I’ve no idea what you want of me. I see no doors of any kind. There’s naught here but stones.” Sallie turned in a full circle, face colored with confusion.
Hopeless.
Exactly as Wyn had suspected it would be. This girl was of no use whatsoever. When she hadn’t been able to see him in his own form, he’d known she wouldn’t be able to find the Portal. He had done his best to dissuade Reynard from taking her. His best short of telling what he knew. That would have required him to share what he’d learned about Mairi.
If only…
He shook his head. No sense in thinking on it now. There were more pressing matters. He’d been through this scenario before and he didn’t like what was yet to come.
They had arrived at this ancient place only a short time ago, setting Sallie off her mount to begin her task. She walked slowly among the large standing stones surrounding a tall earthen mound, trailing her fingers from one stone to another reverently.
Well she might. This was a place deserving of reverence, a sacred place old long before he had been born. Woods sheltered one side of the circle, while the other side opened to a flat meadow.
Reynard glared down at the girl, his patience and temper equally short. “La petite idiote incompétente,” he hissed, dismounting and striding to her side. “The door likely is one of the stones. You’ve only to point it out and open it for me, ma petite, and I’ll send you home.”
Sallie straightened her back, her look of contempt scathing as her chin jutted out. “If you already ken it to be one of the stones, then find it yerself, you vile whoreson.”
Wyn bit the inside of his lower lip, hiding the wonder that threatened to show itself.
By the Earth Mother! So much fire in such a small package.
If he had only a pittance of the girl’s determination.
“Wyn!” Reynard clenched and released his hands rapidly at his sides. “I think the time has come to have this young woman’s friend help us teach her the perils of defiance. Send the Mortal to my bidding.”
The anticipation lighting Reynard’s face sickened Wyn. It grew worse, Reynard grew worse, each time. Wyn wasn’t sure he had it in him to go through this one more time.
Yet he did as he was told. With no more resistance than the pitiful Mortal held under his compulsion.
At Wyn’s beckoning motion, Ran was at his side. “Reynard is as your master. Go to him.”
The young man scurried to do as he’d been instructed.
Reynard reached for Sallie, capturing a long red curl in his fingers, wrapping it about his hand as she moved to pull away from him. “This is the last time I ask you nicely, ma petite. Show me the door.”
“Or what?” she snapped. “Will you do to me as you have to Ran? Will you drive the light of life from my eyes as you have from his? I’d no help you even if I could see yer damned door!”
Reynard stared at her for a moment before speaking, his rage palpable. “I’ve taken a liking to this lovely lock. Draw your sword, boy, and cut it off for me. I’d have it to keep as my own.”
“No!” Sallie screamed, again struggling to pull away, but Graham had joined them. Pinning her arms behind her, he held her securely.
Ran’s arm shook as he sliced down with his weapon, cutting through the long curl.
Wyn felt the pull on his power as the boy fought to disobey. For that reason he remained mounted, knowing from experience it would get worse before it got better. Especially since Ran cared so much for the girl. That was why Reynard had chosen to use the young man, gaining extra pleasure from the anguish he caused to the Mortal. Pleasure, too, Wyn was beginning to suspect, from the physical pain Wyn would suffer.
Reynard dangled the severed curl in front of Sallie’s face, waiting for a reaction. “Are you ready to help me now?”
The girl, her arms wrenched tightly behind her, did not waiver in her determination. “I dinna care. It’s naught but hair. Shave me bald if you like, but it will make no difference. I canna see any doorways in this place.”
Reynard threw the piece of hair to the ground. “Strike her. Across her insolent mouth.” He turned to glare at Ran. “Strike her!” he screamed.
The drain on Wyn was enormous as the boy wrestled against the compulsion.
Tears trailed down Ran’s cheeks, though he was powerless to do other than obey the order. His hand lashed out across Sallie’s face, snapping her head to the side.
“If you don’t do as you’re told, I’ll have him do it again. Harder.” Reynard’s eyes glittered with excitement.
Sallie lifted her head, a deep crimson print marring her cheek. But it wasn’t fear in her eyes. It was fury.
Her determination humbled Wyn; her bravery awed him. If a slip of a girl like that could show so much courage in the face of Reynard’s cruelty, why couldn’t he find his own courage? Truly the Reynard who had been his closest friend was no more. The only thing Wyn had to fear was striking out on his own. The one thing he’d avoided for centuries—being totally alone.
