Sometimes he was in the forest, sometimes at the ocean or by a trickling stream. All were awash in sunlight and very quiet. Not a chilling silence as though something dark and sinister approached, but reverently quiet as though the woodland creatures were at peace. Safe. As if they had no predators, so they need not be watchful.
“Because of you,” he whispered when one dream curled into another, and he sat by a waterfall. Though he felt like himself, his hands and clothing were different. He touched his face only to find that had changed as well.
Rather than panic, he felt contentment because he knew Chloe was there. This was a previous life. Sometimes he swore he saw her, but he always felt her. More often than not, she talked back. This time, however, she remained silent but comforting. Here for him in a way he had grown accustomed to. Dependable in a way that soothed him.
Again and again.
Over and over.
“Chloe,” he whispered only for the dream to fade.
Desperate to keep her close, he reached out only to find her already in his arms, still sound asleep. The sun had just broken over the horizon, and he sensed Tiernan was up and about. A good sign indeed that his magic was stabilizing some.
So he dressed and joined him.
“How fares yer lass?” Tiernan asked after letting him know that he had seen Grant and Adlin last night, too, and was caught up on things. He’d hunted and now roasted a hare over a fire. The rain had finally stopped, but it remained chilly and blustery.
“Chloe’s coming into her magic fast,” he revealed. “But dealing with it verra well.”
“’Tis good to hear.” Tiernan sat across from him, rotating the spit with a dash of magic. He looked at Aidan with concern. “’Tis quite a thing she did for ye when she was a faery.” He cocked his head. “What do ye make of it, Cousin?”
“Honestly?” he replied. “It feels as though a great weight has lifted off my shoulders and I am nae completely sure why.”
“Mayhap because yer heart is free to love again,” Tiernan said softly.
“Mayhap,” he agreed, sensing his cousin was right. “Which makes me wonder.”
“Aye,” Tiernan murmured, understanding. “Ye've some fresh perspective, then?”
Did he ever. Had Maeve been the only one cast under a spell?
“Aye.” He truly felt as though he'd been ensorcelled. “’Tis true I loved Maeve.” Hadn't he? “But now, my fierce devotion to her since her death feels out of place somehow.” He tried to put his finger on it. Why he had been so obsessed. Why his strange behavior hadn't been more obvious to him before now. “It almost feels as though it were unnatural.”
“No doubt.” Tiernan was careful but honest with his words. “Whilst I mean no harm, ‘twas stranger still yer unending devotion considering her feelings for Cray.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Not to say such strong emotions arenae possible. Ye are of MacLomain blood, and we do love our lasses.” He shook his head. “Yet still...it has struck all of us as off somehow.”
He nodded in agreement, seeing that now. Feeling the shift inside him.
“Aye, Cousin, ‘tis becoming clearer to me that things havenae been quite right. Not until now...” He rested his elbows on his knees, thinking about his dreams. About his growing sense of familiarity with Chloe. “I think I knew my Broun before.” He recalled how different he had looked when dreaming. “I think I’ve known her many times...”
“In many lives,” Chloe said softly when he trailed off.
She stood at the tent entrance looking utterly lovely with her tangled curls and soft, near glowing skin. She wore a dark brown linen dress with a plaid around her shoulders.
“Good morning,” Julie said on a yawn, exiting her tent at the same time. Her brows perked in amusement when she spied Chloe’s hair. Though about to comment on it, she stopped when she realized she had walked into something. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, actually,” Chloe murmured. At Aidan’s urging, she sat beside him. “Or at least I think so.”
When Julie joined Tiernan and looked at Chloe in question, she went on, speaking to all of them though she met Aidan’s eyes.
“I meant to tell you last night, but I must’ve dozed off,” she said. “I saw me when we...” She cleared her throat, not ready to divulge to everyone that they’d lain together. “I saw my face when I was...a faery...in another life.”
