Warrior's Moon

by Lucy Monroe

  Audrey’s expression showed as much relief as Shona felt. They were not to be separated.

  * * *

  Despite her earlier words on the subject, Marjory was surprisingly content to get on a horse with Caelis so they could make the journey to the sacred caves for Audrey and Vegar’s mating ceremony. Her daughter resisted riding with Shona at all, however, and made something of a production of switching between Caelis’s and Vegar’s mounts.

  Both warriors were infinitely patient, making sure that Eadan felt as welcome as his younger sister. The five-year-old spent as much time with the warriors on their mounts as on his own horse. And somehow, both men remained vigilant to surrounding dangers, even though the contingent riding toward the caves was large.

  Thomas accompanied them, of course, as did the laird and his entire family, even the new babe. A full company of Chrechte soldiers surrounded them, including four wearing the MacLeod colors, ensuring that Audrey’s mating ceremony would be better attended than any wedding she might have had back in England.

  Pleased for her friend, Shona was nevertheless confused.

  She understood Prince Eirik and Ciara coming. Apparently as Vegar’s prince and celi di of the Faol, both would play part in the ceremony.

  Neither Vegar, nor Audrey, however, was a member of the Sinclair clan. While Vegar was clearly welcome in the Sinclair keep, he had not sworn fealty to its laird.

  So why had the man and his family come? For the Sinclair to take his small children—Chrechte or not—from the keep, even on his own land, was to put them at risk.

  Shona would have asked Audrey if she knew the reasoning behind such unexpected witnesses to her mating ceremony, but the younger woman was clearly lost in her own muddle of nerves and bemusement.

  “You have worn a most perplexed expression the past hour,” Ciara noted as her mare drew alongside Shona’s.

  “I have lived the past six years in England, I know, but still I cannot make sense in my mind of your family’s attendance to this mating ceremony.”

  “We will also be performing a welcome-to-life ceremony for my baby sister. In ancient times, they were done for all children born of Chrechte blood, but we have lost many of our old ways. We are seeking to renew them now that our sacred stone has been returned to us.”

  “Oh.” That made a great deal more sense to Shona. “Would it not be better to wait until the babe was older?”

  “Possibly, but my dreams have told me that the stone must be returned to the sacred caves on MacLeod lands. Father prefers to have the ceremony before we take the stone off his lands.”

  Shona did not understand the whole import of the sacred stones, but she knew they had special meaning to both the Éan and the Faol.

  “Did you not just bring the Faol’s sacred stone back to these caves?” Shona asked, more confused than ever.

  “Yes, but now both sacred stones, the Clach Gealach Gra and the Faolchú Chridhe must be united in the chamber of the celi di.”

  “The Éan’s stone is to be moved as well?”

  “Aye. Anya-Gra will send her successor to live among the MacLeod and serve as celi di for the Éan from there.”

  “Who is Anya-Gra?”

  “Eirik’s grandmother.”

  “That would make her queen of the Éan?” Shona asked.

  “No,” Ciara answered, adding to Shona’s muddied thoughts. “She gave up her claim to rule in order to serve as celi di, just as Eirik’s sister, Sabrine, gave up hers in order to become a protector of the clan.”

  “Isn’t she married to the laird of the Donegal now?” Shona tried to remember the things Caelis had revealed to her about his world thus far.

  “She is, but before that she was a warrior.”

  The thought of a female warrior was surprisingly pleasant to Shona. “Why doesn’t Eirik live with her clan?”

  “As prince of his people, he does not officially belong to any clan, though he wears the Sinclair colors on occasion.”

  Shona had noticed that the man wore a leather kilt rather than a plaid. “As your mate, he chooses to live with your family?”

  “He chose the Sinclair clan before we met. It was destiny.” Ciara smiled. “He and my father have a rapport that makes it possible for a prince to live in the same keep as a very stubborn laird.”

  “That is good.” Privately, Shona could not imagine it.

