“We should leave immediately, Leviathan.” He shook his head and rubbed his cheek absently. The Ancient could throw a good punch. “I shouldnae be around her. I’m far too susceptible to darkness.”
He went to stand, but the Viking put a firm hand on his shoulder and shook his head. “You're fine. Darkness cannot get too close to you right now.” He removed his hand. “Take a moment to gather yourself while we wait for Alyssa to return.”
Return not wake up.
She dozed soundly on the sofa, curled up on her side, much like Chara had been when he first found her all those years ago. Keeping a wary eye on Leviathan, Destiny leaned against the doorway threshold with her arms crossed over her chest. It was clear while Marek and Alyssa slept, the two had exchanged words and distrusted one another.
“What happened?” Marek frowned at them before zeroing in on Alyssa. “Why were we both sleeping?”
“Because dreaming is where you are safest,” Leviathan said.
“Dreaming?”
“Yes,” Destiny confirmed. “Remembering, so to speak, all the little moments that led you two here.”
Right. Because Alyssa was Chara.
He knew it without question.
“It seems dreaming was likely how you two avoided the Brotherhood for this long,” Leviathan went on. “Time is running out, though. We need to make our way back to ancient Ireland. Back to where it all began, so we can figure out how to end this without evil winning.”
“You two just dreamt of the first tattoo, right?” Destiny said. Alarmingly enough, her eyes had changed from dark blue to bright turquoise at some point. “The first tattoo that ever appeared on you, Marek?”
“I did,” Alyssa murmured. Her eyes opened and locked on him. “I was just there...”
He remained still, not sure what to make of the petite brunette as she, though tentative at first, came over and knelt in front of him. She looked from the area just above his elbow to his face, her gaze so kind and curious there could be no doubt Chara was inside her somehow. “Is it still there?”
“’Tis.”
He removed his cloak and rolled up his sleeve, revealing the first two words of what were many now. Some he understood, others he didn’t. All had appeared over the years as he and Chara met in their dreams. As it turned out, most were in an ancient Celtic language that only Fianna warriors and Woodland Druidesses understood. At least, in part, what was written on him was there to help others find their way free of evil. Hence one of the messages helping Ethyn and Ciara break free from a curse on their adventure.
Though Marek had told his kin his inner dragon was responsible for the tattoos, the truth was, he didn't know that for sure.
“It says ‘our future’ just as it did back then,” he murmured, never taking his eyes off Alyssa as he referred to the first tattooed words.
“Our future,” she whispered, reaching out to touch his tattoo only for Destiny to say ‘no’ sternly.
“Physical contact between you is too risky.” Leviathan shook his head. “Not until we figure out what your magic has been trying to tell you over the years.”
“Our magic?” Marek said softly, still staring at Alyssa. “’Tis truly you, aye?” His voice thickened with emotion. “’Tis you, Chara?”
“Alyssa,” she corrected hesitantly. “That’s the name everyone knows me by now. Chara is...”
When she trailed off, he understood. “My name for you.”
She nodded, smiling softly just like she did when she looked like herself. “And the name I prefer if I were to be honest.”
“There’s no reason not to go by the name you consider yours at this point.” Destiny offered Alyssa a warm yet sad smile. “After all, Chara was your first name. Your original name.”
When Marek looked at her in confusion, Chara explained. “It was my name in ancient Ireland...what I was called in our first and only other life together.”
While tempted to ask how that was possible, he already knew the answer because it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Sometimes lives seeped over into other lives, and somehow, through the mysticism of it all, names were carried over.
He met Chara’s smile because he couldn’t help himself. “’Tis a beautiful name.”
She blushed. “I always thought so.”
“Though ‘tis a lovely visage, why do you appear this way?” He went to cup her cheek, to finally touch her beyond a dream, but Leviathan stopped him with a solid ‘no.’
“How are we to unite as we should if we cannae even touch?” he growled at the Viking before softening his tone when speaking to Chara. “What happened, lass? Why do you look so different?”
