Page 47 of A Rogue in Twilight (The Whisky Rogues #2)

“If that cave is indeed the missing treasure, it is available again. And you fell in love,” he reminded her. “That will protect you from harm—and so will I, my lass.”

“And so be it.” She turned into his embrace. “It is done.”

“Let the proof of it be our long, happy marriage.”

“And your belief in fairies,” she said, muffled against his coat.

He chuckled as she stepped away to gather her things, and he gazed out at the twilight sky, marveling at the colors revealed as the mist receded. “Come ahead, love.” He turned. “Elspeth?”

She was not there. Going to the inner cave, he did not see her there either. “Elspeth!” His voice echoed against the walls.

Eilidh . . . He heard it in the still air, an echo and yet not. Eilidh . . .

When she had stepped into the inner chamber to fetch her shawl, they stood there, as if the wall had opened. Three watched her, a man and two women, slim and tall and beautiful. She realized they stood by the entrance to the pocket mine, its opening taller and wider than before.

They beckoned, all three. Despite the natural darkness in the cave, their eyes shone like jewels. She felt drawn forward. When they moved back into the gem pocket, she followed.

Vaguely she realized she was not walking down a ramp of rock, but passing through a depth of stone, following them like a wraith.

You can do this because you have fairy blood, said the blonde woman. Her voice was soft, not to the ear, but as if inside her head.

Who are you? She thought the words, and they heard her, nodding.

We three are your kin, they said in unison.

A chill went through her. Pausing, she summoned calm and strength. They stood together in the jeweled cavern, the ceiling and walls larger now, the jeweled brilliance more expansive.

The flaxen-haired woman was beautiful, though her angled eyes and chin had a harshness. Her eyes were deep violet. The man was tall, handsome, dark-haired, oddly familiar. The other woman was small, delicate, with long ebony hair and eyes sheened like pale crystals.

Eilidh, the man said. Then she knew. “Niall?” she asked. Her pounding heart reminded her that she was flesh and blood. “Father?”

“Daughter.” He reached out, and his hand was warm when she took it. He was flesh and blood, too, after all. “This is your mother, Riona.”

The small dark-haired woman stretched out both hands, her crystalline eyes filled with tears. Then Elspeth was enfolded in an embrace that felt loving, comforting. She had never felt a mother’s arms around her, and her eyes filled with tears too.

Curiously, she felt relief, wonder, and perfect ease in their company. She stepped back, trembling. “Mother,” she said, a word she had never used for anyone in her life. “Mother. And Father.”

They smiled, the one handsome, still a young man, for he had never aged. The other was as beautiful as a delicate jewel. “This is our queen,” Niall said of the pale-haired lady. “Queen of the Fey in this region. There are many such rulers, and this part of the land is under her thrall.”

“Eilidh.” She held out a long, slim hand, milky pale, shining rings on her fingers. Her long hair was like spun gold and her creamy white gown, sewn with glittering threads, seemed to glow. She dazzled with an inner luminosity.

Elspeth stared, entranced, then dropped in a curtsey. “Am I… Have you taken me away?” she asked, straightening.

“We lured you here and we will take you farther,” Niall said.

“I cannot go with you.” Elspeth stepped backward.

Her fairy mother lifted her hands. “Stay with us, dearest.”

“I cannot not. I am married. I will stay with my husband. Our souls are joined now. I love him. He loves me.”

Her voice sounded odd, and all seemed strange, as if she were dreaming, and yet not. And she knew the risk of refusal. “I will not go with you.”

“Eilidh,” her father said, reaching out.

“Elspeth! Where are you?” At the sound of James’s voice, she turned.

“Elspeth!” James called again. He had looked in both caves, had stepped outside, and returned, still looking. “Where are you?”

Going back into the smaller cave, he dropped to his knees to peer into the newly discovered pocket mine. It was utterly dark and silent inside. Concerned that she might have ventured in and fallen down the slope, he leaned into the. “Elspeth!”

After a moment, he heard her voice, sounding strange and faraway. James! Here! I am in here!

Puzzled, he began to crawl through restrictive opening, and heard her voice again, soft, somewhere ahead of him.

He called her name once more. Her answer seemed to come from within the little gem-filled cave.

Making his way down the ramp, he stood in the semi-darkness.

Then a light flared, an odd glow that came from above and made the walls shimmer and flash with color.

