Highlander's Seduction (The Matheson Brothers Book 3) (13 page)

“I agree.” Fire flared to life on Arabel’s fingertips, her tone impassioned. “My apologies, but any talk of Colin MacKenzie always sets my anger to rising and fire to flaring. He cannae be allowed to harm anymore of our kin.”

“I detest the man too, my dear, and you’ve no need to apologize.” Nessa shuffled her chair closer to Arabel’s and squeezed her granddaughter’s shoulder.

“Then I shall leave immediately and ensure he cannae harm another soul.” Cherub stood and glanced at Arabel and Isla. “When I am as one with the air, I can slip in and out of the smallest of spaces. I shall return once I know exactly what is going on.”

“You must take care,” Isla murmured as she rose to her feet.

“I shall.” She melted into a mist and flowed out the open window. “
Kirk?
”

“
I’m here. Is something wrong?
”

“
Nay, I just needed to hear your voice.
” Over the treetops, she soared then swept high into the sky, each breath she took coming harder and faster the farther she moved away from her mate. Pain lanced through her chest, so strongly and so swiftly she was forced to slow her ascent. The castle far below was a mere pinprick of gray amongst the jewel blues of the loch and the lush greens of the forest.

Confusion swirled through her mate’s mind and raced along their link. “
I can sense distance between us. Where are you?
”

She rose through a layer of puffy white cloud, the air stirring and swirling all about. “
There are certain matters I must attend to.
”

“
We spoke about this. Where you go, is where I go.”

“
You’re busy with your brothers right now and I didnae wish to take you away from them.
” She was also used to being alone. “
You must give me some time to accept all these new changes. I have acted alone for so long.
”

Swiftly, she sped across the loch and along the land toward the northeast. Being as one with her element allowed her far faster movement, and right now, there could be no more delay.

“
Soul bound mates should never be separated. We’re a pair, best together and never apart. I’m here to aid you.
”

“
You’re right, although I’m almost where I need to be.
” She soared down through the sudden stillness in the air and skimmed the gray mist sitting low over the water, the fortified walls of the MacKenzie’s keep shrouded within them. “
How are your brothers this morn?
”

“
On edge now since I am. Tell me exactly where you are.
”

“
The MacKenzie wants a time-walker, and I need to know why. Until he is halted, Amelia and all those within the village remain in danger. That I cannae allow.
” She breezed over the foggy curtain wall and into the bailey. Below, men trained in battle leathers, dust pluming at their feet and mingling with the hazy air, their claymores clashing and each strike ringing loud in her ears. Slowly, she circled the tower house then slipped inside the front door of the keep as a lad in breeches with suspender straps looped over his shoulders swept dirt from the doorway, outside.

“
You’re headed to the MacKenzie’s lair?
”

“
Nay, I am already here.
” She sent a surge of warmth and love down their link, then whizzed through the hall holding three maids busily cleaning trestle tables before slipping underneath the chief’s solar door and inside his inner sanctum. She’d visited this castle a number of times over the centuries, for one reason or another and as such knew her way about well enough. She breezed around the room holding an oak desk, a tall polished chest with a dozen or more drawers, and an armoire containing the chief’s armor inside. At the narrow stained glass window overlooking the inner courtyard, she halted and drew her form back together. Cloaked and assured none beyond the window would be able to see her, she gripped the windowsill. Outside, fog swirled and the MacKenzie chief in his belted plaid appeared at the base of the stone stairs leading up to the barbican. He was unmistakable with his formidable size and grizzly features, his biceps bulging and legs almost as thick as tree trunks. “
I see Colin MacKenzie. Thankfully he’s here and no’ attempting to harm one of our own right now.
”

“
I’m on my way with my brothers. Stay hidden, Cherub. Don’t let a soul see you.
”

“
There is no need for you to set sail to these shores. I willnae be here long.
” She stepped across to the chief’s desk where a quill and ink bottle sat between a pile of the seneschal’s accounts and three rolls of parchment tied with red ribbon. Carefully, she unraveled the first roll and opened it. “
I’ll do a quick search and see what I can discover. He intends to take control of Matheson land and I need to know how and why a time-walker is important to ensuring his ultimate plan is made successful.
”

“
Iain, Finlay and I are at the sea-gate.
”

“
You dinnae need to come.
”

“
You are mine to protect, and I’ll do exactly that.
”

“
What you are, is impossible.
” Now she was on a time limit. There was no way she’d allow her mate anywhere near the MacKenzie’s heavily guarded keep. She scanned the first parchment holding dozens of names, all scrolling downward from two. Oh my. Her mother and father’s names sat at the top of what was clearly a family tree. Each of their children’s names written along with their offspring and so forth down the scroll.

“
What’s wrong, Cherub? I can sense the confusion in your mind.
”

“
Colin MacKenzie holds my genealogy. I’m no’ sure how he would have gotten this being that my kin reside beyond the veil.
” She continued to scan the names and tapped Samuel’s name. Samuel, her youngest brother, had been the one to visit the village over two-hundred years ago. He’d fallen in love with the chief’s daughter and wed her. There he’d lived, his line of descendants remaining strong at the village. She unraveled the other two rolls and frowned. Jeremiah and Amelia’s ancestries were recorded on those. “
Kirk, there is more at play here than just the MacKenzie’s desire to have a time-walker and to take Gilleoin’s land. He has no’ only researched my family line, but also Amelia and Jeremiah’s. I’m missing something, although I dinnae know yet what.
”

“
Colin MacKenzie covets what he can’t have. Consider that as you search for your answer.
”

“
Aye, that he does.
” She returned to her own genealogy and straightened the bottom crinkly edge. In slanted script two words bloomed. Eternal life. “
Oh my,
I’ve found the answer. The Chief of MacKenzie desires a time-walker in order to be as I am. He wishes for eternal life.
”

A low growl rumbled from him. “
He’s not going to get it.
”

“
Aye, ’tis impossible. Only you and those children born to us can hold eternal life.
” She scrunched the parchment to her chest. “
He chases a dream that can never be.
”

The door swung open and Colin MacKenzie barreled in, his gaze narrowing on the floating parchment. He slammed the door, seized the tartan blanket tossed over one of the armchairs and bunched it under the doorway. Rising to his towering height, he muttered, “Well, well, well. Who do we have here?”