“It’s a long story.” She sighed and glanced at Destiny. “Or should I say a sad story with more than one hero at the heart of it.”
“We need to leave,” Destiny urged. “Once we get where we’re going, we’ll explain more.” Her gaze swept over the house before narrowing in the direction of the Stonehenge. “And we must depart via the stone.” Her eyes gentled on Chara, as though she hated to say it. “For you must travel back the way you first came to find your way to the end.”
“Through the sacrificial stone,” Marek murmured, suddenly understanding at least a small piece of the puzzle before he understood a much larger part.
How had he not put the pieces together sooner?
Why had he not seen so clearly until this very moment?
“Bloody hell,” he whispered. “Ye’re her...ye’ve always been her.”
Chapter Four
“YES, MAREK.” CHARA nodded, wishing she could hold his hand. Actually touch him. Soothe his stunned reaction. She didn’t have to look in the mirror to know her eyes had returned to their normal pale golden color. A shade similar to that of the horn she once adorned. “I am...well, at least I was, the unicorn at the center of everything going on. Now I’m not...quite...that.”
“How did I not realize the moment I knew a unicorn was involved in all this?” Marek shook his head, baffled. “I knew your appearance was exceptional...different in a way that defied natural beauty.” He closed his eyes briefly as if seeing the real her through his mind’s eye before he looked at her again. “Why didn’t you tell me what you were? What you had been?”
“Because I’m not that anymore.” She bit the corner of her lip. A subconscious habit when she struggled internally with something. “Not really.” Frustrated, she began pacing. “I started figuring things out a while ago, but Destiny said I couldn’t confide in you until the time was right. Until your kin had come together with their mates.”
“How long ago did you start figuring things out?” Marek stood. Pain lit his eyes. “How long did you carry the weight of all this without telling me?”
She stopped pacing and released a shaky breath, amazed by how much she needed the response he’d just offered rather than the one she feared might come. Worry over how keeping secrets from him had affected her rather than flat out anger that she'd done such.
“I really am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she managed, finally meeting his eyes again. “I hated lying to you...because that’s what it felt like.”
“Dinnae worry about that, lass.” Marek shook his head and stepped closer without touching her. “You did what you had to.” He glanced from Destiny back to her. “I just want to know how long you knew? How long you’ve been bracing for whatever’s coming?” He clenched his jaw. “For if you’re the unicorn...”
She didn’t blame him for breaking off, emotional, unable to finish his sentence. As it were, the unicorn had suffered greatly at the hands of the Brotherhood. It possessed the ultimate power they needed to achieve their dark goals.
The ultimate sacrifice on their dark alter.
One that wasn’t just in ancient Ireland.
“It’s a piece,” Marek murmured, not surprisingly picking up her thoughts fast. Something they weren’t able to do when dreaming. “The sacrificial table at this Stonehenge is a pi
ece of the one at the Irish Stonehenge. The one...” He ground his jaw, having trouble going on before he finished his sentence. “The one you...your unicorn was killed upon.”
She didn’t realize she cried until a tear slipped down her cheek. Not because of her own memories of the affair, but because of the sheer pain in his gaze. The hurt he felt for her.
“It’s okay.” She reached out to touch him, soothe him, only for Destiny to say, ‘no.’
“’Tis not okay,” Marek managed, clenching his fists.
He looked at her as though he saw beyond her visage. As if he loved her every bit as much as he did in their dreams.
“Because I do,” he murmured, responding to her thought. He lifted his hand to touch her, then cursed at Leviathan when he said, ‘stop.’
“How do we fix this?” he growled at the Viking. “How do Chara and I get to the point where we can touch and comfort each other beyond a dream?”
“First, we go somewhere safe where you two can begin connecting beyond the dream state,” Destiny replied. “Then, as fate will carry us, we return to where it all began.”
Chara frowned. “So, we don’t go directly back to Ireland then?”
