Stone Heart (24 page)

"Angus, there isn't anything you can't come to me and speak of. Whatever it is, we're all here to help you."

He took a deep breath and tried again. "After our meal tonight, Karen wanted to know if ... She wants to know if she can pick a spot in our sacred woods to be buried. She says she would like to spend eternity among all the magic creatures. I told her I would ask you for your permission."

Shayla let out a breath and shook her head. "
Herne's
teeth!
I wish some of our people had her courage. As ill as she is, that child has more backbone than any four Ogres I've ever met. Tell her that she may pick anyplace she chooses."

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He dropped his head. The subject was so painful he could not guarantee keeping any degree of composure. "I will tell her she may choose anywhere except the Goblin's sacred ground."

"I said
anyplace! That
is my command. If the Goblins don't like it, Tearach can take it up with me."

"Thank you, Shayla. I wish ... I would give my life for hers, if I could. I was once told 'twould serve me right if someone hurt and defiled me. I can think ... I can think of nothing worse than losing Karen."

She heard the break in his voice and wrapped her arms around him. Nurturing instincts took over. The man had suffered too much pain for one day and one lifetime. Though his own actions had brought him to this point, he was suffering three times what he had dealt others. Traditions of the Order led them to believe this is what happens when you harm others. Especially when there was no cause for that harm. Added to his pain was the fact that Karen had reminded Angus her end was nearing.

"There, there, my lad. Time has a way of altering a great deal of pain into good memories. If she can be brave, then don't make it harder for her."

For the second time in the same day, he was comforted by another. His resolve to keep some dignity fled and he let Shayla hold him. It seemed that his first thirty or more years of life had been spent in the pursuit of making others weep.

Now he was the one doing so.

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by Candace Sams

Chapter Ten

Angus mumbled a curse. Karen wouldn't allow him to be near her and it angered him. No matter how he argued or how many excuses he made to stay near the castle, she insisted that he go to the clearing and work with the other men and women. To make her point, she had closed the doors to the library and ordered him to stay out until they were opened in the afternoon. For several more days, that pattern repeated itself. He was able to share evening meals with her, but she refused to go to the clearing. Angus suspected she didn't want another encounter with the Goblins. And, except for an occasional dirty look, Tearach's men avoided him.

"Damn it all, man! Do you want to lose an arm?" Gryphon groused as he pulled his blow to the left. He lowered his sword and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Sorry," Angus apologized. Then he gazed back toward the castle everyone referred to as
the estate
.

"Look, if you want to be with her, then go."

"She won't let me."

Gryphon snorted. "I'm guessing she's roughly one-third your weight. What did she do, throw you out?"

Angus ignored him and stared at the path which lead out of the clearing.

Gryphon saw Angus's worried expression and decided they'd both had enough practice for one day. "Let's walk." He took their swords and laid them upon a nearby table. Then he 213

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grabbed Angus's arm and deliberately pulled him away from the clearing.

They walked for the better part of an hour and neither of them said a word. Gryphon led, and Angus followed. Leaving the proximity of the estate, Angus' thoughts began to clear. "I am sorry to be such poor company. My thoughts have been elsewhere."

"Were I you, I don't know that I'd be much better company. Maybe even worse. But there are a couple of things you'd better know. Now is as good a time as any to tell you."

The seriousness of the man's voice captured Angus'

attention. "Speak on, O'Connor."

"You know my mate, Heather, has been working with Karen."

Angus nodded then took a seat upon a nearby log.

Gryphon straddled the opposite end.

"Heather came home last night crying like a baby. She had to help Karen pick a burial place yesterday."

Angus gasped. "I ... I would have thought she would have

... have done that with
me.
"

"Then, the task comes as no surprise to you?"

"It does no'. Karen has spoken with me about it. But the thought sickens me and I will speak of it no further."

"Perhaps that's why she wanted Heather to help her.

Maybe she senses your pain and reluctance about the matter."

"If it were
your
mate who was dying, how would you feel?

The woman with whom you have handfasted is lovely. How would you feel knowing, in a short time, you would be 214

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lowering her into the ground? Knowing you would never hear her voice or hold her or..." He stopped as his voice quivered.

"For a man who doesn't feel like talking, you're very eloquent. And I can't imagine losing my Heather. She's my next breath and I love her with all my heart. Are you saying you feel the same way toward Karen?"

Angus stood and walked several paces. Was it possible that, somewhere in their short time together, his loyalty and unwavering gratitude toward Karen had turned to something else? Or was he misinterpreting the situation because of the sorrow he felt over her illness?

Gryphon waited for the impact of the question to sink in.

"I'm only trying to help you, man. I know what it's like to be alone. Before I met Heather, the world was a prison for me.

I've come to the conclusion that any love we can find is to be thoroughly embraced. And ... I brought you here because this is where Karen wants to be buried. Heather asked me to show this place to you so you would know."

Angus shook his head. His thoughts were still jumbled over his feelings for Karen. "What? What are speaking of?"

"
Karen
. This is where she wants to be buried." Gryphon lifted his hand and gestured toward a nearby glade.

Angus swallowed hard. In that moment, he'd have given the arm Gryphon's sword had almost lobbed off
not
to go into the little clearing. But something drew him there like a magnet draws metal. One slow step followed another until he stood within a small, fern-bordered circle of grass. Trillium and violets bloomed within the ferns. A moss-covered branch arched overhead and the tiniest spring-fed pool gently 215

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bubbled beneath it. Pixies and Sprites would play there at night. And there was a white granite boulder near the pool. It was almost as if Karen were considering the seating arrangements of someone who might want to come visit.

