efficient and deadly, even if he couldn’t stand to look at them with their mouthful of sharp teeth that lips couldn’t close over.
Deirdre had created the creatures with her will and black magic, fashioning them to serve her and her alone. Three wyrran waited for him by the entrance into the mountain.
He nodded to the wyrran and stepped into the mountain. Once he was through the stone door, it closed behind him. Dunmore walked down the steps and narrow corridor before he turned into a wider hallway. He followed it down until he came to what Deirdre likened to a great hall.
The cavern was huge and shadowy. A massive chandelier with hundreds of candles hung from the ceiling, shedding minute light throughout. Below him, their faces tilted to him, were the wyrran that had survived the MacLeods’ attack on Cairn Toul.
Dunmore leaned on the stone railing and took a deep breath. He would make sure he was essential to Deirdre so that she couldn’t toss him aside. “We have much work to do. Our mistress had called to us. The ones who dared to defy her, who dared to think they could defeat her will pay. With their lives.”
The wyrran shrieked their fury and glee at his words.
He held up a hand to quiet them. “But first, we must collect more Druids and find the Warriors who thought they could escape. We must move quickly and quietly over the land. Our first target is a Druid. Deirdre must have a sacrifice to have her body returned.”
The wyrran began to howl and rock back and forth, eager to be on their way.
“We’ll split into two groups. Half of you stay here and continue to ready the mountain for Deirdre. The other half come with me. We have Druid to hunt.”
As Dunmore turned on his heel to leave, he felt something brush against him.
“Mistress.” He paused and waited for Deirdre to say more. He missed seeing her. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her white hair that hung to the floor and white eyes were spectacular to behold. He’d take her for his own if she’d have him.
Dunmore bowed his head. “I will see it done.”
“Anything for you,” he whispered. But she was already gone. He felt her loss as keenly as his old bones felt the cold.
He would prove himself to her if it was the last thing he did. He owed her at least that.
Quinn never expected to find Lucan sitting in the great hall in the middle of the night. The fact his brother was staring off in thought told Quinn all he needed to know.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked.
Lucan raised startled sea green eyes. “Nay. Neither can Fallon. He went to find something to eat.”
Quinn slid onto the bench at the table across from Lucan. “What’s kept you up?”
“Isla.”
“You think she’s lying?”
Lucan shook his head, the twin braids at his temples swinging. “Not at all. I fear she’s telling us the truth, the entire ugly mess of it.”
“Not that we wish otherwise,” Fallon said as he entered through the kitchen. He had a goblet in his hand that Quinn knew was filled with water since Fallon had given up his need for wine.
“She’s verra powerful,” Quinn said. “Nothing that compares to Deirdre, but I could feel Isla’s magic. And it’s strong.”
Lucan nodded. “I think we all felt it. The fact that she has battled the evil within her allows her to use that power for good.”
“But how long will she have control?” Fallon asked. “Deirdre will gain back her power. It’s simply a matter of time, and when she does she will bring her full wrath upon us and use Isla as well.”
Quinn blew out a breath. “If we can sever the link Deirdre has with Isla, we’ll be in a much better position.”
“That’s a big if, little brother,” Lucan said. “We tempted Isla to stay on the chance that an artifact could break that link. I hope we weren’t wrong.”
Fallon ran his finger on the edge of the goblet. “It was a chance we took. Isla knows that as well. We need her here. Her shielding could help out tremendously, and with the Warriors we have, if something happens, we can kill Isla if we have to.”
Quinn hoped it didn’t come to that. “Isla is as much a victim as we are. If this artifact Galen and Logan seek cannot help her, maybe the Druids who guard it will be able to lead us to another.”
“I don’t know,” Lucan said. “So much is stacked against us. Deirdre will be looking for the artifact as well. We aren’t even sure what this artifact does.”
“And we wouldna even know of it if Isla hadn’t told us. We owe her this,” Quinn stated.
Fallon looked at Quinn. “No one said we wouldn’t try to help Isla. We will do all we can. We have more Warriors now, and another Druid. If you count Isla, we have a lot of added magic. Everything hinges on gaining the upper hand on Deirdre before she regains all her powers.”
“I wish we knew where the other artifacts were,” Lucan said. “We could send several Warriors after them.”
Fallon leaned back in his chair and drank deeply. “I’m just happy there’s a chance we can keep one out of Deirdre’s hands. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“We need more,” Lucan murmured.
Quinn puffed out his cheeks with air. Deirdre was always a step ahead of them. It didn’t bode well for the outcome of the world.
“Did your women kick you out of your beds?” Hayden asked as he descended the stairs.
Fallon chuckled. “Larena is probably even now searching for me.”
Hayden rolled his eyes as he took a seat near Quinn and grimaced. “Enough. I doona need to hear of your prowess in bed.”
Quinn saw a ghost of a smile on the big blond’s face, but it was fleeting. “Actually, we’re discussing Isla.”
“What about her?” Hayden demanded, his gaze hard and steady.
Was it Quinn’s imagination or had Hayden become defensive?
“We’re talking about what could happen if none of the artifacts help Isla,” Lucan said.
Fallon set his goblet on the table and ran a hand down his face. “The simple truth is we want to keep everyone safe. If it was just Warriors here, I doona think we’d be as concerned.”
“But there are Druids,” Quinn said. “Isla’s magic far succeeds even Sonya’s.”
Hayden looked from one to the other of them. They wanted something from him, and he feared he knew exactly what it was. “You want a Warrior to stay with her at all times, someone who will know if she’s acting differently and put a stop to her before it’s too late.”
“Something like that, aye,” Fallon said. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. “We don’t want Isla to feel as if she’s a prisoner.”
“Having a Warrior follow her everywhere will make it seem that way. Why not have someone watch her discreetly?”
Lucan raised a dark brow. “Are you volunteering?”
Hayden threw up his hands. He knew he should never have sat down with the brothers. “Nay. Leave me out of it. Everyone already believes I’ll kill her.”
“And you won’t?” Quinn asked.
Hayden wasn’t fooled by the quiet tone of the youngest MacLeod. Quinn was sometimes too intelligent for his own good. “You asked me to trust in your decision. I’m doing just that.”
“I think you’d be the best person,” Lucan said. “I’m serious, Hayden. You aren’t biased by her story or feel sorry for her. You feel nothing.”
Oh, Hayden felt something all right, but it wasn’t something he wanted to experience. Or let the brothers
