Page 38 of Farlan (Immortal Highlander Clan McKeran #3)

Grace wanted to help her grandmother, but she had nothing to offer her. I am done trying to fix what these women did to themselves. “Try and rest a little now.”

Blindly she went over to check the bench wedged in the wall.

No matter what she did, the situation with her grandmother was never going to be resolved.

In many ways Inga was much like Tonje, completely wrapped up in herself and unable to escape the prison of her own emotional damage.

The only thing she hadn’t done was take it out on someone innocent.

Grace knew because she had been heading in the same direction as Tonje.

Without being caught in the spell trap, she might have become just like her mother, latching onto booze or a lover and using them in a vain effort to make up for all she’d suffered.

Nothing will ever make up for that. The emptiness inside her suddenly yawned, like a huge bottomless abyss. Not even Farlan.

In that moment Grace understood why her mother had stuffed herself with gourmet food while filling her mansion to overflowing with pricey junk.

She’d been trying to fill the void inside her that had been left by her mother’s disappearance and her father’s abuse.

She hadn’t loved her own daughter because she’d never learned how; her father must have treated her the same way in which she’d treated Grace.

The dim memories she’d had of Inga must have seemed more like a torment than love.

I don’t have to be like Tonje. I can still love someone.

“Would you like a drink?” Olivia asked as she came over to offer her a mug of brew, and then peered at her face. “Are you okay, Grace?”

“I think I just figured out what I want,” she said, and smiled at the petite brunette. “Farlan. I want Farlan, and that’s all. If he’ll have me.”

“If?” Olivia chuckled. “That guy is so crazy about you he’ll probably lock you up in his quarters for the rest of your life.”

Grace nodded. “That works, too.”

F arlan stopped by the armory to grab a pair of Rory’s heaviest shields, which the clan carried only while on the battlefield. He then donned a pair of spiked gauntlets before handing another to Darro.

“We fend off the creatures with the shields,” he told the chieftain. “And skewer them, if need be.”

“We cannae hope wounding the facking things may end them.” Darro went and lit two torches, handing one to him. “We ken burning shall.”

On their way out Farlan saw another of Rory’s spell stones on a shelf, and tucked it in his belt pouch. If they encountered the armorer out on the wall, and the bats had bespelled him, the stone might break the enchantment.

“I’ve a question for you, Brother,” Darro said as they walked out of the stronghold and stopped to scan the skies. “Do you intend to take Mistress Johansen as your wife?”

“If she’ll wed me, aye.” He glanced at the chieftain, whose expression appeared troubled. “Alec and the laird, they’ve married. Why shouldnae I?”

“I’m no’ questioning your intention, or your choice.” He adjusted his shield’s arm straps so they hugged his wrist and forearm. “I’d be happy to see you wed to that beauty, if we may first change how we live.”

Farlan frowned and gestured for him to follow him into the tallest-growing plants in the gardens, which provided them with a little cover. “Change what, then?”

“Three McKeran wed since the new year, after near a thousand years since we vowed we’d never take a mortal to wife,” Darro reminded him. “’Tisnae fair to our brothers that a few may wed. If we mean to hold the clan together, we must end the pledge.”

“The vassals shall never agree to permit McKeran to wed here. And why should I keep Grace as merely my lover simply to appease them? For they should desire my happiness as well. If no’…” Farlan made a cutting gesture. “Fack the vassals and the clan.”

“You’re in love with her.” The chieftain stopped in his tracks. “Well and truly in love, with one woman. A mortal woman who shall age and die if ever we escape this trap.”

He wondered if punching Darro would bring the bats to them, and then decided against it. “You scheme to leave here, Brother, and leave my lady and our love to me.” He pointed toward the nearest arch in the inner wall. “We should run there and see if the path’s clear to the outer wall.”

Together they dashed toward the arch, holding their shields over their heads as they went. Something bounced off Farlan’s and then gripped the edge, tugging at it.

“’Tis the small one,” Darro said, and knocked it away with his shield before he thrust his torch at it, but the bat vanished in mid-air. “Facking thing. They’ve the power to turn invisible.”

“Aye, ’tis how they’ve attacked without being seen.” Farlan grabbed his arm and hauled him into the archway, where they stood back to back with their torches and shields held ready.

“Did the lady give you her heart in return?” the chieftain asked as he shuffled with him toward the other side of the arch.

“She’s given me everything else,” he assured him as he scanned the skies. “Run like the facking Romans chase you now, Darro.”

They tented their shields over their heads and held the torches in front of them as they rushed over to an entry to the outer wall staircase.

Screeching sounds came at them from the front and side, and Farlan hit something when he swept his torch toward the sound.

The stink of singed hide grew strong, and the screeching stopped as something thudded to the ground behind them.

Farlan didn’t look back until they were safely inside the stairwell, and then turned to see the smaller bat writhing on the ground, its body engulfed in flames.

“By the Gods.” As the creature withered and darkened to a charred version of itself, Darro shuddered. “Burning, then. ”

Two cloaked figures suddenly hurried into the entry, and Farlan glanced down before he caught the chieftain’s arm, preventing him from blindly swinging his torch at them.

“’Tis our lord and lady,” he told him.

Tasgall pulled back the hood to reveal his face. “How did you ken such, Seneschal?”

“You covered your faces and bodies, but no’ your boots.” He glanced at Ava, who looked pale but determined. “Why did you come?”

“I was able to break the spell the bats put on our chatelaine to shrink her,” she told him, and nodded toward the top of the stairs. “Inga said they tried to take her to the outer wall. We think more victims may be here.”

“Aye, ’twould be the last place we’d search.” He looked out to see a huge shadow flying toward the stronghold. “The other bat, ’tis gone to attack the keepe.”

Ava looked at Tasgall. “I don’t know how to use my power to stop it.”

“Darro and I shall do thus, my lady,” Farlan told her. “Please, do what you can to help our vassals and brothers.”

“And back we go,” the chieftain said, looking grim now. “Do you reckon ’twas more than two of the things? ”

He tightened his grip on his shield and torch. “We’ll go as if a hundred await us.”

A terrible sound came from the stronghold at that moment, filling the air with the sound of something enormous smashing into stone.

The ground shook under Farlan’s boots as cracking and thudding noises rolled around them, as if the walls of the keepe were now collapsing.

He saw a dark cloud rise from behind the inner wall, and ran with Darro across to the arch, and through billowing dust haze.

Then another sound came, one that filled him with mind-numbing dread.

A woman screamed as if she were burning.