Chapter 3 #3
“She’s awash in magic, then,” Alec murmured, eyeing the laird, who nodded as if agreeing.
To Ava he said, “In our time some druid travelers did the same as Mistress Ensley. They revealed charlatans and schemers, but they also discovered objects and artifacts possessing great power. Such remnants, they’re sometimes left behind by the Fae.
Encountering such exposes a mortal to lingering spells, which may cling to them. ’Tis likely what you sense.”
“Maybe.” It would explain why the other woman was making her as nervous as a fly in a glue pot, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy Ava. “How can we be sure?”
Esme frowned. “Why does it matter? The spider,” she tacked on. “You think Bodach planted something on her like he did me?”
“I don’t know. Guess I just want to be sure she’s not going to grow a hundred feet tall and stomp all of us into the ground.
” She thought of Rory, and how closely he’d stayed near Harper since her arrival.
The bloodline they shared made her slightly over-protective of him, but she knew he would also sense the same thing she had.
“How about we go talk to Miz Ensley again?”
“Wait.” To Esme Tasgall said, “Would you and Darro find Mistress Ensley, and bid her come to the laird’s chamber? I shall meet her there directly.”
The journalist nodded, gave Ava a sympathetic look, and then left. Alec closed his notebook, rolled up his map and bowed before following them out. That left them alone.
She regarded her husband, who looked back at her with a wariness that tore at her heart. “I love you more than anything in this universe and all the others, but you need to step back on this. Also, quit looking at me like I’m about to file for divorce.”
“You’re no’ happy,” her husband said, running his hand along the outside of her arm. “In part ’tis the changes wrought since Mistress Ensley arrived that fash you. You wish to fathom if ’tis her doing.”
“Partly, yes.” She hugged him, and put her cheek over his heart to listen to that strong, steady beat.
“If she didn’t change things, then the enchantment isn’t bothering to try and fix things now.
Our world could collapse any time. Rory thinks that’s going to kill every living thing inside the trap.
The clan. Our people.” She couldn’t quite keep the sob out of her voice as she added, “You, too.”
“Och, my love.” Tasgall stroked his hand over the back of her head. “I reckoned you angry when you’re fearful. Forgive me.”
Ava breathed him in, filling herself with the soothing warmth of his scent, like wine made from vanilla. “I’m not afraid of dying, you know. It’s just since I fell in love with you I can’t imagine being alone anymore, even at the end. If the worst happens, I want you with me.”
“If ’tis my choice, never shall we part in this life or after we end,” he said, tipping up her chin to give her a soft kiss. “Rest assured of that, my lady.”
After Darro and Esme relayed the laird’s request, Rory promised in a whisper that he would bring Harper to his brother soon.
The chieftain gave him a narrow look before nodding and walking off with his woman, who kept glancing back at them.
He knew he should continue with his task of introducing Harper to her new world, but he couldn’t stop watching her face for her reaction to Dun Talamh, his brothers, their vassals and the other outsiders.
Would she seek to leave him when she realized almost anyone among them would serve better as her escort because they could speak?
“Say something,” Harper said as she watched them go. “Sorry, whisper something.”
“What do you wish me say?” he murmured back.
“Anything. It’s been so long since I’ve heard voices that I just want to listen to the sound of them.” She sighed. “Only you can’t talk much without wrecking the castle, and I guess we have nothing in common, other than we’re both jumbo sized. The universe sucks. Again.”
“We’ve much in common, my lady.” He pressed his palm to hers, measuring her long, sturdy fingers against his own. His were only a half inch longer, but her hands seemed almost delicate compared to his. “I’ll wager you’re strong for a female. With such hands you may easily wield my tools.”
She grinned and put her boot next to his to show their feet were a match as well. “We could swap shoes, too. My mom was a small woman. Do you think my dad may have been one of those Fae folks?”
Rory almost wished her sire had been like his. It would have made everything so much simpler. Then again, even immortality bestowed by half-Fae blood like his had its limits, and they both likely wouldn’t survive the spell trap collapsing.
“No, my lady. You’re entirely mortal.” When he stepped to the side she latched onto his arm, stopping him, and the sensation of being touched by her spread through him as if it were a chill soon to turn to a fever.