There was just enough open ground near the pool to dig a hole. Angus had never known illness in his life until now. Bile rose in his throat. He turned and ran. If O'Connor was still there it didn't matter. Angus left the lovely little glade far behind. How could someone be so
casual
about their imminent burial place? How could she treat the subject as if it were no more important than where to have a day's outing?

He ran until his lungs could draw in no more air, and then he stopped and leaned upon a tree for support. "'Tis no' fair,"

he whispered, then began to sob. "'Tis no' fair."

* * * *

"You can't allow this, Tearach. An outsider wants to be buried on our sacred land, and you sit there and tell me the Sorceress has commanded it. This is the cruelest insult we've suffered since the poisoning of our water eight years ago."

Tearach slammed his hand down upon the table. When he'd summoned his second-in-command to his cottage, he'd known a confrontation would follow. And most of his own emotions ran the same course as Roland's. But a promise had been made to do the outsider no harm. "I don't like it any better than you, but Shayla gave the girl her word."

"Let the little baggage find another place to rot. None of
us
was asked our opinion. It's as if Shayla doesn't give a bloody 216

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damn about the Goblins. It can't be allowed, Tearach. It
can't."

Tearach rose and faced the angry man now pacing in front of him. "Watch what you say about the Sorceress, Roland."

"I lost my entire family. My
babies
... I can still see their faces," Roland raged on.

Tearach lowered his voice. "We
all
lost those we loved. I'll go to Shayla and speak with her again. Or I'll go to the girl and convince her to dig her deathbed elsewhere."

"Why? Why should you have to beg to keep a filthy outsider off our sacred land. Are we no better than animals to be treated this way?" Roland raised furious fists to the air.

"Calm down, man. Nothing will be gained by angering the Sorceress."

"The Sorceress be
hanged!
I say we find the outsider, kill her ourselves and take her body where it will never be found."

Tearach knew the man was losing control. "You will stay within the boundaries of our own land until this matter is settled. And you'll not touch the girl. Is that
clear
?"

Roland stopped his pacing and stared at his leader. "How could you look upon that woman and not see the twisted bodies of your family?
How
? They died writhing in agony."

"I see them every second of every day," Tearach choked out and struck his fist against the table again. "But say one more word against the Sorceress, and I'll bind and gag you and stick you in the nearest cave until this thing is settled.
Do
you understand?"
He emphasized the last three words.

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Tearach watched Roland's eyes glaze over as he stormed out of the cottage. It didn't help matters that his own emotions ran hot over this latest development. Tearach found himself agreeing with everything Roland had said, and he found it increasingly difficult, given the situation, not to disrespect Shayla himself. What she was doing amounted to throwing fuel on a fire. Flaunting an outsider's desires in the face of those who had lost so very much. He grabbed his cloak and set out to speak with Shayla one more time. Many of his faction felt the same as Roland, and he feared the outcome if Karen Matthews was buried on their land.

From nearby shrubbery, Roland watched Tearach leave the cabin. If his own leader would take no definitive action against the violation of Goblin land and this outrage, then
he
would. Druids were not the only beings in The Shire who could wield magic. But his particular variety would be deadly.

* * * *

At the sound of the soft, masculine voice, she turned. The handsome Cairn Fairy she'd met during her first gathering at the great clearing was constantly hanging about the castle, cleaning, repairing or planting something. And he was always in a good mood while doing so. "Hello, Wade. I was just enjoying the garden." In truth, her chest was throbbing and her medication was taking longer than normal to stop the pain. Her left arm was numb and there was a strange, tingling sensation in her jaw.

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"It's a lovely day, isn't it? Where's your protector?" Wade asked.

She forced a smile and ran her right hand up and down her left arm. "If you mean Angus, he's off in the woods with Gryphon O'Connor. At least, that's what Heather told me."

"And how does your work go? You're not overdoing, are you?" He placed a concerned hand on her shoulder.

Karen knew he was just being friendly, but it would be wonderful to think a man so handsome could see her as something other than an ailing, decimated caricature. His green eyes and long, sandy-colored hair reminded her of a fresh, spring day.
Why not fantasize?
If Angus could walk in the woods with Amber, certainly she could be forgiven a little daydream.

"While going through the computer files, I've learned a great deal about some members of the Order. Including the Fairies."

"And what have you learned?" he asked, gently taking her hand.

"You're fierce fighters but can be quite gentle, too. Your history goes back thousands of years. Almost every fairy tale I was ever told had some basis in truth."

He smiled and nodded. "That's the way of most myths. You know, it's said my race was once very adept at enchanting outsiders from their world into ours."

"If I were the outsider in question," she readily admitted,

"I think I'd let one of your race enchant me into any reality he wanted. I might even let you talk me into drinking some of that Fairy Wine you advised me against."

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Wade tilted his head and studied her for some moments.

"What?" she asked, raising her eyebrows over his scrutiny.

"You've a gentle heart and a wise soul, Karen. And Angus is a fool if he can't see what a treasure you are."

"Me? A ... a
treasure?"
She ducked her head to hide her expression of delight. No man had ever said such a thing to her. And here she was in the middle of a Fairy garden being complimented by a dream-man.

He lifted her chin with his index finger, forcing her to look at him. "Karen, I'd like for you to walk with me tonight."

"Walk?"

"Yes, in the woods. I've wanted to walk with you since I met you."

How on Earth had
this
happened? Why would a man like Wade want to be with her in a way she understood was meant to be intimate. She barely knew him. And she was no beauty in her present state, probably never had been.

"Why are you asking me this? I know what the offer means."