She tried once again to spit the foul tasting gag from her mouth but it remained bound firmly in place. There would be no escaping her capture, not this night.
Looming over her, the MacKenzie plucked his dagger from his wrist sheath, gripped her hair and sliced it off at the root. He stuffed the mass of golden-red curls into his sporran then covered her head in a heavy black veil. “Now no one shall ever learn who you are, and if you wish for your parents to live then you’ll forget your village and all who remain within it. From this moment forth, you’ll no longer be Christina Matheson but instead Kyla MacKenzie, my foster daughter. You have no fae blood, no kin, and I’ve taken you in, a poor urchin I found abandoned in the forest. You’ll join me, be raised within my household and even though you remain unskilled, in time I’ll ensure your revered fae blood mixes into my direct line. You’ll wed one of my three sons, whichever I please. Do you understand?”
“Aye,” she mumbled through the cloth.
She tried to cross the distance to Mama and Papa and connect with them, only she couldn’t. They were too far away. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Never would she endanger her parents’ lives. More tears fell, endlessly.
Cherub –
The Fae Princess and Guardian of her Earthbound Kind
Clan Matheson fae village, Loch Alsh, Scotland, 1210, twenty years later.
Under the midnight brilliance of the night sky twinkling with a myriad of stars, Cherub walked arm and arm with Kirk along the pebbly shoreline nestled before the village. The wind rushed all around, fluttering her white fur cloak about her legs and sending her blond hair streaming past her shoulders. Something within the wind tickled her fae senses and she halted, raised her arms and allowed the air—the element she controlled—to bring to her the secrets it held.
As an immortal time-walker and her fae people’s princess, ’twas her duty to aid those of her fae-blooded kind who walked this Earth and she did so by ensuring the newly soul bound were brought together, no matter what divide of time separated them. With her time-walker ability, she could open portals if she wished, could travel great distances through time, to wherever she was most needed.
“Do you sense lost souls this night?” Kirk, her soul bound mate, stepped in behind her, slid his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. With his big body curved around hers, he warmed her through with his heavenly heat.
“I do, and between two of our fae kind who live right here in this time, although one is currently visiting your clan at Ivanson Castle in the twenty-first century.”
“You’re speaking of Ronan?”
“I am.” A month past, she and Kirk had rescued Ronan from deep within the dungeons of Carron Castle, the stronghold belonging to Coll MacKenzie. She’d opened a portal and taken Ronan directly to a doctor at Ivanson in order for him to heal as he’d needed to from his extensive injuries. “The other I sense is Kyla.”
“The lass Ronan met while imprisoned in Carron’s cells, the lass he believes was kidnapped by Colin as a child from the fae village?”
“Aye, Christina was taken from us twenty years ago and even though we searched high and low for her following her disappearance, we never found her, never knew who’d taken her, never received a note requesting a demand of coin either. Ronan is desperate to return to Kyla and we need to ensure he reaches her without issue, particularly while she is with her foster brother and far away from Colin MacKenzie’s evil clutches.”
“I see.” Kirk nibbled on her ear. “A task I am more than ready for.”
“As am I.” She slid her hands underneath the hem of his white tunic and spread one palm over his heart. “Ronan’s new identity is almost complete. Tavish adds the finishing touches as we speak and once he’s done, we must ensure Ronan and Kyla have the chance for their bond to take form.
“A plan I’m in total agreement with.” He dipped her backward, rubbed his cheek against hers, his love for her enveloping her in its fierce intensity. “I love you, would never be able to live without you, would hate it if you’d ever been stolen from me as Kyla was with Ronan. When do we leave?”
“First thing in the morn, and I love you too.” She cupped his face in her hands, seized his mouth with hers and allowed the deep emotions she held for him to consume her. What remained of this night would be theirs, but once the sun rose on the morrow, they would be needed at Ivanson in the twenty-first century. Ronan would be awaiting them, ready and anxious to begin his hunt.
Aye, Ronan’s coming journey would be one of immense trials and tribulations, a chase to bind his chosen one to him that would see the truth of Kyla’s birth finally come to light. ’Twas time for Kyla to embrace her Matheson kin, to no longer be a lost child but returned to her loved ones, as she should have been so very long ago.
’Twas time to right the wrongs of the past, this journey one she couldn’t wait to set in motion. Soon, very soon.
Chapter 1