Untamed Highlander

Isla sighed and stepped closer to him. She raised her hand to place it on his back, intent on offering him comfort. At the last moment she changed her mind and dropped her arm.

“Nay, Hayden. I think you’re a man who is loyal to a fault. I think you’re the type of man who wants to save everyone. I think you’re the type of man who will honor a vow, no matter how difficult it may be.”

Hayden turned to face her. “Do you intend to have everyone’s pledge at the castle to kill you?”

“If I must. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Is it?”

“Of course.”

He snorted and shook his head. “I will give you my word to end your life, but I will do it when I think the time has come. Not when you wish it.”

“If that was the case, Hayden, I would ask that you kill me now.”

Her words startled him. His brow furrowed deeply. “You think you have no other choice?”

“I know I don’t. I’ve lived five centuries in an evil mountain surrounded by the darkest kind of cruelty. I’ve been alone for so long, and I don’t want to spend another day like that.”

“You aren’t alone. Not here.”

“I have nothing to live for.”

“And if you did have something?” he asked. “Would you fight Deirdre?”

She laughed though there was no humor in it. She turned away before he could see the tears that filled her eyes. She was more alone than ever before.

After having Hayden, after getting a glimpse of what life could be like with him, nothing could ever replace that. “What would I have to live for? Deirdre’s demise? That can be accomplished without me.”

“Live for me.”

Isla’s lungs seized, her breath refusing to leave her body. She was afraid to turn around, afraid to look into Hayden’s eyes and see him mocking her.

Did she have the strength to fight Deirdre? Could she stand against something so evil? For Hayden she would walk through Hell itself.

Silence stretch endlessly before she glanced over her shoulder to give Hayden his answer, to tell him she would live for him.

Somehow she wasn’t surprised to find Hayden had left.

THIRTY-ONE

Hayden stared at his morning meal without seeing it. He wasn’t hungry, not even after having missed the previous evening meal.

His mind whirled with the conversation he’d had with Isla. Hayden had woken early, but had been unable to leave her. He’d sat instead and just watched her.

He didn’t think he had ever watched another person sleep before. It was a new experience, and one that mesmerized him.

She had lain there looking so tempting and beautiful that it was easy to forget she was a drough. The small smile on her lips when she’d awoken had made his heart quicken, but the grin vanished when she’d found him gone from the bed.

Then she had asked for answers he hadn’t wanted to give, had been afraid to give. The more he’d said, the harder it became. He had hurt her. She had tried to hide it, but his words had cut her deeply.

But no more deeply than her telling him she knew he would kill her.

He hadn’t known where the words had come from when he asked, urged her to live for him. As soon as they had been spoken, he knew he could never kill her.

The words had been spoken from the depths of his soul, and as the silence had stretched in the tower, he realized she either couldn’t or wouldn’t answer him.

Not that he blamed her. So he had left before he heard her response. The things he had said to her, the things he had done were atrocious. He didn’t deserve anything for acting like such a beast.

Hayden rested an elbow on the table and put his hand over his face. Everyone ignored him, which was just what he wanted. He picked up bits of discussion here and there but nothing he wanted to contribute to.

He both hoped and dreaded to see Isla. After what had happened last eve and that morning, he wasn’t sure how he would react upon facing her. Not to mention seeing Ian with her.

She smiled for Ian, laughed for Ian. How Hayden hated the boil of envy that caused him.

“You look like death,” Malcolm said as he glanced up from his trencher.

Hayden rubbed the back of his neck. “You mean I look like you?”

A ghost of a smile touched Malcolm’s lips. “Aye. This doesna happen to have anything to do with the beautiful Isla, does it?”

Hayden looked away, but Malcolm must have gotten his answer because he shook his head.

“I thought as much,” Malcolm mumbled.

“Why do you say that?”

Malcolm shrugged his left shoulder. “It isna hard to see there is a deep connection between the two of you. She’s lonely and hurting. You’re confused and angry. There’s an easy solution.”

“What might that be?” Hayden couldn’t help but ask. If someone had an answer, he wanted it.

“Forget she’s a drough. She was forced to do the ceremony, and she beat back her evil. In my mind, that makes her the strongest mie I’ve ever encountered.”

“She’s a drough, but not the same type that I’ve hunted and killed. That, I already figured out.”

“I certainly don’t think she’s a drough so I’m glad you’ve gotten it all sorted out.”

The sarcasm in Malcolm’s voice made Hayden grin. “You think I mock you?”

“I think until you truly face what Isla means to you, you willna be able to see clearly.”

Hayden gave Malcolm a nod before he rose and strode from the castle. There was work to be done, and it was just what he needed to sort through his thoughts.

Deirdre grew impatient the longer Dunmore was gone. She knew Druids were scarce across Scotland, but he should have been able to find one. That’s all she needed, one insignificant Druid who she could sacrifice and gain the magic.

But it was taking too long. She’d tried to connect with Isla again, and had been unsuccessful. It left Deirdre drained of what little magic she had as well as weak. She hated it.

“I need my magic now,” she seethed.

For nearly a thousand years she had been the strongest Druid ever to walk the earth. Now, she was no better than what her sister had been.

Deirdre wished she could have seen Laria’s death. Had her sister lived to a ripe old age, bent and wrinkled? Or had she been taken while she was still young?

Deirdre had looked for her not long after she made Cairn Toul what it was, but Laria hadn’t been found. Laria had no magic, so to sacrifice her would have just been for pleasure. It had been a touchy subject with her parents. As twins, their magic should have been shared, but Deirdre had gotten all of it and Laria none.

“I need my magic!” Deirdre screamed.

But her scream went unheard by all except the wyrran in the mountain. Others used to tremble when she spoke. How could this have happened to her?

The Warriors shouldn’t have been able to harm her, but somehow something had happened that prevented her from fending off their attacks.

She would figure out what it was so that it never occurred again. She would not be put in this situation a second time.