A Scot's Retribution (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era Book 5)

by Sky Purington

  Leviathan frowned. “And why exactly is she playing it now?”

  “To get her point across without possibly being overheard,” she explained, sensing Destiny, seeing it all so clearly. “She can't tell us what happened in our previous life ahead of time because something is listening. If we say it, though, they can’t hear.”

  “We have to figure things out on our own because you literally can't tell us,” she said aloud to Destiny, certain she was right. “Or should I say you can but shouldn't. Because if you do, whoever might be listening will know what’s going on with us. They’ll be able to track how close Marek and I are to igniting our ring. After we’ve remembered things that happened in our last life, though, they can be talked about without issue.”

  Destiny nodded with relief. “That’s right.”

  “So just to be clear,” Chara said, “the only things we can't question you about are those pertaining to mine and Marek’s first life? What happened to us?”

  Which, if one thought about it, was just about everything they needed answers to at this point.

  When Destiny nodded again, she realized there might be a loophole.

  “What about us asking you general yes or no questions?” she asked her friend. “Of course, not specifically about what happened to Marek and me?”

  “It's not off the table,” Destiny replied tentatively. “Within reason.”

  Something was better than nothing. She'd have to give it some thought.

  Meanwhile, she had some apologizing to do.

  “I’m sorry for getting so frustrated with you.” Feeling bad, she embraced Destiny. “Forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive.” Destiny shook her head. “I wish I could have at least told you why I had to remain silent, but it was too risky until you guys embraced your dragons. Until we got to this juncture. Then it was best you figured it out just like you did.”

  “And what exactly is this juncture?” Marek asked as Tiernan took the meat off the spit to cool.

  “More distance between who you were then and who you are now,” Destiny replied. “Your dragons surfacing is a much-needed layer of defense between you and what’s trying to track you. They make you harder to detect. That's why the Brotherhood likely repressed yours and Cray's dragons to begin with.”

  “When will you be able to tell Marek and Chara everything?” Julie asked Destiny.

  “Soon.” Destiny looked at them. “You still have your bits of rock from the sacrificial table in New Hampshire, right? Pieces from the Irish stone that was yours?”

  They nodded.

  “Good,” she replied. “Because things are truly in motion now. You’ll remember it all in no time. Once you do, everything will happen quickly.” Her gaze went to everyone else in warning. “That’s when the ultimate fight comes. When good has to triumph over evil or all will be lost.”

  “’Tis close indeed.” Marek looked at Ethyn and Ciara. “By seeking out Destiny in that life, I was seeking out the Brotherhood. Which means ‘tis only a matter of time before I come to your aid.”

  “And in effect, betray the Brotherhood.” Ethyn frowned at him. “I got the sense whatever fate you eventually suffered in that life took place shortly after that, cousin.”

  Chloe nodded in agreement, her eyes suddenly sparkling with magic, her inner Fae clearly troubled. “Yes, for after that, Ethyn kept company with Phelan, and his Fianna brother vanished.” Her eyes drifted to Chara. “As did the beautiful unicorn who loved us all.”

  Before she could say anything more, her eyes stopped sparkling, and whatever else she was going to share remained unsaid.

  “Sorry, guys.” Chloe frowned. “I almost recalled something else, but it got away from me.”

  “It’s all right,” Chara reassured her. “That seems to be the way of things for all of us.”

  “Right,” the other girls echoed.

  Truth told, Chara didn’t doubt they would discover whatever else Chloe had been about to remember soon enough.

  “So you betrayed this darkness, or more pointedly, one person in particular,” Leviathan said, obviously ready to ask Destiny some yes or no questions, “and they shunned you?”

  Though she clearly didn’t want to answer him, Destiny did seem to want to answer Chara, so she looked her way and shook her head.

  “Then, you left the Brotherhood willingly?” Chara asked.

  Destiny nodded, thanking Tiernan when he handed her some roasted meat.

