Midnight’s Lover

by Donna Grant

  Dani jerked out of Quinn’s arms and looked at the brothers with fury mixed with distress. “Did none of you think that being restrained could very well give Farmire the advantage he wants over Ian?”

  The silence that greeted her question was answer enough.

  “Since you won’t let me see Ian, I’ll tell you what we’ve discovered. Ian didn’t trust Charlie.”

  Fallon shrugged. “That’s no’ a surprise. Neither does Camdyn.”

  Isla sighed as she leaned her hands on the table. “Fallon, you’ve always been a good leader. We’ve always trusted you, but I think you’re overlooking two very important things.”

  “And they are?” Fallon asked.

  “Two of your Warriors don’t trust Charlie,” Sonya answered.

  Lucan squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “And Quinn was adamant about no’ allowing Hayden, Ramsey, and Logan into the castle because he didna trust them.”

  “Why does Ian no’ trust Charlie?” Quinn asked.

  Danielle shrugged. “I don’t know, but I do know something is off in the castle. When I first felt the magic it was strong and pure. Now, it … falters, for lack of a better word, at times.”

  Lucan’s green eyes narrowed. “Falters?”

  “Maybe that’s the wrong word,” Isla said. “There is an undercurrent that hasn’t been here before. Like Dani, I don’t feel it all the time. Just on occasions, and it’s brief.”

  “Sonya? Do you feel it as well?” Fallon asked.

  Sonya shifted from one foot to the other. “I hadn’t until Dani mentioned it. I’ve been feeling the magic since then, and there is something wrong.”

  “I think it’s Charlie,” Danielle said.

  Quinn crossed his arms over his chest. “Why? Because Ian thinks it is?”

  “That’s partly why. The other reason is because I don’t remember what happened earlier. I know Charlie grabbed me, and I know I wasn’t happy about it. I remember hearing Ian’s roar. Then there’s nothing until I found myself sitting with my arm slashed open.”

  “The trauma of it maybe. Of it being Ian who hurt you,” Lucan suggested.

  Danielle shook her head. “As I told Isla and Sonya, Ian had plenty of opportunity while we were alone to harm me. He never did. Yes, I saw him struggle with his god, but he always managed to get it under control. It wasn’t easy, but Ian did it.”

  Fallon let out a deep breath, his pale green eyes intense as he stared at Danielle. “We’ve had several new people come into the castle.”

  “Yes. And I was one of them,” Dani said.

  Lucan’s brows drew together. “You doona mind that we’re suspicious of you?”

  “I would expect nothing less. You need to protect your families. I understand why you welcome Druids and Warriors into these walls, but with Deirdre, and now Declan, you must be cautious of everyone.”

  “She sounds like Cara,” Lucan muttered.

  Fallon nodded. “Larena said much the same thing.”

  Danielle wanted to tell them about the key, just as she desperately wanted to hand it over to them, but as she put her hand in her pocket to grab the key it yelled “No!” over and over in her head.

  She might not be able to give them the key yet, but she could tell the brothers a little about why she was there. “I came here because I was sent to help you.”

  “How?” Quinn asked.

  “I can’t say yet.” Danielle waited for Sonya or Isla to say more, but the two Druids remained quiet.

  Fallon asked, “How can we trust you if you doona tell us everything?”

  “You can’t. And I can’t tell you everything because of what is wrong at the castle.”

  Lucan began to pace. “This isna what we need now, Fallon. We’ve got Deirdre and Declan, and now this.”

  “The list of suspicious people can be narrowed down to just a few,” Sonya said.

  Isla glanced at Dani and nodded. “Aye. Charlie, Kirstin, Dani, and Ian.”

  “No’ Ian.” Quinn said the words softly, but there was a hard edge to his voice.

  Fallon turned to his brother. “Ian has been gone a long time. We have no idea if Deirdre got to him or no’.”

  “Which, I believe, is another reason he put himself in the dungeon,” Lucan pointed out.

  “And where you should put me,” Danielle said.

  Fallon gave a shake of his head. “Absolutely no’. Ian would have my head if I did.”