  The Sinclair did not strike her as an easy man to live in the vicinity of, even if you were willing to swear fealty and submission.

  “We spend a great deal of time traveling to the other clans where Éan have made their homes,” Ciara said as if reading Shona’s mind. “It helps.”

  “Ah.”

  Ciara smiled. “Yes, ah.”

  “You do not mind traveling so much?”

  “I miss my family, naturally, but we do not have children, so it is not a great difficulty. I enjoy the relationships I have built in each of the clans over the last year. And I have as much a responsibility to them as celi di to the Faol as Eirik has as prince of the Éan.”

  There had been a shadow in Ciara’s voice when she mentioned children. “You have not conceived, but you and Prince Eirik are sacred mates, are you not?”

  “We are.” Ciara grimaced. “I do not know if I will ever have the good fortune to bear a child. The celi di who mentors me in my visions does not think so.”

  “But why?”

  “There is a cost to the calling I have been given.” Ciara put on a bright smile Shona did not quite believe. “Sabrine has already provided the next generation for the Éan’s royal line.”

  “But you crave motherhood.”

  Ciara looked startled at Shona’s perception. “I thought I did a fair job of hiding that fact.”

  “You do not wear your desire on your sleeve, but I am a mother and I know the sparkle of that dream.”

  “Not all dreams may come to pass.”

  “This one will.” Shona was certain of it. “You may never give birth, but you will be a mother.”

  Ciara’s stared at her for a long moment before her entire face transformed with a stupefied kind of wonder. “That is what she meant. When the time is right, Eirik and I will adopt. Just as my parents claimed me for their own when I was without family.”

  Shona did not ask who Ciara referred to as she. Even a fully human woman could put two and two together to reach four. The celi di was talking about the ancient Chrechte woman she saw in her visions.

  “Thank you for revealing the nature of my mentor’s words. She is sometimes obscure.”

  “My mother could be that way.” Memories of her mother before and after Shona’s unexpected pregnancy assailed her.

  Circumstances had changed so much for both of them. Shona was the first to admit that it had not been easy on her mother to make a new life in England, where she was cook in the house her daughter had been named baroness.

  She had loved being a grandmother, no matter what she had thought of her daughter for catching pregnant with no husband in sight.

  Ciara’s face was filled with compassion. “She hurt you very much with her disapproval.”

  “I am sure Mother thought she was doing right, protecting me from myself and tendencies she thought were damaging.”

  “She was wrong.”

  Shona almost smiled. Even Audrey had never stated it so baldly before. “Mother wanted what was best for me.”

  “Her love was best for you. Withholding it could not alter your course or the woman you had become.”

  “With that attitude, you will make a fine mother yourself one day.” It was one Shona shared.

  God willing, her children would never doubt her great love for them.

  “Thank you.” Ciara beamed. “For your insight and your affirmation.”

  The celi di left then, to rejoin her husband. The blinding grin that overtook the man’s intimidating features moments later would imply that Ciara had shared Shona’s belief that they would indeed one day parent childre
n they would call their own.

  “You are a very special woman,” Caelis said from beside her as his great warhorse nuzzled her mare.

  She turned and smiled at him and Eadan, who was riding for this part of the journey in his da’s lap. “I am pleased you think so.”

  Eadan grinned back proudly, clearly thrilled to be where he was.

  “I am not the only one. Thomas and Audrey sing your praises; even the Lady Abigail is as protective of you as one of her own.”

  The words were gratifying, but they brought up another worry Shona had been doing her best to ignore.

  “Will Thomas stay with the Sinclairs when we leave?” she asked, her heart twinging at the idea.

  Caelis shook his head, the depths of his gentian gaze telling her without words he understood her feelings. “I offered to complete his training and he has accepted. He will wear MacLeod colors.”

  Emotion clogged Shona’s throat, but she forced out a heartfelt, “Thank you.”

