by Donna Grant
“I think they should come,” Saffron said into the silence that followed Fallon’s decree.
Camdyn’s gaze shifted to Fallon for his response.
Fallon’s brows lifted. “And why is that? Did you have a vision of this?”
“It doesn’t take a Seer to know that every Druid will be needed there, regardless of how much magic they hold. Even the tiniest drop of magic could make the difference in this battle.”
Fallon blew out a breath. “Point taken. Aiden, Braden, Kirstin, and Fiona, prepare to leave with the others.”
Saffron released the breath she had been holding and moved with the others as they put on their coats and grouped together as Fallon requested. Fallon was the leader, and though he liked to get others’ opinions on matters, he had already made a decision.
She had countered that and, fortunately for her, it had gone well. Even if it hadn’t, she knew she had to speak her mind.
While she tugged on a coat and scarf, Saffron found herself watching Fallon as Larena, Lucan, Cara, Quinn, and Marcail stood in a circle, each of them with a hand on the person’s shoulder next to them.
She had heard the others talk about Fallon’s power of teleportation. Or jumping as they called it. Now she would finally witness it for herself.
With a smile and a kiss on Larena’s lips, Fallon put his hands on Larena’s and Lucan’s shoulder. And in the next instant they were gone.
Before Saffron could blink, Fallon had returned and the next group stepped forward.
Her mind was still reeling from how fast he moved from place to place when Fallon called her toward the group that consisted of Logan, Gwynn, Ian, Dani, and Camdyn.
Saffron walked to the open spot between Camdyn and Fallon, her heart in her throat. Fallon had jumped her from Declan’s mansion to the castle when they rescued her, but she had been so happy to be free, not to mention blind, she hadn’t realized what was going to happen.
“You willna feel a thing,” Fallon said with a grin.
She nodded and met Gwynn’s gaze across from her. Gwynn winked as Fallon placed his hand on Saffron’s shoulder. In the next instant Saffron found herself standing on a snow-covered peninsula with water on either side.
Her head swiveled to Fallon only to see him disappear.
Saffron blinked as the bright sun hurt her eyes. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes as she desperately tried to see all that was around her.
A large shadow crossed in front of her, blocking the sun. She dropped her hand and looked up to find Camdyn.
“Better?” he asked.
“Better. Thank you.”
He shrugged. “Your eyes are still adjusting. I think it will take a while for them to mend fully.”
“I don’t like appearing weak.”
A dark brow rose in response. “Is that what you believe we will think? You survived Declan. Give yourself some credit.”
She shifted her feet in the snow, causing their hands to brush. A current of something primal, needful, zoomed through her. Saffron sucked in a breath and glanced away from him.
“Do I frighten you?” he asked.
Her gaze jerked back to him. “Frighten me? Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“You try no’ to look at me.”
If he only knew the real reason.
Saffron cleared her throat while she shook her head. “I awoke just a few hours ago to find I had my sight back, Camdyn. I’m simply trying to take everything in. I meant no offense.”
“Of course.”
He lifted his gaze over her head, but Saffron couldn’t stop staring at him. She knew he felt it, knew she should stop. But she couldn’t.
Camdyn drew her gaze and her body. She forced herself to look away and took the time to look around her. The higher the sun climbed, the less Camdyn’s tall, muscular form would be able to help her.
It had been so long since Saffron had seen the world. She would bet her sizable fortune that in the summer the grass was a brilliant shade of green. It was too bad she couldn’t see it now since it was covered in snow, but the glorious blue sky together with the dark blue waters of the loch was a sight to behold.
“So many have gone,” Reaghan said in distress.
Saffron whirled around to find herself staring at a huge ring of standing stones. She quickly counted twenty-seven standing, but there were spaces where many more should have stood.
“Look at where the stones are placed,” Lucan said. “No snow, weeds, or anything, but the grass grows there.”
Saffron sucked in a breath when she spied the bright green grass between and around the stones. It made a perfect circle, leaving the middle and the outside piled with snow.
“Magic,” Camdyn whispered from behind her, his voice deep and seductive. “Can you feel it?”
Saffron wasn’t sure who he spoke to, but she nodded. “It’s so strong even I feel it. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“I have,” Galen said.
Logan nodded. “At Loch Awe, and then again on the Isle of Eigg.”
In a matter of seconds Fallon had everyone at the Ring of Brodgar. Saffron closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun. The warmth of it seeped into her skin and made her smile.
Camdyn’s presence behind her only made her more aware of her surroundings. And him. His cedar and power scent made her skin tingle, made her think of dark nights, tangled sheets, and cries of pleasure.
She couldn’t keep her eyes closed for long though. She wanted to see everything. In all her travels over Scotland before Declan had found her, she had seen much, but she had never seen the Orkney Isles. And she had missed out on a treasure for sure.
“It’s so beautiful here. So peaceful. Its almost as if you can feel the history and magic of this land standing beside you,” she whispered.
Camdyn’s dark eyes came to rest on her as he came to stand next to her. “Aye.”
He stood so close she could lean against him, but somehow she held back. She might turn her face away from him, but her body knew where he was at all times.
