Cian’s stomach churned, he hated to do this to her. It was obvious she was in way over her head. Unless he was wrong, this kind of magic was impossible. He cleared his suddenly dry throat. “It’s 2019, Ashlynn.”
She stared at him without moving, her eyes glassy as she retreated into herself in disbelief. He saw her do it and understood the instinct, so he waited patiently for the questions he knew would come. He took the time to come up with a few of his own.
When she opened her mouth to speak, nothing came out. Cian saw a myriad of emotions pass through her eyes; panic, grief, confusion, and finally, determination. This time when she tried to speak, her voice came out strong. “I must return to my time. Can you help me?”
Cian’s gut twisted in response to her request. He wanted to tell her yes, of course, but if he was honest with himself and her, he wasn’t sure he could help. In all of his studies, he’d never once seen anything that even referenced time travel and, as the heir to his clan, he’d had the best tutors. Of course, he rubbed at the stubble on his jaw, aware she was watching him intently, there were always things held back, kept secret until the new leader took their place. His parents’ library was vast and he’d read almost every book in it, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have a few tucked away.
He nodded. “Yes, I’ll help.”
She returned the nod, regally, and murmured, “Thank you,” but he could see the fear in her eyes. They were so expressive, he couldn’t help but feel drawn to them, to her. Cian swallowed down the wave of awareness that washed over him, making his skin tingle with the unexpected urge to touch her. He ignored the feeling and gave her the truth of the situation.
“I don’t know if we’ll find anything, but my parents’ library is one of the best on the continent. And if we find nothing, there are always other libraries.” He tried his best to sound reassuring and wondered if she understood that they were looking for a needle in a haystack.
He motioned for her to follow him, suddenly aware of the attention she’d call to herself dressed as she was. “Um…” he stalled, not knowing how to say it, “your clothing is a little out of style in this time.”
Ashlynn looked down at her gown then back at his clothes and frowned. “I noticed your clothing was very different. Do women not wear dresses in this time?”
Cian tilted his head to take in her full attire. Long gown, flaming hair to her waist, and a circlet of copper sitting like the sun against her pale forehead. “They do.” He chewed his lip thoughtfully. “But not quite as extravagant as the one you’re wearing. They also wear pants and shorts, and the dresses aren’t quite as long as that.”
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “They wear pants and short dresses? They reveal their legs?”
Cian chuckled. “A lot has changed since 1716. Women and men dress much differently. We don’t have to cover up our entire bodies anymore.” He pulled out his cell phone and typed in women’s style 2019 then held up the screen to her.
Ashlynn’s eyes widened as she stared at the device showing three women; one in a maxi dress, one in a pair of skinny jeans and a crop top, and one in a pair of capri pants with heels and a blouse. She reached out a hand to touch the phone delicately. “W-what is it?”
Cian grinned. “It’s called a cell phone but I guess you don’t even know what a phone is. Let alone internet.” He shook his head, bewildered at the differences between their times. He had so much to tell her, but should he? She was out of her time, what if teaching her about the present changed the past? Cian’s head spun, he had to watch Back to the future again to figure this out. He couldn’t imagine how confused she was by all of this.
So, he pointed to the long dress, figuring it would be the most comfortable for her. “How about this one?”
At her nod, he closed his eyes and pictured her in the long cotton dress, with the same little sweater the model wore. Power surged through the earth and up through his legs, filling him with its magic. When he heard her gasp, he opened his eyes and found her breathing deeply to calm herself. Instinctively, he reached for her hand.
“It’s alright, just breathe. It’s going to be okay. We’ll find you a way home.”
Heat bloomed beneath his hand, igniting like a forge where their skin touched. He should have jerked his hand away from the sensation, from the way it scorched his palm, but everything in Cian urged him to keep the connection. His gaze snapped up to meet hers in wonder and he knew she felt it, too.
