Redeeming Vows (30 page)

His eyes narrowed. “What have you heard?”

“I’ve heard nothing. I’m a seer, Cian. ’Tis why Grainna kept me alive.”

“Why do you tell me this now?”

“Because I can.” And she might not be able later.

She kept that to herself.

“I need to find my father.”

Tatiana nodded. “Go.”
Don’t look back.

Before he turned to walk away, he helped her to her feet, kept his hand on her arm, and squeezed.

“We will protect you.”

“I never lied about my feelings toward ye, Cian.

Never.”

He smiled, dropped his lips to hers for the sweetest kiss he’d ever granted her, and then turned to walk away.

As he left, she pressed her fingers to her lips 262

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and let the tears flow. ****

As promised, the sky filled with clouds—thanks to Ian—with just enough light passing through to highlight whatever they desired. Myra and Todd stood beside her, Amber, Simon and Cian near the camp. Tara held court next to Lora and Ian in the center of the masses, while Duncan and Fin watched for her signals on the east bank.

The stage was set, and the film was ready to roll. Too bad she hadn’t been part of the Hollywood scene while she’d had the chance.

“Ready?”

“No, but what choice do I have? This was my idea.”

“A damn good idea, all things considered,” Todd said. Myra agreed with her husband with a nod. “You really can fly?”

Could she? Oh man, what if she couldn’t?

Instinct kicked in, giving her body a few inches off the ground. Myra gasped and Todd whispered some obscenity.

“Hover. I hover.”

“Okay, hover-girl, you ready?” Todd brought a smile to her face.
No!
She was jitters from head to toe and suddenly petrified to think her plan would work.

“Stop that!” Myra scolded, obviously reading her expression all too well. “Solid plan! Todd told me that in your time, you’d have made a damn…” She sighed and upped her volume. “Damn good detective.

You have the ability to lead people, Lizzy. Just look how you’ve taken control of all our powers, Druidry, spells… you make sense. This plan will work. I know it!” Liz planted her feet on the ground and pulled Myra into a hug. “Thanks. You’re a horrible liar, but 263

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thanks.”

Todd tilted his head to the side. “Lying isn’t her strong point. But she is right about your ability to lead and take control. Speak like a god and the people will listen. Then with any luck, and maybe a little magic, you guys can help the people forget once this is all over.”

Todd was right. The plan was good. Her plan was solid, and the only one they had.

Simon, you ready?

His voice came back.
Ready!
Liz knew that her son signaled Tara who spoke with Duncan.
Wait for
Ian to start.

Okay.
Even in her head, Simon’s voice didn’t waver.

“We’re ready,” she told Myra and Todd.

They held their breath, waiting.

One deep breath followed another, until the western sky lit up with lightning and the earth rumbled with the force of Ian’s thunder.

Liz willed her body off the ground one foot, two.

Myra grasped onto Todd and Fin’s wrath shook the earth and people in the distance started to scream.

“Show’s on.”

Liz willed her body up, past the tree line, and beyond any possible hiding place.

Damn, how did Simon do this? She no sooner thought the words than Simon’s voice rang in her head.
Don’t look down and smile. It’s hard to be
scared when you’re trying to smile.

Liz spread her hands wide, in part because she thought it helped her balance, the other part because she wanted to appear like an angel and not a scared shitless wannabe.

She hovered, swam over the crowd below. Some dropped to their knees while others stared on. Myra and Todd slipped from the trees below and watched, like the other spectators only they focused on the 264

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people, the warriors who may feel threatened and want to strike.

Simon, signal Ian.
Lizzy instructed her son as she lifted her hands to the sky. Lightning split and thunder roared.

“I come to you, ye from heaven above.”

Several villagers made the sign of the cross and fell to their knees.

Fin’s turn, Simon.

“Down here to rid ye of the evil that befell.” Liz flexed her fingers and lowered her hovering frame a few feet.

Fin shook the earth.