“No.” Leviathan kept a disgruntled but curious eye on Destiny. “We do as your friend says. We follow your path back to the beginning.”
“A path that in part, started in this very house.” Destiny’s gaze swept around the room when it began changing. “It’s begun.”
“What’s going on?” Chara whispered. Furnishings changed. Modern-day lights vanished. Candles flickered to life. “Everything looks so different...so old fashioned.” An ethereal man read by the fire, and little girls played on the floor. “They can’t see us, can they?” Two women in colonial-era dresses cooked away in the kitchen. “Any more than they can see us.”
“No.” Destiny shook her head. “We’ve traveled back to the very end of the eighteenth century. To the first Brouns who will travel back in time. These are Marek’s ancestors.” She gestured at the kitchen. “That’s Arianna.” Then to the little girls. “That’s Coira and Annie. Their tales are interconnected with Caitlin, who resides in this house in the future.”
“It’s time to say goodbye to this place, aye?” Marek said softly. He looked from the ghostly visages to the general direction of the Stonehenge. “It’s time to move on.”
“It is.” Destiny looked at Marek’s ancestors with respect, clearly understanding the importance of them as well as the colonial itself in MacLomain history. “We have someplace else to be now.”
“Where?” Chara asked.
Rather than answer, Destiny flicked her wrist then urged everyone to follow. Her friend had redressed Chara in a medieval dress with a plaid sash and fur cloak, so obviously they were heading to Scotland. Leviathan grumbled under his breath about preferring the garb of a Viking before he chanted himself into a Scotsman’s attire and followed Destiny outside.
“Should I lock the door?” she called after them. By the time she reached the threshold, the house had returned to normal, only now it was dark and quiet. Almost as if it waited with bated breath for the end to come. As though it were suddenly lonely and knew it was being left behind.
“No,” Destiny said over her shoulder. “It will be seen to in good time. Until then...let it rest.”
“Rest?” She frowned at Marek. “What does that mean?”
“’Tis impossible to know with those two.” He paused at the threshold as well, glancing at Destiny and Leviathan before he looked at her again. She knew he was tempted to pull her into his arms and hold her. “This house has seen many MacLomains and Brouns come together, so I’m sure it willnae be abandoned in the end, lass.”
“I hope not.” She forced herself to step outside because being this close to him without touching was torture. Unnatural. His spicy scent was all around her. The heat of his strong body far too tempting,
She eyed the old oak tree out front and the barn across the way. “I might’ve only arrived here recently, but this place feels so very important.” She looked at him as he closed the door behind them. “It’s almost as if I can feel everyone who lived here from those we just saw to those who came after. The stories that were theirs. The love they felt for those who mattered most.”
“In a strange way, ‘twould make sense if you were the unicorn.”
As he often did when they walked together, Marek went to put his hand to the small of her back but stopped when Leviathan called over his shoulder, “Do not.”
“Right, having been the unicorn might’ve connected me more to everything that went on here.” She walked beside him, keeping her distance when Destiny glanced back in warning. “Because somehow, being sacrificed by the Brotherhood connected me with the MacLomains. With Adlin’s very creation. Even though I’m technically at the crux of what might destroy him.”
Adlin, of course, was at the heart of the MacLomain Clan. An arch-wizard conceived by a druidess and an Irish king, he was delivered by the gods to Scotland upon birth. There he began the MacLomain clan as an immortal until he met his one true love Mildred and began aging. Since then, he’d lived a full life, been reborn, and was now somewhere in his fifties, this time happily married to Mildred, or Milly as they called her.
“Nay, I’m at the crux of what might destroy the MacLomains,” Marek corrected, walking as close to her as he dared.
“Whatever ultimately happened wasnae your fault,” he continued, “but clearly mine. My decision...”
“What do you mean?” she asked when he trailed off. “Do you remember what happened in our first life?”
“Nay.” Marek shook his head as they made their way into the woodland. “Sometimes, I feel like I’m on the brink of remembering, then I lose it.”