Heart thumping, she dropped the parchment and it toppled to his desk and rolled off the side. Damn it. She’d never been caught unawares like this before.

The MacKenzie heaved his heavy armoire in front of the door and fully blocked her exit out. “My spies have informed me that Amelia and her kin are under heavy guard at Matheson House, so that must mean the unseen visitor in my solar must be the faerie king’s daughter herself, the one they call Cherub, the one my men saw appear out of thin air as they fought the ‘power of three’ at the inn.”

She swished to the window, scrambled to find an opening but the decorative stained glass was firmly fixed in place. She spun about. There wasn’t even a fireplace that she could use to breeze up the flue. Never had she been trapped in such a way. Teeth gritted, she faced her adversary. “No one can capture or contain a time-walker, no’ even you.”

“Yet it appears as if you’re now contained.” Prowling the solar, he waved his hands through the air in search of her. “During the last Twelfth Night and Yule celebrations, I met a bard who had spent a great deal of time at the fae village. He recited an interesting tale of the time-walkers to me, then he aided me in compiling what he’d learnt from the villagers themselves.”

“Your records are inaccurate.”

“I dinnae believe so.” He rubbed his callused hands together. “Amelia is of an endless age and so too is her mate, a man who is naught but a fisherman, a man she fell in love with ten years ago then spelled to her.”

“
Cherub?
”

“
I’m here, and I’m—”

MacKenzie lunged and she dissolved her cloaked form, swept up and floated along the low ceiling.

“—
fine. Just peachy-fine, my bear. How’s your journey across the loch faring?
”

“
We’ve just hit the mist shrouding the MacKenzie’s lair.
”

“You cannae escape me now, princess.” The chief shoved the tall polished chest in front of the decorative window and blocked the meager light filtering in from it. A shuffle and scrape sounded in the near dark then a candle flickered to life on the corner of his desk. He tucked his dirk and flint away then swept the candle around the solar as he scoured the room for her.

“
Cherub, why can I sense fear ricocheting down our link from you?
”

“
’Tis good to know the mist remains thick. Dinnae let any of the guards see you scale the curtain wall. That is the only way in since this castle is built on a rock a hundred feet from the shore. There are most certainly men positioned on the battlements on the northern side. Please take care as you wander around and about.
”

“
You’re actually encouraging me to storm the castle?
” His confusion swarmed through her then his worry roared to life. “
What the hell is going on? Tell me you’re all right.
”

“
I’m sorry, but I’m in a spot of trouble.
”

“
I’m coming. Hold tight.
”

* * * *

Cherub’s words reverberated through Kirk’s mind and made his heart lose one very necessary beat. Through the cloying mist, he eyed his brothers. “Cherub’s in trouble.”

“What’s happened?” Iain lowered the skiff’s limp sail, the steady wind that had brought them across the channel having died away as they’d neared the calmer waters surrounding the MacKenzie’s keep.

“MacKenzie is after eternal life, except Cherub can only bind her mate’s soul to hers and that of any children she conceives.” He nabbed the oars, sat on the center bench seat and rowed. Finlay grabbed a second set of oars and rowed from the seat behind him.

“Hell, he’s a nasty piece of work.” Iain spat the words out as he gripped the rudder and searched through the gray haze to keep them on course. The curtain wall appeared out of the soupy gloom, just twenty feet ahead.

“She said there are guards on the northern side.” Kirk stowed his oars and as the hull scraped the ground underneath the water, he bounded out onto the sliver of stony land encircling the keep. With his hands fisted on his hips, he took in the massive stone wall that rose into the fog high above.

Iain secured their skiff to a boulder and patted the wall. “It’s slick with moisture but there appear to be plenty of hand and foot holds. We’ll be able to scale this.”

“Who’s going first?” Finlay tucked his loose blue shirttail into his black pants, his ever-present sword at his side as he moved in next to them.

“Not Iain, not when he goes regimental in a kilt.” Kirk grasped the wall and swung up, his booted feet wedged in the footholds. Getting to Cherub as quickly as possible, drove him forward.

“Hey, Isla never complains about me going regimental.” Iain gripped the grooves and climbed up in his wake.

“Flipping, flapping kilt.” Finlay groaned and clambered up after them. “I should have moved faster. The mist is not thick enough to cover your unmentionables, Iain, which are just about right in my face.”

Iain chuckled. “You’re just jealous.”

“You wish,” Finlay shot back at him. “By chance did you tell Isla what you’re up to right now? Because I bet those unmentionables of yours won’t get some use for some time if you didn’t.”

“Ha. If I told her where I was or what I’m doing, she’d be out the door, on a skiff and over here in less than a second. There is no halting a compeller from joining a battle when it looms.” Iain grunted as he climbed. “What she doesn’t know, can’t hurt her. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping.”