Page 22

–Aspen–

IT WAS HARD to describe how profound my day had become as I stared out over the moonlit night, from hating every minute I spent in this chamber to loving every moment I recalled of my past life because I had spent it with Broderick. I finally remembered all the precious moments we had found together and the deep love we felt.

The aspen tree swayed in the distance, its brilliant yellow leaves catching on the wind and dancing toward me before being torn away just like I had been. Kept apart until we decided to take matters into our own hands, no matter the consequences.

I eyed the dull metal on the old kitchen blade, marveling that it could transform so swiftly from the glorious Viking sword strapped to Broderick’s back to this, but then, it served a purpose, and, in this case, it had been to remind us of what we had forgotten. We might have broken all the rules, but our love had been real, which told me it was meant to last forever, just like we were, whether together or apart.

Call me mushy for having these kinds of thoughts, but they felt right, and for some reason, it gave me hope that I would return to him.

We hadn’t come this far, only to be separated again.

Confident Broderick was firmly and discreetly in my mind now, whether I had the blade in hand or not, I tucked it back in Chara’s satchel when a rap came at the door, letting me know Lilias had returned. Although Broderick warned me to proceed with caution around her because she had supposedly been responsible for my, our, father leaving this, his, clan years before, I had trouble disliking her.

So far, she had been warm and courteous, making sure I was provided a tub of warm water so I could bathe in an era that didn’t usually offer such luxuries. Granted, I bathed quickly because being nude in my chamber made me uneasy, making me realize this was where I had conceived my child. Not out of love or through any choice of my own, but because of the pact between the Sutherlands and MacLeods.

I was glad I didn’t recall the details of it and only remembered the love I bore my unborn child despite our lives being cut short by illness.

“Ye look lovely,”

Lilias praised my dress, complete with Sutherland colors, when I opened the door, speaking dutifully once more.

“’Twill please Dugal, I am sure.”

She said it so casually, and with such approval in her eyes you wouldn’t know she talked about her own husband. Then again, she had no more use for him than I.

Her gaze fell to Flame, who remained by my side, my steadfast companion, before she crouched down to pet him behind the ear.

“Are ye so sure ye want to be around them again, my wee friend?”

she asked him as the corner of her mouth curled up, and a whimsical light lit her eyes when a little girl with red curls poked her head around the corner, and her big, emerald green eyes widened.

“Or mayhap ye would enjoy spending time with my wee bairn?”

I couldn’t help but smile because her daughter reminded me of my sister Hazel. It seemed Flame was just as charmed and convinced it would be okay to let me go on alone now Broderick was inside my mind because he pranced over to the little girl without looking back.

“He’ll be safe, right?”

I asked, worried about Flame and marveling that I had a niece in this era because the longer I was here, the more certain I was that my father had been here before me. That he very much was the man in the portrait in the hallway.

“Aye, yer pup will be just fine,”

Lilias assured, leading me down yet another hallway until we reached a set of doors that led into a dining room about the size of the private eating area at MacLeod Castle. Even though a fire crackled on the hearth, it didn’t seem to cast much warmth into the cold, drafty room.

Fortunately, the longer I was in medieval Scotland, the warmer I was, no doubt because my dragon was slowly emerging. It was still hard to imagine shifting into a dragon or seeing one in person, but I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t one adventure I looked forward to. Broderick assured me there was no pain involved, just a period of transition.

Now I wondered if I stayed here, would that mean my dragon might never fully surface? Did I even want it to, given my location? Somehow, it didn’t sound as appealing.

A little chill went through me that had nothing to do with the draft when I took in the room’s dark décor. Décor that seemed to suit Elspet, who sat across from her son at one end of the relatively small rectangular table. The only thing that seemed to lend any warmth to the space were four portraits that made my blood run cold because they were the trees my sisters and I had been named for.

An aspen, hazel, willow, and elm.

“I see ye recognize them,”

Elspet said tightly, gesturing for me to sit opposite Lilias. They weren’t kidding about eating privately, considering it was just the four of us, which made me uneasy. Maybe I should have kept Flame with me, after all, because now I was starting to think it was too convenient how Lilias’s daughter came along when she did.

Lilias, whom I was warned not to trust.

“Of course, I recognize the pictures,”

I replied, trying to get a read on what Elspet was all about because the spooky vibe I felt from her initially hadn’t waned.

“They’re trees.”

“Trees ye and yer sisters were named after, aye?”

Dugal perked an eyebrow at me.

“Sisters from yer era? Sisters born of a dragon like yerself?”

Hell, these people knew way too much, and it seriously creeped me out.

“That’s none of your business.”

Wanting to be nowhere near them because I suddenly didn't trust the situation, I frowned and stood.

“You know what? I think I’ll eat downstairs with—”

“Sit,”

Elspet snapped, warned, narrowing her sinister near-black eyes at me.

“or ye willnae see yer sisters again, nor the swine ye think is yer mate when ‘tis my son’s place, not Broderick MacLeod’s.”

Something about how she said it gave me the impression she wasn’t talking about hurting me but the people I loved. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but it was enough to alarm my inner beast, so I slowly sank back into my chair.

“Ye have his look about ye,”

Elspet muttered, eyeing me with disgust.

