Into the Dreaming

IF YOU’VE PICKED UP THIS BOOK THAT MEANS YOU’RE ONE OF
four things: a fan of my Highlander series, a fan of my Fever books, neither, or both.

If you’re one of my Highlander fans, this book is for you. Written between
Kiss of the Highlander
and
The Dark Highlander, Into the Dreaming
is pure romance, with the first, faint strains of a darker music: a glimpse into the world of the icy, inhuman Seelie and Unseelie courts that I eventually developed into my Fever series.

If you’re a Fever fan and haven’t read my Highlander books, this is where it all began, when I first knew there was another, much darker story waiting to be told. Many of you have written to ask me how the Faery World in
Into the Dreaming
fits chronologically into the Fever series and the answer is: not at all. What happens in
Into the Dreaming
didn’t happen in the Fever world. It’s completely separate,
although obviously the outline of the Fae characters/court and the themes are the same. Think of this novella as the seeds of an idea I couldn’t write yet, so I made sketchy notes then went back to my day job, writing romance novels until the time was right. Or rather until I woke up one morning from a long and very detailed dream to find the story as unavoidable as a ten-car pileup in heavy fog on a one-lane road in a dark tunnel.

If you’re a fan of both series, good to see you again! There are extras from both worlds included in this compilation. You’ll find a book proposal for an unwritten story,
Ghost of a Chance
, deleted scenes from
Kiss of the Highlander
, and a good chunk of
The Dark Highlander Lite
, the version that didn’t get published, plus a bit about what was going on in my world at the time.

You’ll also find a sneak peek at my new graphic novel
Fever Moon: The Fear Dorcha
, a 150-plus-page, full-color hardcover, which features Mac & Barrons in an all-new original adventure that takes place during
Shadowfever
. For those of you who are new to my Fever series, we’ve included a preview of those books as well.

If you’ve never read either series and picked up this book solely on the cover and blurb, welcome! This collection will give you a look at the worlds I write about, and is a great way to dip your toe in and see if you like the water.

Special thanks to Random House for getting
Into the Dreaming
back out there in a wonderful package. It had gone out of print and many readers either couldn’t find it or told me they’d paid ridiculous amounts for a dog-eared paperback copy.

A tongue-in-cheek, sexy romp,
Into the Dreaming
was inspired by my sisters: Laura with her fabulous cooking, and Elizabeth with her infamous Silly Jane jokes. Jane Sillee (could I be more obvious?) thinks if you toss stellar sex into that mix, you’ve got all you need for a wonderful life. I’m inclined to agree.

Drop by my Facebook page or website message board after you’ve finished. I love to hear from readers!

Stay to the lights,

Karen

I
T WAS A LAND OF SHADOWS AND ICE
.

Of gray. And grayer. And black.

Deep in the shadows lurked inhuman creatures, twisted of limb and hideous of countenance. Things one did well to avoid seeing.

Should the creatures enter the pale bars of what passed for light in the terrible place, they would die, painfully and slowly. As would he—the mortal Highlander imprisoned within columns of sickly light—should he succeed in breaking the chains that held him and seek escape through those terrifying shadows.

Jagged cliffs of ice towered above him. A frigid wind shrieked through dark labyrinthine canyons, bearing a susurrus of desolate voices and faint, hellish screams. No sun, no fair breeze of Scotland, no scent of heather penetrated his frozen, bleak hell.

He hated it. His very soul cringed at the horror of the place.

He ached for the warmth of the sun on his face and hungered for the sweet crush of grass beneath his boots. He would have given years of his life for the surety of his stallion between his thighs and the solid weight of his claymore in his grip.

He dreamed—when he managed to escape the agony of his surroundings by retreating deep into his mind—of the blaze of a peat fire, scattered with sheaves of heather. Of a woman’s warm, loving caresses. Of buttery, golden-crusted bread hot from the hearth. Simple things. Impossible things.

For the son of a Highland chieftain, who’d passed a score and ten in resplendent mountains and vales, five years was an intolerable sentence; an incarceration that would be withstood only by force of will, by careful nurturing of the light of hope within his heart.

But he was a strong man, with the royal blood of Scottish kings running hot and true in his veins. He would survive. He would return and reclaim his rightful place, woo and win a bonny lass with a tender heart and a tempestuous spirit like his mother, and fill the halls of Dun Haakon with the music of wee ones.

With such dreams, he withstood five years in the hellish wasteland.

Only to discover the dark king had deceived him.

His sentence had never been five years at all, but five
faery
years: five hundred years in the land of shadow and ice.

On that day when his heart turned to ice within his breast, on that day when a single tear froze upon his cheek, on that
day when he was denied even the simple solace of dreaming, he came to find his prison a place of beauty.

“My queen, the Unseelie king holds a mortal captive.”

The Seelie queen’s face remained impassive, lest her court see how deeply disturbing she found the messenger’s news. Long had the Seelie Court of Light and the Unseelie Court of Dark battled. Long had the Unseelie king provoked her. “Who is this mortal?” she asked coolly.

“Aedan MacKinnon, son and heir of the Norse princess Saucy Mary and Findanus MacKinnon, from Dun Haakon on the Isle of Skye.”

“Descendent of the Scottish king, Kenneth McAlpin,” the queen mused aloud. “The Unseelie king grows greedy, his aim lofty, if he seeks to turn the seed of the McAlpin to his dark ways. What bargain did he strike with this mortal?”

“He sent his current Hand of Vengeance into the world to bring death to the mortal’s clansmen yet bartered that if the mortal willingly consented to spend five years in his kingdom, he would spare his kin.”

“And the MacKinnon agreed?”

“The king concealed from him that five years in Faery is five centuries. Still, as grandseed of the McAlpin, I suspect the MacKinnon would have accepted the full term to protect his clan.”