Slowly, the warmth dissipated, taking with it the need to remain connected to her. Cian let his hand fall to his side and sucked in air to calm his racing heart and from somewhere deep inside, he felt a tinge of regret that she would one day return to her own time and leave his.
He turned to lead her out of the woods, encouraged when she followed closely behind him. She still looked pale and occasionally she would stumbled on exposed roots and debris on the forest floor. After ten minutes of walking in silence, he saw the familiar break in the tree line that signaled the end of the natural world. Anxious to get her to his home so she could rest, he picked up the pace and stepped free of the tree line.
Cian heard her strangled cry over the sound of blaring horns and whipped around to see her sway precariously. “Ashlynn!” he called out, rushing to her side to steady her.
She stood frozen, her eyes wide with terror as she stared past him toward the city, where buildings and towers dotted the skyline. Cars zoomed past on the highway that separated them from the edge of the city, filling the air with exhaust and noise. Cian took it all in as if he’d never seen it before, as if he were seeing it through Ashlynn’s eyes, and blanched.
“Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how this would affect you.” He reached for her, then let his hand fall helplessly to his side.
Trembling, Ashlynn replied with a weak voice, “What is this place? Why is it so loud and horrid?”
Cian stuffed nervous hands into his trouser pockets. “It’s not so bad, honestly. Once you get used to it. This is a city. Much like…” he searched for the right explanation, “a really large village.”
Ashlynn nodded slowly but her eyes remained wide and wild. “What are those things?” She pointed toward the parking lot where more than a dozen cars and trucks were parked.
“Motor vehicles,” he explained softly, wondering how she was handling all this newness so well. If he’d been thrust over three hundred years into the future, he’d probably have a bit of a breakdown. His opinion of her lifted another notch. “Sometime in the 1800’s, a man named Benz created a motor car.” He strained to remember the details of how the first motor was made then shook his head. “It’s safe, I promise you.” He stopped by a dark gray car and pointed the keys at it before clicking the automatic locks, causing a loud beep to ring through the air.
Fear mixed with fascination played in her eyes as she stepped back from the vehicle. “There is nothing even remotely like this in my kingdom and time.” She backed away and shook her head. “I cannot. It would be like climbing into the mouth of a dragon.”
Fear threatened to undo her. That much Cian could see.
So, slowly and carefully, Cian slipped into the car. He showed her the small silver key through the open window then stuck it in the keyhole before giving it a turn and causing the engine to roar to life. She jumped back but he quickly held his arms up.
“It’s alright, see? I’m safe.” He reached over and unlatched the passenger door, then pushed it open. “Your turn.”
She stared at him for a long, drawn out moment then, without a word, hesitantly and awkwardly lowered herself into the leather car seat. Cian coached her through putting on a seat belt then showed her how to close the door. Once they were securely inside, Cian started talking and didn't stop. He regaled her in a steady stream of conversation that seemed to keep her from crawling out of her pale skin. After a while, Ashlynn began to calm. She smiled and answered his endless questions with short replies and took longer, deeper breaths. As he sl
ipped through traffic, heading toward the oldest section of the city, Cian glanced over and watched Ashlynn’s eyelashes flutter then descend and remain closed. Her face softened, and Cian’s heart skipped a beat.
He’d never seen a more beautiful sight.
Chapter Three
Ashlynn snuggled deeper into the blankets and moaned. Whatever new type of bed this was, she would have to tell the staff to keep doing whatever they’d done to make the mattress so soft and cushiony. And this blanket… she pulled it up to her chin and rubbed the soft material between her fingers. It even smelled different.
Ashlynn opened her eyes and felt the sleepy happiness drain from her body. She scrambled up, pressing her back against the wooden headboard, and looked around the unfamiliar room with panic overwhelming her reason. Memories of her visit with Fedelm, the trinity stone she’d been gifted, the spell that had gone incredibly wrong.
She’d been cast into the future some three hundred years, Ashlynn reminded herself, still absolutely stunned that time travel was possible in the first place. It certainly hadn’t been a fun trip, she suddenly remembered. “Ughhh,” she moaned into her hands, recalling the way she’d retched in Cian’s arms just after coming through to this new land.
