as well in the dark as he could in the light. And what he saw were eyes of turquoise, so enthralling he couldn’t look away. Sleeping, she had been beautiful. Awake, she was stunning.
Every sensation she felt could be seen in her movements and her eyes. And right now she looked at him with such desperation and misery that he wanted to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right.
The last woman he had held in his arms had been his wife — a wife who had wanted nothing to do with him once they were married.
Quinn refused to think about Elspeth. Instead, he lost himself in the striking, petite Druid before him. “Is there a possibility that she could have protected you somehow?”
“If you knew my grandmother, you would know anything was possible. She always said my mother’s death could have been prevented, just as my brother’s could have.”
“And your father?” Quinn asked.
She looked away, a small frown marking her brow. “My father, like my husband, was killed protecting our homes from wyrran.”
Quinn felt as if he’d been punched in the kidneys. “You were married?”
“For a short time.”
“How long ago?”
She lifted one slim shoulder. “Over a year. It was an arranged marriage. They wanted the best fighter we had to protect me.”
It wasn’t just what she said but the way she said it, with such resentment, that got Quinn’s attention. “You didna care for your husband?”
“Rory was a good man. I tried to be happy in my marriage.”
“And your people wanted to protect you?”
She nodded. “They’ve always sheltered my family.”
Because she knew the spell to bind the gods? Or was it something else, something that Deirdre also knew and so didn’t — or couldn’t — kill Marcail?
Too damned many questions.
“What will happen now?” Marcail asked.
Quinn couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and touching the flawless skin of her cheek. “You stay alive.”
Five
Isla walked through the narrow corridors of the mountain alone. It was just as she preferred it. If she had her way, she would never see another face, human, Warrior, or wyrran, again for the rest of her days.
But her life wasn’t her own. It hadn’t been for so very long.
All too soon Deirdre would summon her. In the beginning, Isla had held out hope that not all of her summons would end in evil and death.
It hadn’t taken her long to realize her hope had been false. Since then, she had lived each day as if it were her last. And in truth, she didn’t expect to live much longer.
At least if she had her way she wouldn’t.
“My lady.”
Isla halted at the soft voice. She slowly turned her head to see one of the other Druids Deirdre kept in her mountain. These Druids, though, weren’t confined to the dungeons or locked up awaiting death. Nay, these Druids had been turned to Deirdre’s side, their magic removed.
Deirdre bade the Druids keep their heads covered with black sheer material at all times because she didn’t want to look at their faces, faces Deirdre had deformed. Even when the Druid slaves spoke, they spoke in a whisper so she couldn’t distinguish their voices.
There were only three Druids who weren’t made to wear the head covering. Those were Isla, her sister, and her niece.
Isla lifted an eyebrow at the servant. It was no secret she hated these Druids; they had been weak enough to give in to Deirdre because they feared death. “What is it you want?”
“You have been requested.”
Isla tensed. She hadn’t expected Deirdre to send for her for some time yet, but there was another who often sent for her. “By whom?”
The servant bowed her head. “Your niece, my lady.”
That news should have relieved Isla, but it didn’t. In fact, it made her more edgy. It had been over a month since she last saw Grania, and she could have gone the rest of her days without seeing her again.
Isla fell in behind the servant as she was led to Grania. Her niece was kept in a chamber locked by Deirdre’s magic. In order to see Grania, Deirdre had to grant Isla permission, which was the only way someone could get through the barrier of magic.
By the time Isla arrived at her niece’s chamber, her nerves were frayed. Nothing good could come of this meeting, of that she knew.
“Is there anything you require, my lady?” the servant asked as she stepped aside at the doorway.
Isla glanced inside the chamber to find her niece. “There is nothing. You may go now.”
She waited until the servant shut the door before Isla turned to face Grania. She recalled the day Lavena had brought Grania into the world. The delivery had been long, and they had celebrated the birth of a healthy baby girl with much joy.
Lavena had promptly called the baby Grania, the name meaning love. It was a perfect finish to the day. Isla thought their happiness would never end. But just three short years later, Deirdre had come into their lives.
“Good day, Aunt,” Grania said from her seat carved out of the wall.
Every time Isla saw Grania, it was like a dagger twisting in her heart. Deirdre had taken an instant liking to the child and used her magic to prevent Grania from aging. Ever.
But Isla knew that Deirdre’s fondess wasn’t the only reason she kept Grania a child. Isla would never do anything to put Grania in harm’s way. An adult Grania who had turned to Deirdre’s side, however, would be easier to go against. Deirdre knew Isla all too well.
“Grania. How do you fare?”
The child laughed and jumped to the floor. “You know I fare as well as a queen, Aunt.”
Isla clasped her hands in front of her and waited. It did no good to try and prod Grania. The child was as manipulative as Deirdre, and nearly as evil. Where was the adorable, loving child who Isla used to rock to sleep?
“Tell me of the
Isla kept her features flat. She didn’t like the interest Grania had in Marcail and nothing good could come of it either. “What is it you want to know?”
“Is it true the Druid knows how to bind the gods?”
“You know it is.”
Grania laughed again, the laugh that Isla used to do anything to hear. “So it is. Once again, Mother and her foresight has helped Deirdre in her quest.”
“It has.”
The child resumed her seat on the rocks. “Now, I was told you saw the
“The Warriors attacked her.”
“But she isn’t dead, is she?”
Isla hesitated. There was something in the way Grania spoke that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. “I didn’t stay to see the body. Why?”
“The
