The Haunting of Castle Dune - A Novella: Book 10.5 of Morna’s Legacy Series
Page 9
“I grew up in a time not too distant from yer own. And like ye, I was born with my powers. I was aware of what lay inside me much earlier than most I know with magic. But as I am certain ye know, druid magic is different than what ye possess. Ye have more free will, less destiny attached to yer choices.”
Morna wasn’t sure she agreed with the man’s assessment of magic. Looking back on her own life, it seemed as if she’d been only a small piece of something much bigger than herself—something which was written long before she ever breathed her first breath.
“Less destiny, perhaps, but we still have a purpose we are bound to once we discover it.”
The man dismissed her, shaking his head as he continued.
“Mayhap so. But lass, I’ve always been a solitary creature. I wanted my own life, one filled with my own choices. I didn’t want to be apart of anything. I didn’t want to be a pawn in any greater purpose.
“When I was only a lad, word of a man seeking young men with magic spread among my clansmen. This stranger needed a group of druids young enough to train and strong enough to help him lock away an evil on his isle. The moment I heard the man’s story, I knew I was bound to it. Something inside me lit like a beacon welcoming the stranger and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he found me and recruited me into his group of eight lads he meant to use as protection.”
“Was the man named Nicol Murray?” Whatever Morna expected the stranger’s story to be, it certainly wasn’t this.
“Aye.” “And where did ye grow up?”
Morna knew the man’s answer before he gave it. A memory of her own from long, long ago had surfaced and now everything seemed clear to her.
“Allen territory.”
Hamish, Raudrich, the beginning of her own strange tie to The Isle of Eight all tied back to the stranger sitting in front of her now.
“Ah. And so ye fled to the future and hid until another lad was chosen in yer place?” The man straightened in his seat to look at her.
“Aye, was my story so predictable?”
“No, lad, but I am a part of this story whether ye know it or not. Hamish—I expect he was probably laird when ye were young—and I were once verra close. He called to me as he prepared to let himself die, and asked me to look after his grandson, Raudrich, in whatever way I could. Ye see lad, Raudrich had been called into The Eight by Nicol Murray and Hamish desperately wanted me to help aide the path that might see his grandson set free from a life of duty and obligation. At the time, I thought it a concern that any grandfather might have, but now I see it was more than that.
“Hamish knew that all those with magic were born to a purpose and if The Isle of Eight was Raudrich’s true purpose then Hamish would’ve been glad to see his grandson fulfill it. But it wasn’t Raudrich who was supposed to be there, ’twas ye, and Hamish knew it.”
The man’s eyes filled with tears and he gently closed his eyes as they spilled over.
“Aye, I’ve no doubt he knew. Hamish always seemed to know everything. Raudrich was my closest friend. I dinna know I was dooming him to such a fate when I left. I was young. All I wanted was to be free. I canna tell ye how sorry I am for what my choices have done to others.”
“Lad, doona be sorry. Mayhap Raudrich wasna destined to the isle before, but he certainly is now and I know if ye asked him, he would change nothing in his life.”
Opening his eyes, the man briskly brushed away tears.
“That is some comfort, at least.”
“Forgive me, lad, but I doona see how this story has anything to do with why ye came here.”
“I am not yet finished. At the end of my story, the tie to it all will be abundantly clear to ye.”
Morna nodded, urging him to carry on.
“After I left, and came here to the twenty-first century, I grew up in Scotland. I found work with a farmer not too far from here. He allowed me to sleep in a converted space above his barn and I happily believed that even the ghastly smell which I breathed day in and day out was better than the life that awaited me back home.
“I returned occasionally to see my mother who believed I’d found similar work only in my own time. She was relieved that my powers had yet to call me to some great and dangerous purpose, so she never questioned anything I told her verra much.
“At the age of thirty, the farmer I worked for died and his land was sold to a man who dinna wish to keep me on. I dinna mind. By that age, I was restless and ready to reinvent myself. I went to America, and fell in love.”
Morna couldn’t help but smile, even despite the gloomy nature of the man’s story. Of course the man’s wife was modern. Almost all of the women Morna seemed to find herself involved with were. “To yer wife?”
“Aye. The moment I saw her, I was consumed. We fell for one another quickly and before long I told her the truth of my magic and where and when I was from. Shortly after we married I visited my mother alone to tell her of the good news and it was then that I learned of Laird Allen’s murder. I knew that Raudrich would have much to settle after his brother’s death and after abandoning him to my fate once, I couldn’t leave him alone to handle this.
