Born of Fire

by Kella McKinnon

He left the room, sliding the iron latch across the door. He hadn’t bother tying her…he didn’t think she would jump from the window after her life was so newly saved.

  Nessa curled up on the bed, letting everything that had happened sink in. He had let her live. She had committed an unforgivable crime, and he had let her live. In truth, she had been so upset and so desperate to find her uncle, with so much adrenaline running through her veins, that she hadn’t even thought twice about taking his horse out to search for Angus. She hadn’t even thought to bring the knife she had used to cut the ropes.

  At first she had planned on searching on foot, but when she saw the horses standing there in the paddock, it just seemed like she could cover so much more ground. And Lotex had come right up to her and nuzzled her hair like she was an old friend. It was a stupid risk to take, but somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she might actually find her uncle hiding in the woods, hungry and bedraggled, and convince him to finally take her home. After all, what did she really have to lose?

  But she hadn’t found Angus, and that one small piece of hope had now slipped away. The only thing that might save her now was if she could get to the well and go back through whatever doorway was waiting in its dark depths. If it was still open. Nathan would be waiting for her when she finally got home, and King Bridei would return safely and permanently to the pages of her history books. After a while, she would forget the way it felt to be near him. The memory of the shiver of electricity she felt whenever he touched her would fade, as would the sheer primal force of his energy and the dark hunger she saw in his eyes sometimes when he looked at her.

  If she made it home, she would go back to her ordinary life, but she knew in her heart she was already forever changed. There would be no ordinary life for her ever again.

  Later, a woman she hadn’t met before brought her a bowl of soup for dinner, which she forced herself to eat even though she wasn’t very hungry. She fell into a fitful sleep and woke during the night feeling ill. Apparently almost dying was unsettling to the stomach. In the end, she lost the soup she had eaten to the chamber pot.

  When she woke the next morning, her stomach felt better, but she was unsure of what would happen now. Would her limited freedoms be taken away? Would she be locked in this room for the foreseeable future? She was pacing the floor when Veda came to fetch her.

  “Well, are you coming with me or not?” she said with a big smile.

  Nessa stood still. “Where?”

  “To work, of course. Have I lost my companion in the gardens already?”

  “No… I just…I just thought…”

  Veda’s expression softened. “All is forgiven. And I, for one, understand. If I were to find myself among strangers as you have, I would be just as desperate to find my family.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t find him, though. I think he must be gone…dead.” A few tears welled in her eyes and she stubbornly wiped them away.

  Veda put a comforting arm around her. “You don’t know that. He might have wandered off and found a village to take him in. He might be living happily even now.”

  Nessa didn’t think so. She liked to believe Angus would try to get back to her, rather than settle into a new life and abandon her here, but she only nodded and thanked Veda for the encouragement, letting her lead her out of the room and down the stairs of the broch. As soon as they stepped out of the hall and into the yard, everything seemed immediately different.

  People smiled at her that had never smiled at her before. Everyone seemed…friendlier somehow, which was the opposite of what she had expected. She had stolen the King’s horse and nearly been executed for it. Why were people being nice to her now? She began to grow anxious. Maybe this was one more thing about the culture she didn’t know anything about. Maybe they were all pretending to be nice and in a few moments they would all turn on her and start throwing rocks. Her imagination was busy creating worst-case scenarios when Domech stopped in front of them, raising his hand to her face. Nessa pulled back, half expecting to be hit, but Domech only laughed and traced her cheek with a gentle finger.

  “I would never harm you. A woman is a treasure to be revered. She is made in the image of the Goddess, and she is the vessel of new life. A woman is a man’s strength, his pleasure, and his heart. Every man hopes that one day he will find a mate who will accept him and bear his children, give him a home and a family.”

  Veda nodded and smoothed Nessa’s cheeks with her palms. “And a woman hopes for a man…a mate who will love and protect her. Share her life and be a father to her children.”

  Nessa stared in confusion, while Domech shared a knowing look with Veda. “It is the duty of a man to protect his woman and his home”, he said. “That is why the Goddess made men stronger, if not always fiercer.” He winked at her before walking away.