“I dinna ken what you’ve done to Ran, you bastard, but I’ll see you dead for the pain yer causing him.”
Reynard’s laughter echoed off the surrounding stones.
“Oh no, my little hellion, I don’t think so. You haven’t the power to bring harm to me.”
“Unhand the woman!”
Wyn labored to lift his head to see who called out, but the pain of Ran’s struggles held him nearly immobile, bent low against his horse. With one last effort, he had a clear view of Ramos Navarro stepping into the circle, sword drawn.
“She may not have the power to harm you, but perhaps I do.”
Think of something—before it’s too late.
But nothing was coming to her.
Mairi pressed her hands tightly over the burning throb in her chest as she leaned back against the tree where Ramos had left her.
“Don’t move from this spot,” he’d ordered just before stepping out of the trees and into the midst of confrontation.
She turned to peek around the trunk at the group in the clearing, knowing she had to do something. Though she might not have a plan in mind, she was convinced that hiding here behind this tree was not what she’d come this far to do. And it certainly wasn’t helping Ramos in any way. Or Sallie.
At the moment, her poor bedraggled little cousin stood with Ran’s shaking sword at her throat, Reynard behind them, taunting. “Ah, if it isn’t our future Spanish Duke. Shouldn’t you be off guarding your ward? Best you toddle away from this, young ‘Dukeling,’ before you cause this lovely lady more distress.”
“Release her,” Ramos demanded simply.
Reynard shook his head in response. “I don’t think so. Ran? If Navarro approaches my person, you’re to run your weapon straight through that pretty little neck. It appears she’s of no use to me anyway.”
Mairi pulled back, pressing her forehead to the massive tree trunk. Her heart pounded and her breath came in short gulps of air.
Think, think, think…
The men who accompanied the Duke had all dismounted, except for his brother, Wyn. Within moments they would surround Ramos. Or rush him.
Not that he wasn’t an excellent fighter. He was, but not against so many.
Everything had gone so wrong.
She had no weapon of any sort. Still, if she entered the clearing it might distract some of them. It might give Ramos a few extra seconds to…
“I have to go help him.” She spoke the words aloud expecting them to build her courage, to force her to action.
What she did not expect was an answer.
“How about my men and I go in yer stead?”
A woman’s shrill scream echoed through the sacred stones, breaking the spell that seemingly held everyone in place. Men spilled into the clearing from the forest and suddenly the circle was alive with the sounds of battle.
Graham dropped his hold on the girl to challenge Ramos. An ugly purple bruise covered the side of the man’s face, a reminder of his last encounter with Mairi’s guardian…. Wyn froze as the import of Navarro’s title sunk in. Guardian.
No wonder.
The Fates were up to their old games, dangling all the pieces before you, waiting to see if you were intelligent enough to put them together correctly. A glance at Reynard confirmed for him his leader still hadn’t made the connection.
“Kill her,” Reynard commanded the Mortal, turning his back on the carnage around him.
Enough.
Wyn could never go home, but neither could he continue on this path.
“I release you.”
With his words, Ran fell to the ground and Wyn’s strength returned. Straightening his back, he tugged at the reins in his hand, pointing his horse away from the battle around him.
Time to find his own way in this world.
“Caden!”
Mairi grabbed her cousin’s arm as his men streamed into the clearing, battle cries on their lips.
“You scared the life from me. How could you possibly have tracked us here?”
“We dinna track you, dinna even expect you to be here. We came to this place because this is where Sallie is. You forget, Cousin, my mother is of the blood and no without her own abilities. Now, if you’ll let go my arm, I’ll join the battle before there’s naught left for me.” He waggled his eyebrows and took off running, a war cry at his lips, his sword at the ready.
Mairi darted from the shelter of the trees and made her way around the edge of the stones, avoiding the combatants as best she could. A look toward Ramos assured her he was holding his own, one man on the ground at his feet, a second already engaged.
Her goal was to reach Sallie.
But before she neared the center of the stones, where the girl was held, she heard Reynard utter the words she’d traveled seven hundred years to prevent.
“Kill her.”
Reynard turned on his heel, striding toward his horse.
“No!” Mairi breathed, running headlong toward Ran and the sword he held, heedless of the battle raging around her.
This couldn’t happen. Not now. Not after all they’d gone through. She had to stop it.
Two steps forward and she saw Ran fall to the ground, arms outstretched, limp as a rag doll.
