But as she’d grown older and learned more, she realized the danger of certain knowledge. And one night, as she’d worked in the lab, she had a terrifying realization. For years she’d been playing around with a set of theories, working toward a hypothesis that—if it held water—would change the way the world viewed everything.
Her parents had been delighted with her progress, demanding constant updates, pushing her harder and harder.
So engrossed had Gwen been in proving her hypothesis—for the sheer joy of proving it—that she hadn’t given thought to all the possible ramifications until it had been nearly too late. In a moment of blinding clarity, she suddenly glimpsed all the potentials should she complete her work.
The fundamentals of it would make possible weapons to exceed all weapons. Infinite possibilities, not just to destroy the earth but to alter the very fabric of the universe. Too much power for man to own.
Late that very night, the lab at Triton Corp. caught fire.
Everything was destroyed.
The fire chief and arson investigator spent weeks picking through the rubble before writing it up as accidental, despite the unfathomable heat that had caused the foundation to explode.
There’d been too many chemicals stored on site to prove anything, and the burn patterns had been oddly random. A veritable study of randomness, her father had observed coldly when she’d informed him that all her research had gone up in flames and she’d failed to keep back-up Zip disks in the safety box at the bank as he’d taught her.
Five days later Gwen quit school and moved out into her own barren little apartment. Her father had refused to let her take so much as one piece of furniture.
She’d never looked back.
“I set fire to the lab I’d been working in and burned everything. I dropped out of my parents’ world and took a job settling…er, disputes.”
His eyes were glittering when she finished. He was stunned by what she’d just confided. Doubly stunned that fate had brought him such a woman who was his match in every way. Intelligence, passion, honor, courage to defy and do what she knew was right.
What children they would have, what a life they would have!
“I am proud of you, Gwen,” he said quietly.
She smiled radiantly. “Thank you! I knew you’d understand. And that’s why I understand about the stones.”
They kissed slowly and passionately, as if they had all the time in the world. Then Drustan said softly, “ ‘Tis said that if a Keltar should use the stones for his own selfish reasons, the souls of the lost Druids—the evil ones who died in the battle—wait to take possession of such a fool. That they’re trapped in a kind of in-between place, neither dead nor living. I know naught if it’s true, nor dare I chance it. To reawaken such violence, such madness and rage—” He broke off. “There is much about Druidry even we doona understand. We doona tamper with the unknown. When Dageus died in the other reality, I could not break my oaths.” He blinked and looked startled. “Dageus,” he muttered, pushing himself up.
Gwen sat up with him. “He’s alive, remember? You sent two hundred guards with him.”
He rubbed his forehead. “Och, ’tis damn odd having two realities in here. I can see why the mind instinctively resists it. I hold all the grief of him dying yet the awareness that he hasn’t.” He blew out a breath, frowning. “Yet.”
Gwen searched his eyes. “You’re worried about him.”
“Nay,” he said swiftly, “I have my beloved wife—”
“You’re worried about him,” she said dryly.
He raked a hand through his hair.
“Has the battle happened yet? You never told me what date he died.”
“Two days hence. The second day of August.”
“Could you get there by then?” she pressed.
He nodded, clearly torn. “But only if I ride without pause.”
“Then go. Bring him safely home, Drustan,” she said softly. “I’ll be fine here. I can’t bear to think that he might die if you’re not there. Go.”
“You dismiss me from your bed so soon?” he growled teasingly, but she glimpsed a brush of vulnerability in his eyes. She marveled that such an intelligent, attractive, passionate, sexy man could suffer insecurity.
“No. If it were up to me, I’d never let you go, but I know that if Dageus doesn’t come home safely, I’ll hate myself. We have time. We have the rest of our lives,” she said, smiling.
“Aye, that we do.” He stretched himself over her, suspending his weight on his palms, and kissed her with only their lips touching. Long and slow and delicious. The hot silk of his tongue swirled languidly against hers.
When he sat back, he was grinning.