She sprang up and swirled to make sure the others in the crowd listened. “A witch resides in the West. Her powers great. She has ripped yer families apart. She is the reason ye grieve. Together. ’Tis the only way to survive her wrath.”

At the sight of the woman in white, Tatiana regarded her frame, considered her vision, and her knowledge. She was no angel. But those around her fell to their knees, their heads bowed, eyes refused to meet those of the hovering mass.

The clouded sky and sun sprinkling through the clouds gave Cian’s family the power they needed.

Alice, the maid, whispered to herself. “What can we do for ye?”

It would take an army to defeat Grainna. The swarms of people would overwhelm Grainna’s chosen four to one. The thoughts stilled, and Tatiana’s head started to ache.

“Nay.” She grasped her head in her hands.

“Leave me.” But Grainna swam in her subconscious, her insides turned cold.

Tatiana closed her eyes, refusing to allow Grainna to see through them. They opened, not by her will, but by the witch’s. Forcing her hands to her eyes, she shielded her sight, turned and ran from the 265

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people and the woman posing as an angel.

Did you think I’d let you go so easily?

Pain ripped through her skull. “Nay, I knew ye would not let me be free, ever.”

Turn so I can see.

Nay, she wouldn’t witness anymore to grant Grainna knowledge or power. But her head split and swiveled on its own accord, or Grainna’s will.

Tatiana’s eyes opened, blinked.

Grainna screamed inside her head.

“Stop.” The word was not Tatiana’s, but the witch’s. As it rent from her lips, a few eyes turned to her. “’Tis a miracle, lass. Listen to the angel.” A woman she didn’t know attempted to console her.

She couldn’t know that Grainna battled to see through her eyes.

Tatiana found her feet, turned from the crowd and ran. She stumbled over the cooking fire, her eyes landing on a butcher’s knife. She grasped the hilt, stood and ran again.

Her breath erupted in short gasps. Pain split her sides. The people were well behind her when she reached the edge of the cliff.

Grainna forced her body to spin in a circle.

When her eyes opened, she could not see through them. Tatiana knew someone else was in control.

“Nay,” she yelled, pivoting toward the sea cliffs.

She would not betray Cian. Not again. There would be blood, pain, peace, and then nothing.

There would not be betrayal.

She moved her foot closer to the edge and jumped.

No.
Grainna’s voice bellowed. Tatiana felt her body lifted from the air and thrust back to the grassland.

There was pain, but she ignored it, stood, and tried again.

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This time, when Grainna pulled her back, Tatiana, with the blade she’d picked by the fire tilted toward her heart, landed.

Then the angel came. The true angel. Gold, brilliant, and gliding on the wind. “Shhh, my child.”

Her voice was that of thousands. Musical, magical.

Peaceful.

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It worked. His mom’s plan worked. She’d told the people to band together, listen to the lords, and defeat the witch together. The angel, his mom, would grant the people powers to defeat the witch.

The real angel, or in their case, the Ancient, Elise had told them months ago it would take all of them to defeat Grainna. Simon couldn’t help but think they stood half a chance. Maybe more.

As the crowd settled, and Simon heard his mom’s internal words as she changed clothes in the woods, he followed Cian and Amber back to their tent. They stopped by the cook’s fire to find Tatiana gone.

“Where did the girl go?”

Alice shrugged and pointed to the west.

Simon caught Cian’s eye. The three of them ran in the direction of Alice’s pointing finger.

“She wouldn’t leave,” Amber yelled as they ran.

Simon wanted to agree, but couldn’t be sure.

As they drew closer to the cliffs, the small frail body of someone lying on the ground started to come into focus.

There were skirts, and lots and lots of blood.

Amber halted first, trembling.

Simon froze in place along with Cian. When Cian sprang forward, Simon attempted to hold him back.

“Tatiana? Nay.”

The mournful cry Cian let free from his lungs ripped Simon’s heart from his chest.

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He called his mom in his head, wished they’d hurry. Not that they could do anything for the silent, still girl in Cian’s arms.