“And so—after much convincing and preparation—I took my wife, and her father into the past and more quickly than I would’ve imagined, we settled into a happy life there. But it wasna long before my past caught up with me. I couldna outrun my destiny no matter how much I tried.” With the man’s story still not done, Morna said nothing as she reached out to give his hand a reassuring squeeze.
With another breath, he continued.
“Raudrich told few within the village, but his loyalty was now pledged to The Isle of Eight. He couldna be laird. After some time home, he asked if I would take the land from him, and serve as laird since he could not. It seemed a weighty decision and so, as many in our territory often do, I went to look into a pool of waters that can tell a man’s future to see if mayhap my fate from so long ago had changed and now I was meant to be laird of Allen territory.” Morna was all too familiar with the magical waters of Allen territory. At one time in her life, they’d caused her more pain than she ever wished to feel again.
“I canna imagine that went well, aye? Such waters are dangerous.”
A painful sob escaped the man’s chest and Morna regretted interrupting his story.
“Aye, those damned waters have ruined my life.”
“What did ye see?”
“It was not my future that I saw that day. Instead, I saw my wife and her place at The Isle of Eight Lairds. She is as tied to the isle as I was meant to be. While I could choose to abandon my own destiny, I couldna deny my wife her’s.” “So what did ye do?”
“I faked my death and made her promise to remain in the seventeenth century. I knew that with time she would be led to the Isle so she could fulfill her purpose there. For months now she did as she promised, but something has brought her here now. I doona wish to be a bad man, Morna. I foiled fate once. I shouldna do it again.
“I’ve studied much about The Isle in this time. I know the legends. I know how Machara’s bond over The Eight is supposed to end. My wife is meant to be one of the women to help destroy her, but my love for her is a selfish thing. If she is here, close enough that I can feel her, I willna be able to stay away. I will go to her. I will win her back and I will keep her here, far from the Isle, damning every one that lives there. I no longer care what happens to them. This pain within me is too much. All I want is for it to end either by ye breaking this bond so I may mourn her in peace or by holding her in my arms once again.”
Her heart heavy, Morna leaned forward to answer him.
“I’m sorry, lad. I canna do as ye wish.”
“Why? How can ye not? Ye must see how important this is. If ye doona help me, people will die. History will change.”
“’Tis not that I doona wish to help ye. I do. But I canna do so. If ye know all that ye say ye do about the isle, ye know that magic canna be used in defeating Machara. I
t must be mortal women that destroy her. Yer wife doesna know that ye live. By removing yerself from her life, by leaving her no choice about whether she wishes to fulfill her destiny at the isle or remain with ye, ye have already intervened with magic. If I were to sever yer bond without her knowing, ’twould again be magic. She must be the one who decides what sort of life she wishes to live.” Morna watched as desperation crept back into his gaze and he stood and began to pace around the room.
“If I go to her, she will choose me.”
“What makes ye so sure? Ye said yerself there is another.” “She possesses every bit of my soul. How could I not possess just as much of hers?”
“I doona doubt that at one time ye did, but ye underestimate the heart’s ability to expand, lad. While ye lived, ye were her everything. I am sure, now that she believes ye are gone, she loves ye no less than she ever did, but ye canna be her everything once ye are in the ground. It serves no one to devote ones life to those who are gone. After she has grieved ye, she must make room for more.”
When he stared back at her blankly, frustration in his gaze saying all that his words did not, Morna continued.
“That’s the way with hearts. Sometimes ye think it willna ever be able to hold such love again, to hold more than it once did, but its ability to open is infinite. More love can always come in and with time, even though her love for ye will never fade, her heart will just grow larger and someone else can saturate her soul, too. Maybe someone else already has.”
Anger flashed in the man’s eyes and for a moment, Morna thought the man might lunge at her.
“I will take her back. She is mine as long as this bond remains. ’Tis why I need ye to break it.”
Morna shrugged. Each moment spent in this man’s presence allowed her to see him a little more. He was a man unsure of everything. A man with so much to learn.
“Mayhap so. If ye are sure that ye canna move on with the bond ye share still inside ye, then even if I break it, yer business with her willna be finished. Go to her. Tell her what ye must. If she agrees to break the bond, then I shall break it.”
“She willna agree. She will choose me.”
Morna stood. Tired and eager to be in Jerry’s arms, all she wanted was for the young man to leave. She couldn’t know if she was making the biggest mistake of her life, but she knew what this stranger didn’t seem to understand—that none of this was for them to decide. She could meddle in love, but she couldn’t meddle in fate, and this time it all involved more than a handful of hearts.