“I think I did too,” he said softly, touching her cheek because he couldn’t help himself. Though he’d only been looking at her face for days, somehow it felt like years, eons, as if he knew it better than his own. Yet he hadn’t known this face. But he had known her. “Sometimes, I saw you, sometimes I didnae, but you were always there.”
“I think I was,” she whispered, stunning him when her thoughts pulled him closer and let him see what she had seen.
“Ye,” he whispered, awed. He still touched her cheek, yet for a moment, saw another. One as soft but more pixie-like. She was just as lovely with the same curious eyes filled with wonder and sparkles. Her skin, as it could often look now, was almost luminescent. Her lips, full and rosy like they’d appeared before he kissed her.
“I dreamt of you last night,” she murmured. “Only you were different. Another man entirely...yet you were in there. He was you.”
“You’re finally remembering each other,” Julie said softly, pulling them from their reverie. Her eyes were a little different, her magic ignited. “Finally starting to remember what happened...”
“What happened,” Chloe echoed when Julie’s words trailed off, and her eyes returned to normal. “Somehow, that ties into all this.” She gave it some thought, her inner journalist mixing with her magic. “Whatever I did to lose my immortality affected Adlin and, in turn, Iosbail. Which means it tied in with whatever the monks tried to do.” Guilt flashed in her eyes. “And I have a sneaking suspicion about what that might be.”
When she blushed and glanced at Julie and Tiernan, Aidan realized what she alluded to.
“You think we were intimate in a former life too,” he said into her mind, having caught her thoughts when they made love. Having sensed her tentativeness.
She nodded and blushed even more. “While I appreciate you’re trying to be a gentleman by not speaking aloud, I think it’s best we keep everyone in the loop.” She looked at the other two. “I think I slept with Aidan in another life and...” She paused for a moment, gathering herself. “I think I was a virgin when it happened.”
“How do you know,” Julie began before a knowing look crossed her face. She bit back a smile. “Never mind. Based on last night, I can guess.”
If possible, Chloe blushed even more when she realized how loud she must have been.
“Anyway,” she continued, clearing her throat, more bashful than he anticipated when it came to this. Endearingly so, actually. “I have a feeling whatever I did—”
“Whatever we did,” he corrected, knowing full well he took part. Beyond the obvious, that is.
“Whatever we did,” she conceded, however hesitantly, “had an impact. To what extent, I can’t be sure.”
“Well, whatever it was,” Tiernan said kindly, removing the hare from the fire to cool, “I’d say it was meant to be. Because things wouldnae have gone the way they did for generations of MacLomains and Brouns had Adlin and Iosbail not lost their immortality. ‘Twas in its own way, the start of so much.”
Julie nodded in agreement. “So I’d say whatever it was wasn’t all that bad.” Her tender gaze went to Tiernan. “How could it be when love was at the root of it?”
“Aye,” Aidan murmured, certain he was right as he brushed a wisp of hair away from Chloe’s eye. “Not just one-sided love either.”
A flicker of surprise lit Chloe’s eyes when they met his, and she felt his thoughts brush hers. When she caught flashes of the dreams he’d had.
“We were good friends, weren’t we?” she murmured. “Then, more.”
“Aye.” He slipped into a heavier br
ogue with his heightened emotions. “Ye lent me great comfort, lass. ‘Twas as if things werenae as they should be when ye were not around.”
“Nor were they for me eventually,” she whispered, seeming to understand more. Her eyes stayed with his. “I was drawn to you for your capacity to love. How fiercely you felt for another. Then, even more drawn because you saw me, heard me. Talked to me.”
He saw her dream as if it had happened to him because, in truth, it had.
“Aye, I always heard and spoke with ye,” he murmured. “Even often saw ye.” He squeezed her hand. “Ye were there until the end of that life...what turned out to be a loveless life at that.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” Sadness flickered in her eyes. “Because she couldn’t see the real you...”
“Only what was on the surface,” he continued for her, knowing she didn’t want to be hurtful. “For, I was quite homely.”
“Maybe initially,” Chloe said softly. Though she looked at him, her eyes seemed far away, as if she looked at the man he once was. “But quite handsome, as more time went by.”