“What?”
“Anya. I can both secure my brother’s safety and tidy up that bit of business. No lass of five and ten will tolerate ‘magic’ well. I will induce her to break the betrothal, bring my brother home, and toop you till you can’t move. For a sennight, nay, a fortnight—”
“You will come back, love me, then we’ll get down to figuring out who plans to abduct you, because we still have a big problem, you know,” Gwen corrected him as a chill of concern marred her dreamy contentment. She was so elated to have her Drustan back, had been so lost in their lovemaking that the danger he was in had completely slipped her mind. She pulled the coverlet about her waist and sat cross-legged, facing him. “Who abducted you, Drustan? Do you remember anything at all?”
His silvery eyes darkened. “I told you all I could recall about the abduction in your century. I never glimpsed my abductors. By the time I neared the clearing, whatever drug they’d given me had rendered me nearly unconscious. I couldn’t even open my eyes. I heard voices but couldn’t identify them.”
“Then the first order on the agenda is that I will personally prepare all your food and drink for the next month,” Gwen announced.
He arched a brow. “I doona think I care to let you out of my bed that long.”
“There’s no way you’re drinking or eating a thing that hasn’t either been prepared by me or sampled by someone first.”
“There’s an idea,” he mused. “After all, ’twas only a drug, not a poison. Our guards have been known to serve such a function in times of danger.”
“I asked Silvan who might wish to harm you. He said you have no enemies. Can you think of anyone?”
Drustan pondered her question. “Nay. The only possibility I can think of is if someone thought to steal our lore, but that still doesn’t explain why someone would enchant me. Why wouldn’t they have killed me? Why make me slumber?” He shook his head. “I thought that once I got back here, I would see some hint of the threat. But still I can’t imagine who it might be.”
“Well, when the message comes, you won’t go. We can send the guards to the clearing. What day were you abducted?”
“The seventeenth day of August. A fortnight after Dageus was…” He trailed off, his concern etched on his face.
“Go now,” she urged. He looked so worried. “We can talk about it more when you return. Go bring your brother home. Silvan and I will put our heads together and list some possible suspects while you’re gone, then when you and Dageus return, we’ll figure it out.”
“I doona wish to leave you.”
Gwen sighed. She didn’t want him leaving her either. She’d only just gotten him back again. But she knew that if she had a brother, and if her brother had died in some other reality, she’d need to be there to make certain he didn’t die this time. She couldn’t bear it if anything went wrong. Drustan needed to be there, and he needed her to encourage him to go.
“You must,” she insisted. “I can’t ride well enough yet, and I’d slow you down. You might not make it in time if you take me.”
Raking a hand through his hair, he slipped from the bed, looking impossibly torn. His gaze swept over her; her skin flushed from lovemaking, lips swollen from kisses. She sat cross-legged amid the violet velvet coverlets, a creamy godd
ess rising from a purple sea. “A lovelier vision I’ve ne’er seen,” he said huskily.
Gwen beamed at her magnificent Highlander.
“I’ll be back, lass. I’d bid you doona move a muscle so I could find you looking just the same, but I fear it will be four or five days before I return.”
“It might take me four or five days to start walking right again,” she said, blushing.
He flashed her a grin of pure male satisfaction, dressed swiftly, kissed her a dozen times, then slipped from the chamber.
Then poked his head back in. “I love you, Gwen.”
Gwen fell back on the bed, sighing dreamily. Love. Gwen Cassidy had a heart and was loved.
“Say it,” he said anxiously.
She laughed delightedly. “I love you too, Drustan.” His neediness about hearing the words was adorable. Her Highland hunk had such a charming vulnerability.
He smiled brilliantly and was gone.
In Drustan’s absence, Gwen, Silvan, and Nell listed potential suspects: all the occupants of the castle, certain questionable personages from the village of Balanoch, Drustan’s ex-betrotheds, and several neighboring clans. After much discussion, each was ticked off for lack of a possible motive.
