair, until her skin began to glow, and the Fae Warrior’s body started to contort in the air.

  He fought back, flapping his wings and throwing a ball of blue light at Bridei, but it bounced off the golden glow around her.

  “What the hell?” Claire muttered.

  “Her magic. It’s stronger here.” Alana’s voice was thick, as if what the seer was doing was hurting her. The princess’s shoulders slumped. Her forehead was bathed in sweat, too.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Claire had to shout. The wind was gaining tornado-like proportions.

  “Aye, but you might want to hold onto something.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Something’s wrong.” Xander’s voice was strained. His hands hovered over his middle, as if in pain.

  Duncan exchanged a look with his brother. “What?”

  “Magic. A huge surge. One of my brothers—a Fae Warrior—is being harmed.”

  “Alana?” Alex’s tone had an edge of panic.

  “Nay.” The Fae Warrior’s braid slipped over his shoulder when he shook his head.

  “Let’s get to the Stones,” Duncan ordered. He forbade himself from worrying about his wife—his twin’s wife, as well.

  Claire and Alana were safe at the Faery Stones. Maybe the princess had even opened them. His brother’s wife could defend them from pirates with magic, if the Fae hadn’t defeated them all.

  Alex was eying the Fae Warrior, whose face had gone green. “Can ye fly us, Xander?”

  “Aye. Get close. We’ll go.”

  His twin threw his arms around Duncan, and he tried not to make a face. “Ye need a bath.”

  “My wife didn’t seem to mind.” Alex smirked as Xander wrapped his arms and magic around them and rose into the air.

  Duncan’s spine tingled. He could feel the magic. “Aye, she must love ye more than I.”

  His brother chuckled, and despite the seriousness enveloping them, it was good to hear.

  “Ye might be my womb-mate, but I don’ remember ye smelling like this,” Duncan muttered.

  “Ye don’ remember anythin’ at all.”

  Their banter was discarded when Xander’s face contorted with pain. His iridescent wings were pumping twice their normal rate.

  Panic crossed Alex’s face. “Ye’re going to drop us, aren’ ye?”

&nb
sp; “My power—my magic—is being sucked away.”

  “Get as close as you can to the ground, we’ll roll.” Duncan tamped down the fear churning his belly.

  Xander nodded. Sweat poured from his forehead and his arms shook around them.

  “Together?” Alex asked.

  Duncan met his twin’s blue eyes. “Aye. Count.”

  “One…two…”

  Before three exited his mouth, Xander hovered about six feet off the ground. He released them with a groan, and Duncan lost sight of them both as he tucked and rolled into the oddly colored grass.

  “Xander!” The shout was Alana’s.

  The Fae Warrior crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

  They all reached the fallen soldier at the same time.

  The wind whipped around them, throwing Duncan’s hair in his face and eyes, buffeting his clothes.

  “I’m fine, cousin.” But the Fae didn’t sound so as he forced words loud enough to be heard over the rushing air.

  “What’s happening?” Duncan asked as he and Alex managed to get Xander to his feet.

  “Riley was killed by a Fae Warrior,” Claire said. Her warm hand landed on his forearm. “She…kinda went tornado.”

  Thank Jesus she’s all right.

  It didn’t matter that Duncan hadn’t exactly comprehended her statement. He grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles, but then helped his brother support Xander.

  “Open the Stones, mo chridhe,” Alex told Alana, slipping his arm around the Fae Warrior’s middle.

  “I’m weak, my love.” Her voice was heavy, strained, like her cousin’s had been. “But I will try.”

  Bodies of pirates littered the area, but all the winged Fae Warriors were crumpled to the ground, their wings wrapped around their forms as they writhed in agony.

  The pirate seer was so radiant, Duncan couldn’t look at her.

  “Help her, Laird Alex. I’m fine,” Xander choked out.

  Duncan followed his gaze; Alana was having trouble getting up onto the platform.

  His twin nodded and dashed to his wife.

  Claire took Alex’s place, supporting Xander with her arm around his waist. “We’ve gotta get outta here, Duncan. I don’t want to die.”

  “We won’t die, mo gradh,” he grunted. Duncan wanted to touch her, kiss her, but they needed to help the Fae man who’d helped them.

  Claire said nothing. However, even if his wife had intended to answer, it wouldn’t have mattered.

  The popping sound he’d heard in the cavern on Skye sounded in a sequence. His brother’s wife must have succeeded.

  “Let’s get closer to the dais,” Duncan said.

  Xander nodded, helping Duncan and Claire support his weight.

  Wind picked up speed, pushing and pulling at their bodies as they moved closer to the Faery Stones.

  The circular hazy portal was visible, but Duncan couldn’t make out Skye on the other side just yet.

  Alex had his wife by the hand in front of the portal, and he gestured wildly for them to pick up their speed.

  Duncan couldn’t see, his hair whipped into his face and he didn’t have a free hand to push it away.

  Putting one boot in front of the other, he concentrated on walking forward. With every step, his legs weighed more.

  The next step made no contact with the colorful groundcover.

  Pressure sucked at his limbs and plastered his clothing to his body. Duncan flailed; lost control of his feet.

  Then Xander was ripped from beneath his arm.

  Claire screamed.

  Everything whirled in front of his eyes until his temples ached.

  Then it all went black.

  * * * *

  When Duncan came to, his wife’s soft hands were cupping his face. She had tears in her eyes. “I have to go.”

  He sat up when Claire glanced over her shoulder.

