Chapter 2
Chapter Two
L aird Tair MacRune hadn’t anticipated seeing anyone when he had set out from his clan’s stronghold, Gealladh. All he’d wanted was a walk around their loch-bound island, and the time that took to sort out his thoughts.
“Maybe we should do a runner,” Lucy Brooke said to him, her eyes wide as she beheld the dark Fae queen and her grotesque inhuman guards.
Tair didn’t recognize the wench’s accent, or some of the words she used. At the same time he knew well what she meant, and tightened his arms around her. “We run, we die.”
Leaving the castle now and again alone helped leash his foul temper, which could create more problems than he already faced.
The latest news concerning their new and heartless magistrate had angered him, but now it seemed some masked stranger had taken to assailing some local villagers, beating them viciously as he demanded they spill what they knew of some lost treasure.
Thanks to the clan’s midnight raids, which out of necessity had become more frequent, the threat of disclosure had doubled for the MacRune.
If they were not careful, they would invoke the ire of those outside the clan, and put a swift end to their raiding.
Tair desired a better solution, but at present keeping outsiders away from Gealladh was the best they could do.
Deal first with the worst, Brenna, his lady màthair would advise. She had been a patient, practical tavern keeper who kept even the surliest of her patrons happy. After that other matters shall seem simple.
That tactic meant choosing between the two females he needed to deal with just now—and he knew which to take on first.
“’Tis been a hundred years since you ended my sire, Highness,” Tair reminded the immortal monarch. “Why didnae you ask us do your bidding just after his murder?”
“You dare question me?” the queen shrieked, making her guards lower their heads, and every bird in the trees around them drop stunned to the ground. Beside him, Lucy went very still .
So the ruler of the dark Fae was in a mood, then.
If Tair couldn’t appease her, this night would turn bloody, and the wench beside him would die in some ghastly manner along with him and all his people.
Glancing down at her pretty face framed by all that shiny golden hair, he knew he couldn’t allow that to happen.
No, she shall live, and so shall the MacRune.
“I wish pay in full the bloodline debt on my clan,” he countered.
The sky above darkened with storm clouds that were elongating and would soon begin spinning into a whirlwind.
That pressed him to take back his calm and swiftly finish this parlay.
“Name your treasure and your terms, Highness, and me and mine shall do our best to appease you.”
“Insolent whelp,” the immortal monarch said, rising above him as a snake coiling to strike. “Do you think because your fellow spawn call you lord you may speak to me as an equal?”
This time the ground under their feet began to crack like old crockery about to shatter, and Lucy made a choked sound.
“Never, Majesty.” He bowed low enough to touch the soil with his brow. “I but wish to ken what you desire from me and mine.”
For a moment the dark Fae queen looked as if she might still unleash her temper, which could set fire to the mortal realm and everyone residing in it. Her gaze shifted to Lucy.
“Give that mortal to me,” she demanded. “She’s useless to you, and I need something to kill.”
“She’s my woman, and has many uses,” Tair said, tucking Lucy firmly against his side. “If you end her, slay me and my clan as well. Then you may have your guards keep looking for your treasure for all eternity.”
Speaking with such disdain to the dark Fae queen, who could easily obliterate his realm with her monstrous armies, was on the verge of madness.
No one outside Elphyne could even speak her name, for the sound of it shattered mortals’ sanity.
Yet despite the danger something occurred to him.
It most likely had been her to send the one who had terrified the local people, obviously in hopes of finding the cluet.
Her minion had also failed her, or she wouldn’t have come to demand this of the MacRune.
Red sparks flew from the Fae rubies in the queen’s jade crown, rising like hot embers to glow in midair. “You’re as arrogant as your sire.”
“Aye.” He kissed the top of Lucy’s head. Somehow she’d possessed the good sense to remain silent thus far. “Tell me what I wish ken, and I shall find and deliver your treasure.”
“’Twas a century past in this time that I brought my mortal consort, Osgan, from this wretched realm to serve me in Elphyne.
” The queen’s expression softened for a moment, as if stating that had brought back fond memories for her.
“He’s a charmer and seducer who convinced me of his adoration.
