Dark Sword 05: Shadow Highlander

by Donna Grant

  The color drained from Mairi’s face, but she didn’t back down. Reaghan wanted answers, but she didn’t want to leave the castle. It was a choice she had never thought to have to make.

  “You’ve always been like a mother to me. I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

  “Reaghan,” Mairi said. “I will tell you everything. Just come with me.”

  A shiver of dread raced down Reaghan’s spine. The more Mairi talked the more Reaghan knew she lied. It was there in her eyes, in the bleakness and coldness of Mairi’s brown gaze.

  But Reaghan wanted to test her theory, wanted to back Mairi into a corner.

  “Tell me now, and I will go with you.”

  Mairi rolled her eyes. “I’m no fool, lass. I’m not saying a word until you are away from this pit of wickedness.”

  “Tell me something now. In good faith.”

  Galen felt as if someone had ripped open his chest. He couldn’t believe Reaghan thought of leaving with Mairi, but then again, Reaghan had yearned for answers for years. Why wouldn’t she latch on to what Mairi offered?

  He wanted to snatch Reaghan away from Mairi and keep her by his side forever, but he knew that wasn’t possible. She was a piece of the puzzle to destroying Deirdre. But she was also so much more, more than he ever thought possible.

  “Galen.”

  He started, and found Fallon beside him. “We cannot make Reaghan stay,” Galen said.

  “Talk to her,” Fallon urged. “She will listen to you.”

  Galen had given her all the answers he knew. He had nothing else to tell her.

  “Tell me!” Reaghan shouted to Mairi.

  “You were born in our village. Your mother died in childbirth.”

  Galen held his breath, not knowing if what Mairi said was true or not because he wasn’t touching her.

  “You lie.”

  Reaghan’s words, quietly spoken, reverberated around the hall. The relief that swept through Galen was so powerful it threatened to buckle his knees.

  Reaghan was staying. He had never known how desperately he wanted her until that moment, how anxiously he feared her leaving him.

  And right after that came the realization that she knew—everyone knew—one of his deepest secrets. The question was, how had Mairi known he had controlled another’s mind before?

  THIRTY-THREE

  Galen didn’t move. Couldn’t.

  Not when Mairi spun around and strode back to her chamber. Not when Reaghan slowly descended the stairs and walked out of the castle, the women following behind her.

  He knew his fellow Warriors would have questions for him, questions he’d rather not answer. Questions he wasn’t sure if he could answer.

  For too long he had hidden the extent of his powers. It was only fair that everyone know the truth.

  His blood pounded in his ears, his heart was in his throat. He had prayed Reaghan would turn and look at him, give him any indication she wasn’t angry, before she left the castle.

  But she hadn’t.

  Galen let loose the breath he’d been holding and returned to his seat at the table. No one spoke as Fiona and Braden quietly rose and left the great hall.

  “How did Mairi know of your powers?” Quinn asked, finally breaking the overwhelming silence.

  Galen shrugged, his gaze on the table. He couldn’t look his fellow Warriors in the eye. Not now, not after betraying them. Possibly not ever. “I looked into her mind to try and find answers about Reaghan.”

  “I was there,” Logan said. “We knew Mairi was hiding something about Reaghan. He was worried what it could be. Galen did what any of us would have.”

  “True,” Fallon answered. “Did the villagers treat Reaghan badly?”

  Galen ran a hand down his face. How had things become so convoluted? All he had wanted to do was keep the Druids safe. It had never entered his mind that they would act so offensively to everyone, Reaghan included.

  “Quite the opposite,” Galen said, and forced himself to lift his eyes and look around the table. “Reaghan told me she found a parchment that mentioned her name and that of Foinaven Mountain. She wanted to find the answers to her past, to memories that were gone.”

  Logan nodded as Galen spoke. “Reaghan asked to come with us. It wasn’t until Reaghan’s pain came upon her that we saw firsthand the elders were keeping a secret.”

  Fallon’s brow was furrowed, his jaw set. “Explain.”

  “They comforted her, but not once did they even try to offer herbs or something to dull the headache,” Galen said.

