“Should you ever have need of me, I’ll always be here.”
“I’ll need to fully submerge myself this eve. My heat flares too greatly to simply dunk my hands in.” She turned around and gave her sister her back. “Be careful as you unlace my gown.”
“Of course.” Julia stepped in behind her and worked the laces loose. “Oh, you are so very, very hot. Why is this happening now?”
“I wish I knew, as well as why my very soul aches as if I’ve lost someone important.”
“We might very well lose those we love if the MacKenzie isnae stopped.” Julia wiped her brow as she stepped back. “Please, you must cool yourself. These flares must stop.”
“If only there were others with my skill I could go to for guidance.” She was the only one of her fire-wielder kind left, hers one of the rarest of their kind’s skills. Swiftly, she shoved the long sleeves of her gown down then wriggled her hips. The soft layers of burgundy fabric slithered down her legs and swished to her feet. Grasping the folds of her ankle-length shift, she jumped out of the puddle of velvet and dashed across the damp, mossy ground and scrambled onto a large boulder.
The loch deep within the forest, small, private and perfectly round, beckoned with the promise of its cool depths within and its ability to bring her heat back down. With one deep breath, she leapt and down she went, the blessedly cool water closing in over her head. Bubbles fizzed around her, and in the murky dark, she kicked upward and emerged. Steam billowed all around, so thick her sister on the grassy bank became shrouded in the dense cloud that plumed. Treading water, she called out, “Are you all right, Julia?”
“I am. What of you?” Julia flapped a hand through the air as she moved around the pool to a clearer spot, her cheeks rosy and red.
“The water soothes me.”
“I wonder,” Julia said as she plopped onto a rock in her forest-green skirts, her brow wrinkled in concentration, “if the four elements have something to do with your loss of control. Fire is one of them.”
“Mmm, fire, water, air and earth.”
“Your first loss of control also occurred the night the newcomers arrived, the air so disrupted.”
“Yet the air has settled while my fire continues to rage. What are they like?” Her sister had been to the fae village over the past few days and met the travelers as she had not.
“Iain is the eldest of the three and never allows Isla far from his side, no’ since she is expecting. She holds both shifter and fae blood and in the future her clan lives here, while the others come from farther across the Highlands.”
“Does she hold an ability?” Her fingers still itched with heat and she waved them through the water.
“One of the strongest, the skill to compel. With her hypnotic voice alone she can command any around her. The last man at the village to hold that ability passed away five and twenty years ago. ’Tis wonderful to know it continues on.”
“What of Finlay and Kirk?”
“They’re causing quite the stir as they search for their mates. The lasses are all quite giddy with excitement, hoping they might be the one. So far no matches have been made.” She leaned forward. “The warriors are identical in every way and ’tis almost impossible to tell them apart.”
She could well understand the excitement. The mated bond was an all-consuming one any couple would wish for. “I hope they find their women soon.”
“So do—” Frowning, Julia rose and narrowed her gaze. “Something’s wrong. Your aura has suddenly changed.”
“For the better I hope.”
“Nay, it now spikes out with sharp tendrils of cold-fire blue. I’ve no’ seen the cold-fire enter your aura since our parents passed away.”
“Are you certain there is cold-fire present?” She touched her chest, the soul deep ache within her having not abated one bit. Such feelings of loss could bring her cold-fire about.
“It bleeds deeper as I speak, which I dinnae like.” Julia walked toward the trail’s entrance. “I’ll go to Nessa for an answer.”
“You’re leaving right now?”
“Aye, she willnae leave our village kin during their time of need.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Nay, remain. I’ll sail rather than take the forest path, and I’ll send a guard to keep watch over you.” She lifted one hand and disappeared down the trail.
Wonderful. Now her aura was changing too. She hardly needed to burden her sister or their clan with all of her problems when a deadly battle loomed.
Kicking out deeper, she sent rippling waves swelling out. The cooler water continued to wash over her, as did the soul deep ache, an endless throb she couldn’t disperse. Long minutes passed as she swam back and forth.
“Are you Arabel?” A warrior rode free of the forest path, his horse snorting misty air as he hauled it to a stop.
“I am.” She slowed, treaded water. “Who are you?”