“Perhaps, but ye forget that she’s already grieved for ye. Do ye not think she will feel betrayed when ye show up in her life again? ’Tis cruel what ye’ve done to her.”
The man followed closely as she walked to her front door.
“She will forgive me. She will choose me, and the future of the isle will be ruined. People we both know and love will die.” Opening the door, she ushered him out into the cool evening air, before closing the door on him with her parting words.
“Ye may be right, but it doesna matter. The choice must be hers. Ye and I are just chess pieces in this. Everything depends on her.”
Love Beyond Destiny
(Book 11 of Morna’s Legacy Series)
Preorder it now!
Missed a Book in the Series?
Love Beyond Time
Love Beyond Time Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Time Audiobook (Amazon)
Love Beyond Reason
Love Beyond Reason Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Reason Audiobook (Amazon)
A Conall Christmas - A Novella
A Conall Christmas Audiobook (Audible)
A Conall Christmas Audiobook (Amazon)
Love Beyond Hope
Love Beyond Hope Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Hope Audiobook (Amazon)
Love Beyond Measure
Love Beyond Measure Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Measure Audiobook (Amazon)
In Due Time – A Novella
In Due Time Audiobook (Audible)
In Due Time Audiobook (Amazon)
Love Beyond Compare
Love Beyond Compare Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Compare Audiobook (Amazon)
Love Beyond Dreams
Love Beyond Dreams Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Dreams Audiobook (Amazon)
Love Beyond Belief
Love Beyond Belief Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Belief Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
A McMillan Christmas - Novella
A McMillan Christmas Audiobook (Audible)
A McMillan Christmas Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Love Beyond Reach
Love Beyond Reach Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Reach Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Morna’s Magic & Mistletoe - A Novella
Morna’s Magic & Mistletoe Audiobook (Audible)
Morna’s Magic & Mistletoe Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Love Beyond Words
Love Beyond Words Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Words Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Love Beyond Wanting
Love Beyond Wanting Audiobook (Audible)
Love Beyond Wanting Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
The Haunting of Castle Dune - A Novella
* * *
Love Beyond Destiny
Collections:
* * *
Morna’s Legacy: Books 1, 2, 2.5 & 3
Audiobook (Audible)
Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Morna’s Legacy: Books 4, 4.5 & 5
Audiobook (Audible)
Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Morna’s Legacy: Books 6, 7 & 7.5
Audiobook (Audible)
Audiobook (Amazon)
* * *
Morna’s Legacy: Books 8, 8.5 & 9
Sweet/Clean Versions of Morna’s Legacy Series
If you enjoy sweet/clean romances where the love scenes are left behind closed doors or if you know someone else who does, check out the new sweet/clean versions of Morna’s Legacy books in the Magical Matchmaker’s Legacy.
Morna’s Spell
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Time
* * *
Morna’s Secret
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Reason
* * *
The Conalls’ Magical Yuletide - A Novella
Sweet/Clean Version of A Conall Christmas
* * *
Morna’s Magic
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Hope
* * *
Morna’s Accomplice
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Measure
* * *
Jeffrey’s Only Wish - A Novella
Sweet/Clean Version of In Due Time
* * *
Morna’s Rogue
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Compare
* * *
Morna’s Ghost
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Dreams
* * *
Morna’s Vow
Sweet/Clean Version of Love Beyond Belief
Love Beyond Time - 5 Year Anniversary Edition
Buy it here!
Interested in Large Print Paperbacks?
Get them here!
Want to be notified of new releases by text? Sign up today!
Free Book - Subscribe to My Newsletter
Today when you sign up for my mailing list, I will send you a link where you can download A Conall Christmas - A Novella (Book 2.5 of Morna’s Legacy Series) for FREE!
A Conall Christmas is not a Christmas tale as much as it is simply a love story. Adelle, Bri’s mother, gets a second chance at love in this fun, uplifting book.
If you have already read it, I hope you will still choose to sign up for my mailing list just for
the other benefits. I promise to never spam you. I will send out mailings only when I have news or special opportunities for you. And if you haven’t read A Conall Christmas yet, you get it FREE today when you sign up.
When you sign up for my mailing list, you will be the first to know about new releases, upcoming events, and contests. You will also get sneak peeks into books and have opportunities to participate in special reader groups and occasionally get codes for free books.
Just click one of the links in the paragraphs above or go to http://eepurl.com/bqjLCT to sign up today. I can’t wait to connect with you there.
About the Author
BETHANY CLAIRE is a USA Today bestselling author of swoon-worthy, Scottish romance and time travel novels. Bethany loves to immerse her readers in worlds filled with lush landscapes, hunky Scots, lots of magic, and happy endings.