  “You don’t know me,” she argued. “You need to take precautions.”

  Isla moved to stand beside Danielle. “Look to Charlie first. He told us his power was over wind, but we never made him prove it.”

  “That’s a good place to begin,” Quinn said.

  Sonya walked to the other side of Danielle. “Meanwhile, we’ll keep Dani and Kirstin with us. Between all the Druids here, we’ll be able to determine if they are a threat.”

  It seemed everything was settled, but Danielle still hadn’t got what she had come for. “I want to see Ian first.”

  Lucan stopped pacing and ran a hand down his face as he turned his back to her. Quinn wouldn’t meet her eyes, but by the way he clenched and unclenched his fists Dani knew he was fighting how to respond.

  It was Fallon who finally answered. “No’ now. I’ll take you to see him tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow. Danielle would have to wait until then, even though it would kill her. And she couldn’t imagine what it was doing to Ian.

  He hadn’t spoken in much detail of his time in Cairn Toul, but Marcail had when she’d told Danielle the story of how she and Quinn had met.

  Marcail’s words had painted a vivid, terrifying picture of what life had been like for Ian in the Pit. The descriptions of the torture Ian had gone through at Deirdre’s orders, and of how Duncan had felt every lash and strike until Marcail had taken away his pain made Dani’s heart clutch in her chest.

  Those memories and more would assault Ian while he was alone in the dark dungeon. Danielle knew it just as she knew she belonged in this new world of magic and Warriors.

  “Don’t let him be alone,” Dani said.

  Quinn met her gaze. “I willna.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sonya tugged at Danielle, and with nothing left to say, she allowed Sonya and Isla to take her back up the stairs to the chamber she had shared with Ian.

  The door closed behind Danielle with a soft thud, yet in her mind it was as loud as the tolling of the church bells in Inverness.

  “Quinn will watch out for Ian,” Isla said.

  Dani looked over her shoulder to see it was just her and Isla. “Would you let Hayden stay down there by himself?”

  “Absolutely not. However, I do know he would do his best to keep me out so I wouldn’t see him.”

  Danielle walked to the hearth and tossed logs on the long-dead fire. She worked at lighting it again while she went over all that had happened in her mind.

  When the fire popped with new life, Danielle took the chair closest to her and drummed her fingers on the wood. “I can’t just sit and wait.”

  “I don’t think you’re going to have to wait long,” Isla said. “Sonya has gone to tell the other women, minus Kirstin, what is going on. We are a close family here, Dani. We will find who is responsible for the disturbance at the castle.”

  Danielle touched the outside of her pocket and the key beneath the denim. “What if it’s me?”

  Isla’s head cocked to the side. “You think it’s you?”

  “No. I know I’m not a bad person. I know I’m not drough, but what if the key is evil? What if the key used me to bring me here?”

  Isla took the chair opposite her. “Do you trust your magic?”

  “I do.”

  “Has it ever led you wrong before?”

  Danielle thought back over the years and shook her head.

  “Then trust your magic now. You may have found the key, but it showed you what it was for. Evil wasn’t a part of that.”


  “But evil wants it. I think that’s why it won’t allow me to give it to the MacLeods yet.”

  “It’s a secret Sonya and I will keep from the others for now. We don’t like doing it, but it’s a necessity until we straighten all this out.”

  “Ian said I would like it here,” Danielle said with a sigh. “He wasn’t wrong. When I first mentioned MacLeod Castle I could tell he didn’t want to come, but the closer we got, the more he looked forward to it. He missed all of you terribly.”

  “And we missed him. It pains us all that he has suffered alone these months.”

  “Now he’s suffering again.”

  Isla laid a hand on Danielle’s arm. “You will go to him tomorrow. Talk to him. Convince him to come out of the dungeon, because you’re going to need him.”

  Isla’s words chilled Danielle because she knew they were the truth.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTY

  “This is Deirdre’s doing,” Larena said as she paced the small kitchen where Fallon, Quinn, Marcail, Lucan, and Cara stood with her as she raged about Malcolm.