By her fourth step, Sallie had retrieved Ran’s sword. Swinging it up with all her might, the girl twirled once and slammed the blade into Reynard’s body.
Or rather completely through his body.
Mairi froze as she watched the momentum of the heavy sword carry Sallie off to the side and down to the ground in a heap.
Reynard turned, fury etched into his features as he looked first to Ran and then to where his brother rode away.
Fury, but no pain.
No pain, no blood, no wound.
“Wyn!” he yelled.
Wyn raised a hand in a farewell salute without turning to look at Reynard, instead spurring his horse to a gallop.
“Onwyn Ál Lyre! Return to me this instant! You will not disobey me!” Reynard screamed, grabbing the reins of his own horse.
Mairi reached Sallie, falling to her knees to help her dazed cousin sit up.
The girl shook her head. “I dinna ken what just happened. I could no have missed him from that close. He should be dead or badly hurt at the least.”
Mairi could only nod, still not believing what she had witnessed.
Reynard galloped away from the circle as the sounds of battle died down around them.
“No,” Ramos groaned.
After all he’d gone through, Reynard was escaping.
Having dispatched his second attacker, Ramos leaned heavily on his sword, catching his breath. He had to follow. Had to stop his father. Otherwise Mairi would be stuck here forever and it would be his fault. He would have failed her. And his destiny.
Mairi!
When he’d heard her scream, he’d feared the worst. But then he’d seen her skulking around the edge of the circle, exactly as he’d told her not to do. She was, without a doubt the most obstinate, pigheaded woman he’d ever known.
Now she sat on the ground next to Sallie, who cradled Ran’s head and shoulders in her lap, rocking back and forth.
He would check on them, make sure they were all right, before he went after Reynard. Miraculously Caden was here somewhere, he knew. He’d get the young man’s assurance he would look after Mairi. Then Ramos could be on his way.
But first he was drawn to Mairi’s side, as iron filings are drawn to a magnet. The need to touch her, to see for himself she was unharmed, was too strong to resist.
She looked up as he approached and surged to her feet, throwing her body against his, her arms around his neck, her face buried in his shoulder.
“Thank the Fates. I was terrified,” she breathed into his ear.
He stiffened at her words. He should have realized she would be frightened. He’d left her alone, vulnerable to their enemies, when he’d stepped into that circle. But he’d had no choice. If he didn’t deal with his father, her life would be ruined.
“I did what I had to do. Those men had no idea you were here. You would have been perfectly safe if you had stayed hidden, as I told you to.”
She pulled away from him, her eyes blazing. “If I had…” She blustered to a stop. “It’s no my safety I’m talking about, you great oaf, it’s yers. Yer never, ever to walk into something like that again with no backup, do you hear me?”
Ramos had no idea how to answer her. She constantly surprised him, never saying or doing what he expected.
He pulled her hands from his neck, but couldn’t quite make himself let go, wondering for the briefest moment what it would feel like to be the man Mairi truly fell in love with one day, allowing himself finally to acknowledge that he wished he could be that man.
But it was not to be. Not now that she knew who he was. Who his father was. He’d seen the shock on her face when he’d told her back in that little hut. And to compound matters, his failure to fulfill his destiny would trap Mairi in this time. No, his only hope was to distance himself from her, to pull away before his wounds were too deep.
“You’ve no reason to worry about me. I can take care of myself. For now, you’ll stay with Caden while I go after my…” He couldn’t bring himself to voice it again. “After Reynard.”
“No. I canna allow you to do that.” She stared up at him, remaining very still, her body close to his, her hands clasped within his.
“Pardon?” She wouldn’t allow him to go?
Though she constantly refused to do as she was told, always required rescue, wandering from one disaster to another, she now arrogantly assumed she had the right to tell him what she would allow him to do, as she might some hired hand?
Apparently the lady had more in common with her Faerie ancestors than he’d realized.
“Careful, princess,” he cautioned. “Your royal heritage is showing. You’re so sure of yourself, aren’t you? I know all about your kind.”
Her mouth fell open as she pushed out of his arms, backing away from him. “You know nothing of me. Sure of myself? Hardly. I’ve spent the last nine years of my life doubting my every action, my every word. Doubting everything, right down to the reason I live. Doubting my ability to ever be sure of myself again. You’ve no concept of my life.”