  Nessa stood there, dumfounded. What was all that? She felt as if she’d walked into the middle of a conversation she knew nothing about. Even her relationship with Veda seemed to have changed suddenly. Veda had relaxed around her, and no longer seemed to be guarding her words or constantly watching for Bridei. The atmosphere had become decidedly more…amicable.

  “What is going on around here?” Nessa finally asked. “I don’t understand why everyone is suddenly smiling at me.”

  Veda lifted an eyebrow. “The King calls mercy for no one.”

  “No one?”

  “He never has.”

  “But I don’t understand why…”

  “Oh, here comes trouble.” Veda grabbed her arm, steering her quickly in another direction.

  Nessa followed her gaze. It was the woman she had seen with Bridei on the night of Beltane. Lair. A stab of something cold and hard went through her at the memory.

  “Trouble?”

  Veda nodded. “She thinks she has special status because she beds the King. She’s in an especially foul mood because he hasn’t been interested in her lately. She blames you for his preoccupation.”

  “Me?” Nessa asked incredulously. “I really don’t think she has anything to worry about. I am not interested in…bedding…the King.”

  Veda gave her a look that clearly said I don’t believe you for a second, and Nessa suddenly worried that she hadn’t been as subtle as she thought when ogling Bridei’s god-like body. Okay, so maybe she was curious and a little star-struck, but she would certainly never act on that curiosity. After all she had a boyfriend that she was going back to. Hopefully soon. I just have to get to the well…

  Despite Veda’s efforts to avoid her, Lair managed to step in front of them, forcing them to stop. She looked at Nessa with cat-like eyes, an oily smile on her lips. She was beautiful, Nessa had to admit. Striking, even, with her dark hair and chiseled features. Even her lips had just the right amount of plumpness and color. If this was the 21st century, Nessa would probably have suspected Lair of having injections of collagen and maybe even a boob-job.

  “Did you enjoy your soup last night? I had a hand in making it.”

  The soup. Nessa remembered suddenly that she hadn’t recognized the woman who brought it. She also remembered heaving over the chamber pot, assuming her near execution had been the cause. But apparently that wasn’t the case at all. Anger rose quickly, and she took an aggressive step forward, pulling her arm away from Veda.

  “You poisoned me! You…witch!” This made it twice she’d been poisoned since she’d arrived.

  Lair’s eyes flared wide and she slapped Nessa across the face, hard. “Don’t you call me that! You are no one! You are a liar and a traitor! By all rights you should be dead right now!”

  Nessa slapped Lair back as hard as she could, then tackled her with all the fury of a woman who’d been through altogether too much in too short of a time. She may have lost her mind for a moment, and a crowd was already starting to gather, but she didn’t care. It felt too good to finally punch and kick and fight against something real and solid, and Lair was giving as good as she got.

  Nessa was vagu
ely aware of cheers as she managed to flip Lair onto her back by grabbing her hair and pulling as hard as she could, following her down onto the ground in an attempt to pin her there. By now more people had come to watch, and the noise and shouting of the gathering crowd grew louder. Nessa didn’t know whether they were cheering for her or for Lair, but in her frenzied and possibly unhinged state, it really didn’t matter. It was when the cheering suddenly stopped that she began to worry.

  “Stop!” The booming command left Lair frozen in place, her hand still twisted in Nessa’s hair, Nessa’s fist pulled back to throw a punch. Ru was beside them, growling, teeth bared at Lair.

  Nessa watched as blood dripped from a cut on her lip onto a pale cheek below her. Then she turned around, carefully shuffling away from Lair and slowly standing.

  Bridei was looking right at her, and he looked…smug?

  It dawned on her that he probably thought she was fighting Lair for him! She marched up to him and punched him as hard as she could in the arm before she could think better of it. He didn’t flinch, instead, he laughed.

  “What was that for, Ashta?”

  “I just want to make it very clear that I was not fighting her for you. She poisoned me, and I defended myself. That’s all.”

