Chapter Twenty-One
Jenna didn’t want to wake. She wanted to stay here forever, nestled in this warm bed, with an equally warm body snuggled up beside her.
She stretched out her toes, loving the feel of the soft sheets against her skin, and the weight of Arran’s arm draped protectively across her hip.
His chest was pressed into her back, warm and hard, and the only sounds in the room were his steady breathing.
Oh yes, she could stay like this forever.
But the light slanting through the window and the distant sounds of the castle waking meant it wasn’t to be. The day had begun and no matter how much she might try, she couldn’t avoid what was happening today. Perhaps it would be better to get it over with, like ripping off a band aid.
She opened her eyes. Arran’s chambers—their chambers—sprang into view around her.
When she’d first moved in here, they had been sparse—a warrior’s rooms—but, with Ingrid and Rosaline’s help, she’d done her best to make them comfortable and now they were lovely and cozy with thick rugs, warm throws, and vases of dried flowers.
She shifted and Arran mumbled something incoherent, his voice thick with sleep. She turned in his arms so she was facing him and ran a finger down the sculpted contours of his chest, watching him sleep.
She was aching this morning, her muscles sore from what she and Arran had done last night.
Had done every night, truth be told, since they’d returned to Dun Tabor.
She could never get enough of him. Even now, aching and sleep-addled as she was, she could feel the stirrings of desire begin to flutter in her belly.
She wanted him to make love to her again.
She wanted to stay in this room with him all day and forget what awaited her.
But she couldn’t. She’d been putting it off for far too long already.
She laid a kiss on the end of Arran’s nose. “Hey,” she said.
His eyes fluttered open, that sapphire blue fixing on her. “Hey,” he mumbled. “What are ye doing awake? It’s not even midday yet.”
“Funny,” she said drily.
He grinned then leaned forward and kissed her, pinning her to the bed. Heat pooled in her stomach and she wrapped her arms around his head, kissing him back. Perhaps they could stay in bed just a little longer…
A knock on the door interrupted that thought. “My laird? Jenna?” Ingrid’s voice came from the other side. “Ye asked me to wake ye at dawn.”
Jenna stifled a groan.
“Aye,” Arran called. “My thanks, Ingrid. We’ll be there soon.” He propped himself on one elbow and looked down at Jenna. “Well?” he asked. “Today’s the day. Should we get started?”
“No,” she said. “We shouldn’t. We should hide under the bed.”
Arran laughed. “It canna be that bad.”
“You don’t get it,” she moaned. “They are going to kill me! If you think I’m bad, just wait until you see them in a rage.”
“Dinna fash, I’ll win them over with my charm and wit. Ye’ll be perfectly safe.”
Jenna didn’t dignify that comment with an answer. She threw back the covers and climbed reluctantly to her feet. “All right. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”
She was so nervous she didn’t eat breakfast, so it was less than an hour later, after bidding goodbye to Rosaline, Mal, and Ingrid at the castle gates, that she found herself mounted on Bran, with Arran seated behind her.
It was a beautiful early summer day, with fluffy clouds in the sky high above, and the drone of insects in the flowers their only company as they rode steadily through the countryside.
Arran, perhaps sensing Jenna’s nerves, said not a word, but he was a steadying, silent presence at her back all the same.
They reached the beach too soon for Jenna’s liking.
She’d not been here since the day she’d arrived but even so, she recognized it immediately.
As they rode down onto the shingle and sand, dismounted, and walked towards the rock pools that bracketed the beach, tingles of trepidation slid down her spine.
Excuses and apologies ran through her head like a litany. She’d practiced them all a thousand times but she knew they would do no good. They were going to be furious. Two months had passed since she’d restored Skye’s magic. Two. Whole. Months. How was she going to explain that away?
They reached the rock pool and came to a halt at its edge. Jenna found herself staring down into its depths. It looked nothing special, just a run-of-the-mill rock pool that you might find on beaches the world over. But Jenna knew it was far more than that.
As she stared down into it, she felt movement at her side and looked up to see a blonde-haired woman standing beside her. The woman wore flowing robes and her hair moved of its own accord, like kelp shifting with the tide. She regarded Jenna and Arran with eyes of pure silver.
“Ready?” Lir asked them.
“Nope,” Jenna said, shaking her head. “Not even close.”
The goddess smiled. “Jenna MacFinnan, ye have conquered ancient magic, adapted to a time not yer own, and overcome the followers of a Norse god. Are ye telling me ye are frightened of yer own aunts?”
“Too right,” Jenna replied. “You haven’t met them. Give me a Norse god any day of the week.”
Lir laughed lightly, a sound like rain falling on the ocean. “I dinna think ye will find it as terrifying as ye imagine.”
“Ye are sure this will work?” Arran asked, stepping up to the edge of the pool. “And we can return any time we want?”
“A bargain is a bargain,” Lir replied. “And by saving Skye ye have paid the price a hundred times over. Aye, the portal is yers. Ye can come and go as ye please.”
Arran blew out a breath and looked at Jenna. He took her hand. “Yer aunts might be angry to start with, love, but they’ll calm down. And ye want them at the wedding dinna ye?”
Jenna nodded. She and Arran were getting married in two weeks and she didn’t just want her aunts at the wedding. She needed them there. She couldn’t do it without them.
She squeezed Arran’s hands. “I’m ready.”
