Highland Shift (Highland Destiny: 1) (46 page)

They’d made promises before, could the promises last this time? He hadn’t even heard the rest of her story yet. She had questions for him. Elena hesitated, hedged in her answer, “This will not be the last time we make love.”

He buried his face in her hair, but not before she’d seen the sheen of tears in his tawny eyes.

Her own eyes filled with tears, and she wrapped her legs around him, her body responding despite her emotions. His rocking brought her ever closer to the edge, “I’m so close, come with me, Faolan.”

He continued with the short, quick strokes, circling his hips, his breathing fast. He lifted himself on his hands to gaze into her face, she looked back, her face filled with love. Her lips parted on a sigh, and she felt her climax build from the inside, slowly, rolling over her, one gentle spasm giving away to another.

“Now,” she sighed.

The six of them were to meet in the drawing room after breakfast the next morning. Elena was uncomfortable and had again pulled her shield up tightly around herself. She stood at the window and looked out, not turning when she sensed others entering the room. When Faolan entered, he walked behind her, slipped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. His face lingered in her hair, feeling the silk caress his face.

“I’ll be on the couch should you care to sit next to me, lass,” he gave her a squeeze and went to sit.

Of all the things she knew she faced this day, facing Lilly was by far the hardest. Elena simply didn’t know how to feel. She’d loved Lilly like a mother; they shared the last normal week of Elena’s life. They’d laughed and talked. They’d dreamed of the baby. Elena had feared for Lilly’s life when they’d been tied in that chamber. She would have done anything, bargained with the devil to secure Lilly’s freedom. So much had been
lies. 

The protective barriers Elena had placed around her heart began to weaken. Elena realized Lilly’s pain had been great, too. She’d lost Elena, had lost her future grandchild. She had believed Elena no longer cared for Faolan and never wanted to see any of them again.

Elena heard a muffled sob behind her, and turned slowly, eyes seeking Lilly.

They met in the middle, hugging and crying, speaking over each other, apologizing,
each seeking forgiveness. Lilly wiped the tears from Elena’s face, “Och, Elena, shh, no more crying now. I have something to tell you and you are going to be listening to me.

“Someone did magick or an enchantment to keep us apart, just like that night we went to dinner in that damned restaurant. I am sure as I live and breathe that someone is Worthington. Nevertheless, he’s not the only someone that kept us apart. You needed me and I
wasna there for you. ‘Twill not happen again.” Lilly thrust her chin in Faolan’s direction, “He has found his own mother, he willna be needing me to take care of him, but you do. He didna listen to me anyway! I love you as much as any mother could love a daughter, and I am claiming you as mine. Anyone who tries to hurt you again will have to come through me.”

Elena was wrapped in Lilly’s loving hug and the final barriers protecting her heart fell away.
Lilly thinks of me as a daughter.
It wasn’t the people in this room, it was someone else that had done this to them, and they needed to forgive each other.

“
I love you, too, Lilly, I would be proud to have you as my mother.” Both women hugged and cried some more. Then Lilly looked fiercely over Elena’s shoulder at Faolan. “I doona’ know why I listened to that big ugly brute of a wolf!”

F
aolan’s hurt emanated from across the room, and Elena swiftly stole a glance at him.
Was he pouting? He was!
Elena laughed and Brigid, who had been watching from across the room laughed right along with her. Lilly was standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at Faolan, and Faolan had his lower lip poked out and he was pouting! Red looked like he wanted to melt into his chair, but Earnan’s eyes sparkled.

Elena grabbed Lilly’s hand from her hip and dragged her over to the couch
were Faolan sat. “In America, we have this custom, where daughters have to introduce their parents to their boyfriends. I don’t know what to call him any more—”

Faolan’s pained intake of breath interrupted Elena.

“Because, he was my husband, and then I was his widow, but now he’s not really dead...” She fought hard against the giggles that were threatening to overtake her.

“So, my wonderful new Mom,” she looked at Lilly, who practically melted on the spot, “Allow me to present to you the man I love with all my heart and with whom I promise to spend the rest of my days.”

“And nights, lass, doona’ be forgetting the nights,” Faolan added, as he jumped from his seat and swept both of the women into his arms. 

It was much easier to talk after that. Brigid had already filled Red and Lilly in on what she knew, and now it was time for Elena to finish. She told of her call to Worthington’s office and discovering he was still alive. She’d expected him to try to kill her once more as the deadline approached. She had set up the timers and shutters to make sure any shooter would have to approach the house from only one direction, she knew just where to hide.

“I planned to shoot him with buckshot and then call the police. I didn’t care what happened to me. I just wanted to make sure the farm stayed in MacGailtry hands, even if I was the last one.

“I was stunned to see you,” she nodded at Red, and turning to Faolan, “I never really did see you, I fired as soon as Liam took his shot.”

Speaking slowly now, processing the thoughts as she spoke them aloud, “It was the same as when I was shot. Everything happened at once. There wasn’t anything either Faolan or I did on purpose to hurt the other. When we work together, it seems that nothing is stronger than we are, but it’s when we allow ourselves to be separated that other forces interfere. Fate forces us back together when we’re apart, but always under near impossible circumstances. It seems each of us is always depending on the other in order to survive.”

Earnan stood suddenly and looked at Brigid, “Finally, they have gotten there!”

“Yes, but we needed to let them discover on their own.”

“I doona’ ken what you are talking about. Explain.” Faolan looked irritated at
older man’s interruption.

Earnan answered, “Aye, lad, I will explain, and ask a few questions along the way. Elena, lass, you are positive it was Worthington and Liam?
In the ceremony? And Liam who tried to shoot you?”

“Positive.”

“Did the darkness, as you called it, kill anyone? Or does the whole sect remain intact?”