Cian. He was as unexpected and surprising as the fact that she’d traveled through time. He was unlike any man she’d ever known before, but not in a bad way. The men she was used to were huge. Practically giants, with shoulders that spanned hers three times over and hands that could swallow up her entire head. She pictured Brigacos next to Cian and chewed her lip thoughtfully. It was too bad Cian hadn’t been the one she’d been betrothed to. She may not have minded leaving her people too much if he’d been meant for her.
“Don’t be daft,” she said aloud, climbing from the comfort of the bed with a sad sigh. Her bare feet touched the floor, reminding her that she wore nothing but the tiniest of garments beneath the long dress Cian had conjured for her. She’d blushed several times the night before when she’d excused herself to use the bathroom, a miraculous room that she could get used to. The fact that he’d created the garments and therefore knew she wore them made her blush again.
Ashlynn made use of the room again, taking the time to use the shower as he’d showed her. The heated waterfall felt like all things marvelous on her skin and hair. If the afterlife was real, she would spend hers in a shower. When Ashlynn stepped out, naked and with nothing clean to wear, she frowned and tried to remember the spell Cian had used to conjure her clothing. Instead of making an entirely new dress, she opted to just transform the one he’d made for her. It seemed an easier spell. She descended the stairs sometime later, happy with her appearance.
“Cian?” Ashlynn called out quietly, afraid to frighten any staff who may not yet know of her presence. This wasn’t her home and she hadn’t been formally announced, so she was unsure of the protocols. When her stomach rumbled loudly, Ashlynn decided finding her host could wait.
It wasn’t hard to find the kitchen. A delicious scent she’d never smelled before drew her through the rooms and hallways until she came out in a wide open room that made her gasp aloud. Just like the bathroom, this kitchen was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Ashlynn wandered through the room, touching things she couldn’t identify, laughing when a shiny rounded contraption spilled water freely until she touched it again. It was all so foreign and beautiful, it made her heart ache. When she saw bunches of garlic strung from wooden frames that hung from the ceiling, she smiled. Some things never changed.
An awareness of magicks being used somewhere nearby shimmered over her skin, raising the hairs on her arms. Ashlynn followed the familiar feel of the earth magick like a child followed gifts on Yule, anticipation growing in her stomach with every step.
She felt him before she saw him, and the impact of his spirit made her gasp. It was like looking into the sun and never wanting to look away. He made her fingers itch to reach out and touch, a sensation she’d never felt in all her years. Then she rounded a corner and saw him.
The early morning light shone through a stained-glass window, casting dancing rays of color on his deeply tanned skin. His body moved like water, sinuous and flowing, through some type of beautiful dance that seemed at once graceful and dangerous. He controlled each movement with precision, taxing his sweat covered muscles, holding each move until he shivered and released.
His arms moved through the air, guiding a ball of glowing green light through a series of intricate moves. Ashlynn felt a pulse of pure, elemental life coming from the magick Cian so effortlessly commanded. She wanted to reach for it, to embrace the power he held, to embrace him. The desire was so strong in that moment that she stepped forward before she could stop herself then gasped with the realization of what she was doing.
Cian’s head snapped up and his eyes, endless blue, caught hers and darkened. His mouth parted and, for a moment, Ashlynn thought that maybe...
“Sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. “I didn’t want to wake you.” He shifted uncomfortably then reached for a shirt he’d thrown over the back of a nearby chair. Ashlynn watched his naked skin disappear under the material and felt a moment of loss.
Ashlynn shook her head, unsure why she kept slipping into strange fantasies about this man she barely knew. Why he affected her so much, she didn’t know but, for now, she’d let it drop. “I was hungry,” she said plainly, wishing she had something more profound to say.
He grinned. “I make a mean omelet if you like eggs.”
She frowned, thrown off by his words. “Why is it mean?”