Only after he vanished did I see that he came to me for the sole purpose of stealing the cluet, my priceless treasure. ”
Tair knew of the cluet from stories Brenna had told him of his sire’s relentless pursuit of it. The treasure was so coveted that mortals had named the rags they tied for luck to trees around sacred wells or springs cloots . “The wishing cloth vanished before my sire ended your consort.”
“That is why I killed your worthless father,” the queen said, baring her teeth.
“Rune not only failed to return the cluet to me, he silenced forever the one who had hidden it away in this wretched place. I considered it lost until it recently granted a wish. In Elphyne I sensed the ripple of power it gave off when awakening to use its enchantment. The cluet has come alive again, and that is why you will find and bring it to me at once.”
“It’s been well-hidden for a hundred years, Highness,” Tair reminded her. “I cannae promise to return it to you as quickly as you wish.”
“You have until the winter solstice.” Before he could reply she lifted one hand. “It is as much time as I will spare you. If you do not bring it to me by then, I shall destroy this realm and all that dwells in it.”
Her vow made his gut clench, for the dark Fae did not jest. “Why would you do such?”
“The cluet cannot fall into the wrong hands, for it grants any wish asked by its master— any ,” the queen told him.
“If you wished the thing to bring the sun and moon to you, so it would pluck them from the sky and drop them at your feet, regardless of what it should do to this world and all the otherworlds beyond it.”
“Fack.” Tair knew dark Fae objects of power could be lethal, but one that could snatch the very stars themselves from the skies should have been long ago destroyed. Before he could agree, however, Lucy tugged discreetly on his arm.
She leaned close, her breath warm against his flesh. “Make her promise that once you give her the sodding thing,” she murmured, “that she’ll never harm this world or anyone here ever again.”
He nearly told her to bite her tongue, and then he realized the brilliance of her suggestion. How had such a young wench gained such canny cleverness?
“My clan and I shall find it, Highness,” he told the dark Fae queen. “Only if you swear never again to act for any reason against the MacRune, mortals or the realm we call our home. ”
The ground shook beneath them as the immortal monarch stamped her foot. “You dare demand anything of me, you abomination?”
“My sire didnae.” He met her furious gaze. “’Tis why you ended him. I’m no’ Rune.”
“As you say.” A faint glimmer of respect came into her eyes. “Very well, I shall make that vow when you deliver the cluet into my hands—not before.”
“I need more assurance, Highness,” Tair said. “Swear to me now.”
For a moment the queen looked as if she might hurl all her power at him for insisting she make the pledge.
Her guards cowered away as her magic radiated around her like a cloud of faceless black adders.
At the same time the sky above them crackled with thin webs made of lightning racing from cloud to cloud.
The immortal monarch glanced up as two bolts struck either side of the island, and her corona of angry power slowly diminished.
“As long as the cluet is delivered to me before the winter solstice arrives, I vow that I shall never again act for any reason against the MacRune, the mortals, or this realm where they abide,” the dark Fae queen finally said.
“Fail me, Tair MacRune, and I shall destroy everyone and everything here.” Her thin lips curved into a sneering smile as she tossed to him a glittering black and red crystal.
“You may summon me to this wretched place with this when you’ve found my treasure. ”
She turned her back on him, her gown flowing around her as she walked back into the black tear, followed by her guards. The rift then shrank and closed, disappearing as if it had never been.
Shudders racked Lucy’s long, slender body as she turned and pressed her face into his shoulder.
Tair embraced her, stroking her back with one hand to soothe her.
Most mortals would have swooned or run mad after witnessing the spectacle she had just endured.
Moreover she had remained collected enough to give him excellent counsel.
What angered him now was the fact that she had been forced to.
He never involved the innocent in his dealings.
“You did well, Lucy Brooke,” he told her.
She lifted her head to look at him. “I’ll assume this is the Narnia version of Scotland in the fourteenth century. Is there a third alternative fate I can pick, or is it too late?”
Whatever Narnian was or whatever she wanted, she would have to wait, Tair, thought, as the sky overhead had darkened nearly to black, and lightning now jumped across it without cessation. He hadn’t realized he’d grown so angry, either.
Master yourself, Lochran, his most unfortunate half-brother would have advised. Else you shall never master your weakness.