Highlander's Bride (The Fae #1)
Joanne Wadsworth
The Fae Village
In the ninth century, the faerie king’s youngest son visited a village along the shores of Loch Alsh and fell in love with the chief’s daughter. The two wed and together created a half-blooded line born with the skills of the fae, a loyal line known as clan Matheson, a line guarded by the immortal fae princess, Cherub.
The Abduction
The fae village, on the shores of Loch Alsh, Scotland, 1190.
In the dark of night, Christina Matheson tried to push the foul-smelling gag from her mouth with her tongue, struggled and writhed against the bindings knotted around her wrists and ankles, but only managed to tighten them further. She wanted to scream, to claw at the warrior who’d snatched her from her home while her parents had slept so close by.
“Be still, child.” A fearsome growl rumbled from the warrior as he carried her through the gate in the high stone wall surrounding her village. He searched both directions along the mist-shrouded loch then keeping to the shadows of the wall, slunk around to the rear. Into the copse of pines behind her home, he ducked and with a sly smile marched along the forest trail.
A jagged scar cut through the warrior’s eyebrow, and she stilled as memories surged. She’d never mistake this man, not when she’d met him only a few days earlier. While Papa had been away with their Matheson warriors and all within their village had slept, Mama had borrowed a fisherman’s skiff from a secluded corner of the bay and sailed them to this warrior’s stronghold farther along the loch.
Mama hadn’t had a choice in secreting them away that night, not when her fae skill of death-warning had reared to full and vibrant life. She’d received a vision, sensed death looming for another and immediately hastened to pass along the warning. As she’d rowed, Mama had whispered in her ear, “We leave because two young innocent lads are about to lose their lives and I know these boys well, love Coll and Duncan, just as I love you. I cannae allow their deaths to occur, even though they’re our enemy’s sons and reside within his keep.”
“How did you come to love them?” She’d shuffled closer to Mama on the center bench seat, the cool of the night wrapping around her. Mama adored children and they flocked to her. Mayhap these two boys had too.
“The last time I saw Coll and Duncan they’d just turned three, so it’s been five years since I was last with them. Even though the lads are MacKenzies, they hold fae blood, no’ that their father allows any to know of it. I am one of the few, and now I’ve told you, you too must keep what you’ve learnt a secret, even from your papa.” Mama raised the sail and sent them cruising faster along the waterway toward their enemy’s lair.
Driven to understand more, she touched Mama’s mind with hers. Her fae mind-walker skill always ensured her curiosity rang strong and even though she was young, being able to catch another’s thoughts had certainly gifted her with a wisdom far beyond her short number of years. Carefully, she searched deeper within Mama’s thoughts and gasped at the sadness overwhelming her beloved parent.
Mama squeezed her tight to her side, ran one hand over her mop of golden-red curls. “Never forget that those of fae blood can sense when you touch our minds, so during this trip you’re no’ to touch the mind of any MacKenzie. Over the centuries there has been the odd marriage between our clans since we have no’ always been at war with each other, and those MacKenzies with even a trace of fae blood in their line might be able to sense your presence, just as I can right now. If any of our enemy discovered you hold a coveted fae skill, danger would lurk. Do you understand?”
“Aye, no touching my mind to that of a MacKenzie, or allowing them to know I hold a fae skill.” She’d always been so thirsty for knowledge, and learning from others by reading their thoughts had aided her in quenching that thirst. But tonight she’d take all care, do exactly as Mama had said and not touch another’s mind. “Since Coll and Duncan hold fae blood, who is their mama?”
“Their mother was a close childhood friend of mine. At the age of eight and ten Beth Matheson left for Colin MacKenzie’s keep to visit a relative and no’ long afterward handfasted with one of the MacKenzie’s warriors, or so we were told. I soon learnt the truth. Several months after Beth wed, I received a missive from her and in it she pleaded for me to come to her. I sailed down this very waterway and once I arrived was taken upstairs to Beth’s chamber. That’s when Beth poured out her heart to me. I discovered that day exactly whom she’d handfasted with and it wasnae one of the chief’s warriors, but the chief himself. Colin MacKenzie.”