  “Why would they allow you to leave if you betrayed them?” Chara went on only to realize she hadn't asked a yes or no question. “Did they try to kill you first? I guess I should also ask, can demi-gods be killed?”

  “Yes to both,” Destiny replied.

  “’Twould not be easy though,” Grant murmured, eyeing the goddess. “Only a full god could do it.”

  “Such as the god suspected to be affiliated with all this.” Leviathan’s eyes narrowed on Destiny. “Donn Fírinne, the God of Death.”

  “Aye.” Grant watched Destiny closely as well. “I would think him capable.”

  “That’s who it is, isn’t it?” Chara looked at her friend, and a chill raced down her spine. “Donn Fírinne is the one listening, isn’t he? The one who can hear...” She blinked, shocked when it occurred to her who he might actually be. Who might have the power to follow Destiny’s thoughts in particular as it related to this. To Marek and Chara. “Donn is your father, isn’t he, Destiny? The God of Death is your dad?”

  Destiny’s expression turned grim, and she nodded once.

  Stunned silence fell as everyone digested that. As Chara digested that she’d been raised by death’s daughter.

  “What is it?” Adlin asked in a hushed tone when he manifested next to Grant. He looked at everyone’s surprised faces. “I feel like I missed a good plot twist.”

  Grant evidently filled him in telepathically because Adlin’s eyes widened on Destiny, and though he seemed shocked, instead of frowning, he smiled kindly. “Well, good for you getting out from underneath your father’s thumb for ‘tis surely what you did.” He cocked his head in consideration. “Though it must have taken a great deal of cleverness and ingenuity on your part.”

  Destiny sighed. “You have no idea.”

  “Not yet, but I hope to soon.” Impressed, Adlin kept smiling. “Either way, well done, lass. What a thing you’ve managed to accomplish!”

  “He really does see the bright side of things, doesn’t he?” Chara said into Marek’s mind.

  “Aye, more and more as he becomes like his former self,” he replied.

  “I’ve done everything I could think to do along the way,” Destiny replied to Adlin before her eyes softened on Chara. “And it’s been worth every moment.”

  “’Tis good that.” Adlin looked from Chara to Destiny. “I’d say one way or another, your soul’s been truly enlightened, even strangely resurrected during this process, goddess.”

  Though Destiny seemed startled by his comment, she gave no reply.

  “That's how you know the dead can hear us at times, isn’t it?” Chara asked when it suddenly occurred to her. “Because death’s your father?”

  Destiny nodded.

  “I think mayhap ‘twould be wise of us not to ask much more of Destiny,” Grant said, clearly sympathetic toward the goddess and the endless questions being thrown at her. “Instead, Marek and Chara should find their truth like everyone else has.”

  “I agree.” Yet Adlin, too curious for his own good, asked Destiny more questions. “So, your father can only track what you say pertaining to Marek and Chara before they recall things on their own? You’re sure about that?”

  Destiny nodded. “Yes.”

  “How can you be so sure, though?” Leviathan frowned at her. “It seems to me someone as powerful as Donn might be able to sense more from his own offspring. Perhaps more than you realize.”

  “I can’t say why yet,” she replied. “Only that I’m right.”

  “So,
your assurance has something to do with what happened to Chara and Marek?” Grant surmised, half stretched along a sun ray, half normal. “Something they must discover on their own?”

  Destiny nodded.

  “Then may their truths be revealed soon indeed.” Adlin sighed with dismay when Grant vanished along with the sun behind a cloud. “So, if nothing else, that stops happening.”

  Everyone agreed and commenced to eating. All except Leviathan, who seemed more content watching Destiny warily with his arms crossed over his chest.

  “He’s got to be driving her nuts by now,” Chara commented later. She and Marek rode toward the rear of their small retinue.

  “Based on last night, ‘tis safe to say they’re driving each other mad,” Marek replied. “But there cannae be any doubt that although Leviathan distrusts Destiny, he wants her.”

  “Not sure I can say the same about her,” Chara commented. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her dislike anyone so much.”