  “No doubt,” Cara mumbled.

  Larena paused in front of Fallon. “We have to find Malcolm and stop him before he kills those children. If he murders those innocents…”

  “I know,” Fallon said and pulled her into his arms.

  Larena clung to him. Ever since she had seen the Monroe name on the scroll she had known Malcolm housed a god. She should have told him, but she had wanted to protect him.

  All she had done was driven him away from the castle and straight to Deirdre.

  More tears gathered when Larena recalled seeing Malcolm on the Isle of Eigg. She almost hadn’t recognized her beloved cousin. It wasn’t because of his Warrior form and the dark burgundy color of his god. It was the deadness in Malcolm’s blue eyes that haunted her.

  “If we go to find Malcolm, we’ll leave the castle weak,” Quinn said.

  Larena lifted her head. “We have to take care of both. If what Dani said is true, then one of the newcomers is to blame for the disturbance, as they called it.”

  Marcail rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “Dani repeated everything to Reaghan just a few moments ago. She’s not lying about any of it.”

  “So we can rule her out as the cause, aye?” Lucan asked.

  Fallon shrugged, his arm still around Larena. “I’d like to say aye, but until we know for sure, we keep watch on all of our newest arrivals.”

  “You doona think it’s Ian, do you?” Quinn asked Fallon.

  Lucan leaned a hip against the large worktable in the middle of the kitchen. “He was gone for a long time, and Deirdre’s connection with him after killing Duncan is what pulled him into the future.”

  “So let Reaghan see if he’s telling the truth,” Cara said.

  Fallon shook his head. “I willna do that to one I consider a brother. I doona like him locked in the dungeon, but maybe that’s where he needs to be.”

  “And if Dani is attacked again?” Larena asked.

  “Ian will move Heaven and Earth to get to her,” Quinn answered.

  Cara raised her brows. “You think he cares for her that much?”

  “Marcail is the only reason I’d put myself in a dungeon again.”

  Lucan scratched his chin as he looked at each of them. “We need to keep an eye on Dani since Ian can no’ at the moment.”

  “But who?” Larena asked. “We need to get moving on Malcolm.”

  Fallon kissed her forehead as he squeezed her. “And we will as soon as Broc returns with Malcolm’s location.”

  “Until then, we need to see what we can learn about Kirstin and Charlie,” Marcail stated.

  Quinn winked at his wife. “Who is with Dani?”

  “Isla,” Larena answered.

  “And Kirstin?”

  Cara sighed and said, “Reaghan. She’s trying to get whatever she can out of Kirstin, but the girl seems confused about everything. Reaghan has had a difficult time of it, but she’s not giving up.”

  “Galen and Braden are also with Reaghan,” Lucan added. “I think Braden has taken an interest in Kirstin.”

  Fallon glanced out of the kitchen door into the great hall before he said, “It is time Braden found a wife. Camdyn and Arran are with Charlie as I requested.”

  “Perfect,” Quinn said with a smile.

  Larena took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Now we wait for Broc’s return.”

  She just hoped they would have enough time to combat the attacks that were happening all around them. Everyone knew it wasn’t coincidence that Kirstin, Charlie, and Danielle arrived so close together. But who was to blame? Deirdre? Declan? Or both?

  Larena liked Dani, but that wouldn’t stop her from killing Dani if she was a threat to all Larena held dear. As for Kirstin, Larena felt as the rest of them did—confused.

  Kirstin was timid and shy one moment, then aggressive and forward the next. Who was the real Kirstin?

  As for Charlie, Larena had thought him semicharming at first, but the longer he was at the castle, the more he grated on her nerves.

  Which one of them was the cause for the disruption of the magic inside the castle?

  “Fallon,” Larena said as the others left the kitchen. “This could be a ruse by Deirdre or Declan, or both, to get us out of the castle.”

  Fallon nodded as he allowed her to see just how worried he was. “Quinn, Lucan, and I have already thought of that. Only a few of us will go to Malcolm.”

  “A few includes me,” she said in warning.