“Is it possible the Campbell had anything to do with it?” Gwen asked. “Because they killed Dageus in the other reality,” she clarified.
Silvan shook his head. “I doona see those two events being related, m’dear. Colin Campbell has ne’er come against us, and his holdings are vast enough that even now he has difficulty protecting his territory. Besides, there’s the issue of enchantment. ’Twould take another Druid or a witch to do such a thing. The Campbell have no such arts.”
Gwen sighed. “So what are we going to do?”
“The only thing we can do—take all precautions. We’ll triple the guard rotations. I’ll send them out combing the countryside. And we’ll wait. Now that we know there is a threat, it shouldn’t be too difficult to avert. Drustan will go nowhere unaccompanied. Robert, our captain of the guard, will serve as his taster.”
“And in the meantime,” Nell said, taking Gwen’s hand, “we women-folk will set our minds to happier things, mayhap select the room ye wish to use when ye have wee bairn.”
Silvan turned a beatific gaze upon them. Gwen didn’t miss the way his gaze lingered overlong on Nell. Nor did she miss the heated glance that passed between them.
Hmmm, she thought. Seems they finally came to their senses, without my help.
She might have been mortified had she known just how she’d helped them.
“Aye, now, there’s a sound plan,” Silvan said. “And rest easy, m’dear. We’ll avert the threat.”
For the next few days, Gwen immersed herself in plans for the future. Drustan was a strong man, smart, and his castle well fortified. Now that they were aware of the impending threat, they would indeed unmask the enemy, and life would be all she’d ever dreamed it might be.
23
Besseta’s eyes were dark with terror as she watched the MacKeltar guard thunder past the cottage. The news she’d overheard in Balanoch earlier today was true! The guards were returning with Drustan’s betrothed! She hadn’t even known they’d ridden out to fetch her—thanks to Nevin’s refusal to discuss the goings-on at the castle.
Now she had arrived—the woman who would kill her son!
Trembling, Besseta crept away from the window and nearer the fire. She rubbed her hands together, trying in vain to dismiss a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. The chill was in her heart, ne’er to be thawed lest she secure her son’s future.
She’d bartered for the gypsies’ services several days earlier, but, unaware that the laird’s betrothed was arriving so soon—more of Nevin’s fault for being so close-lipped—she’d not specified the date for Drustan’s abduction. She’d planned to use herbs to drug the laird, then lure him to the loch where, helpless, he would be enchanted. Now she had a better idea. She would go to the gypsy camp this very night and instruct them to act immediately, take his betrothed, use her as lure, then enchant them both.
She snatched up her cloak in trembling fingers and hurried to the door. Nevin was still at the castle and would be for several hours if he stayed true to his schedule. Utterly oblivious to danger all around him.
She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, clutching the door and steeling her will. It was almost over. Just one more day, brave the gypsy camp one more time, and her son would be safe.
And mayhap, just mayhap, that horrible sucking darkness would finally leave her alone.
The evening Drustan returned, Gwen, Silvan, and Nell, alerted by the guard that rode ahead, waited on the front steps of the castle.
Gwen felt her heart might burst from happiness. Her gaze lingered long on the two magnificent men, talking, clapping each other on the shoulder, and jesting as they dismounted and the stable master led their horses away. She’d had a part in that, she thought, smiling. First goal accomplished. Drustan’s brother was safe.
When Drustan reached the bottom step, she flung herself into his arms.
He swung her up into his embrace and kissed her hungrily. By the time he’d finished, she was gasping for air and laughing.
“My turn?” Dageus teased.
“I doona think so,” Drustan growled. Then his scowl faded and he smiled at his brother. “By Amergin, ’tis like a dream. I still recall standing in her century, mourning you, brother. Have a care with yourself. I never want to suffer that again. I expect you to live a hundred years or more.”
“I plan to,” Dageus assured him. Then he smiled at Gwen, and she caught her breath. For a moment, she thought him nearly as gorgeous as Drustan. Those lionlike golden eyes of his…
She glanced up at Drustan, who had arched a brow, watching her.