  “So.” He chuckled. “What does that have to do with laying with him?”

  “Well, generally, people need to like each other.”

  “Not dragons.” He nipped her earbud, reminding her just how different their species really was. “Our kind doesnae necessarily need to like another to lust after them. ‘Tis more primal with us. Animalistic.” He nibbled down the side of her neck. “And whilst Destiny appears to dislike Leviathan, as a rule, I dinnae get the sense a man can so easily rattle her. Nay, I’d say she’s more upset with her inner dragon for desiring him.”

  “Ah,” she managed, far more focused on what he was doing to her than what he was saying. Which, naturally, brought her mind back to the night before and what they’d done. How wicked and wanton he had made her feel.

  Then how she’d felt shifting the first time. Though the sensation of becoming a dragon was unbelievable, how she’d felt when she saw his dragon was untouchable. Their connection had been unparalleled. The desire she’d felt for him strong. Deeply primal.

  “Why’d you stop?” she began, quite enjoying what he’d been doing to her neck.

  Moments later, she sensed something was wrong.

  He had gone too still.

  She glanced over her shoulder only to have her fears confirmed.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  ONE SECOND MAREK was standing over Ethyn and Ciara in another life warning them not to lay together, then he was someplace else entirely pleading with Ethyn’s Fianna to give him just a wee bit more time. Moments later, he was elsewhere again, striding through the woodland, knowing it was almost time.

  He had given himself over to the Brotherhood, and they were coming.

  Donn Fírinne was coming.

  He smiled darkly, caught somewhere between the man he’d once been and the one he was becoming. Though it had been the most difficult thing he’d ever done, after spending one last afternoon with Chara days before, he went his own way, knowing he would never see her again. Could never see her.

  For he had struck a bargain.

  Deliver the Brotherhood not just himself but the power of his Fianna brother and his virginal Woodland Druidess. In return, Chara would be freed from their dark intentions.

  It had not been a bargain easily struck, but thanks to the demi-god’s help, it happened. Now, he could only hope he was as strong in magic and purity as the goddess suspected. That he would have the strength to battle alongside her against the Brotherhood when the time came, ultimately keeping his brother, Chara, and the druidess safe.

  After all, the only way the Brotherhood could trust him, considering his love for the unicorn, was for him to embrace darkness. To let it into his soul. Let it corrupt him so they knew he wouldn’t betray them.

  Even now, as he drew closer to the Stonehenge, he felt the fight within him. The battle raging between good and evil. The cloying darkness that wanted to change him into something unrecognizable. Yet he would fight it. Had to.

  Chara meant far too much.

  The Stonehenge was in sight when an odd sensation washed over him. He frowned and tried to shake it off, but it persisted. Though alarmed, he had no choice but to go on. Time was running out. His Fianna brother was growing impatient and intended to confront the Brotherhood before they went after his druidess.

  Yet, in reality, it wasn’t going to go like that at all.

  Nay, the Brotherhood, led by he himself, was coming here. Taking what he’d supposedly offered up. Coming for their due.

  Or so they thought.

  He slowed just beyond the circle when he spied his brother and druidess beneath the tree at the edge of the stones.

  “Plans have changed,” the goddess’s voice echoed telepathically. “’Tis too late.”

  “Too late?” he replied, but she had already fled his mind.

  A chill swept through him at the ominous words. What had she meant by that? Why wasn’t she here? But deep down, he knew. She would not be fighting alongside him, after all.

  He had been betrayed.

  They were taking Chara instead.

  What’s more, they still intended to end his brother and the druidess. He could feel their dark intentions as they drew closer. Their power. There was no way he could fight them on his own. He wasn’t nearly strong enough.

  About to head his brother's way to warn him, he paused when an odd sensation spread through him, followed by numerous stinging sensations on his skin. When he tore off his tunic, he discovered words appearing. Fianna words tattooed in gold before fading to green.

  Where were they coming from? Who was writing them?

  Moments later, he knew when Chara’s voice whispered through his mind.

