Page 17 of Sadie’s Highlander (Highland Protector #1)

CHAPTER 16

“ Y e dinna feel it’s a bit soon to show her the Heartstone and reveal the MacDara history?” Dwyn didn’t look up from the phone he held in his left hand while he scribbled notes on a paper in front of him with his right. He frowned down at the phone, squinting closer at the screen. “What the hell does that mean?” he muttered then shook his head and continued writing in a feverish scrawl.

“I didna say I was going to tell her everything . . . exactly.” Alec shifted in place, wishing like hell that Dwyn would look him in the eyes so he could get a better read on the demigod’s thoughts. “I mean to ease her into it. I feel a visit to Castle Danu is a fine place to start.”

“Ease her into it, ye say?” Dwyn tossed his phone to the desk and leaned back into the depths of the leather wingback chair. “How the hell do ye ease someone into the truth that the MacDaras are the chosen line of druids entrusted with the sacred Heartstone and the goddesses’ weapons?” He laced his fingers together, primly folding his hands across his middle. “And how in blazes do ye mean to explain that ye were born in approximately 880 A.D.?”

“The same way a single Highlander eats an entire stag at one sitting—in wee bites patiently tendered one at a time.” Alec paced back and forth in front of the massive mahogany desk that dwarfed the man sitting behind it. He had no idea how he was going to explain all that needed saying. All he knew was that he needed Sadie to hear it in its entirety and accept it. He needed her to trust him. Believe him. Fully connect. If she accepted the unexplainable, then she also accepted him.

Dwyn didn’t speak, just pursed his lips and thoughtfully tapped a finger against the arm of his chair. He slowly turned the seat back and forth with just enough movement to make it squeak with an annoying rhythm. The sound echoed through the empty office, rasping across Alec’s tensed nerves like a rusty saw.

Alec slammed his fist on the desk. “Sit still, damn ye!”

Dwyn chuckled, slowly shaking his head as he straightened and pulled open the center desk drawer. “Aye, lad. Ye’ve got it bad. The goddesses said it was so. I shouldha known better than to doubt the wise ones.” He pulled a purple velvet pouch out of the drawer and gently placed it in the center of the deep green desk blotter. “Here. They bade me give this to ye along with their blessing.”

“What is it?” Alec asked.

Dwyn didn’t answer, just relaxed back in his chair and nodded toward the object on the desk.

Alec rubbed his thumb across his fingertips as though priming his sense of touch. Never once did he take his eyes from the drawstring pouch sitting on the desk. A gift from the goddesses. A blessing. He swallowed hard, praying the tension knotted in his throat wouldn’t strangle him. Sometimes a blessing from the goddesses quickly became a curse. He eyed Dwyn, failing to read the man’s expression.

Dwyn just stared back at him, not even bothering to blink.

“Dammit!” Alec hissed. “This is insane.”

He snatched up the cloth bag, worked free the small golden ropes around the opening, and reached inside. A cool, smooth surface. Stone and metal with a bit of weight to it. He pulled the thing free of the bag, then words failed him as he beheld the beauty in the palm of his hand.

A large oval brooch of intricately fashioned silver cradled the most beautiful cabochon of finely polished Scottish agate that Alec had ever beheld. The lines and layers of the agate came alive with rich, deep hues of burgundies, blacks, and browns shimmering in the light. The swirling lines of the gemstone formed a mesmerizing pattern that perfectly matched the triple knot of his blessed goddesses—the same knot of hope, love, and creativity gracing the surface of the Heartstone.

“Give it to her when ye deem the proper time has come—as your father gifted such a brooch to yer mother when he pledged his soul to hers.” Dwyn rose and walked out from behind the desk to rest his hand on Alec’s shoulder. “I am glad ye finally found yer other half. I’d begun to fear I was to be the one tending to ye when ye’d grown so old ye couldna remember yer own name.”

Alec closed his hand around the rare piece of jewelry, praying he’d know the right time and place to give it to Sadie and ask her to be his own.

“Aye,” he finally whispered aloud more to himself than to Dwyn. “I feared the same as well.”