by Donna Grant
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and tried to stand. She felt as weak as a newborn colt trying out his legs for the first time. After she got her legs underneath her and she was able to stand without feeling faint she took a step toward the table.
It was more like a shuffle, but it got her closer. At this rate it would take her an eternity to reach the table that only stood but ten paces away. She got within a few paces of the table and tried to lean over to reach the edge.
She lost her balance and fell to her hands and knees. But she wasn’t deterred. She used the chair as leverage and pulled herself up.
Then she saw it.
His ring. He had left his ring for her. The only link he had to where he came from and he had given it to her.
“He’s really gone.”
The reality of the situation settled around her like an ice storm. She reached for the ring and held it within her palm, the cool metal reminding her of what her heart would become if she didn’t find Dartayous.
Suddenly the prophecy came to mind.
In a time of conquering
There will be three
Who will end the MacNeil line.
Three born of the
Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasad Feasts
Who will destroy all at the
Samhain, the Feast of the Dead.
One who refuses the Druid way
Inherits the winter. In doing
So marks the beginning of the end.
For the worthy to prevail, the fire
Must stand alone to vanquish the inheritor,
Water must soothe the savage beast, and
The wind must bow before the tree.
It was obvious that Conall had refused the Druid way to inherit the winter, marking the beginning of the end. Glenna had stood alone to vanquish Conall and claim his love. Fiona had soothed the savage beast in Gregor, and now she, the wind, must bow before the tree. Dartayous was the tree, the unyielding warrior she had come to lean on.
Why had it taken her so long to recognize, she asked herself?
She stood on her wobbly legs and commanded them to walk out of the cottage. Her steps were a little better but nothing like what she wanted. She needed to run and find him before he left, if he hadn’t already. And she couldn’t follow him. She didn’t know how to leave this cursed world behind or where to find him.
The first place she decided to look was the loch. It had always been special to them and something told her that’s where he would be. She used the trees as support as she tried to hurry to the loch.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered into the night air. “I don’t care if you love me or not. I cannot stand to be without you.” * * * * Dartayous sighed and climbed to his feet. Moira wasn’t coming. He’d waited for almost six hours. If she had wanted to be with him she would have arrived by now. He had fooled himself.
Stay with her.
He shook his head to clear away the voice. It wasn’t the voice of reason, but a voice that wanted to steal his soul. It was the same voice that had caught Moira in its web, but it wouldn’t catch him.
Glenna and Fiona needed to know what happened to their sister. They deserved to know just what Moira had sacrificed for them. And somehow he would have to learn to live without her. Forever.
That thought did little to brighten his mood. He clenched his hands into fists and fought the urge to run back to her for he knew if he stayed but a little longer his soul would soon follow hers.
Her soul would be bound to walk between worlds never to know life again. So he couldn’t hold onto the hope of finding her in another life. She was lost to him forever.
He had begun to hate that word. Why would an immortal wish to walk the earth alone, never knowing again the love of his mate?
But his conscience wouldn’t allow him to give up his life so easily. He was a warrior, a Fae. He was saddened at how easily Moira had given up on her life. His heart ached to know he hadn’t been able to sway her to return with him. And he couldn’t go back to the cottage because he knew he would only find the shell of the woman he loved.
He turned and faced the loch. It was time to return home.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Moira slapped at the tears that blinded her. Blood ran into her eyes from the cut she had gotten when she fell and the tip of a branch had scraped her forehead.
She no longer even tried to use her feet. She crawled on her hands and knees ignoring the cuts and scraps that she was getting. All that mattered was finding Dartayous.
Even the voice that had lulled her to sleep over the past couple of days couldn’t sway her. She had put his ring on her finger and bent it to keep the ring on. She wanted to be able to hand it back to him.
With that hope clinging in her breast she crawled even faster. Forgotten was the betrayal she had committed, forgotten was the need to be alone. Her only thought was to find her mate. She wanted out of this world as fast as she could leave. She had been such a fool not to see what Dartayous had been trying to tell her until it was too late.
She reached the edge of the hill that looked over the loch and had to rest. Her chest and arms ached from using them to crawl, but none of that mattered. She had finally reached the loch.
Her eyes immediately went to the stones. Standing between them in the amber glow of the setting sun was Dartayous. She smiled through her tears and tried to stand. But her legs wouldn’t hold her. She gave up and began to crawl towards him. It didn’t matter how she got to him as long as she got there. * * * *
Dartayous stopped just before he stepped through the stones. Something told him to turn and look behind him. He slowly turned but didn’t see anything. With a shake of his head he began to turn back to the loch.
But something caught his eye. He jerked back around and searched the top of the hill. There, just for an instant he saw it. A flash of flaxen hair in the wind.
He raced up the hill and found Moira crawling towards him. Her hair was tangled with leaves and twigs ensnared in its long length. Her gown was torn, her hands bloody. She looked up at him when he knelt beside her and it nearly broke his heart.
