Taming the Highland Beauty (Guardians of the Isles #7)

Chapter Twenty-Two

“I t is time,” Callum said as midnight approached. The Beltane celebration had died down and many of the castle’s residents had returned to their beds. Only the MacLeods remained along the shoreline staring into the remnants of the fire that had earlier burned so brightly.

When Minerva broke through the surface of the water she waddled onto the beach, Gille’s heart filled with anticipation. She watched in fascination as Minerva’s body transformed. Slowly, her seal pelt began to shift and change, its grey fur sloughing off. Her body elongated, her limbs stretching and morphing. Her tail disappeared, replaced by legs that shimmered with a silvery light. Her face softened, her features becoming more human.

When the transformation was complete, Minerva stood before them, a beautiful older woman with flowing green hair and dark, piercing eyes. A faint shimmer of moonlight played across her skin, giving her an ethereal glow.

Gille exchanged an excited glance with Callum. For a heartbeat she let reality slip. There was something unreal about the moment that she longed to hold on to. Something peaceful, something hopeful. Something that said there would be more nights like this with Callum at her side. Moments when nothing else mattered.

Callum put his hand over hers and stared into her eyes, extending the serenity of the moment. They would need all the serenity they could gather in the next few minutes if the song worked, and hours if it did not.

“Are you ready?” Callum asked, breaking the moment.

Gille nodded, as she released Callum’s hand and went to stand at the water’s edge with both Minerva and Lady Janet. She closed her eyes, blocking out all distractions, and started singing the words she had committed to memory. As she sang, the air around her seemed to vibrate with a magical energy as the veil between the human, spirit, and fairy realms thinned.

Gille’s heart pounded with hope, but as the final note faded, she opened her eyes. Despair washed over Gille as she realised the song had failed to break the curse. Minerva remained in the form of an old woman, and Lady Janet remained a ghost.

“What about ‘The Fairy Lullaby’?” Callum offered, his voice tight. “You had wanted to sing the two songs together.”

The memory flared, and Gille cursed herself for not remembering sooner. She turned to Gwendolyn. “Will you sing with me? The tune is the same, only the words are different,” she pleaded.

Gwendolyn nodded, her eyes filled with a flicker of hope. “Aye,” she replied. “It is worth a try.”

Callum reached for his mandolin and prepared to play. With a nod of gratitude, Gille and Gwendolyn began to sing as Callum played the melody, their voices blending in harmony. The ancient words of the selkies, combined with the lullaby given to the MacLeods by the fairies, and Callum’s human ability to play, echoed through the night.

When the song ended, a hush fell over the shore as those gathered watched Gille, Minerva, and Lady Janet with expectation. Their anticipation was rewarded as Lady Janet’s ghostly image began to fade, her ethereal form slowly dissolving into the mist. A collective sigh of relief escaped the MacLeods as they realised their mother’s time in the human realm had finally ended.

“Mother,” Alastair said, his voice trembling as he and all her children gathered around her. “It is finally time for you to leave us. You deserve peace.”

His siblings nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with tears. They had grown to love their ghostly mother, but they knew she belonged in the afterlife.

Lady Janet smiled sadly. “ I know, my children, ” she replied. “ But it is difficult to leave you now that the moment has arrived. ”

“We will miss you,” Rowena said, her voice choked with emotion.

“But you must go,” Tormod insisted.

Orrick grabbed Keiran and Callum’s hands, holding them tightly. “You deserve to be at peace.”

Lady Janet nodded, her features fading further into mist. “ I will ,” she said. “ But before I go, I want you to promise me something .”

Her children gathered closer, their attention focused on their mother.

“ Promise me that you will always remember me ,” Lady Janet said. “ And that you will carry on the traditions of our clan .”

Alastair, Tormod, Orrick, Rowena, Keiran, and Callum nodded solemnly. “We promise,” they said in unison.

Lady Janet smiled, her ghostly form beginning to fade. “ I love you all ,” she said, and with a final wave of her hand, Lady Janet vanished into the mist, her spirit finally free from the earthly realm.

Her heart in her throat, Gille watched as the ghost disappeared. All their efforts had been worthwhile. Lady Janet was finally at peace.