“So dinnae deny ye have three sisters nor that ye were born of Malcolm Sutherland. ‘Tis clear as day if one knows what to look for.”

Make that four sisters, I nearly reminded, but refrained from correcting her because, for now, I wanted to keep Lilias out of this.

I frowned at Elspet.

“And what is it you’re looking for?”

“The one that will give us what we seek.”

She looked from Dugal to me.

“’Twill be convenient if ‘tis ye, but we will find her regardless.”

What was she talking about?

“I thought I was the one you sought to fulfill some old pact I have nothing to do with?”

Though tempted to drink the mead provided, I refrained in case they had done something unsavory to it.

“Oh, I think we both know ye have everything to do with the pact, if not in this life, then the last, aye?”

Elspet held out her bony hand.

“Let me see the mark, lass.”

I was more than alarmed by how much she seemed to know, from the trees to my sisters to my previous life. “No.”

“Aye,”

Dugal growled, his dragon eyes flaring.

“Otherwise, without yer mutt here to protect ye, ye willnae like what I do next.”

I might be brave in the face of danger, but something about this, him, them, felt like more than I could handle. In fact, it felt a little terrifying. When I glanced at Lilias, she was staring down at her empty plate, unwilling to meet anyone's eyes.

“’Tis all right, lass,”

Broderick said softly, his inner beast brushing my mind in comfort despite his growing alarm.

“Just do as they ask. I’m on my way.”

“No, it’s okay,”

I assured, not wanting him to risk his clan but knowing I would be hard-pressed to stop him.

“Don’t risk it, Broderick. It’s too dangerous.”

Granted, I wasn’t traveling through the forest with Dugal anymore, where I’d had the vision of Broderick and Lucas dying when they tried to pursue me, but still.

“Let me see the mark, Aspen,”

Elspet repeated, her eyes seeming darker by the moment. “Now.”

Listening this time because both Elspet and Dugal were clearly dangerous, I pushed up my sleeve and gave her my wrist.

“’Tis the mark, to be sure,”

Elspet murmured, dusting her icy finger over it.

“Just as foretold.”

“Aye,”

Dugal concurred, with a wicked gleam of anticipation. Behaving as if his mother confirming the mark all but gave me to him, his lusty gaze raked over me as if his wife weren't present.

“Surely, there is no need to go any further with this.”

“Further with what?”

Scowling at him, I shook my head.

“And let’s not forget your bargain with the king. I have to be okay with everything. Specifically, you or none of this happens.”

“Bargain or not, that isnae quite true.”

Elspet gave her son a stern look.

“And aye, we must go all the way with this for the pact to truly be fulfilled. ‘Tis the only way we will find the correct lass and harness the power she will bring to our clan, marking her a true Sutherland. A worthy Sutherland.”

Obviously, we were all born to a Sutherland and most certainly worthy, but I kept that comment to myself. If I had to choose, I’d much rather be a MacLeod.

“There is more to the pact than most realize,”

Elspet went on, unrolling the scroll resting on the table that looked like the one Dugal had brought to MacLeod Castle.

“A second page, as it were.”

Not liking the sound of that, I narrowed my eyes.

“How convenient.”

I frowned at Dugal.

“And you didn’t show this to the MacLeods, why?”

He frowned as well, no doubt because his mother wasn’t simply handing me over to him.

“Because it didnae seem necessary at the time.”

“How could the remainder of the pact not be necessary?”

I exclaimed, shaking my head.

“I’d say all bets are off now, considering—”

“Nothing is off until we confirm whether ye are, in fact, related to the sorcerer,”

Elspet said, cutting me off.

“Only then will the pact be complete.”

Confused, I furrowed my brow.

“I thought we established that with the marking?”

“We established that ye descend from Malcolm Sutherland and are one of four who might be of the sorcerer’s bloodline.”

Elspet slid the parchment my way.

“Now ‘tis a matter of determining which one of ye truly belongs with the Sutherlands so we might finally usher in a new breed of dragons that will empower us far into the future.”

I read the second part of the pact in disbelief. It claimed four witches would be hidden among the trees of the distant future until the mark appeared on them and another person, leading them home to Sutherland Castle and their true fated mate. This would, at last, fulfill the pact and usher in a time of peace between the clans.

“Should I assume that other person is you, Dugal, no matter the sister?”

I managed, wanting my siblings nowhere near him.

“Not necessarily,”

Elspet said.

“If ye read on, ye’ll see it could appear on any Sutherland male.”

I didn’t need to ask how that fulfilled the pact between a MacLeod and Sutherland because it said as much as I continued reading, claiming the four witches would be MacLeods.

“Does that mean my sisters are all related to the MacLeods somehow?”

I wondered, shooting Dugal a look.

“Or that we already have fated mates we’re in love with among the MacLeods, making us one of them.”

“It doesnae say, so ‘tis impossible to know.”

Dugal scowled at me for reminding him I belonged to Broderick.

“We willnae know until the tree delivers them to our era and the markings reveal themselves.”

The aspen had delivered me, hadn’t it? Rather than show how disgruntled that made me, I read the rest of the pact, finally coming to the part about how they would ultimately determine which sister was the predestined woman, and it more than merely alarmed me.

It downright terrified me.