  “She poisoned you?” His gaze swung to Lair, and whatever he saw there convinced him immediately of her guilt. His eyes narrowed and his smile disappeared. “Why, Lair?”

  Lair pouted prettily, but her eyes were still sparkling with anger. “You know why.”

  Bridei crossed his arms. “No, I don’t think I do. Enlighten me.”

  Meanwhile, Domech was laughing so hard that he was doubled over.

  Bridei cuffed him in the head in annoyance. “What? What is so funny?”

  Domech could only shake his head and gesture towards the two disheveled woman, so Bridei ignored him. He sighed as he turned back to Lair. What on earth had possessed her to poison Nessa?

  “Lair, you will be sent to Dánada for three moons. I will spare your life, but you still must be punished. Poison is not to be lightly used, and certainly never for petty revenge.”

  Lair’s eyes opened wide with horror. “But I only used a tiny bit. Just enough to make her sick for a while! I wasn’t going to kill her!”

  “You were about to kill the horse thief yourself!” Sten argued, stepping out of the crowd. “You will pay for this injustice, Bridei! A King that favors a stranger over his own people, over my daughter, is no King at all!”

  “You know the laws governing the use of poisons. They have been in place for nearly a century; long before my time. The laws apply even to your daughter.”

  “But the laws don’t apply to a horse thief?”

  Bridei ignored him. “Namet.”

  And just like that, Lair was taken away in tears. With a backward glare, Sten followed.

  “Do you have to send her away?” Nessa asked, biting her lip but releasing it at the sting of a cut from Lair’s punch. “I think she just really likes you. She probably didn’t actually mean to kill me.”

  Bridei looked incredulous. “She poisoned you! Gods, I will never understand women.”

  He looked over at Domech, who was still snorting in an effort not to laugh. “Shut up! What is wrong with you?”

  Nessa noticed with a sudden shock that they were standing within sight of the doorway to the well. It was the first time since the day she’d arrived that she’d been so close. Her heart started beating faster as she looked around, taking in every detail of her surroundings. Everyone was distracted, arguing one side or another, and no one was really paying any attention to her. If she ran as fast as she could, she might just make it before they caught up to her. Her thoughts raced as a surge of adrenaline hit her bloodstream. She would be leaving Angus behind…but what if he was dead? There was nothing she could do. She might stay here forever and never find him. But on the other side, there was Gram, and Nathan. If there was even the slightest possibility she could get back to them…if the door to her time was still open somehow…

  This was the chance she had been waiting for. She couldn’t let herself think about it. With one last look at the still arguing crowd, she turned and ran for all she was worth. Within seconds, she heard shouts and the pounding of footsteps behind her. She didn’t have long. She stretched her legs, moving faster than she ever had in her life. She reached the doorway to the well and skidded down the damp, slippery steps, nearly falling on her ass twice. She glanced over her shoulder. Bridei was already at the doorway. It was now or never. She jumped feet first into the dark, murky hole, and—nothing happened. Desperate, she dunked her whole body in, feeling around frantically for a door, a hole, anything, trying to touch every stone—still, there was nothing. Nothing but stone and the small opening in the wall where the water came into the cistern.

  Defeated, she finally stood up in the waist-deep water and slowly turned around. Bridei was standing on the small stone landing, arms crossed, watching her with an expression of curious concern. Behind him on the stairs were Domech and Veda, with still more on-lookers farther up.

  “What sort of fascination do you have with the well, lass?” Bridei asked, his eyes narrowing. “If you needed to make a sacrifice to the goddess, you could have just asked.”

  “I—I’m sorry.” Trapped. She was truly trapped here. Before, there had been the dim but shining light of possibility. But the door, or whatever it had been, was closed. Or maybe it only ever went one way. Or there was a secret that only Angus knew because he had studied all of those countless documents in the big old trunk at Gram’s. Maybe there were even magic words or something; words that she would never in a million years be able to guess.

  Bridei held out his hand. “Come out of there. The water is cold.”

