Page 10

Chapter Ten

A fully dressed and made-up Aubrey sat at the kitchen island with a cup of coffee in her hand. Her eyes widened when both Erin and Padriag entered the kitchen the following morning. “Did you two kids sleep well? Sleep at all?”

A warm heat traveled up Erin’s neck to her face. “We talked and slept, that is all.”

Gaze traveling up Padriag’s bare legs, Aubrey sipped from her cup. “Right.”

“Do you have any clothes that would fit me?” Padriag asked, not seeming to mind either Aubrey’s insinuations or her perusal.

“If my clothes fit you, I will kill myself,” Aubrey replied. “How dare you, sir.”

“I told you,” Erin said. “You will have to wait until we get to Dunimarle.” She poured two cups of coffee from the pot Aubrey had prepared, added cream and gave Padriag a questioning look. “Sugar?”

“You can call me that if you wish, I prefer ‘babe,’” the smug man replied.

Narrowing her eyes playfully, Erin plopped the cup in front of him and walked to the other side of the kitchen island and climbed up onto a stool.

“What is the plan for today?” Aubrey said. “Go to the castle, tell the others what happened and then what?”

Erin sipped her coffee and replied. “I got up after you fell asleep. Thoughts and words kept shooting through my mind. I wasn’t even trying to think of a spell. When the same words wouldn’t stop coming to me, I began writing them down. Most of it is a jumbled mess that doesn’t make any sense.” She glanced at Padriag who listened with interest. “Maybe some of it can be part of your spell.”

He nodded. “After Meliot’s appearance it makes me wonder what is meant to help and what comes only to send us down rabbit trails.”

Having showered that morning before putting the same tunic back on, Padriag’s hair was damp. Red waves clung together, one falling over his brow. He pushed it away only for it to fall back. The man was every woman’s fantasy, as evident by not only her inability to keep from looking at him, but also the constant glances Aubrey slid at him when she thought Erin wasn’t looking. Not that she blamed her cousin one bit. The tunic clung to every hard surface of his body, accentuating the thick arms, wide shoulders, and broad, muscular chest.

“I-I best shower and change, then we can go,” Erin said, sliding from her seat. “Won’t be long.”

“That’s true,” Aubrey said as she walked away. “Erin is the only woman I know who can be ready in fifteen minutes and look as if she spent hours primping.”

Erin smiled at her cousin. “I’m sure you don’t mind keeping Padriag company.”

Her cousin grinned and turned to Padriag. “Not at all. Tell me about your life here in Scotland before you got abducted. I’m super curious to know what life was really like back then.”

* * *

The atmosphere crackled with apprehension on the drive to the castle, a silent urgency filling the air. A sense that something was about to happen made Erin’s pulse pound in her ears as she gripped the steering wheel. Every few seconds, she forced herself to loosen her grip, to lower her shoulders, but the tight coil of unease in her stomach refused to unwind.

Beside her, Padraig stared out the window, eyes locked on the countryside that blurred past. She wondered what he saw—not just the passing scenery, but the glimmers of centuries gone by. How many times had he watched the world shift and evolve? Rulers rising and falling, wars starting and ending, cultures transforming beyond recognition. The secrets he carried, the truths that had been warped by history books, could rewrite everything scholars thought to be true.

If nothing else, she hoped one day he would put it all into words. Even if no one believed him, his account would be the only firsthand experiences of a world long lost.

“Look!” Aubrey’s voice cut through the thick silence, sharp with alarm. She pointed to the left. “That’s … not normal.”

Erin’s gaze snapped toward where the castle should have come into view, her breath catching. They had just passed through Culross, the last village before the castle. But where the ancient stronghold should have been, perched on its usual rise, there was nothing but an impenetrable wall of swirling mist.

Her foot eased off the gas. “What the hell?” she breathed. “Is that … fog?”

The mist wasn’t natural. It coiled thick and dense, a solid, shifting mass that seemed to swallow the castle whole. It was so solid that no outline of turrets or stone walls were visible.

“Damn it,” Padraig muttered, his entire body tensing. “Pull over. Now. Someone call the castle. I need to know if they can see it from the other side.”

Erin fumbled for her phone, her fingers clumsy as she put the call on speaker. The first ring had barely finished when Gwen answered, her voice taut with worry.

“Erin. I was just about to call you. Don’t try to come here.”

Padriag stared at the phone. “Do you see the mists?”

“Yes, it’s like a wall surrounding us,” Gwen replied, her breath uneven. “We tried to drive through it, but it’s impossible to see once you enter it. We were afraid to go any farther—might hit a tree or … something.”

A cold shiver slithered up Erin’s spine, goosebumps formed on her arms. The world she thought she understood was unraveling.

“We’re on the other side,” she murmured, gripping the phone tighter. “The castle’s not visible from here.”