A cry of joy from Minerva shifted their focus to the selkie as she stepped from the edge of the water and onto the beach. Her hair, once green, had transformed into a flowing cascade of silver. Her eyes, which had always been dark and mysterious, changed to a pale blue. And, her skin no longer glowed, taking on a pale, unblemished cream beneath the seaweed dress that covered her breasts and hips.

“It worked,” Minerva declared, her voice filled with wonder. She turned towards the loch to see the pod had gathered there. Lottie lurched forward, coming to rest at her mother’s newly human feet. “I can leave my worries to you, my dear.” She reached down and stroked her daughter’s silvery pelt. “With the changing of our roles, the selkies will have newfound protectors in the MacLeods.”

“I understand, Mother,” Lottie said with a catch in her voice. “But I will miss you.”

“Miss me?” Minerva laughed. “I will be with you every night when you transform and come upon the shores of the loch.”

“It will be different,” Lottie said sadly.

“Aye,” Minerva replied. “But this is what is best for you and for our people.”

Lottie nodded, then scooted back towards the others in the surf. They lifted their heads and barked a final farewell before disappearing into the water.

Minerva smiled, then squealed as she raced across the beach, displaying her newfound freedom. A gasp sounded when she stumbled over a rock and fell. Keiran hurried to her aid, lifting her to her feet.

Minerva paused, holding on to Keiran’s arm, as she looked down at her knee. A small trickle of blood appeared on her skin. She smiled. “I am human.”

“What will you do now?” Keiran asked, leading her back towards the others.

“I was hoping to stay with you all so that I can remain close to my family.”

“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Alastair said, as a cheer went up.

A hush fell over the beach. All eyes shifted to Gille.

Obviously, the song in three parts had worked for Lady Janet and Minerva. Did that mean it would work for her? She waited, trying to sense a change. When a tingling sensation came to her fingers, she stretched her hands before her. A shimmering light appeared at the ends of her fingers, but before it could spread up her arms, a dark mist blew across the water and enveloped her. A chilling laugh echoed through the air as the mist consolidated into Oberon.

The sound of steel against leather filled the air as the men drew their swords. Callum charged forward with an angry cry.

Oberon raised his hand and sent Callum flying backwards across the beach, then did the same to the other men before they could attack.

Isolde and Aria balanced on their feet, waiting for the right moment to strike as the air became charged with tension. “Release her,” Aria growled. “You have no right to be here. Go back where you belong.”

“And let your sister succeed? I think not,” Oberon sneered. “Someone must pay for what you all did to me. I almost died.”

“But you did not,” Aria countered. “You could have taken what we did to you as a warning. That perhaps you needed to change your overbearing ways.”

“Change?” His eyes bulged. “You expect me to acquiesce to your expectations of me? Me? Ruler of Fairyland. Maker of mischief. Master of magic?”

With a wave of his hand, the women flew backwards, joining the men.

Oberon turned to Gille, his face contorted with hatred. Fear fluttered in her stomach as she met his gaze. “You will pay for your insolence,” he hissed, his voice laced with venom.

While Oberon had been talking to the men, Aria and Isolde, Gille had discreetly inched up her skirt, her hand wrapping around the hilt of the dagger at her thigh. As Oberon stepped closer, she drew her dagger and aimed for the fairy king’s heart.

Oberon struck her weapon away with a flick of his hand, sending it spinning to the ground. But the blood that spilled from a wound on his arm told her she had struck him. He howled in pain, grabbing her hands with one of his own, his grip cruelly biting into her flesh. His eyes, glowing with a sinister light, fixed on Gille. “You thought you had won, didn’t you?” he taunted. “But I am not so easily defeated.”

With his other hand, he extended his palm towards the horizon, beginning to recite ancient words. As he raised his hand, a sinister energy began to gather in the air. The sky erupted in a fiery display, the dawn coming with a blinding intensity. The world seemed to freeze for a moment, the air thick, suffocating. Then, with a deafening roar, the sun burst over the horizon, casting its harsh light upon the land.

A searing pain shot through Gille as the light touched her skin. Her flesh began to harden, her limbs stretching and morphing. Her hair turned into leaves, her fingers transforming into gnarled branches. With a final, anguished cry, Gille was consumed by the transformation, her body becoming a towering beech tree.