In her blue kirtle, she’d plopped down and stretched out her legs, while a frisky wind had breezed through and along with it had brought the sweet fragrance from the lavender bushes clumped amongst the surrounding pine trees. The splashing of the waterfall hitting the pool rushed from close by, although that special place remained just beyond her sight.
“There is naught I love more than being outside under a night sky.” Both hating and desiring these final few hours with him, she’d flopped onto her back and stared up at the darkened sky with its myriad of twinkling stars blazing above.
“I wholeheartedly agree.” In his black leather pants and a billowy white tunic, he’d laid down side to side with her and stared up at the same sky as she did. “You’ll make a fine wife for Matthew.”
“Ha, that I didnae expect you to say.” She couldn’t help but smile, no matter the difficult beginning to their conversation. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“There is no other choice left to you, and I understand that.” Solemn words.
“I see.” She’d rolled onto her side and fully faced him, the distance between them a mere foot or two, yet the divide couldn’t have felt greater. “Look at me.”
He’d rolled onto his side too, caught her hand and trapped her fingers against the heat of his chest. With his gaze locked on hers, he’d breathed slowly in and out.
So did she, her thoughts so scrambled, and for some time all they did was lie there like that and take in the moment. That had been a sliver of time she’d never get back, and so she’d memorized every detail of his face, from the rich brown shade of his eyes with those stunning flecks of gold, to the dimples either side of his lush lips, and the deep cleft in his chin holding a razz of stubble. If only she could get past the natural barrier in his mind and read his emotions too. She’d love naught more than to know exactly what he was thinking and feeling since he hadn’t shared much.
“You’re tapping at my mind.” He’d stroked the back of one finger along her cheek. “I can sense it.”
“Then lower your shields so I no longer have to.”
“If I released my emotions right now, you’d get swamped in them.” He’d leaned in closer, touched the tip of his nose to hers. “I also prefer it that you cannae sense my emotions most of the time.”
“I’m sure you do.” Eyes closed, she’d reached out with her fae empath ability and tried harder to capture even just one of his current thoughts or feelings, but there was nothing. She growled under her breath. “Your fae blood annoys me this night.”
“As yours usually annoys me most of the time too.” With his hand on her waist, he rubbed his thumb in a slow circle over her hip, his touch pure magic, settling and soothing her frustration so swiftly. “’Tis also at times like these when you mention my fae blood that my thoughts always return to the night when I first learnt of my true birthmother. Eight, I’d been at the time, and in Father’s solar. I’ll never forget when I noticed you hiding under the table. I caught sight of your toes peeking out from under the tablecloth and knew ’twas you.”
“I’d snuck in earlier, when the fae woman from the Matheson village arrived with Kyla. The woman’s emotions had rolled out in strong waves to me, and she’d clearly been worried about you and Duncan as well, although I didnae know why. That I had to learn the answer to.” She’d been right to sneak in that night, for that had been when Coll and Duncan had learnt that the woman who’d arrived, Grace Matheson, had been a dear friend of their true birthmother’s. Grace had held the skill of death-warning and seen trouble was about to befall Coll and Duncan, so she’d brought them a message so they might survive. That night they’d learnt of their true fae heritage, that their fae battle skill would soon come into being.
“Grace is the one who forced Father to admit the truth to Duncan and I, and to explain why he’d kept the secret of who our true mother was to himself for the first eight years of our lives.”
“I’m so glad Grace came that night.” Grace, Kyla’s true mother, was such a sweet woman.
“So am I, although no’ for Kyla’s sake. That was when Father became intrigued by her. Only a few days later, he stole into her parents’ village and spirited her away. She’d been so young at the time, torn away from her kin, and never to see them again. That pained me greatly.”
“As it did me, and I wish we could see Kyla safely back home to her parents now.”
“She willnae leave us, no’ when Father has always held the safety of her parents over her head. He’ll slaughter each and every one of those from within her fae village should she attempt to return.” He’d squeezed her hip, his fingers going in tight. “Do you recall Grace’s decree that night?”
“I’ll never forget it.” Grace had told Coll and Duncan that their destiny was to ensure that the fae lived, and they’d taken her words to heart. She cupped his cheek, grazed her fingers along his skin. “Make our clan great for our future kin, Coll.”
“Duncan and I intend to.”