him.”
Corann lifted his walking stick and pointed it at Aisley. “What’s your excuse for being with a Warrior?”
Phelan glanced down at her to see Aisley’s pulse beat wildly in her throat. She feared these Druids. That in itself infuriated him. She was one of them. They should be welcoming her, not condemning her for being with him.
“He’s a good man. Not only has he helped me, but he’s protected me,” she answered in a clear voice.
Corann returned his stick to his side and leaned upon it. “What do you need protection from?”
Phelan had heard enough. If she wouldn’t tell him, she certainly wasn’t going to tell Corann. “There are things in her past. That’s all you need to know.”
“She’s a Druid,” Corann said. “She has magic to protect herself.”
That same thought had gone through Phelan’s mind. He knew how powerful of a Druid Aisley was, but that didn’t deter him from wanting her. “She’s … special.”
Corann’s bushy gray brows rose in response. “Is that so?”
“I didna come to give you a history lesson of my life or to validate what my friends and I have done to protect this world. I came for your assistance in trapping the selmyr. If you willna help, then just say it and stop wasting our time.”
“I’ll think on it. Stay here for the night. If I’m no’ back in the morning, you have your answer.” Corann then walked into the back of the cave with the black-haired Druid and both promptly disappeared.
“Wow,” Aisley said.
Phelan grunted. “I think we already have our answer.”
“So let’s start back now.”
He tugged on a lock of hair that hung next to her cheek. “We’ve had a long day. Let’s stay. Besides, I want a closer look at the Fairy Pool.”
“I knew you were going to say that,” she said with a sly look.
Together they set down their packs and looked out over the water. The sun was low in the sky, casting everything in a deep orange glow.
“What’s the legend?” Aisley asked.
“The Fae, of course.”
“Seriously? Fairies?”
“Fae,” he corrected. “And they are no’ what has been depicted in movies. They’re our size and doona have wings.”
She walked to the entrance and leaned a shoulder against the rocks. The waterfall was so loud she had to raise her voice when she asked, “So I gather they’re very magical?”
“Aye,” he answered from beside her. “Verra. But no’ all of them are good. There are the dark ones.”
The light faded a bit from her eyes, almost as if his words had saddened her. “There is evil everywhere.”
“In every dimension. There is also good.”
She slid her hands into her back pockets. “People think you’re evil. I know you’re not. How do you deal with that?”
“I ignore them.” When that didn’t bring a smile, he tried another tack. “Every person, every animal has the ability to be good or evil. They choose which side to feed the most.”
“How did you decide?”
He sighed and thought back to those long, lonely, dark-filled days. “I’m stubborn.”
“Do you think people can change?”
“Of course. I’ve seen it.”
Her tongue ran over her lips as she turned to look at him. “I’m not proud of my past or most of my decisions. I’ve not always done the right thing.”
“No one has. You can no’ expect to be perfect.”
“Others would disagree. Tell me more of the Fae,” she urged.
He let her change the subject. “It’s said the Dark Fae like to capture young girls. They’ll either terrorize and torture them, taking their innocence until nothing is left but a shell. Or they’ll kill them. The Dark Fae also like to tempt men.”
“Do I even want to know what they do to men?”
“The females use them for sex. They become slaves to the dark ones until their only way to survive is by sharing their bodies with the Fae.”
“And you want to get a closer look at these things?” she asked incredulously.
Phelan smiled. “Oh, aye. I do.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
A prince. Phelan was a prince.
The words kept repeating over and over in Aisley’s head. She wanted to dismiss what Ravyn had said, but something inside Aisley hesitated.
There was a very real chance Ravyn was right and Phelan was descended from royalty. It would explain the innate self-assured attitude and his confidence.
“Want to go for a swim?” Phelan asked.
She choked on a laugh. “Are you serious?”
“Aye, beauty.” His eyes shone with a wicked light that made her blood quicken. “Are you afraid it’s too cold for you?”
“I’m Scottish, remember?”
He simply smiled at her response before he lifted a brow and took off his boots.
Aisley half expected him to be joking. As his second boot hit the rocks and he pulled off his shirt, she knew he was all too serious.
In a matter of seconds, he was naked. He winked at her before he ran the few steps to the edge of the water and dove in.
She gasped when she spotted the rocks, then let out a rough breath when he cleared them. “Insane. That’s what he is,” she mumbled to herself.
He surfaced and turned to look at her. Phelan jerked his head, sending his hair out of his face while he treaded water. There was no doubt she’d wanted to touch the water since she first saw it.
But Phelan’s explanation of the Dark Fae made her hesitate. She might be a Druid, but she had no idea how her magic would work in the Fae realm. Or if it would at all.
Her gaze locked with Phelan’s, and all thoughts vanished. Nothing mattered. Not Jason, not the Druids, not the Fae.
Only Phelan.
Aisley’s hands shook when she started to disrobe. It was her love of Phelan that frightened her the same time it gave her strength. She doubted anyone would understand it because she didn’t.
She pulled the ponytail holder from her hair and felt the thick weight of her hair fall against her back. Phelan swam closer to the edge, waiting for her. He held his hand out to her, his blue-gray eyes darkened with yearning she understood all too well.
Aisley took his hand and allowed him to gently pull her into the water. The emerald-green liquid was cool against her heated skin, but not nearly as cold as the icy depths of most lochs.
“I’ve never known a woman like you.”
Aisley enjoyed the compliment, but she knew what kind of man Phelan was. “In all the centuries of your life you expect me to believe I’m one of a kind?”
“Aye.”