Together they jumped into the pool, leaving the goddess staring after them.
They emerged, coughing and spluttering in the lake behind Jenna’s house. A flock of startled ducks went scattering as they broke the surface and a fisherman sitting on a platform stared in surprise, his sandwich dropping from his fingers, forgotten.
Jenna waved at him. “Hi. Nothing like a bit of wild swimming, eh?”
She and Arran paddled to the shore where he helped her out. Everything looked exactly the same as when she’d left it: the lake, the woods, the path. But smaller somehow, as if she’d grown.
“The twenty-first century,” Arran breathed, gazing around. “I never expected to come here once, let alone twice. My people would never believe this.”
“Well, if I’m still breathing later, I’ll give you a tour of the best bits.” She tapped her lip with a finger. “Let’s see. The best things about this time. Hmm. Oh! I know! Hot running water. Pizza. Chocolate. And doughnuts! How could I have forgotten doughnuts?”
Arran laughed. “Lass, I think ye may be drooling. I look forward to trying these delicacies.”
With a grin, Jenna took Arran’s hand and together they took the path that led around the lake—but in the opposite direction to where her house lay. They would go there later so Jenna could pack some things, but right now it wasn’t their destination.
Their destination was, in fact, a little white-washed cottage that stood on stilts out over the water on the northern shore of the lake. Jenna’s stomach clenched and her heart did a little flip when she saw it. She clutched Arran’s hand tighter.
Three steps led up to the veranda. Jenna halted in front of those steps and stared at the closed door.
“The door willnae open itself, lass,” Arran said. “No matter how long ye stare at it.”
Taking a deep breath, she strode up the steps and knocked, Arran by her side. She heard footsteps approaching on the other side and the door opened to reveal Aunt Rose standing there, wiping her hands on a tea towel.
“Aunt Rose, before you say anything,” Jenna blurted the second the door opened. “I know I shouldn’t have left without telling you first and I shouldn’t have been gone so long without getting in touch, but can explain everything if you’ll just listen—”
“Jenna!” Rose said brightly. “So you changed your mind about making chutney, eh? But why did you knock? Why not just use your key?”
“Eh?” Jenna stared in confusion. She’d expected Aunt Rose to be furious with her. She’d been gone for months, after all. Just disappeared without so much as a goodbye. What was going on? Was this the calm before the storm?
Aunt Elise appeared behind Rose, eating an apple. “Jenna!” she cried around a mouthful. “Come to save me from the boredom after all! Or maybe you’ve changed your mind about that hex?” Coming to the door, her eyes alighted on Arran and her eyebrows rose. “Who’s your friend?”
“I… um… this is Arran,” Jenna stammered.
Aunt Elise looked Arran up and down, an approving expression flitting across her face. “Hi, Arran. I’m Elise. Jenna’s younger, cooler aunt.”
“Delighted to meet ye both,” Arran rumbled in his Scots burr. “Jenna has told me much about ye.”
“She has?” Elise asked, her eyes fixing on Jenna. “Well she hasn’t told us anything about you. A mistake she’s going to rectify right now over coffee and cake. Come on in then!”
She and Rose went inside, leaving the door open. Jenna didn’t follow. What was going on? What were they up to?
“I don’t get it,” she muttered to Arran. “I thought they’d roast me alive.”
Warily, she walked through the door and into the cottage’s neat little living room. Her aunts were pottering around in the kitchen, and she could hear the sound of cups and plates. She noticed Aunt Rose’s phone on the sideboard. On impulse, she walked over and grabbed it, staring at the screen.
Or, more specifically, the date on the screen.
Her eyes widened. “I don’t believe it!” she gasped, looking at Arran. She waved the phone at him as though it explained everything. “Look!”
He blinked, a baffled expression on his face. “At what?”
“The date! This is the same day I left! I haven’t been gone for months at all! Lir has sent us back to the exact same day we left! No wonder my aunts aren’t pissed off with me! They don’t even know I’ve been gone!”
She didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or relieved. “Lir knew about this all along, and still she let me stew! I’ll kill her when I see her!”
Arran shook his head and whistled under his breath. “A showdown between a goddess and a MacFinnan spellweaver. I reckon I could sell tickets to that.”
“Are you coming in or what?” Elise’s voice came from the kitchen.
Jenna let out a long breath, feeling tension leak out of her, along with all the excuses she no longer needed. All this worrying and there had been no need! Aargh! If this was a goddess’s idea of humor, she did not appreciate it!
Taking Arran’s hand, she led him into the kitchen. The countertop was piled high with jars of chutney and the kettle on the stove was just beginning to boil. It was all so familiar, so homey, that for a minute Jenna felt her chest tighten with emotion. Oh, how she’d missed these two.
“Coffee or tea?” Rose asked, turning to face them with a coffee pot in one hand and a teapot in the other.
“Chocolate cake or lemon drizzle?” Elise said, balancing a cake-topped plate in each hand.
Jenna couldn’t help herself. She burst into tears. With a sob, she threw her arms around each of her aunts in turn.
Aunt Rose blinked. “What was that for?”
Jenna wiped at her eyes. “I’ve just… missed you guys, that’s all.”
“Missed us?” Elise said. “We only saw you this morning.”
Jenna took a deep breath, glanced at Arran. “You’d both better sit down,” she said. “And you might want to put something stronger in that coffee. We have a lot to tell you.”
THE END