  Logan cocked his head to the side. The smile he gave was hard and full of cruelty. “That’s when Galen confronted Mairi. He asked her to give him the answers he sought, and when she didn’t, he looked into her mind.”

  “What did you see?” Lucan asked.

  Galen met Lucan’s sea-green eyes. “I saw glimpses of her with Reaghan. Reaghan never aged, but Mairi did.”

  “Like Logan, I’d have done the same in Galen’s position,” Hayden said. “Galen was protecting Reaghan.”

  Galen found Ramsey’s eyes on him, but his friend didn’t utter a word, just stared thoughtfully.

  “Can you control someone’s mind?” Ian asked.

  Galen turned to the twin and gave a single nod of his head. “I’ve done it only once, and it nearly killed me.”

  “Tell us,” Quinn urged.

  Galen sighed and drudged up memories he wished he could forget. “I had just escaped Cairn Toul and was trying to find my way in a world that had changed so drastically. I came across a village on the border with England. There were English soldiers there who had killed a man and a woman, and one was about to rape a young girl.”

  He paused and swallowed. “I thought I could do anything with my powers. I didn’t even touch him, just focused all of my god’s power and stared at the soldier. I commanded him to leave the girl alone and attack his comrades. For several heartbeats he stood still as stone. And then he did exactly as I commanded.”

  “What happened to him?” Logan asked.

  “I doona know. I fell unconscious. It took me days to recover. I never tried it again. I will admit, if Mairi had no’ changed her mind on her own and come to the castle with us, I would have used my power on her.”

  Fallon dropped his head back on his chair. “We all have special powers. Some are stronger than others, and that we have no control over. We didna choose our gods. They chose us. We live with what we have and make the best of it.”

  Galen knew Fallon was telling him everything was all right, but to Galen it wasn’t. It never would be. He stood and looked at each Warrior in turn. “I have no control over my power. If you brush up against me I will see into your mind, your thoughts, your feelings.”

  “Every person you touch?” Arran asked.

  “Aye. Person, Druid, Warrior, or wyrran. Even animals. No matter how I try to master my power, it eludes me. There is only one whom I can touch and see nothing.”

  Logan murmured, “Reaghan.”

  Galen nodded. “Reaghan. Whether it’s because of the spell she cast on herself, or something else, I doona know.”

  “You didna tell us before because you thought we would send you away, didn’t you?” Lucan asked.

  “Aye.” Galen hated to admit his fears, but no one could begin to understand how much he dreaded being around so many people, knowing he would see into their minds whether he wanted to or not. Yet, to kill Deirdre, it had been worth the risk.

  He had another family now, and he would fight to keep them.

  Hayden rose and walked to Galen. “Every time you touch someone?”

  “Every time.” Before Galen realized what Hayden was about, Hayden clamped his hand on his shoulder.

  “Now I know why you were always a step behind us,” Hayden said.

  Galen ground his teeth together, expecting to see the worst in Hayden’s mind as he had in the past. Yet all he saw, all he felt, was friendship. A deep bond that bound them as Wa
rriors and brothers.

  Galen raised his eyes to stare into Hayden’s black ones. “Why?”

  “Because you would doubt words.” Hayden dropped his hand and nodded to Galen.

  Fallon rose to his feet then. “I think Hayden speaks for all of us. We need you, Galen. None of us believe you have forced those Druids, especially Reaghan, to do your bidding.”

  “Thank you,” Galen said, and glanced at his uneaten food. His thoughts lingered on Reaghan. Without another word he left the hall and took the stairs to the battlements.

  He scanned the land until he spotted Reaghan surrounded by the women. Galen wanted to go to Reaghan, to try and explain, but he wasn’t sure she would listen to him at the moment.

  It was enough that she wasn’t leaving with Mairi. At least that’s what he told himself.

  “She’s verra beautiful.”

  Galen glanced over his shoulder to find Ramsey leaning against the stones, relaxed and nonchalant. But Galen knew Ramsey well enough to know his friend had sought him out for a reason. “Reaghan is beautiful.”