Her tears had mingled with blood to leave a trail down her face. He picked her up and hugged her close to him. “I had begun to think you weren’t coming.”
“Just take me home,” she said. “I don’t want to be anywhere you aren’t.”
He didn’t say anything as he carried her toward the stones and sat between the giant structures. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, but he didn’t care. He was holding her once more.
“Moira-”
“Tell me when we get home,” she said and buried her head in his neck.
He smiled to himself. “Think hard,” he told her. “Think of the glen.”
He relaxed his mind and thought of the glen. A heartbeat later he was floating through darkness. Just when he thought he would go mad from the blackness, his eyes flew open.
The leafless tips of trees swayed gently in the wind. The sweet, fresh smell of the glen reached him. They had made it back. He leaned up on one elbow to look at Moira with a smile on his face. That smile faded when he realized she hadn’t woken.
He came to his knees and picked her up by her shoulders. “Moira,” he called. “Moira!”
He cradled her lifeless form in his arms, his eyes squeezed shut. He had lost her. Instead of telling her of his love, instead of telling her they would be together forever, he had listened to her and waited.
A bigger fool never walked this earth, he thought to himself. If only he had one more chance he would push his fear aside and tell her of his love regardless of how many times she tried to quiet him.
“Please, God,” he whispered in Moira’s hair. “Bring her back to me.”
He hadn’t expected a response. Indeed he didn’t expect God to do anything. When he felt something touch his arm he thought Glenna or Fiona was trying to take Moira from him, so he held tighter.
“Dartayous, I cannot breathe.”
His eyes flew open. He pulled back and looked into Moira’s sweet face. “I thought I had lost you. Again.”
She smiled. “It just took me a little longer to get here.”
It was time. He knew this was his very last chance to tell her. He took a deep breath and sat her up on her knees facing him. “I have something to tell you.”
“Wait,” she said and opened her hand.
He looked down to see his ring in her palm. His gaze moved to her face.
“You didn’t think to leave it behind did you?” she asked.
“You’re an extraordinary woman.”
She licked her lips and looked down at her hands. “What did you have to tell me?” she asked and met his eyes.
“I should have told you everyday from the moment I met you. I love you. I was too much of a coward to say the words that would bind us together.”
“Mates.”
“Aye,” he agreed. “Mates. I kept my distance from you because I couldn’t bear to see you die while I lived on. I couldn’t bear to walk this earth alone until we found each other once more. Because of that fear, I almost lost you.”
She placed a finger over his lips. “It doesn’t matter anymore. None of it does. We are together.”
He gazed into brilliant Druid green eyes. He had indeed been blessed, and he would walk through the fires of Hell if it meant he would have her by his side.
Moira wanted to dance for joy at hearing the words she had waited a lifetime to hear. Everything was soon forgotten as his lips claimed her mouth in a kiss full of promise and passion.
She was breathless and wishing they were alone when he ended the kiss. Even though they had not been interrupted she knew her sisters and others were watching, and that was the only thing that kept her from kissing him again. She would have to face her
sisters, but she could do that now. Dartayous had shown her that.
“Come,” he said and lifted her in his arms and climbed off the stones.
He sat her down and she found herself standing in front of Glenna and Fiona. Both had tears coursing down their faces. She swallowed and took a deep, steadying breath.
“I’m sorry for everything that went wrong. I had no idea how weak I was,” she said, not quite able to meet their eyes.
“Weak?” Fiona squeaked. “I’ve never known a stronger woman.”
Moira’s eyes flew to her face and saw the truth shining in her eyes.
Glenna took her hand. “Besides, you did break the hold Lugus had on you. Not to mention your plan that you carried out alone.”
“It failed,” she reminded them.
“It doesn’t matter,” Glenna said. “You are here.”
Fiona nodded. “We are together.”
Her sisters stepped aside for Frang. Moira saw the gloom in his gaze. She walked to him. “I’ve caused you so much pain.”
“Nay,” he stopped her. “I caused myself pain. I should have prepared you more. We were lucky.”
“Good has once again overcome evil,” she reminded him. “MacNeil is gone. The Druids are safe again.”
“For a time,” Frang said thoughtfully.
Then, for the first time since she had come to live in the glen he embraced her. She brought her arms up and returned the hug. She pulled back and looked into his blue eyes that reminded her of...surely that couldn’t be.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
She laughed and shook her head. “Thank you for being the father I didn’t have. Thank you for everything.”
After she placed a kiss on his cheek she turned back to Dartayous. She didn’t know where they went from here, but they had time. There was also the matter of the little secret she knew, but it could wait just a little longer.
* * * *
Dartayous paced the cliff. He hadn’t seen Moira in almost three hours, ever since Fiona and Glenna had taken her away to bathe and feed her. Not even Gregor and Conall dared to come near him now.
It was silly really, but he was afraid of losing Moira yet again. There was only one more thing he needed to ask her. Then they could start their lives together.
“I knew I would find you here,” Moira said as she walked towards him.
