Bride of a Wicked Scotsman
Prologue
An Ancient Irish Myth
From out of the mists and magic steeped in time came a myth—a myth that was born on the lands of the people who came to be called the Clan McDonough.
It was here, on the very tip of the peninsula, in this place where the wind meets sea and sky, and the sky the earth, where Druids reigned and pagans came to worship their Celtic gods in a temple ringed with standing stones.
It is here, said the tale, that the Circle of Light first came to be, conjured by the Druid priests.
Conjured up from sea and sky, water and earth, a symbol of the eternal cycle of life.
Of purest silver it was made, a simple pattern, weaved together, a circle that had no end and no beginning.
The Circle of Light resided high upon an altar of stone—floating, suspended with a power of its own, slowly rotating, ever turning, shimmering with myriad color and warmth.
The Druids proclaimed that all people of the Clan McDonough who worshiped—all who believed in its powers of endurance—would be blessed.
So wondrous was the Circle of Light that St. Patrick himself came to see it.
He, too, blessed the Circle, and all of the McDonough and their lands.
He decreed that it should remain forever in this place of ancient worship; the clan was charged with its guardianship.
In thanks for this blessing, the Clan McDonough built their church in honor of St. Patrick, bringing fortune and favor to their lands and people.
As time and tide went by, the McDonough came to believe that to lose the Circle of Light—this enduring cycle of life—would be to lose their good fortune.
Such was their belief. Such was their faith.
Night after night throughout the centuries, in the church of St. Patrick, the Circle of Light was seen through the window to the north, casting out its glow.
Shifting and shimmering through mist and moonlight and the darkest night, bringing forth luck and prosperity to the lands of the McDonough as promised.
Like a crown of warmth and hope, its light could not be dimmed.
Until the night the Black Scotsman came plundering across the seas, to the land of the McDonough, where he seized the Circle for his own…
And the truth of the legend came to be.