  “As much as I’d prefer you to stay here, I think Malcolm will respond better to you.”

  “Who is coming with us?”

  “Broc and Isla, because both spent a great deal of time in Deirdre’s control. Maybe the two of them will be able to convince him to return with us if you cannot.”

  Larena blew out a pent-up breath. “I had gotten used to the peace. Four centuries without looking over our shoulders or worrying if there was some trap waiting for us.”

  Fallon slid his hands through her golden hair to cup either side of her face. “We’re going to end this, Larena. Soon. We’re so close. All we need is the key to open the Tablet of Orn, which will hopefully lead us to where Laria has been hidden. Then Deirdre will be gone.”

  “It’s not going to be that simple.”

  “Nay, and we’ll have to watch for Declan as well, but we’ve never been this close, my love. I refuse to accept defeat.”

  She closed her eyes as his lips found hers. Fallon’s head tilted to the side as he deepened the kiss. Larena clung to him as she melted against his heat and the promise of tomorrow.

  * * *

  Danielle stared at the minutes ticking by on her watch in the chair she had curled up in beside the fireplace. She turned her mind away from Ian for a short while when she once more tried to reach the spell in Saffron’s mind. She had gotten farther into Saffron’s mind, but the choking evil had promptly made Dani back away.

  That had been over an hour ago, and as soon as she left Saffron’s room, her thoughts had returned to Ian. She couldn’t stop thinking of him and how he was coping being locked away again.

  “They won’t keep you away from him forever,” Isla said.

  Danielle raised her eyes to find Isla smiling at her over the top of her iPad. Dani had been mildly surprised at how everyone at the castle had stayed up to date on the latest technology and styles. It seemed being immortal and held within a shield that blocked the world from finding them didn’t stop them from living.

  “I hope not, because if they do I’ll simply sneak down there myself.”

  Isla smiled. “Any one of us would do the same. Fallon is just doing as Ian asked, but I think Ian needs to see you. Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

  For the first time since learning what Ian had done, Danielle grinned. “Thank you.”

  “There’s one thing you’ll learn quickly around here, and that is we stick
together. We fight and quarrel, but at the end of the day we’re family, and we’d die for each other.”

  Danielle thought back over Isla’s story of how she came to be at the castle and united with Hayden. “Is it hard to be immortal?”

  Isla set aside the iPad and clasped her hands in her lap. “While I was under Deirdre’s control it was Hell. Every hour was like a lifetime. I watched helplessly as she put my sister into the black flames so she could never live again but Deirdre would be able to continue to get her visions.

  “Then there was my sweet, darling niece. She was life for me. Deirdre ruined that as well. When the MacLeods came for Quinn and everyone attacked Deirdre, I thought my chance at freedom had come. I cannot begin to tell you how angry I was to wake up in this castle. But the magic here, the love, it changes a person. I no longer feel the time passing as I once did.”

  “Yet you have no idea if you’re still immortal or not outside of your shield.”

  Isla shook her head. “It was Deirdre’s magic which kept me immortal all those centuries. With her link to me gone, I assume I’m mortal once again.”

  “Do you long to live a normal life?”

  “More than you can imagine,” she whispered and glanced down at her hands.

  Danielle caught the glimmer of tears in Isla’s ice blue eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “You didn’t,” Isla hurried to say. “Hayden and I speak of children often. It can never be until Deirdre and now Declan are both dead. We struggle to stay alive and keep the evil at bay. I refuse to bring a child into this world who could end up in Deirdre’s hands.”

  For long moments they sat in silence. Danielle rose from the chair and walked to the bed where Isla reclined. Dani sat and crossed her legs. “I’ve been wondering something since I first learned of the shield.”

  “What is it?”

  “The shield can never be lowered. No one knows of this castle. In this day and age of technology and instant news, the castle can’t just suddenly appear.”

  Isla’s smile was a little sad. “No. The castle must forever stay hidden.”

  “That doesn’t seem right. After everything that has happened here, it seems the world should get to see it. The MacLeods should be able to live in it.”