  Caelis had made no secret of the fact he did not like Shona’s closeness to the young Chrechte, but he had still taken care that she would not lose Thomas from her life.

  His next words confirmed Caelis’s understanding of the matter. “He is important to you.”

  “As if he were my own brother.”

  “You have a big heart, Shona.”

  “For a long time, I tried very hard not to acknowledge my heart at all.”

  “I do not think you were ever successful.”

  Looking back at the way she’d accepted Audrey and Thomas into her affections as well as the love she had for her children, which grew daily, Shona thought he might be right.

  But she had tried.

  “I never loved the baron.”

  “How could you? Your heart was full of me. Besides, he was a bastard.”

  The baron had been neither kind nor considerate, but he could have been much worse and so both her parents took pains to remind her on any occasion they deemed it necessary.

  “I refused to even speak your name aloud.”

  “But you never forgot me, just as I never forgot you.”

  “Even when Uven had convinced you of my death?”

  “Even then. I did not try to make love to another woman even then. I would have known you lived if I had done.”

  She was sorry for the pain of loss he’d suffered, but couldn’t regret he’d never been tempted by another woman. Even if he did not love her as she loved him—and she was not as certain of that fact as she’d once been—she was definitely his mate.

  The only woman he wanted. The only woman he needed physically.

  And that was pretty special, as he’d said, even if that was not exactly precisely what he had meant.

  * * *

  The mating ceremony was beautiful beyond imagination and yet more natural than any wedding Shona had ever attended.

  It took place deep in the caves the Chrechte had named sacred, in a chamber redolent with the power of millennia’s worth of spiritual ceremonies for the Chrechte. The chamber glowed with an inexplicable light emanating from the walls. The Clach Gealach Gra on the stone pedestal in the center burned brightly like it was lit from within by a flame so hot it burned white.

  The light shimmered red as Prince Eirik led Vegar and Audrey to lay their hands on it and in speaking vows to one another in the ancient language of the Chrechte.

  Shona did not understand, but Caelis translated the vows for her via their mating bond. The mutual promises of lifelong care, protection, respect, fidelity and honor brought tears to her eyes even as she imagined repeating them with Caelis.

  They uttered their last vows and then a profound silence fell over the cave, the air so still Shona could hear her own heartbeat in her ears.

  The stone glowed a deep, dark red like a blood ruby and both Vegar and Audrey released a simultaneous breath before looking at one another with a connection so strong, Shona could feel its power from where she stood.

  “Your heart is pure,” Vegar pronounced of his mate.

  Audrey dipped her head. “It is yours.”

  It should have been too soon for such declarations, but Shona was certain she was not the only witness there who felt the absolute sincerity of their words.

  “I will treasure that gift always,” Vegar replied in a tone every bit as solemn.

  Ciara stepped forward, another stone held aloft in her hands, this one glowing like a dark, translucent emerald. She invited Vegar and Audrey to lay hands on it as well before speaking a blessing over their union, which once again Caelis interpreted for Shona inside her head.

  The blessing had the sound of a prophecy and Shona stored her joy for her friend in her heart.

  The green light seemed to reach out and surround the mated couple and the Faol’s celi di, swirling around all three of them like a glowing mist.

  Shona felt drawn to the stone, the urge to touch it so strong, her hand lifted toward them before she forced it back to her side. With great effort, she held herself back, careful to keep thoughts of how much she wanted to touch it far from the forefront of her mind. She did not understand this need, but she would not give in and mar her friend’s special moment.

  Chapter 22

  The gifts of the sacred stone require sacrifice on the part of the one blessed by them, but destiny cannot be denied.

  —CIARA OF THE SINCLAIR

  Prince Eirik pronounced Vegar and Audrey lifetime mates, responsible first and foremost to the sacred bond between them.

  A great cheer went up, echoing off the stone walls of the cave, resounding with both triumph and happiness.