“There were many who died. It crushed Symington. I could hear others screaming, but it left Worthington alone. He seemed to…swell? He was taking back the sect that night. Don’t ask me how I know, I either heard it or just know it.” She gave a gasp, “Liam is Worthington’s son. I don’t know how I know that either, but I am certain.”

Earnan nodded, “That makes a fair amount of sense, else he would not have trusted him. Do you know the names of any other survivors, is that Gabhran one of them?”

Elena replied slowly, feeling a terrible sense of foreboding as she answered. “I don’t know. I want to tell you no. There is something about him…I can’t put my finger on it….”

“You willna be putting your finger or anything else on that man,” Faolan growled.

She gave him a small strained smile. “I’m serious, I told you of the sense of duality I felt in him, but there was much more. When I met him in his office he felt…I don’t know, lost? Like he needed answers and had hopes of getting them soon. I saw him at dinner that night, he was sitting with Liam, and I was worried for him.

“He was at the ceremony, but apart, not yet theirs. Worthington wanted him, and wanted Gabhran to see what a powerful master of the Etarlam he was going to be, it was part of the seduction. Part of all of the show was to impress Gabhran. But, Gabhran helped us, he saved our lives that night, of that I am certain.

“There is dark in him now that wasn't there before. He got us out, but when he started to put us in his car, the dark was calling for him to complete the sacrifices, and I don’t know if he would or could have resisted. I can’t help but feel he is important and we need to find him.”

“All right, lass, we will need to consider that. Now a last question and then some answers,” he smiled at Elena gently. “Tell me about your shield. How does it feel to you, how have you used it?”

“My shield? I don’t know. I can make people see things sometimes, things that aren’t really there. I used it to keep people from knowing I was hiding nearby, hiding my thoughts. I haven’t needed it these last months, except maybe to protect me from my own thoughts,” she laughed.

Earnan did not laugh with her. “You shielded your heart from the pain. Elena, I think we may have only been half right when we told you there was Druid about you.”

“Nay!” Faolan shouted and jumped to his feet.

“Aye, lad, now sit.” Brigid and Earnan exchanged looks, before Brigid picked up the explanation.

“Elena dear, we believe your heritage is both Druid and Fae, you are a changeling. There were a very few of the most powerful Druids who became consorts of members of the Fae Royal Court. It was believed they could mate and successfully produce an offspring, but these changelings never actually appeared. I believe you are proof that it must have been successful at least once, thousands of years ago. The power must have been deep within you, and how or why it came to the surface is something we may never know.” She waited, but Elena said nothing, just pulled her shield tight again.

“When I first met you I sensed the light, but I thought ‘twas the light of the Druid Sisterhood, and aye, that is present. I have seen evidence of a much stronger light since you returned. A light powerful enough to bring Faolan back from the void. ‘Tis not just your light but your shield that has changed.

“When you have yourself surrounded by your shield, like now, ‘tis impossible for any of us to penetrate. You have the most powerful shield I have ever encountered. Yesterday, you let us in by degrees, and you were able to sense our emotions. When your grief overwhelmed you, your shield fell, and you very nearly made Faolan pass out with the power of your emotions. Although he bade us go, I suspect it got stronger after we left. I could feel the energy throughout the castle.

“Tell me, lass, do you sense the truth of what I am saying? That you are both Druid and Fae?”

“Yes,” Elena whispered, and then she was hit by a wave of overwhelming sadness coming from Faolan. “Is this really important? What do we do now?” Elena asked, reaching for Faolan’s hand offering comfort.

“Aye, lass, ‘tis important. We have told you about the prophecy, the one that foretold of a time when Druids would again be needed on this earth. That is why Faolan’s family has been protected, why others have been in hiding. Obviously, Worthington also knows of such a prophecy.”

Elena gasped with the memory, “He called it the Epoch of
Druidry, and said it started with this Beltane!”

They all exchanged looks before Brigid continued. “I have seen a vision, though ‘tis not complete. It continues to visit me in stages, in parts, as though even now events are changing things.” Her eyes grew distant and her voice took on a dreamy quality, “It has been revealed that man as dark Druid will shift the balance of power on Earth and mankind will suffer greatly. A child who was lost
twiceover, of nature and light, joins one who was hidden, a child of the night.

“Others are lost, some will be found, which path to follow? Light can exist in
darkness, darkness can never exist in the light. The past revealed. The journey for darkness and light, from Beltane to Beltane has begun, they are called for great purpose.” She finished on a sigh.

****

They all stood at the little dock where Faolan and Elena’s boat was tied. Brigid and Lilly had spent the day making the boat ready for an extended journey.

Faolan seemed to be struggling with something, and wasn’t yet willing to tell Elena what was bothering him. She felt him give himself a sort of mental shake before he walked over to where she was speaking quietly with Lilly.

“Lilly, I doona’ know what to say. You were right and I should have listened to you.”

“Aye, you should have,” she answered a bit Faolan said, sharply. Then she softened, and hugged him.

Faolan said, “You knew ‘twas all a lie, but Elena and I were both unable to see the truth. It must have been done with magick. I wonder if the doctor at the hospital was a willing participant?”

“Aye, Faolan, I believe she is a member of Worthington’s order,” Earnan spoke up. “She disappeared after Elena was discharged, and no one remembers where she came from or how long she worked at that hospital.”

“And you are fair certain Elena and I should leave today? We have not even begun Elena’s training yet.”

“Will you quit worrying about that,” Brigid asked, clearly frustrated with him. “The wards have been cast upon your boat, none can find you by tracking it. There are books that you both must read onboard. You know which spells she needs to learn first, and you will be a fine teacher. She must explore certain parts of her shield alone. The prophecy is still unclear, but the part that was clear
is you and Elena belong together; you will be instrumental in whatever battles we face.