Mairi turned away, pacing, but returned to stand in front of him to jab her index finger into his chest. “I’ve no been sure of myself since the day my cousin’s betrayal taught me I knew nothing about the world. Until now. I am sure about this. You canna destroy that man. You canna put at risk the whole of history and who knows what else.”
“History will thank me for it.”
She poked him again, repeatedly, harder with each sentence. “No they won’t, because you’ll no ever have even been. If you do away with yer father centuries before yer born, you’ll never exist. Destroying him now will destroy you. Have you no thought of that?”
Ramos captured her hand, holding it against his heart. “Of course I have. But it doesn’t matter anymore. I have to do this, Mairi. It’s my destiny to put an end to his evil. If I don’t, you’ll be stuck here in this time, away from your family forever. I won’t be the cause of that happening to you. All that matters is getting you safely home.”
“I dinna want to go home without you. I love you, dinna you realize that yet?”
“You can’t!” he yelled. “You know what I am.”
“I dinna care, Ramos.” She clutched the fabric of his shirt, fisting it in her hands. “I’d rather spend the rest of my life in the thirteenth century with you than one moment in any other time without you. Would it be so awful for you to stay here with me?”
How could she say those things still? After he’d told her everything? There was no way she could possibly mean it.
It would be too easy to delude himself, too easy to believe the words he wanted so desperately to hear. He had to go now, before it was too late.
“I have to fulfill my destiny.” Pulling her hands from his shirt, he backed a few steps away, hoping to break the hold she seemed to have on him. One deep breath to steel himself, then he turned and sprinted to the spot where he’d left his horse.
Directing his mount to the far side of the clearing, he hoped to avoid any further distraction as he picked up the trail his father had left.
One last look back was all he wanted, he told himself, before he spurred his horse to action.
She stood as he’d left her, arms limply at her sides. It appeared as if she hadn’t moved at all.
His imagination was surely playing tricks on him, though, because if he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was crying when she yelled something after him.
Something about his destiny.
“That’s no yer destiny!” Mairi called, watching as Ramos rode away. “I’m yer destiny,” she added in a whisper, turning to lean her forehead against one of the massive ancient stones, her legs no longer willing to hold her body up.
Her eyes had begun to blur so it took her a moment to realize what she saw on the stone. It was etched with an intricate archway, and in the center of the archway there was a carving of a snake with a slash through it.
She’d seen that symbol before, glistening in the firelight on Ramos’s shoulder.
What was it he’d told her? He was a Guardian. Apparently this was part of what he was intended to guard. This stupid stone doorway.
And now he was gone. Forever.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, faster and faster.
Damn, damn, damn.
He’d made her cry. In front of everyone. She hadn’t allowed anyone that power over her in nine years.
If he came back, she’d make him pay for that.
When, not if! When!
She couldn’t bear the thought he wouldn’t return. The silent tears running down her cheeks morphed into all-out sobs, bringing Caden to her side, holding her up when she would have collapsed.
“There, there, Mairi. Yer going to be all right.” Caden held her, petting her as he might an inconsolable child.
That’s exactly how she felt. She shook her head in response to him, unable to stop crying long enough to form words. It seemed as though the dam that had held for almost a decade was splintered, and the tears would not stop.
“Come now, Cousin. Yer a strong one. You’ve been through much worse at the hands of a man you care for. At least this one is trying to do what he thinks is best for you, is he no?”
Caden knew who she really was?
She took a shaky breath. “You know?” she managed through the tears.
He continued to stroke her hair. “Aye. Mother had a bit of explaining to do after yer fancy medications. For now, let Ramos do as he needs to. Each man must follow his own path. Dinna fash yerself lass—we’re yer family, too. You’ve always a home here with us.”
A home with them—but without Ramos? Her breath caught and the weeping overtook her again. She didn’t want to be anywhere, in any time, without Ramos.
“You dinna understand,” she wailed, gulping for air between sobs. “I won’t even know what happens to him.” She buried her face in her cousin’s big shoulder.
“Come along, lass. Pull yerself together. Let’s go home.” Caden wiped the tears from her cheeks clumsily with his big hands before placing a brotherly kiss on her forehead. “Mother’s waiting impatiently for all of us to get back to Dun Ard where we belong.”
Mairi nodded weakly and allowed her cousin to pull her along after him, but she knew Caden was wrong. She didn’t belong at Dun Ard. She belonged with Ramos. And without him, it was exactly as she had feared for the last nine years: she didn’t belong anywhere.