“That’s the other weirdness,” Harper said, watching his face.
“You’re getting that, too, aren’t you? The instant fridge effect.
It’s not dislike, I promise.” When he didn’t reply she pursed her lips.
“Before I stick my size twelve foot in my mouth I should ask if you’re married or involved with anyone, but I’m guessing that’s a no. You’re like me that way, too.”
The only thing he understood of what she’d said was that she didn’t dislike him. He could no more mention Inga than he could stick his own boot in his mouth. “How do you mean, my lady?”
“I’ll bet you avoid relationships, and still have your v-card, just like me,” she told him in a laughing tone, as if it amused her.
“People our size generally abstain from the usual shenanigans because we’re afraid of hurting the norms. It’s easy to do that when you’re built like a Mac truck.
Also?” She gestured down the front of her body.
“I ask you, who can really handle all these amazing curves? Not even a NASCAR driver would try.”
She had used so many words and phrases that he couldn’t fathom that Rory should have been mystified.
Yet he did recognize the meaning behind her jesting words, and his heart ached for her.
Like him she’d spent her time in solitude instead of seeking a lover; she feared injuring a mortal smaller than herself.
He’d been the same with Inga, preferring to admire her from a distance rather than risk harming the chatelaine.
Rory knew he could handle Harper very well, and that she would enjoy much pleasure from his touch if they could overcome the chill they generated, and he could put aside his poor dead first love.
’Tisnae what she wants. We’ve only just met.
Rory wondered if he was drawn to her because she matched him in size.
That seemed ridiculous, but he’d never known a female like her.
He wanted to read her energy to discover what had changed her into the incredible mortal she had become, but he also feared knowing.
Another part of him wanted to bolt himself inside the forge and never again permit her to come near him so his love for Inga would never fade from his heart.
Why couldn’t he decide what to do about her?
“It’s okay,” Harper said, as if he’d spoken his thoughts out loud. “You know where I live, at least until I figure a way out of this place. If you want to talk about it, or just hang out, you can come find me.”
Rory nodded, and that seemed to satisfy her.
They shared a comfortable silence as they walked back into the stronghold, where every guard they passed tried and failed not to stare at Harper.
Although the McKeran men were not lechers, nearly all looked over her body with intense interest, for her size also appealed to them.
That attention made Rory wish he could drape the lady in a hooded cloak; it also brought an urge to clout some of his half-brothers.
“Don’t mind them.” She grinned at a couple of passing watchers whose jaws dropped when they beheld her.
“I’m used to it. People don’t know what to make of me in my world, so they react like I’m a monster.
At least your clan seems to like my gargantuan bod.
” She gave him a sideways look. “I’ll bet it was the same for you in the twelfth century. ”
“I didnae encounter others until after I reached manhood. I dwelled alone in the woods with my lady màthair.” The words came out of him easily, which baffled him. He never liked talking about Chomha. “She kept me hidden so others wouldnae find me.”
“My mom did kind of the same thing, although I don’t know why. She was killed when I was a little girl.” Sadness flickered across her face. “Big as we are, I suppose in their own ways they were trying to protect us.”
He wanted to take her someplace where they could converse longer, but they had arrived at the laird’s chamber. He knocked before opening the door, and saw the laird and his wife waiting with Farlan and several guards.
“My lord,” he whispered, bowing. “’Tis something amiss?”
“The laird bid me report on the state of the household stores,” the seneschal said.
“Since the day steadied, the enchantment replenished all the foods entirely. The gardens again bloom and bear fruit. Every sack in the granary, ’tis full.
” Farlan’s gaze shifted to Harper. “If ’twas your doing, my lady, you’ve my endless thanks. ”
“Sorry, while meddling happens to be one of my talents, I can’t do anything about magical food, gardens or grains,” she said.
In that moment Rory sensed that she was hiding with words her own worry, and wondered why such matters would trouble her.
The seneschal still bowed to her before leaving, and after a moment and a gesture from the laird the guards followed Farlan. Harper tensed as if she were preparing for an attack, which prompted Rory to take hold of her hand.
“Dinnae fret,” he whispered. “Tasgall wishes no one to repeat what’s said now.”