  She nodded, reaching up and folding her fingers into his. The moment their skin touched, hers damp and chilled, his solid and warm, she felt a little jolt, and her stomach once more filled with a thousand butterflies. He pulled her onto the landing, and as she looked up at him, she had the oddest sensation that she was coming from her past, and looking into her future. He held her gaze for a moment too long. She reached up and stroked his cheek, and his eyes closed, his lips parting softly even as every muscle in his powerful body seemed to tighten.

  I think I’m stuck here, with you, Bridei.

  It was in that instant that everything changed…shifted. Until a moment ago, she’d been living with a foot in each world, future and present. She had been putting all of her energy into finding Angus and getting home. She had accepted that Angus was probably dead, but she had been holding out hope that she would still be able to go through the doorway on her own. But it hadn’t happened. What were the odds of her figuring out how the thing worked by herself? Probably not worth betting on. She wasn’t at all good at math. A little more of her reality sifted into this side of the hourglass. And for the first time, she looked at Bridei as more than a King from a storybook. More than a beautiful, dangerous man that fascinated her. She looked at him as a human being, living his life right here and now, just as she would have to do now that all possibility of going home was gone. In that moment, he was just a man.

  Bridei sighed in exasperation as he headed back to the broch, leaving Nessa in the care of the women so that he could at least think, even though his body was still humming just from the touch of her hand on his. He needed release. He needed something. And he had just sent his only consort away, all the way to the fortress of Dánada. Lair’s job had been to take care of his physical needs so that he could concentrate on more important things, like political maneuverings and battle plans. It would take time to find another…time he didn’t have right now. Lair’s father, Sten, was not happy with him as it was, and Bridei had begun to suspect the man wanted to rise above his station. He tolerated him, but only because Sten had been close to his own father. All of this…and now tonight he would have to sit through the feast of the Seven Goddesses when he was in no mood for revelry. It
was a holiday he couldn’t ignore, because it was far too important to his people. They needed such celebrations to know their lives were good and that their King kept them safe and well-fed. The music and dancing would spill from the hall and out into the night as even the warriors in the encampment beyond the city walls would come partake. He had best go and prepare himself, for it would be a long, long night.

  Nessa kept her back against the stones of the arched doorway, taking in the chaotic scene before her. The great hall was filled with people and music and the delicious scent of roasted meat, and her eyes could hardly settle on one thing before being distracted by another. All of the heavy iron chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were lit with stout tallow candles, and a crackling fire burned brightly in the hearth at the center of the room. A few people stood around it, roasting some sort of meat on the ends of sticks, while others ate from shallow wooden bowls. Musicians occupied one area of the room against the rounded wall, playing wildly on various drums and wooden flutes and something that was perhaps a very early version of the bagpipes. The doors to the hall stood wide open, and the crowd spilled out into the night, where dozens of bonfires burned throughout the village and into the distance.

  There was dancing, too. Not the demure country dancing that one would associate with the modern-day Scottish Highlands. No, this was a primitive, sensual, unabashed dancing, with thrusting hips and wandering hands. Nessa watched, mesmerized, while the beat of the drums echoed in her chest so strongly that it felt as if she had a second heart.

  Ru trotted into the room and lay down by the hearth, watching her. Sten leaned against the wall, also watching her. She knew he wanted her gone after her confrontation with Lair, but she wouldn’t let him bother her tonight. She was stuck here, for better or for worse, and this moment somehow felt like the beginning of her new life. Everything looked different, now that she had no choice but to make this place her home. If they let her stay, of course. She could only hope they would, because she had nowhere else to go. She could work in the gardens to earn her keep, and maybe someone would let her stay in their house until…until what? She decided not to think that far ahead. Things maybe wouldn’t be so bad here. In fact, now that she had to stay, she was feeling slightly…better. More settled, as if her mind and heart were no longer divided between two places. She hadn’t yet mourned for the life she had lost, and reality would certainly come barreling down on her in the first quiet moment alone. But right now, she was willing to put that moment off a little longer.