  “Why don’t you go to her?”

  “She needs time,” Galen said. “So much has changed for her.”

  Ramsey’s boot heels hit the stones as he walked to stand beside Galen. “In all the decades I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you look at a woman as you do Reaghan. Why do you hesitate to go to her?”

  “All of you take for granted touching another. I was not given that luxury with my god. I knew I would have to live my life alone. I had accepted my fate. Until I dared to kiss Reaghan. From the instant I realized her mind was blocked to me, I have no’ been able to stay away.”

  “So you only want her because you cannot see into her mind?”

  Galen inhaled deeply, his mind a jumble. “I cannot deny that is part of why I want her. But in the great hall when Mairi was asking her to leave, the thought of never seeing Reaghan again, of never holding her again, nearly broke me in two.”

  “So you do care for her.”

  “Enough that when she does lose her memories I will free her to find another.”

  Ramsey raised a black brow. “You would give her up even though you’ve found possibly the only woman you can touch without your power interfering?”

  “I would.”

  “And that, Galen, is what makes you a good man. Forget Mairi and her spiteful words. Focus on Reaghan and what time you have left.”

  Ramsey’s words echoed in Galen’s mind long after his friend had walked away. Just how much time did he have left with Reaghan?

  * * *

  Mairi paced her chamber and seethed. Ever since coming to MacLeod Castle, since meeting Galen, Reaghan had changed. Gone was the girl so willing to please, and in her place was a woman who knew what she wanted and wouldn’t be bent to another’s will.

  But Mairi had no choice but to ensure that Reaghan left with the rest of them. Mairi had vowed upon being named an elder that she would keep Reaghan with them.

  “You were wrong to say those things,” Odara said from the corner where she had sat since Mairi’s return.

  Mairi clucked her tongue. “It needed to be said. All of it.”

  “How did you know about Galen’s power?”

  “He told me he used his power for information about Reaghan.”

  “And the other,” Odara pressed. “How did you know he had controlled another’s mind before?”

  Mairi paused and turned to Odara. In their youth, both of them had been the prettiest girls in the village, and since there were few men, they had become rivals instead of friends. Odara might have won the man Mairi had wanted, but Mairi’s body had remained stronger, not bent and weak as Odara’s now was.

  “I guessed.”

  Odara’s green eyes narrowed. “You’ve always been a terrible liar, Mairi. The truth, if you please.”

  “All right. I was told.”

  “By who?”

  Mairi smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Galen is a threat to us and Reaghan, and I need to see him dead.”

  Odara’s hand went to her chest. “Dead? You plan to kill a Warrior?”

  “Aye.”

  THIRTY-FOUR

  The mist was everywhere, choking out the light and the air around Reaghan. It clung to her as if seeking to invade her skin.

  In the mist she saw flashes of a mountain she knew instantly as Cairn Toul. There was another, one that brought peace to her heart and a smile to her face. Foinaven. Her home.

  She took a step back when a face suddenly stared back at her. The white hair faded into the mist, but the pale skin and white eyes were visible. The lips were twisted in a snarl, hatred and malice pouring from the image.

  Deirdre.

  The drough’s face faded, and in its place was one of remarkable beauty. Her blue eyes were clear and bright, her hair the color of gold. There were similarities between the woman and Deirdre, but whereas Deirdre was cold and evil, this woman was life and warmth.

  No matter how hard Reaghan tried to think of the woman’s name, it eluded her. The more she tried the more an ache in the back of her head throbbed.

  And then the woman’s face faded.

  Reaghan reached out to touch it, to bring it back. She fell through the mist, falling endlessly. Spiraling downward into a chasm that swallowed her. She tried to scream, but no sound came from her mouth.

  Her arms flailed, reaching for something, anything, to hold on to. There was nothing but the mist.

  And a voice. Her voice.

  You know how to break the spell.

  * * *

  Reaghan woke suddenly, her heart pounding in her chest. Her chamber was dark, quiet. Empty. There was no mist, no faces or memories.

  Only the voice reverberating in her mind.

