was Broc. Though she had never considered Broc a friend, he was someone she knew and she missed him.
No one said anything about her ruined gown. Hayden had managed to wash the blood from his hands before sitting down.
There were so many men that she didn’t know, and Isla hoped she was able to put names to the faces staring at her. Maybe she would ask one of the women later.
Fallon caught her gaze. “I had Ramsey draw a map of the Loch Awe area since he has been there. Do you know which side of the loch the Druids are hiding on?”
Isla finished chewing and swallowing before she reached for the parchment Ramsey held out for her. She was amazed at the intricate drawing. “You are very good.”
Ramsey bowed his head. “Thank you. It has been several decades since I have been to the area, so I drew it all from what memory I have.”
“I’ve never been,” Isla said. “However, based on what Deirdre told me of the area, this matches it.”
“Good,” Lucan said.
Isla pulled the map closer as she struggled to remember if Deirdre said where the artifact was. A forest, yes, but there were many forests along the loch. If Galen and Logan had to search both sides, they could be gone a very long time.
“It’s all right if you don’t know,” Cara whispered from beside her.
Isla glanced at the Druid. Cara was pretty with her dark eyes and hair, a perfect match for Lucan. “Give me a moment.”
Isla then put her hand over the map and closed her eyes. She focused all of her magic to the map of Loch Awe and searched for the presence of Druids.
With her eyes still shut, she moved her hand over the parchment, stopping occasionally when she thought she felt something. And then … something stirred. Magic.
Her eyes flew open. “Here,” she said and pointed with her finger. “The Druids will be in this area.”
Galen leaned over and looked at the map before raising his blue eyes to her. “How did you do that?”
“My magic.”
“Amazing,” Ramsey said.
Isla knew the truth, though. It was the black magic that made her magic strong and allowed her to use it as
Fallon stood then. “Galen, Logan, you have your course.”
When Logan stood, so did Hayden, who sat beside him. They clasped forearms. No words were needed. They were friends, brothers, parting ways for a mission that could end in failure and death.
When Galen was about to stand, Isla put her hand on his arm to stop him. “The Druids are fearful and hiding. They will use magic to keep others from finding them. You could easily overlook them.”
“How do I find them then?”
“Trust your instincts. And once you do find them, they will not easily open up to you.”
Sonya leaned forward and nodded. “Isla is correct. The Druids won’t trust strangers, especially Warriors. Do your best not to show them exactly what you are.”
Galen let out a sigh. “Logan, we have our work cut out for us.”
“Then we best go,” Logan replied with a smile.
Isla rose with Galen and walked to the door with everyone.
“Godspeed,” Fallon said as Logan and Galen faced the small crowd.
Galen glanced at Logan. “We’ll be back as quickly as we can.”
“Bring the Druids if you can talk them into it,” Cara said. “They’ll be safer here.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Logan promised.
After a round of farewells, the two Warriors departed. Isla ducked away from the others, intending to return to her chamber and change gowns.
Only when she turned the corner someone was in the chamber. She paused at the door, surprised to find Hayden digging through a chest at the foot of the bed.
He paused and lifted his head, blond hair falling over his face. He regarded her a moment, then went back to looking in the chest. “I’ll be finished in a moment.”
Finished? And when the realization came, she grew uncomfortable. “This is your chamber?”
“Aye,” he said without looking up. “There were no empty ones, and I doona use mine.”
“I cannot stay here,” she said.
He straightened then. “And where will you stay? Will you sleep in the great hall?”
Isla hadn’t thought that far ahead, but she couldn’t keep Hayden out of his own chambers.
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ll use Logan’s chamber while he’s gone.”
Isla clasped her hands behind her back. “You don’t like me, yet you allow me to use your chamber?”
Hayden closed the lid and straightened. He walked to her and didn’t stop until he stood in front of her. “I never said I didn’t like you.”
“You didn’t have to. It’s clear how you feel about
Hayden took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “There is much your magic can do, Druid, but unless you possess Galen’s power to read minds, you have no idea what I do or doona like.”
And with that he was gone.
For long moments Isla didn’t move. She looked at the chamber, the bed with new eyes. It was Hayden’s. He had slept in the bed, dressed in the chamber.
She was going to have to find somewhere else to stay. Being in Hayden’s bed would be too much. Already she found herself searching him out among the Warriors.
Isla stepped into the chamber and closed and bolted the door. She stripped off the ruined gown, thankful to find another lying across the bed.
She hurried to change, trying her best not to think of Hayden. And failing miserably.
ELEVEN
Hayden told himself he didn’t care that Isla was in his chamber, that her body was covered by the same linens that had touched him.
But as soon as he had walked into his chamber, he had smelled her. The snow and wild pansy scent filled the room, reminding him of ice-blue eyes and midnight hair, of lush lips and creamy skin. Of an exquisite body and pert breasts.
The blood had rushed to his cock in less than a blink. He had tried to ignore it by searching his chest for another shirt, one that wasn’t stained with Isla’s blood.
Which brought him back to when he had thought her dead just an hour before. That fear had clawed at his insides just as it had when he’d found his family.
Worse, he didn’t want to feel for Isla. He tried to tell himself that he didn’t, but he knew the truth of it in his bones.
He had found her on that Godforsaken mountain and carried her back to the castle. He had seen in his mind her torture, had listened to her beg him for death. How could he not care?
How did he dare?
It seemed his feelings weren’t as dead as he imagined. And that could be a very bad thing.
He’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t heard Isla until she had spoken from the doorway. He knew he couldn’t stay in the same chamber alone with her. She was too much of a temptation, an enticement he didn’t want, not when he didn’t understand his body’s reaction to her.
To get away, he had to pass her. And that had nearly done him in.
She wasn’t afraid of him. That in itself made her more appealing. Dangerously so.
The urge to touch her skin, to feel its warmth, had pushed him closer to her. The desire to taste her lips, to
