Lavena would try to call up the future, but Deirdre put her in the blue flames, magical flames that would keep Lavena alive but unable to function on her own, where she remained until a few days ago.”
“How long was she in there?” Lucan asked.
Isla looked into the goblet and the red liquid. “Five hundred years.”
Sound filled the hall as everyone began talking at once. There was only one that was silent. Her watcher, Hayden.
Fallon banged his empty goblet on the table. “Quiet. I want to hear the rest of this.” He turned to Isla. “Go on.”
“Lavena’s gift of seeing the future couldn’t be called up at will. It would come to her sporadically. In the blue flames Deirdre was able to add her black magic with Lavena’s to help channel specific things, namely finding the MacLeod who had the god.
“It took Lavena about a year before she saw what Deirdre wanted. In her vision Lavena said it wasn’t one MacLeod, but three. Three brothers, to be exact, who shared the god. The three would be the strongest of their clan. After that, Deirdre had only to watch and wait.”
Quinn rubbed his jaw and sighed. “That’s when she attacked our clan.”
“And then captured you. She didn’t expect your escape, though. You were lucky.”
“How did she find the rest of us?” Hayden asked.
Isla fidgeted with the goblet. “Through my sister, of course. Deirdre had her seeking anything to do with the gods as she built her army. At the time Druids were plentiful. Her wyrran hunted them mercilessly, and as they grew scarcer, Deirdre used the spring equinox to find more.
“It was only recently that Deirdre had Lavena also searching for more Druids. It’s how she found Marcail.”
Lucan rose and began to pace, his agitation clear. Cara eventually took his hand and pulled him back down beside her. Despite everything the MacLeod brothers had been through, each of them had a woman who obviously loved him.
“What happened to you in the mountain?” Lucan asked.
Isla rubbed her fingers on the rim of the goblet. This part of the telling was going to be the most difficult. “Deirdre was going to kill me and claim my magic, but for some reason she changed her mind. She wanted to utilize me as she had Lavena so she set about using the same tactics to break me. They didn’t work.”
Duncan braced his hands on the table and slowly rose. Isla watched as his lips lifted in a sneer. He hated her, and he had every right to despise her.
“You evidently broke, though. What did she offer you? Power?” Duncan demanded.
It was Duncan’s twin, Ian, who jerked Duncan back down on the bench. The only way to tell the twins apart was that Duncan’s dark hair hung down his back and Ian’s was cropped close to his head.
To Isla’s surprise, Hayden had moved away from his position when Duncan had risen. It was only after Duncan had resumed his seat that Hayden once again leaned against the wall as if he were leisurely listening to a story.
Hayden’s response baffled Isla. The blond Warrior clearly didn’t like her, but why would he then act like he was going to defend her?
“Isla?” Quinn urged.
She sighed and nodded. “Deirdre threatened to kill Grania if I didn’t do as she asked.”
Fallon raised a brow. “And what did she ask of you?”
“To become a
“Which you did,” Lucan said. “When did the mind connection take place?”
“A few months later. Deirdre expected that once I became
Fallon shook his head in confusion. “I doona understand. Didn’t the evil do exactly that?”
“It tried, but since I performed the
Isla saw the doubt on the faces before her, and though they might not believe, she had battled the evil every day for centuries. She knew the truth.
“I managed to fool Deirdre for a time, but then I began to question her. She began to doubt me.”
Fallon tapped a finger on the arm of his chair. “How have you been alive for five hundred years?”
Isla swallowed, her throat dry and raw. She knew what she was about to tell the group would surprise them. “Deirdre managed to link her mind with mine, thereby controlling me.”
“What happens when she does that?” Lucan asked.
“There is pain as if my head is splitting open. Then, I hear Deirdre’s voice in my mind commanding me to carry out some order. I’m powerless to fight against it no matter how many times I try.”
Quinn frowned. “What exactly does she want you to do?”
“To kill.”
SIX
Isla knew her statement shocked them. “As soon as the command is given, I lose control of my body. I have no memory of what takes place while Deirdre has control. She cannot hold me for long, though, as it requires a tremendous amount of magic.”
Once again the hall erupted in sound as they talked amongst themselves about her revelation. She imagined it was worrisome, and it was the reason she couldn’t stay.
Fallon raised his hand and quiet once more reigned. “Have you ever gotten control during one of these … outings?”
“Once,” Isla said, barely hiding the shudder that wracked her. “Only once.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Isla didn’t like to think of the time Deirdre’s control had slipped. It had been horrifying. To see for herself just how vicious and gruesome she was at killing had left Isla physically ill. She had retched long after there was anything left in her stomach.
Isla licked her lips. “I cannot stop Deirdre from taking control of me. It’s the reason I need to leave immediately. For every moment I am here I put all of you in danger.”
“But you could help us.”
Isla looked at the female. She recognized the Druid with the fiery hair as the one who had put the sleeping chant on her. The
“Sonya.”
“You would risk everyone’s lives on the chance that I could help you, Sonya?” Isla asked.
“The information you could give us about Deirdre will help us. Knowledge is power.”
Marcail chose that moment to speak up. “And what of the shielding you told me about?”
Isla regretted telling Marcail of her ability. Staying at the castle was the last thing Isla needed to do. She stood, the cool stones penetrating her stockings. “You don’t understand. None of you understand.”
“We do,” Broc said as he also rose and walked towards her. “You know things about Deirdre’s magic that we don’t. Think what we could do to her with our combined knowledge.”
Isla looked at Marcail, the Druid’s hand once more on her stomach. Another child’s life was in the balance. But was it worth the risk for Isla to stay?
The answer was a resounding nay.
“I’m sorry, but I cannot. It will take another day for my body to heal the wound, and then I must go.”
“Go where?” Fallon asked.
Isla shrugged. “Does it matter? I will go far away from here, away from anyone and everyone so I can no longer be used to harm people. Had Hayden taken my head as I asked, none of you would be in jeopardy.”
Duncan slammed his hand on the table. “You canna really expect us to believe you want to die.”