  She sat up and threw off the covers. Her sleep had been scarce, and when she finally had fallen asleep, there had been the dream.

  Galen had not come to her, but then again she knew he wouldn’t. Maybe it was for the best. Though she knew Mairi’s words were false, she wanted to prove to Mairi and everyone that she made her own decisions, not Galen.

  Reaghan looked out her window and saw that dawn was not far off. She dressed and combed her hair before braiding it. Then she left her chamber and hurried to the kitchen.

  Cara had told her they were all there in the mornings. Reaghan hoped the women hadn’t chosen that morning to sleep in, not when she desperately needed to speak with them.

  They had been her salvation the day before. Reaghan hadn’t known what to do about Mairi, but they had. When she suggested she stay away from Galen to prove Galen hadn’t been controlling her mind, they had all agreed, but they doubted Galen wouldn’t come to her.

  Reaghan knew what kind of man Galen was. He struggled with his powers and the god inside him just as every Warrior at MacLeod Castle did. Galen was a good man. She knew it in the depths of her soul.

  When she entered the kitchen it was empty. Reaghan sighed and leaned against the wall. She went over her dream again in her mind. This one was so different from the previous ones. In the others she had seen places and people she knew, but it had been as if she were reliving events. Never before had there been a mist.

  This new dream was different in so many ways. For one, the woman. Reaghan recognized her as she had so many others, but this time there wasn’t a name. Only a feeling, as though this woman were very important.

  Then there was her own voice telling her she knew how to break the spell.

  Reaghan had always followed her instincts before. Yet, how could she when she didn’t know what could break the spell? Anxiety, deep and immeasurable, had taken hold of her. As if she needed to hurry and end the spell.

  But how?

  “Reaghan?”

  She spun around to find Sonya in the doorway.

  “Is everything all right?”

  Reaghan fisted her hands in her skirts, unable to explain the urgency inside her, an urgency that told her she was almost out of time. “I had a
dream. In that dream I saw Deirdre and another woman. I don’t know the other woman, but I sensed she was very important. Then…” Reaghan paused and took a deep breath. “Then I heard my own voice tell me I knew how to end the spell.”

  Sonya’s amber eyes were troubled. “When a Druid has such a dream, it should not be ignored.”

  “I agree. The problem is, I really have no idea how to end the spell.”

  “It will come to you, I’m sure of it.”

  “I pray you’re correct.”

  Sonya began to turn away when she suddenly stopped, her head cocked to the side and her eyes closed.

  Reaghan remained beside her. She glanced around, hoping to see Cara or Marcail or someone who might know what was wrong. “Sonya? Are you all right?”

  The Druid didn’t answer.

  “You’re scaring me, Sonya.”

  “I’m listening,” Sonya whispered. “The trees are trying to tell me something.”

  Reaghan waited for Sonya to say more. She was intrigued. When Sonya opened her eyes, she blinked several times and then hurried off into the great hall.

  Reaghan followed Sonya, but she paused once inside the hall when she saw Quinn with Marcail, his hand spanning her stomach. He stood behind her, whispering something into her ear that made Marcail smile.

  “I need to hear the trees,” Sonya said to them.

  Quinn’s head jerked up at the sound of her voice. “You know how dangerous it is, Sonya. To venture outside of Isla’s shield would amount to capture and death at Deirdre’s hand.”

  “The trees are calling for me,” Sonya argued. “I must hear them.”

  Quinn kissed Marcail’s cheek. “I’ll talk to the others, but I doubt you will be allowed.”

  Once Quinn was gone Sonya paced the hall. Reaghan moved out of the way and watched as the others tried to comfort her. Sonya was distraught, her need to hear the trees outweighing reason.

  It wasn’t until Broc entered the hall that Sonya stopped her pacing. Reaghan saw the concern in Broc’s eyes and the ease with which Sonya approached him, as if no one else were in the room.

  As Sonya told Broc about the trees, Reaghan’s gaze was caught by the man who stood next to the Warrior. Galen. Her heart leaped in her chest at the sight of him. His face was gaunt, as if he hadn’t slept in days.