He let out a breath. Her hair hung loose around her soft green gown. “I didn’t think your sisters were ever going to be through with you.”
“I know.” She laughed and entwined her fingers with his. “I--”
“There’s--”
They laughed. “You go first,” she said.
He took both her hands in his. “I cannot live my life without you. The mere thought of being parted from you tears my heart apart. I want us to be together. Will you be my wife?”
Her eyes filled with tears and she bit her bottom lip before she threw her arms around him. Joy erupted through him as he swung her around and around.
He set her down ready to shout to the world how wonderful she was. He refused to think of the few years they would have together. He would face that when the time came.
Moira had never been happier, and despite the smile on his face, she knew what bothered Dartayous. “You know,” she said as she kissed the tip of his finger. “Lugus told me something interesting.”
“What is that?” Dartayous asked, his body stiffening slightly.
“There is a way for me to become immortal.”
“What?”
She nearly laughed at the incredulous expression on his face. “He said there was a tree behind the palace with a special fruit. If I eat the fruit then I will become immortal.”
He hugged her to him again and nibbled on her neck. “Should we tell your sisters the news?”
“I think it can wait until after our walk through the forest.”
His laughter echoed around them. “Lead on, my beautiful Druid priestess. I’m all yours.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Have they asked yet?” Rufina questioned Theron as they watched Moira and Dartayous.
“Nay,” Theron answered. “They will though.”
“It was a good of you to allow them to hold their wedding here.”
“’Tis only fitting.”
She narrowed her gaze at her husband. “What do you know that I don’t?”
“You’ll see,” he said and chuckled.
“I don’t like secrets.”
“Hush. They’re about to kiss.”
Dartayous couldn’t believe it was true. Moira was his wife. He pulled her into his arms and touched her lips with his. The kiss started out soft and gentle, but as usual the taste of her brought his body to bursting with need.
It was the laughter around the room that brought him to his senses. He ended the kiss and found Moira smiling at him, a knowing look in her eyes.
“Hello, wife.”
“Hello, husband.” Her eyes drifted behind him. “There is a Fae that has been watching you all day.”
“I know,” he said. “Ignore him for now. We must thank the king and queen.”
With Moira beside him they walked to Theron and Rufina and bowed. “We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us to hold the wedding in your palace.”
“You are part Fae,” Theron said. “Of course I would have had it no other way.”
“Did you know?” Dartayous had to know.
Theron shook his head. “I had no idea. All Fae have blonde hair. Though your eyes are blue I didn’t give it a second thought.”
“And my immortality?”
Theron and Rufina exchanged glances. Rufina smiled and said, “You aren’t the only immortal to walk the earth, Dartayous.”
After five hundred years he didn’t expect anything to take him by surprise, but this surely did. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “There are many things about your world you do not know. Stranger things than Fae are around. Now, I think you should allow Moira’s sisters to congratulate you both.”
Dartayous turned with Moira and found Glenna an
d Fiona waiting for them. They flung themselves at Moira and hugged her. He accepted congratulations from Frang, Aimery, Conall and Gregor. Just when he thought it was done, Fiona and Glenna launched themselves at him.
Their laughter was infectious. He laughed with them and kissed them on the cheek as they had done him.
“Welcome to the family,” Fiona said.
Glenna stepped back with Fiona. “We couldn’t have picked a better man for our sister.”
He wrapped his arm around Moira and winked. “I’m glad I meet their approval.”
“Dartayous.” He turned and found Aimery beside him. “There is someone who would like to meet you. Dartayous, this is Taranis.”
Taranis was tall and slender, his blonde hair kept shorn to his shoulders. He had the same intense blue eyes of the Fae and right now they were focused on Dartayous. His light blue garments were almost as fine as the king’s, yet there was a melancholy about him that made Dartayous pause.
He nodded to the Fae and noted it was the same one who had watched him all day.
“I recognize him,” Moira whispered. “He was watching you the day Lugus married me.”
He didn’t recall the man, but he knew she spoke the truth. “Taranis,” he said with a nod.
Taranis smiled. “May I ask you where you got that ring?”
Dartayous looked down at his ring and glanced at Moira. She shrugged. He turned back to the Fae and decided maybe he could help locate who his parents where. “I don’t know. It was found with me.”
“Found? I don’t understand.”
“I was abandoned as a child. The Druid’s found me in a nemeton with only this ring.”
Taranis visibly swallowed. “When?” he croaked.
“Five hundred years ago.”
“All these years,” Taranis said and shook his head. “I gave that ring to a woman five hundred years before. I met her at Beltaine and she stole my heart. I wanted us to be together, but she said it would never work.”
Dartayous couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you telling me....” He couldn’t finish the question.
“You are my son,” Taranis said a smile growing on his face. “I have a son.”
Dartayous couldn’t share his father’s joy. He had many questions about his mother one in particular was why she had abandoned him. He felt Moira squeeze his hand and he was glad she was here. He needed her.