Cian laughed and the sound of it made her smile. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
***
Every surface of Cian’s large bedroom was covered in books, most partially read then left wide open at the very spot Ashlynn had abandoned them in favor of the next. For hours, she and Cian had combed through the vast library of ancient texts his family possessed only to find no concrete answers about her family.
“You’re sure it’s clan Kavanaugh?” Cian asked her for the third time as he circled the bedroom. The pale glow of the late afternoon sun poured in from the large picture window near the back, casting warmth over the cold mix of stone and smooth pale wood that made up the space.
Ashlynn sighed in annoyance. “Yes, Cian, I’m quite certain of my clan’s name.”
He closed the book with a loud clap and tossed it atop a growing pile on the floor. “Then I’m at a loss. Everything we’ve read seems to circle back to the same answer.”
Ashlynn swallowed hard against the dryness in her rigid throat. “No,” she replied, frantically flipping through the rest of the pages in the book she held. “It simply cannot be.”
Cian came toward her and gently placed his hand under the book she held, carefully closing its cover and removing it from the princess’s grasp. “Ashlynn, I’m sorry.”
“There must be more,” she said. “More books. More records.”
His chest heaved as he shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, yeah, I could grab a few more, but I’m sure they all contain a different form of the information we’ve already read.” His heart tightened at the wave of frustration on the woman’s face and he placed his hand over hers comfortingly. “The Kavanaugh line ended with you. When you…”
Her emerald eyes shot to his. “When I what? Disappeared? Abandoned my kingdom?”
“You didn’t mean to,” Cian assured her.
“But, still, I did.” Ashlynn stood from the wooden chair and walked away from the desk covered in heaps of literature. They’d combed through every text that contained her family history prior to the moment she performed the ritual, and then the years following. Her mother and father died in their old age and left no heir to the Kavanaugh throne. Not even her sister.
Suddenly, a thought formed in her mind and she brightened. “Cian, do you have texts on the Domhnaill clan?”
His face twisted in thought. “You mean the High Scottish Kingdom?”
“Yes,” Ashlynn replied. “It’s the clan I was to be married into. If I were not there to fulfill my kingdom’s promise to Laird Brigacos, then my father would have offered my sister in my place. I’m sure of it.” Ashlynn gave it a second thought and rolled her eyes. “In fact, Gwendolynn may have even volunteered herself.”
“Wait, hold on –“ Cian paced the room, turning over books in search of something specific. “Yes, Lady Gwendolynn.” He pulled a giant book from underneath a toppled pile, clad in brown leather and came to place it on the desk near Ashlynn. “I saw her name earlier. Briefly. I found it strange that she’d be mentioned in old Irish texts about the Kavanaugh clan, but now it makes sense. She was a Kavanagh.” His long fingers skimmed the pages until he stopped and pointed.
Ashlynn leaned forward and let her eyes drop to where Cian indicated on the page. The beginnings of a family tree and a small paragraph beneath it, marked with a date. 1717. Hardly a year after Ashlynn’s disappearance. Gwen had married Brigacos, shed the Kavanaugh name and assumed his kingdom in Scotland where they had two children. Finnigan and Margaret.
She brushed a finger over the old, faded black letters. She pictured Gwendolynn dipping the feather quill in ink before scrawling the words on the page. Her pale, dainty fingers proudly creating the family tree. She knew her sister had probably lived a wonderful life, full of happiness, because that’s how Gwen was. Full of life and positivity. She’d most likely offered herself to Bricagos to keep the fledgling peace treaty valid. Part of Ashlynn felt proud but another part, a very large part, seethed in anger at the regret she felt fill her chest. If Gwen would have volunteered to marry Brigacos in the first place she could have been free to stay home and rule her people, just as she’d always wanted. Tears filled Ashlynn eyes.
“Hey,” Cian said quietly. “Why the tears? Is this not the information you were looking for?”
Reigning Magicks Page 3