“I get it.” She nodded, offering a small smile despite everything. They might not be as they were in a dream, but at least they were finally together in reality. More than that, for the first time in a long time, she felt the inherent comfort she always had with him. A sense of safety only he could offer.
“How are my friends doing in medieval Scotland?” She had followed most of it but still wanted his take on things. “I assume everyone’s ignited the power of their Claddagh ring?”
“Aye, all are together and according to Leviathan, heading back to MacLomain Castle in my year, thirteen forty-six. From there, they’ll ensure King David makes it safely into exile in France in his year, which according to history, at this point, should be thirteen thirty-four.”
She nodded, glad to hear it. Thus far, it had been a hard road for them all, so she was happy her friends had found true love. She glanced at Marek, praying they ended up with one another as well. That they could finally be together the way they’d long dreamt. Surely the fact she wore a Claddagh ring meant it was possible.
“What is it?” she asked Destiny when her friend contemplated the sacrificial table upon arrival.
“I thought this would only protect you within your dreams, but I see it can do more.” Destiny narrowed her eyes at the stone. “You each need to take a little piece of it with you.”
Leviathan nodded, seeming to sense the same. “The pieces will help protect them as the memories come.”
“You mean beyond when we’re sleeping?” Chara said.
“Yes.” Leviathan looked at Marek. More specifically, his sword. “Break pieces off with the blade, and they'll protect you both.”
“Are you sure?” Marek looked at the stone with disgust while unsheathing his blade. “I would think the Brotherhood would be able to track Chara better, considering this rock was at the heart of their foul magic.”
“Yes, but so was her unicorn,” Destiny replied. “Which possessed the purest magic imaginable even if she did meet her end in darkness.”
“And who are you again?” Marek’s frown turned Destiny's way. “Because you seem to know an awful lot for someone seemingly unrelated to...” He stopped, clearly catching Chara’s thoughts about who Destiny
was. “Bloody hell.” His eyes widened. “You’re her!”
Chapter Five
“YOU’RE THE DEMI-GODDESS who helped the Guardian Witches and Goddess Étaín in ancient Ireland, aren’t you?” Again, Marek wondered why he hadn’t figured this out sooner. But in his defense, he wasn’t exactly himself. “The prophet who helped them relocate five stones? Four to Scotland and the fifth...” his gaze dropped to the sacrificial table, “here...to this Stonehenge.”
“Yes,” Destiny confirmed. Her eyes flared brighter turquoise before returning to normal. “I’m the demi-goddess, and this is a piece of the original alter on which the unicorn lost her life.”
“Then you know what happened.” Marek kept his blade in hand. “You have the answers to everything.”
“Yes.” She shook her head. “While I can tell you some of it, I can’t tell you all of it until we get somewhere safer.” Her gaze dropped to Chara’s ring. “The truth is, I can't tell you everything in its entirety until you two have harnessed the power of your Claddagh ring.” She looked at Marek. “And your inner dragon finally breaks free.”
“Then we need to get somewhere safer now.” He was never more eager to both embrace his inner beast and be with Chara beyond all the glamour. To finally hold her in real life. To kiss her beyond a dream. To touch her soft flesh in reality rather than within the mind.
When Chara cleared her throat and blushed, he knew she caught those thoughts. More so, based on the subliminal, sweet scent of her arousal, she thought of the moments they’d already shared. The way it had felt laying together if only in a dream.
“You must fight your urges,” Leviathan said so bluntly Chara’s cheeks flamed even redder. The Viking scowled at Marek and shook his head. “You cannot touch your woman yet, let alone lie with her.”
“Way to be subtle.” Destiny rolled her eyes at Leviathan, then sighed and looked at Chara. “As much as I hate to admit it or point it out so bluntly, he’s right. Until we get you somewhere safer, it’s way too risky.” She looked at Marek and gestured at the stone. “The sooner you break off a couple of pieces, the sooner we can get you where you need to be to find your way back to each other safely.”
A Scot's Retribution (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era Book 5) Page 3