They were clustered in a group watching as Reaghan paced back and forth. Galen was trying to talk to her, but she kept shaking her head.
Saffron grew uncomfortable as she realized how exposed they were out in the open. She had grown used to the safety of the castle. Now, there were just the stones. There wasn’t a tree in sight to hide behind.
“We’re safe,” Camdyn said, reading her mind.
She snorted, not believing him. Saffron had learned her lesson with Declan. She wouldn’t be caught unawares again.
By anyone.
“You think I lie?” Camdyn asked with such confusion it almost made her smile.
She shook her head instead. “I think you will say what you need to say in order to make me feel safe. You think because you’re a Warrior you can battle anything.”
“Because I can. I’ve battled Deirdre many times.”
“Maybe. But you haven’t battled Declan. He’s a modern man, Camdyn. He fights differently. He’ll come at you in ways you’d least expect.”
“I’d like him to try.”
“I’m sure he will.”
Camdyn’s lips lifted in a cruel smile. “Then I’ll finish him.”
CHAPTER
FIVE
Saffron didn’t get a chance to say more as Reaghan’s distress became more obvious.
“What is it?” Fallon asked when Galen finally took Reaghan in his arms.
Reaghan lifted her head and tucked a thick strand of auburn hair behind her ear as the wind picked up. “I can’t find the entrance. Too many stones have toppled.”
“What are you looking for exactly?” Cara asked.
Reaghan shrugged and stepped out of Galen’s arms. “I don’t know. I should recognize it, or at least that’s what my father told me.”
“Let’s get closer to the stones,” Galen suggested. “Maybe there you will be able to sense something.”
Saffron followed
the path in the snow made from everyone’s footsteps. Behind her was Camdyn. Near her once more. As frightened as she was to be out in the open, he was right. She did feel safe with him close to her.
She glanced over her shoulder to find his gaze on her. Goose bumps raced over her skin that had nothing to do with the cold. She huddled deeper into her coat and faced forward once more.
But even that didn’t stop her from feeling his gaze.
The closer they came to the massive stone ring the more the ancient magic washed over her. She inhaled deeply, feeling the magic fill her lungs and body. It was heady, unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Would she have felt it had she come here before Declan had taken her? It was rare for a Druid to feel magic, but with magic as strong as what was in the stones, Saffron suspected that anyone would feel it.
“It is said all of Britain once felt like this,” Sonya said.
Saffron looked to the redheaded healer and saw Sonya’s eyes closed and Broc staring at her with such love and devotion that Saffron had to look away. Embarrassed to have caught a glimpse of something so private.
And why was it that her first thought after witnessing the couple’s love was of Camdyn? Was it because Saffron wanted the same kind of love herself? Or was she so messed up from her confinement and torture that she was clinging to the first person who had helped her?
Saffron inwardly shook her head. It was hard to know. What she did know was how good it felt to be held by him. It was a dangerous thing, the desire she felt.
Once they were at the edge of the snow that bordered the grass around the stones, everyone fanned out. Saffron wasn’t surprised when Camdyn stayed by her. No one said anything as the wind picked up and clouds passed quickly above them.
Saffron kept her eyes on the ground, glancing up for only seconds at a time. She hated how her eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. This was worse than being blind. Everything she longed to see was right in front of her, but the pain from the sunlight was too much for her eyes to take.
“It’s just stones,” Camdyn murmured. “The same stones you saw from afar. Stones and snow.”
She shifted her gaze to look at the black combat boots he wore. He stood with his feet braced apart. She didn’t need to look at him to know he was on alert, ready and waiting for whatever action came his way.
He was a warrior in every sense of the word. Coiled within him was a tangible violence that would have put her off years earlier. Now, she found it exhilarating, thrilling to be around someone so virile and dangerous.
But with Camdyn, there was more. She couldn’t put her finger on it though. He wouldn’t have a god inside him if he wasn’t a formidable warrior, but there was something that set him apart from the rest.
A desolation she herself could relate to.
The lull of the stone’s magic pulled at Saffron, turning her attention to magic ancient and powerful. It drew her. It lured her.
She was powerless to deny it as she stepped off the snow into the grass. Behind her, Camdyn said her name. But Saffron couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to stop. She kept walking until she came to the first stone.
Once she was beside it she closed her eyes as the magic began to shine brighter than the sun. With her eyes closed, Saffron stopped trying to see and used her other senses.
A smile pulled at her lips when she heard the magic whispering around her. She put one hand on the stone and gasped when the magic raced through her hand. The force of it, the sheer potency of it, made her sway on her feet.
A soft hand took hers, and Saffron glanced to her left to see Gwynn beside her. One by one the Druids lined up and linked hands between two of the standing stones.
Saffron knew the instant a Druid touched the other stone. The magic singed through her and into Gwynn before rushing through each of them then into the next stone.
She didn’t know how long they stood there as the magic took them, but when someone broke away, Saffron felt as if her soul had been ripped from her.
“I know where to get in,” Reaghan shouted happily.
Saffron dropped hands with Gwynn and turned to walk back to Camdyn. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes again, blinking rapidly to avoid the light.