  As a child, Shona had witnessed a wedding in her clan that received the same joyful response. She remembered thinking one day she would marry her warrior and the whole clan would rejoice. Even then, the only groom her mind could conjure was the young boy Caelis, only a few years older but a world ahead by a child’s standards.

  Laird Sinclair stepped forward, a black fur over his forearm, and offered it to Vegar. “For your mating.”

  Caelis moved away from Shona and only then did she realize he also had something in his hands. “That your mating may begin as it will continue, acknowledged by me and all Chrechte among the MacLeod.” Her mate offered Vegar and Audrey plaids in the colors of the MacLeod.

  The other soldiers wearing those colors came forward, all dropping to a single knee and placing their right fists over their hearts.

  “We will protect your mating and mate with our lives as is right among our kind,” Caelis said in tones far more like his conriocht than the man.

  “Aye,” the kneeling soldiers said as one.

  Emotion overwhelmed Shona, but she had her own gift to offer. She approached the newly mated couple and offered the silver hairbrush she’d brought among the few belongings she’d deemed absolutely necessary when she had fled the barony. “May you both find joy in your service to one another.”

  Vegar accepted the hairbrush, the tender glance he gave Audrey saying he knew exactly who was supposed to be offering the act of service. Then she handed Audrey a satchel filled with herbs and remedies. “May you care for your husband and children to come, healing scrapes as well as hearts.”

  Audrey’s eyes overflowed with tears. “You prepared for this, even though you could not know…”

  “I knew the sister of my heart would one day take a husband and that I would be prepared to show my good wishes for that joining.”

  Audrey embraced Shona, a soft sob sounding in her ear. They hugged for long moments before Shona stepped back and Thomas took her place. He offered his sister and the man by her side a butter-soft skin to cover their mating bed.

  When she saw it, Audrey again started to weep, but Vegar simply muttered a heartfelt thank-you.

  Afterward, everyone stayed in the chamber for the Sinclair’s youngest child’s welcome-to-life ceremony. The green stone glowed again, enveloping the child bringing forth gurgles and joy-filled baby laughter before fading.r />
  Caelis and the other MacLeod soldiers accompanied the mated couple out of the cave. Minutes later, the howls of several wolves echoed along the underground passageways.

  Caelis returned to Shona and the children shortly thereafter, looking exactly as he had upon leaving. She’d no notion if he had shifted or not.

  “Part of the mating ritual?” she asked.

  “For the Faol, yes.”

  And Audrey was Faol, though her English friend had little true notion what that meant.

  Shona merely nodded in acknowledgment, not certain she wanted details, as she would be facing her own mating ceremony at some point in the future.

  * * *

  The trip to Balmoral Island was uneventful, if Caelis could ignore the soppy looks passing between his fellow Cahir and the man’s new mate.

  Who knew Vegar even had that particular expression in his repertoire?

  And the former Englishwoman spent as much time riding in Vegar’s lap as she did in her own saddle.

  For some reason, both Caelis’s children found this vastly amusing and their giggles echoed through the forest as the horses galloped toward the sea.

  Their party made it to shore where the boats were kept in a cave by the Sinclairs faster than he would have expected traveling with children and a newly mated pair. The sea crossing itself went quickly, with the four robust warriors to man the oars. The three women entertained and watched over Marjory and Eadan, making sure Caelis’s son especially did not go tipping over the side of the boat into the waters.

  Eadan had a sense of adventure untempered by caution that made Caelis both proud and terrified at the same time.

  The boy showed no more fear of the sheer drop down the unprotected side of the switchback trail they had to climb to reach the Balmoral keep than he did riding a flat forest trail, either. Caelis breathed a strong sigh of relief when they reached the top and headed toward the imposing castle on the cliff overlooking the sea.

  Shona laughed a little and he turned to her. “What amuses you?”

  “When I first saw the Sinclair’s keep, I had the wish but little hope that the Balmoral’s would be as well fortified and imposing.”