Elspeth stood there with three people who were strangely clothed, as if they were in some theatre play. Their eyes caught his attention, great, large, luminous eyes in narrow faces, gleaming like jewels. As Elspeth looked at him, her eyes took on that silvery sheen he had sometimes seen there.

“My God,” he breathed, moving toward her—why did the room seem so large now, he wondered. “What is this?” He held out an arm and she went to him, tucked against his side, her arm on his back.

“Hush,” she whispered.

He stared at the three standing there so calm and eerie. “Who—”

“This is—the queen. And here are Niall MacArthur—and my mother, Riona.”

Astonished, frankly stunned, James wondered if he had fallen asleep, or had hit his head, or had taken too much whisky without recalling it.

Niall moved forward and held out a hand.

Tentatively, James grasped it, feeling a strong, firm, very human hand.

But the man, handsome and fit, had an unearthly light in his gray eyes.

The small dark-haired woman came forward and extended her hand next. Her fingers were slim, cool. James suddenly realized he was holding a fairy’s delicate hand.

Surely he had fallen and broken his head. This could not be real.

“Elspeth,” he said. “Come with me. Our friends will be looking for us. Donal MacArthur will be looking for us,” he added, and glanced at Niall.

“We will see Donal soon,” the man said. “Seven years are nearly up again.”

“But the fairy spell is undone,” Elspeth said.

“We found your treasure. This very cave. And—I love this man,” she said, holding tight to James.

“You told Donal yourself that only love has magic strong enough to break a fairy spell.” She faced them, lifted her chin.

James gazed down at her, proud, adoring, waiting for her to speak.

“This is James, Lord Struan,” she said. “I have married him for love. You have no hold over me or him or his lands any longer—if you ever had hold.”

“She speaks true,” the queen said then. “We cannot take her with us now. Love will pull her back. She has discovered it. But we will call Donal back to us again, and he may stay.”

“He can decide to stay with us,” Elspeth said. “He has that right now that you have the treasure. It was your bargain with him. It must be honored.”

“Again she speaks truly.” Niall had a compelling voice and a regal and ageless beauty. James could see a resemblance to Donal in features and sheer pride. “Eilidh, we owe you a great deal for finding the way back to our treasure room.”

“Once again we are free to enter this place,” the queen said. “Long ago the Fey mined the riches and magic of the earth. But we could no longer see it after the treachery of a thief of old.”

“Thank you,” Riona said.

“Of course,” James said, feeling a wave of absurdity. Logic told him this could not be real, yet he was seeing them, hearing them, strongly aware of their power and presence just an arm’s length away.

He reached out to touch Niall MacArthur’s shoulder with a finger, pushing. He felt muscle flex, saw the man move.

Niall smiled. “I am human. Magic keeps me here.”

“How is it I can see you?” James asked.

Niall smiled gently, sadly, and gathered his fairy-wife under his arm, much as James held Elspeth safe and close. “When you opened your mind to allow the impossible, all things, including our magic, became possible.”

“James MacCarran may have fairy blood,” the queen said then. She was a shining, lithe, gorgeous creature.

“It has long been said in my family. But it is just a legend.”

“Legends are born of truth. Your fairy blood allows you to see us today.”

Again he wondered if he had inadvertently sipped some wild Highland brew that day. But he had not. He had to accept that this was happening before him.

“Take my hands.” The queen reached out. “Do not be afraid.”

“We do not want to go into your land,” Elspeth said quickly.

“Briefly. Let us show you something,” Niall said. “I give you my word, daughter. No harm will come to either of you. We will bring you over and back again. I vow it.”

“A moment there is a day here,” James said, remembering his grandmother’s writings. “A day can be a month. A year.”

“Only if we cast a glamourie over you. Only if you eat or drink in our world,” the queen said. “Only if you look back as you walk away.”

“Come see what few have ever seen.” Niall beckoned.

Frowning, James felt the queen’s outstretched hand meet his, cool and soft. Beside him, he kept his arm, tight and protective, around Elspeth.

Riona reached out, and Elspeth touched her small, lovely hand.

The air went to mist and light, and James felt himself flowing forward as if on water. Then a glittering, gem-studded wall of solid rock turned to gray mist and he was through.

Awestruck, he saw rock walls of golden stone in the shape of arches and vaulted ceilings, stretching into a long corridor.

Walking with Elspeth, holding her hand tightly, he followed the three.

As he moved, he looked all around at a wonderland of subterranean passages, lit as if from within, tunneling into the heart of the earth.

And he realized then that he was walking easily without a cane or a limp.