  “This is the only way ye can save them. Their only hope now.” The emotion in her voice broke his heart. “I hope ye can forgive me, but they mean too much. Ye mean too much. Goodbye, my love.”

  That’s when he realized it was too late in every sense of the word.

  Chara was sacrificing herself to save them all.

  He didn’t understand what most of the tattooed words referred to, but he understood enough to know what he had to do next. The only way his Fianna brother and his druidess might live and find each other again.

  “Marek,” Chara called to him from far away, a sudden light in his misery. “Come back to me.”

  Hadn't she just gone to her death?

  “Come back to me, Marek,” she repeated.

  Where was she? What was happening?

  “Here.” Her soft hand touched his cheek. “I’m right here.”

  He blinked, seeing the light of a golden gem before his surroundings slowly faded, and he was once again in Scotland. He lay on the ground, and everyone was gone, but Chara, Destiny, and the Viking.

  “Careful.” Leviathan moved Chara away from Marek. “He was just with the darkness.”

  “All the more reason I should be with him,” she countered, wheedling her way past him. “Are you all right, Marek?”

  “Aye.” He pressed the heel of his palm to his forehead and sat up. “Just a wee bit o’ a headache.”

  “Yeah, pure evil can do that to a guy.” Destiny crouched beside him, concerned. “You’re getting really close to the truth now.”

  He frowned. “Where is everyone? What happened?”

  “They continued on when you went into another trance, but we’ll catch up.” Chara frowned as well when her mind brushed his, and she saw what he’d just gone through in Ireland. She rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You were just back in the moment right before you confronted Ethyn in the Stonehenge and helped begin Ciara’s curse.” Her brows shot up in surprise. “The tattooed words had just appeared.” She shook her head. “A surprise amid the growing darkness within you.”

  “Aye.” Marek bent his legs, rested his elbows on his knees, and braced his head in his hands. “And my thoughts...so bloody dark. ‘Twas indescribable. Even now, I feel the weight of its stink.” Anger filled him. “I cannae wait to use this feeling against them. T
o single-handedly rip out their hearts and—”

  “Have your retribution.” Leviathan’s hand landed on his other shoulder in support. “Retribution that will not just be yours but everyone who stands beside you. Because you are not alone in this. You must not be, do you understand, Scot? For all the anger you feel, you fight alongside your brethren and their lasses or risk losing all.”

  “He’s right,” Destiny said, her voice a little different. “Whatever you do, dragon laird, do it with everyone at your side. Your strength is in numbers. Don’t allow them to let you think otherwise.”

  “Them being the Brotherhood?” Chara scowled. “I thought he was safe from that now? Safe from possession?”

  “He is until the final confrontation,” Destiny said. “Until he comes into contact with the darkness that nearly took him in another life. Then and only then will he be vulnerable and open to their influence.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Chara swore. “My dragon won’t let those bastards anywhere near him.” She narrowed her eyes at Destiny when she picked up more of Marek’s thoughts. “Unlike you who thought nothing of betraying him in the end.”

  Chara was about to say more but paused when she touched his back. Shock flashed in her eyes. “It was me? I put your tattoos there?”

  Just like that, her revelation triggered another time slip.

  Scotland swirled away, and they were once again in ancient Ireland.

  “Really?” Chara went on, baffled as he stood, and kept her close. “I wrote those messages?”

  “Aye.” He frowned. “They appeared as you said your final goodbye.” When she remained silent, perplexed, he looked at her curiously. “What is it, lass?”

  “A memory just out of reach,” she murmured. Pain lit her eyes when she looked at him. “I think maybe...”

  She trailed off when her former unicorn trotted by.

  “Oh no,” she whispered.

  When he looked at Chara in confusion, she shook her head. “We should follow her.” She swallowed hard. “I think this was happening at the same time you were leading the darkness to the Stonehenge.”

  He nodded, and they followed. Yet dread grew with every step. They were nearly where they first kissed. Where they had created their gem. “What is your unicorn doing?”