“Oh, come on,” Gwen said lightly. “I can’t possibly not notice how attractive he is, as much as he looks like you.”
Drustan rumbled deep in his throat.
“But I married you,” she said pertly.
“Aye, that you did, lass. That she did, Dageus,” Drustan said pointedly.
“Doona be getting yourself in a fankle,” Dageus said lightly. “ ‘Tis plain her heart is only for you. If you’ll recall, she didn’t care for my kiss.”
Drustan growled again.
Dageus laughed. “ ‘Tis thanking you I am, Gwen Cassidy. Drustan tells me he regained his memory when you said the spell. The battle occurred as you predicted. ’Twould seem I owe you my life.”
“No,” Gwen protested. “I’m happy I could help, and glad you’re all right.”
“ ‘Tis an old custom. I shall always protect you and yours,” he said, his golden eyes glittering. “And there is the small fact that you have made my brother happier than I’ve ever seen him, so I’m thanking you doubly, lass. Welcome to our family.”
Gwen’s eyes misted. She was part of a family now. Drustan’s arms tightened and he swung her legs up, cradling her. She tipped her head back for another leisurely kiss.
Dageus grinned and shook his head, turning to greet his father. He paused, noticing Silvan’s arm about Nell’s waist.
Drustan noticed at the same time. His eyes widened and he glanced at Gwen.
She shrugged, smiling. “I don’t know what happened, but ever since you left, they’ve been acting different. It seems they finally admitted their feelings to each other.”
Dageus tossed his head back and gave a whoop of joy. He grabbed Nell and kissed her soundly on the mouth. Nell flushed, looking immensely relieved, and Gwen realized she must have been nervous about how Drustan and Dageus might feel about her relationship with their father.
“Stop that,” Silvan growled. “Kiss her cheek if you wish, but doona be kissing those lips. They’re mine.”
Nell’s laughter was joyous, and she and Gwen exchanged a purely feminine smile. Possessiveness in tiny doses could be delicious.
Dageus grinned. “So, our dolt of a da has finally open
ed his eyes.”
Silvan looked sheepish.
Dageus plucked Nell up and twirled her around in dizzying circles. “ ‘Tis long past time you took your seat at our table, Nell.”
“I take it this means you approve,” Silvan said dryly.
“Oh, aye, we approve,” Dageus and Drustan said simultaneously.
When Dageus deposited Nell near Silvan, only Gwen noticed the faint hint of sadness in Dageus’s eyes, buried deep behind the golden glitter. She might not have noticed it at all had she not experienced it herself.
It was loneliness.
Where would Dageus MacKeltar, brother to a man who’d been jilted four times—
“You did break the betrothal, didn’t you?” She tipped her head back at Drustan, narrowing her eyes.
“Aye, seems Anya didn’t care for me calling down a storm during battle,” he said, grinning.
—Druid extraordinaire, gorgeous beyond words, find a woman to wed him in all of Alba?
And Dageus knew it, although Drustan hadn’t realized it yet.
“Did he make his eyes glow and everything?” she teased, eyeing Dageus thoughtfully.
“It was most impressive,” Dageus informed her. “You should have seen him raise his arms to the sky and make quite a performance of it, when in truth it doesn’t require much effort—an arrow with the right elements shot into a certain cloud formation.”
“Oh, you must tell me,” Gwen breathed.
They both laughed, tossing similar manes of silky dark hair.
“I didn’t call down a storm. I told her that if she broke our betrothal, she could retain the bride-price to use as a future dowry.” He grimaced. “It seems she didn’t wish to wed me anyway, she’d been pining for another. She said her da gave her no choice, as they had need of coin.”
Oh, Drustan, Gwen thought. Doomed never to be appreciated by the women in his century. And Dageus! There were going to be some serious matchmaking efforts in her future. Where on earth would she find him a wife? she wondered.
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