“Because you could see him clearly,” Julie said, her magic at work again. “You saw past the surface to what lay beneath.”
“Which is no easy task for most faeries,” Chloe murmured, sensing something. “I think, as a rule, Fae tend to be drawn to things of great beauty or handsomeness.” Her gaze returned to him. “But with you, it was the ability to love so fiercely.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t something I came across every day. Ever really. Not like that.”
She was about to say more when Julie and Tiernan caught her attention. They were peering curiously at the sunlight splintering through the forest.
“What is it?” Chloe asked.
“I think ‘tis time to go.” Tiernan rolled up his sleeve just as a thin stream of sunlight cut across his tattoo, pointing in a northerly direction. It just so happened, his tattoo had been a magical compass on his own adventure.
“That’s new.” Julie eyed another dab of sunlight on the tattoo. It shimmered through the trees, giving the appearance of fire burning over a spot representing a Stonehenge. “What do you make of that?”
Aidan and Tiernan stood abruptly, sensing their cousin at the same time.
“It means we need to make haste,” Aidan grumbled.
“Because Cray’s temper has once again gotten the better of him,” Tiernan finished.
Chapter Twenty-One
“STILL NO TELEPATHIC communication with Cray then?” she asked later in the day as they made their way north. It had remained cool and gusty. Black-bellied clouds sat on the horizon, threatening more rain. “Just the strong sense you and Tiernan had about him earlier after what looked like fire appeared on Tiernan’s tattoo?”
“Aye, just the strong sense,” Aidan confirmed grimly. “We still cannae reach Cray.”
Everyone had discussed it as they traveled, coming to no set conclusion other than the illusion of fire appearing at the same moment they sensed Cray’s anger, was telling. Then, only an hour before, their cousin Ethyn had made contact from MacLomain Castle. Acting as Laird in Tiernan’s absence, he had remained at the castle to oversee things. It seemed he too had seen the fiery spot on Tiernan’s tattoo in his mind’s eye. Cray’s brother, Laird Marek MacLeod, had as well from MacLeod Castle.
Though their connection had been brief, it was revealing.
“Tiernan’s tattoo is becoming a point of telepathic connection betwixt us,” Aidan had explained. “To what degree is yet to be seen.”
“That’s a good thing then,” she’d replied. “A step in the right direction?”
“Aye, we believe it is,” he had said. “More so, Julie’s magic believes it is.”
They had been traveling over half the day, only stopping briefly to let the horses rest. Despite the possibility of danger around every corner in this era, it was a rather pleasant afternoon of getting to know Aidan better. Not just talking but feeling his thoughts brush hers kept her smiling more often than not.
Though she had felt comfortable with him before, now it was almost as if she were catching up with an old friend. Which, in a way, she was. While she would have thought it should feel strange learning everything she had last night, it almost felt natural. As if her whole life had been a dream up until this point.
Now she was finally waking up.
He was different too. The shadows that had haunted his eyes were no longer there. As if a great weight had been lifted. She was glad he took everything so well. It couldn’t be easy learning the person you loved was cast beneath a spell. But he seemed to be taking it in stride and more lighthearted by the moment.
Well, as lighthearted as one could be considering their circumstances.
Which brought her back to the here and now and their current conversation.
“So the sun looking fiery over that part of Tiernan’s tat likely represented the anger from Cray’s inner dragon,” she said. “And the stone or Stonehenge it flickered over is likely the one he and his Broun will be connected to?”
“That’s the assumption.” Though she already had a blanket around her shoulders, he wrapped another around them both, cocooning her more securely against the biting wind. “I cannae imagine what kind of trouble he’s gotten himself into.” He shook his head. “Whatever it is, ‘tis unwise. That I dinnae doubt.”
He had been affectionate all day, sometimes holding her hand, other times murmuring in her ear. On occasion, he simply offered comfort, subconsciously soothing her. Helping her navigate all she was discovering about herself. About them and the lives they had shared.