The three of them sat there, Simon holding Amber while she whimpered, and Cian rocking Tatiana’s dead body, when the others arrived.

Cian had tried to use his power to save her, but the gift didn’t raise the dead.

Ian reached his son’s side. “There is nothing ye can do, lad.”

“Why?”

“She suffered at the hands of Grainna. Her heart would not allow herself to betray you again.

She said as much to all of us,” Lora told her son.

Simon felt his mom’s arms pull him closer. She still had shadows of makeup on, but the majority had been wiped clean. Eyeliner ran in streaks of black down her cheeks from the tears she’d shed.

Todd and Fin left, returning with tools to bury Tatiana’s remains. Cian held her until Lora pulled him away. Myra and Tara wrapped her in a large cloth. The entire event took less than an hour.

Few spectators watched, all from well beyond hearing range. Simon had watched Todd, Fin, and Ian bury the knight struck down the previous day in the same manner. No official cemetery or box needed. According to Fin, during times of war, onsite burials were common.

Ian prayed over the grave and then led them all away.

Simon glanced from one family member to another and prayed they would all still be together when Grainna was defeated.

****

She didn’t see the chit killing herself to save her boyfriend. What was wrong with people in love? It 269

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made her sick.

Wiping a hand over her wounded arm, Grainna flexed her fingers. She refused to acknowledge the pain. In turn, she didn’t find the affliction to be a weakness. There would be no shifting into a bird again. Not if she could avoid it.

She could, however, call other animals to act as her army.

It was time to finish this war. Time to make the MacCoinnichs bleed. “Come, my little friends.”

Grainna closed her eyes and called out in her mind.

“Time for dinner.”

****

“What do ye make of it?” Lancaster asked Ian.

“’Tis hard to ignore. The things the s-spirit said cannot be ignored. We are all missing men, are we not?”

A series of
ayes
erupted.

“Another from our camp last night. Mallick’s older son was found this morning with his hand severed from his arm, and a knife through his heart.

If our enemy comes from the western cliffs, ’tis time we find them and bring an end to this chaos.”

Todd leaned over and whispered in Fin’s ear.

“No one has mentioned magic.”

“The first one who does will be scorned, but the second one will be considered. Not until the heads of family nod their approval will anyone consider banding together against something so untouchable.”

“The spirit—”

“Angel. She appeared as an angel,” another man interrupted.

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Fin lowered his head and smiled. She was beautiful. Earlier, when Lizzy returned to camp, giddy and swirling in circles with the success of their ruse, Fin told himself that he’d slept with an angel.

With her, he’d found heaven.

“Aye, an angel. The angel said she’d gift some of us with the power to defeat the evil.”

As predicted, some men huffed, ready to dismiss the notion.

“My own daughter woke not remembering her engagement,” Lancaster told them. “She is not mad.”

“The same day caused some madness over everyone here.”

Voices all began speaking at once. All telling stories of what they’d seen, felt.

Fin turned his attention to Logan to see where the man stood. “Elizabeth and I found ourselves miles from here.”

Logan smiled. “Are ye sure ye weren’t just hiding to be with her?”

“If I need to be alone with her, I will take her away and tell my family.”

“I wondered where ye disappeared to. Yer father said little.”

“He didn’t know where we were.”

Logan glanced to the others and lowered his voice, not that he needed to many people all spoke at once. “Do ye think it was magic?”

Fin shrugged. “What else could it be?”

Ian lifted his voice above the others. “Quiet…

quiet. There are many unexplained things. Nearly everyone here knows of one death or disappearance.

Even before we journeyed here, we knew something was amiss in the Highlands. Brisbane, ye said yer men have fled in numbers too difficult to ignore.

How many total?”

“Five knights from these walls. Three others were expected home last fall and never returned.

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Others are missing as well.”

From Brisbane’s village, over thirty people were unaccounted for. Lancaster spoke of a dozen missing men, women, and children.