  They were on the beach of Skye, not inside the cavern containing the Faery Stones, but he could see the fissure-like entrance behind Claire. Duncan didn’t look around though; he couldn’t tear his eyes from his wife’s emerald gaze.

  “Mo gradh…”

  She smiled. “I know. I made a decision.” Claire’s gorgeous breasts heaved as she sucked in an audible breath. Kissed him, but it was much too fleeting. “I’ll be back, Duncan. I love you.”

  He scrambled to his feet, his head spinning, heart cantering.

  Claire loves me.

  Duncan reached for her, but his wife jogged away, a small parchment scroll in one hand, the item she called an MP3 player, in the other.

  A blond woman in odd clothing was visible through the open bubble, but wavering as if the portal wasn’t going to be open for very long.

  When Claire stepped through it and the gate disappeared with a pop, Duncan’s knees buckled.

  A roar shattered the sudden silence. It took him a moment to process that it’d come from his mouth, his throat burned.

  Gone.

  She’s gone.

  “Alana!”

  Duncan’s head swam as he heard his brother’s shout. When he looked up, his sister-by-marriage was doubled over, hands buried in the sand to hold her body up.

  Alex wrapped his arm around his wife’s slender waist, and Duncan’s gut clenched when his brother gathered the Fae princess into his chest.

  Forcing himself to his feet, Duncan swallowed against the lump in his throat. He ignored the bloody bodies of the pirates that littered the beach. He couldn’t remember how they’d come through the portal to the Human Realm.

  He’d passed out.

  Had they all?

  Evidently, the Fae had rejected the dead that’d been littering the colorful groundcover.

  No Fae Warriors were in sight, save Xander, who was sitting on the beach, head in hands. His wings were not visible.

  Bridei wasn’t anywhere he could spot, either.

  Duncan strode to the embracing couple. “Get her back. Now.”

  Wide violet eyes met his gaze.

  He cared not that the Fae princess was pale, nor that his brother wore a scowl the size of Scotland.

  “Get—” His voice cracked. Duncan had to clear his throat. “Bring my wife back to me. Please.”

  Alex’s expression softened.

  Alana’s eyes misted, and Duncan’s blood chilled when she shook her head, her white-blond locks shifting about her shoulders. “I don’t know if I can, Duncan.”

  “Brother—” His twin reached for him after he and his wife gained their feet, but Duncan shook his head, stumbling backwards.

  “Now. Please. I need—” A sob rose from nowhere and he grunted it away. He would not cry like a lass, despite the pain lancing his heart. “Open a door to the future, please, Princess.”

  “Portals don’t work that way, Duncan.” Alana’s voice was thick with regret.

  “The seer did it. Twice.”

  “Yes, but I don’t think it was intentional. I’m not sure what happened when Claire came to our time, but I think this time it was a result of the power the seer gathered in the Fae Realm. I also think it killed her in the process.”

  “Please.” Duncan couldn’t respond to her thought on Bridei. He collapsed to his knees before Alana, reaching for his sister-by-marriage’s hand. He squeezed her slender fingers, imploring.

  Begging.

  He didn’t give a shite.

  He needed Claire.

  Duncan hadn’t even told his wife he loved her.

  She couldn’t know what mo gradh meant.

  Calling her my love and telling her how he felt were two different things.

  And she loved him.

  “I need her back. I…need…” His voice broke on a sob he couldn’t disguise, but damn his family if they thought him weak.

  Alex dragged him to his feet and embraced him

  Tears coursed down Alana’s cheeks. “Duncan, I’ll try. I promise.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “Claire! Oh my God! Where’d you com
e from, and where the hell are your clothes?” Jules’ green eyes—a mirror of her own—widened when Claire all but fell into her sister’s arms.

  “I don’t have much time.” Claire stumbled, and Juliette steadied her with hands to bare forearms.

  The scroll she’d carefully written to explain everything to Duncan tumbled to the sand with her MP3 player.

  It was addressed to her husband, but Jules could read it and understand just as well.

  Alana had told her whatever items were in her hands, she’d bring them through time with her. The princess didn’t know why it wasn’t the same for clothing, especially since travelling between the Fae and Human Realms didn’t leave one naked.

  Panic threatened to overtake Claire when the portal closed with a pop.

  No. Alana will come for me. She’ll figure out a way.

  I will see Duncan again.

  I have to.

  I promised.

  My place is with him.

  “Claire. Look at me. What’s going on?”

  “It’s unbelievable. But it’s all on the scroll. I wrote everything out, Jules. Damn, writing with a quill is hard.”

  Jules’ fair eyebrows drew tight, and her sister shook her. “I’ve been looking for you for weeks. You disappeared. I came all the way to Scotland.”

  “I knew you’d come for me, but I’m fine. I’m good. I’m…married.”

  “Married? What the hell, Claire?”

  The wind kicked up. Sand blew around their faces, whipping their hair around. Pops filled the air, getting steadily louder. The portal would be open in seconds.

  Claire threw her arms around her sister. “I love you, Jules. Please know that.”

  “Claire, what—”

  A ripping sound had their heads turning collectively. The hazy opening hovered a foot or so off the ground and the wind burned Claire’s cheeks, whistled through her ears.

  Alana was a wavy figure on the other side.

  Claire’s heart galloped. At least she could see her sister-in-law. “I have to go, Jules. Be happy. I am. I probably won’t see you again, but the scroll explains everything. Just know, I’m happy. Eternally.” She squeezed her sister against her bare body, then planted a kiss on her cheek.

  When their eyes met, Juliette had tears spilling over.