Yet through it all, he aroused her, giving her the unfailing impression he was eager to explore her. Touch all the places he hadn’t the night before. Add to that, the erection often pressed against her backside, and she remained turned on to no end.
“It can’t be easy having his dragon repressed,” she pointed out, trying to focus on the conversation. On Cray, when all she could think about was Aidan. “That’s got to put a guy in a bad mood.”
“Och,” Aidan muttered but made no further comment. While he might sound upset about whatever Cray had done, she sensed he was worried about his cousin too. That he was finally letting go of old anger and seeing things clearly now.
As it turned out, they caught up with Robert and Donald’s retinue shortly before they arrived in Perth. Cray rode toward the rear, his expression so fierce the men ahead kept casting wary glances back at him.
“’Tis about time ye caught up,” Cray grunted in greeting. “I’ve kept up with Donald's lot, so they know we are still here, but I would rather fall back for a time.”
“What happened, Cousin?” Tiernan urged him to stop his horse, so everyone could speak privately. He told Cray what had transpired with his tattoo. “Those of us with MacLomain blood saw the fire and sensed your anger.”
Cray thought about it for a moment before he realized.
“Aye!” His dragon eyes flared, and he said the last thing they expected. “The bloody lass was in my head again, rattling on about numbers!”
“So you werenae fighting with one of Donald or Bruce’s men?” Aidan said.
“Nay, I know better than to do that,” Cray muttered, though one had to wonder based on the disgusted look he shot the retinue. “Not to say I wouldnae like to clash swords with the earl for being a bloody fool.”
“Did Madison say the same thing as before?” Chloe asked, more concerned about her friend than anything. After all, it had to be daunting being anywhere near Cray’s mind. “About paying attention to the number of men possessed? How their possession made me vulnerable?”
“Aye,” he confirmed. “Then she kept saying there was one too many. Always one too many.”
Tiernan frowned. “Did you ask her what she meant?”
Cray scowled, fire still flaring in his eyes. “Nay, I told her to get out of my bloody head!”
“She’s just trying to help,” Julie defended.
“I willnae try to be anything.” Cray’s nostrils flared and his fiery eyes about spit flames. “Nobody, let alone a foreign dragon barges into my mind uninvited!”
Before anyone could respond, he spurred his horse and headed in the opposite direction of the retinue, obviously taking time to cool off.
“Did he just say dragon?” Baffled, Chloe looked at Julie. “As in Madison’s a dragon?”
“It wouldn't be the first time a Broun turned up who was half dragon,” Julie replied. “Though I’m kinda shocked, I never sensed it.”
“In your defense, you’ve barely been around Madison since you met,” Tiernan said. “And when you were your magic hadnae ignited yet.”
“True.” Julie pondered it. “So, a dragon obsessed with numbers.”
“More specifically, the number of men possessed,” Chloe murmured. “Which, if I remember, you were all evenly matched.”
“But only after I killed the one who tried to take you,” Aidan reminded. “So Madison’s right. There was one extra possession.”
“Just like there’s technically one extra Stonehenge in all this if you include either the Irish Stonehenge or the Salem Stonehenge,” Chloe said, referring to the assumed Broun-to-MacLomain ratio of five. Yet the number of Stonehenges, including four in Scotland and two outside the country, made perfect sense if Julie were part of that count. Which she must be if she and Tiernan had the power to close off one of the Stonehenges. “And there's still one extra Claddagh ring in the twenty-first century. Or, more specifically, one extra man of MacLomain blood no one knows about yet, right?”
“Aye, so we assume,” Tiernan said.
“Always one extra,” she murmured, tallying off the number of things that seemed relevant to all this. From the unicorn to the rings to the Stonehenge’s plus everything else. Yet her mind kept going back to America’s Stonehenge. More so, what had happened there a few months ago. What she’d felt about one thing in particular. “I noticed nobody’s mentioned the sacrificial table at Mystery Hill being part of all this. Or the vandalism that happened there.”
A Scot's Devotion (The MacLomain Series: End of an Era, #2) Page 13