Padraig’s eyes were sharp, unreadable as he studied the view.

A deep voice crackled through the speaker. It was Tristan.“Padraig? Can you get through?”

Padraig didn’t answer right away. His gaze stayed locked on the unnatural mist. Then, finally, with lack of certainty, he said,“Probably.”

Gwen’s voice came back, laced with apprehension.“Call us back if you can’t make it.”The call ended.

For a long moment, Padraig sat motionless, head cocked to the side then upright, he studied the swirling fog. Then he exhaled, turned to Erin, and spoke, his tone serious.

“Be ready. The moment you see an opening, drive straight through. Do not stop. Do you understand?”

Erin nodded. “Yes.”

A grin spread across his face. “Good.” Pushing the car door open, he climbed and began walking toward the mist.

“What the hell is he doing?” Aubrey breathed, leaning between the seats, her face pale.

They could only watch, hearts pounding, as Padraig strode toward the mist—barefoot, clad only in a loose tunic that barely reached mid-thigh. Despite his lack of attire, the purposeful long strides and set of wide shoulders exuded power, command of the situation.

And then—he lifted his arms.

Aubrey sucked in a sharp breath.

“Holy hell.”

Erin’s mouth went dry at the sight before her. Dim morning sunlight seeped through the cloudy sky and cast just the right illumination to highlight every taut muscle, every shift of sinew beneath his golden skin—and the firm curve of his very bare backside.

Aubrey exhaled slowly. “Damn,” she whispered, reverent.“That is one amazing view.”

“Yep,” was all Erin could manage as a reply.

Something like electrical blue and goldsparkserupted in Padraig’s palms, flickering as if alive. He moved his hands in slow, deliberate arcs, sweeping them downward until they hovered at shoulder level. The circular fiery rings grew, stretching out like ravenous tongues toward the mist.

Erin clenched the steering wheel, her fingers trembling.

Then he walked forward, and the mist swallowed him, and he seemed to vanish, except for the flames that shined through the thick hovering void.

Seconds ticked by, agonizingly slow.

A violent explosion of color detonated through the fog, streaks of blue, gold, and violet cutting through the mist.A tunnel of raw, crackling energy stretched open, pulsating with twisting currents of power.

Aubrey gasped. “What the actual hell?”

A deafening, high-pitchedscreech sent Erin’s senses reeling. Like microphone feedback turned up to an unbearable volume, it stabbed through her skull, making her wince.

The tunnel wavered. The screechinggrew.

Aubrey grabbed her arm. “Go!”

Erin snapped into action. She slammed the gas pedal. The carlurchedforward, gears grinding as she shoved it into second, then third, then fourth.

The tunnel was bothterrifying and breathtaking—a swirling, living storm of energy, twisting and weaving like a cosmic dance. Colors she couldn’t name slashed through the air, warping and shifting, forming impossible patterns.

She wanted to stare. To take it in.

But the walls of the tunnel moved closer.

“Oh my god, it’s closing,” Aubrey yelled. “Go faster.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Erin pushed her car to the limit and raced forward until coming to a screeching stop when emerging on the other side. Dunimarle stood before them, whole and untouched.

Three couples, Gwen and Tristan, Niall and Tammie and Sabrina and Gavin, were grouped together.

With the car still rocking from the abrupt stop, Erin threw open the door and ran straight for the collapsing tunnel.

“Padriag!”

Strong arms caught her before she could get anywhere near the mists and lights, lifting her off the ground as easily as if she weighed nothing.

“You cannot go any closer. You will be injured. Padriag is unharmed.”

The deep, familiar voice caught her by surprise.

It was Niall MacTavish.

She fought against his grip, twisting violently. “How do you know?”

Niall’s grip tightened.“We have been recipients of Padraig’s power.”His voice was steady“It was quite unpleasant.”

The tunnelconvulsed.Its energy spiraled inward, collapsing in on itself until nothing remained but the mist.

A shadow emerged.

Electric tendrils still crackled around him, flickering against the night. Padraig stumbled forward, the last of the lightening that surrounded him fading, his steps unsteady.

Erin sagged with relief.

The tunic, looked to be singed on the hem and edges of the sleeves. His face was covered in soot and hair stood on end. Still, Padriag managed a wide grin and held his arms out as if preparing to take flight. “Am I superhero material or what?”

His knees buckled, body sagged, and then he flopped, face-first, into the grass.

“Or what,” Niall muttered, striding forward as the other two men rushed to Padraig’s side.

Erin took a step forward, but a hand on her arm held her back.

“Come inside, we’ll see to him there,” Gwen said. “Tristan said he could pass out. Apparently, when he expends that much energy, it depletes him, but it doesn’t last long.”

The men hurried past carrying Padriag and they followed.

Just before entering, she looked over her shoulder. The mists were evaporating, slowly fading until all evidence of it was gone.