Large, strong hands caught her shoulders and moved her to the right. She caught a glimpse of black combat boots, which all the Warriors wore, but she knew by the feel of the hands it was Camdyn who touched her.
Saffron was about to ask someone to escort her to where Reaghan had gone when Fallon appeared before her.
“Larena suggested I get these for you,” he said, and held out something for her.
Saffron smiled when she grasped the sunglasses. She let out a sigh when she slipped them on and was able to fully open her eyes. “Thank you.”
“No need.”
Now that Saffron was able to see, she raised her face to Camdyn. “Are you my keeper?”
“Why would you ask that?”
She shrugged, unsure herself. She liked having him around, but she wanted to know if he was there because he wanted to be, or because … he had to be. “I’m no longer blind, but I’m not a hundred percent yet. I’m a hindrance. You Warriors are experienced in battle, so it makes sense that someone would be assigned to stay with me so I don’t hamper things if we’re attacked.”
His gaze never wavered from her, but she saw a muscle in his jaw tick. What was he thinking? She was dying to know, but she suspected that whatever it was, he wasn’t going to tell her.
“Most of the others have wives. I’m just making sure that you have what you need. Until you are a hundred percent.”
It was a great explanation, and a plausible one. Why then did it hurt that he wasn’t with her because he wanted to be? Saffron forced a smile and nodded.
“As I assumed. Shall we join the others?”
She began to walk away when his hand grasped her arm in a gentle, but ironclad, grip. Saffron looked at him, startled to find his brow furrowed.
“I’ve upset you,” he said.
How could he have known that? Saffron was an expert in hiding her emotions. There was no way he could have known she was anything other than happy with his response.
But by the look he was giving her, he knew differently.
“I don’t want to be a burden,” she admitted. “I want my life back, the way it was before. My eyes will adjust, and until they do, I’ll make sure I stay near the others so that I’m not a hindrance to anyone.”
“You are no’,” he murmured.
It was her turn to frown. “I’m not what?”
“A hindrance.” He dropped his hand and took a deep breath, looking beyond her to where the others had gone. “I’m impressed with your courage.”
This she hadn’t expected. Her mouth dropped open, but before she could respond, he started after the others.
Saffron had no choice but to follow him. She lengthened her strides and hurriedly caught up with him as Reaghan walked southeast around a lone standing stone.
With Saffron half running, half walking, they reached the group. And just when she thought no one had noticed their absence, Ramsey turned and looked at them.
She gave him a smile, and then promptly ignored him and the grin that slowly turned up his lips. “Men,” she whispered.
“What was that?” Camdyn asked.
“Nothing.”
The huge stone Reaghan walked around stood on a low oval platform with two stumps of stones rising from the ground, signaling that the stone hadn’t originally been alone.
“This is the Comet Stone,” Reaghan said as she ran her hands over the monolith.
Saffron turned back to the Ring of Brodgar and the entrance caught her eye. She then looked back at the Comet Stone and around it to see the Standing Stones o’Stenness.
Reaghan smiled when she saw Saffron. “Aye,” she said. “The Comet Stone and its two sisters that are no longer here were a midpoint between the two stone rings.”
“Is this the entrance
?” Isla asked.
Reaghan shook her head. “Nay, but I know how to find it.”
“How?” Ramsey asked.
Reaghan pointed to the sky. “The entire peninsula we’re on is aligned with the stars. Orion’s Belt to be exact. Orion’s Belt rises and sets in exactly the same place as the sun during the winter.”
Camdyn, his arms crossed over his chest, chuckled as he nodded his head in understanding. “If you overlayed Orion’s Belt where the stones are, it matches, does it no’?”
Saffron had studied and loved astronomy for as long as she could remember, and she didn’t expect anyone to know about overlaying the alignment of Orion’s Belt.
She was pleasantly surprised, and found herself looking at Camdyn in a new light. She’d figured him to be all brawn. And she’d assumed wrong.
“Exactly!” Reaghan said with a laugh to Camdyn. “The ancient Celts worshiped the sun and the moon and the stars. Every layout of stones is in direct relation to one of the three. Once you know which it is, you can sometimes divine its secrets.”
“Such as?” Saffron asked.
Reaghan winked at Galen. “In this case, the entrance to the labyrinth where Laria awaits.”
“What do we need to do?” Hayden asked.
For the first time Reaghan’s smile slipped. She glanced at the sky and the clouds rolling in. “Once Orion’s Belt rises we wait for the moon. The light of a full moon will shine the way. This was meant to be done during the winter. At no other time does Orion’s Belt match up to these standing stones.”
“It’s two days until the full moon,” Quinn said.
Fallon pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “Reaghan, are you sure you can no’ find another way? I doona want to wait.”
“I’m sorry. This was done with magic, Fallon. Magic and the reason why the stones were constructed. It’s meant to be difficult so not just anyone could find Laria. If it were summer we’d have to wait until winter. And the landscape has changed in fifteen hundred years. Most of the stones are gone.”
“And if one is gone that we need?” Camdyn asked.
Reaghan’s apprehensive face said it all.
“We’ve got time right now,” Dani said. “Let’s look around.”