Chapter Fifteen
Edan
Edan heeded Alasdair Grant’s warning, moving to the stern of the boat.
He decided to distance himself from what he perceived as Alasdair’s irrational threat.
He had made no move toward his daughter other than to prevent her from hitting her head on the boat’s hard deck.
What made Alasdair see it as anything else?
Roger joined him, bringing a hunk of bread to share.
“This should hold us until this eve. MacLean says he doesn’t bring much food for the voyage, just drinks.
Here’s a bit of ale for you.” He set down the odd covered container.
“He’s quite an interesting man to converse with.
He runs the Brotherhood of the Black Keel with two others, Connor Grant’s youngest son and Magni MacQuarie. We met MacQuarie on the first voyage.”
“I recall MacQuarie well enough.” Edan gnawed on the crusty end of the bread after breaking off a large piece.
Roger lowered his voice so the others wouldn’t hear. “With all this talk of faeries and faery hills, I have to ask you a question. What exactly did Da tell you about faeries? I think you’re hiding something.”
“I’m not hiding anything. He told me to watch out for them, or they’d steal me away. Like any parent, he made up stories to scare us. Do you not recall when he told you that if you were bad, they’d come and get you in the middle of the night?”
Roger tipped his head at Edan, as if making an important point. “I do. Which is why I’m bringing it up. You aren’t seeing a connection?”
Edan’s temper flared. “You think a wee bairn like Heilyn is capable of being bad? You think she was stolen in the night for doing something she shouldn’t have?”
Roger stood up. “She was stolen in the middle of the night, and so was Milo.”
“Those two bairns haven’t done anything wrong!” Edan wanted to shake his brother, to stop him from dredging up such ridiculous points.
Each of Roger’s points struck Edan in a place he desperately tried to avoid, the day their sire died. Their father had lost his mind in his sickness, and that was the end of it. There was no reason to keep bringing it up over and over again.
Even if it were true.
Why must Roger suggest a link between then and now? Even if, deep down, a part of Edan feared it might be true. He hated the thought, yet something about it felt disturbingly wrong, and he refused to let himself focus on it.
“I’ll drop it,” Roger said, chewing on a hunk of bread. “What was going on with Ailith?”
“She had some headaches. She’s fine now.”
“Her father is a wee bit protective. What did he say to you?”
Edan wouldn’t repeat all of it. “He just wished to remind me that he was watching. I’m not afraid of her father. And…”
Roger frowned. “And what?” He studied his brother for a moment, then whispered, “Something happened last eve. I can see it in your face.”
“Naught happened. I spoke with Ailith and her brother John. It was meant as a warning too. Her brother is a powerful swordsman, and he made a point of showing me some of his skills.”
Roger tipped his head back but contained his laughter. “They’re going to make you prove yourself. Your next marriage won’t be anything like the first one, a man handing you his daughter. You’ll have to earn their respect.”
A sudden stirring at the end of the ship caught their attention. Four or five people leaned over the side to wave.
“It’s the dolphin girl again,” Roger said, moving over to the side of the ship. “That dolphin never goes underwater.”
Edan jumped up, peering over the side as the dolphin approached.
Dyna grabbed Cormac’s arm. “Slow down, Cormac.”
The ship’s captain turned the sail, slowing the vessel. The group peered over the side—Daran allowed to look and now squealing—until a wee lass emerged from the middle of the gathering, heading straight for Edan.
“What the hell?” He looked at Roger. “How did she get here?”
“There must be a rope over the side,” Roger offered.
Cormac, an evil-looking grin on his face, shrugged. “Nay, I would wager she jumped.”
“You cannot jump up the side of the ship. She’s a bairn!”
The lass strode toward the stern. “Who are you?”
Rarely had Edan answered a bairn so bold, but he was surrounded by many he didn’t know. He’d seen her before so there was no reason to be upset about her questions. After all, anyone who could ride a dolphin in the sea was not a typical bairn.
The lass spoked again. “Edan MacRuari. I’m Lia, and I’ve heard you’ve lost a daughter to the Unseelie.”
“The what?”
“The Unseelie. The evil faeries. They steal bairns when they need to. What did you do?”
She came closer but abruptly stopped, reeling from something. “What are…?” She jerked again, moving back, her eyes bulging. “What are you? What is that power? You’re not an Unseelie, or I could tell. What is that protective force you have?”
She took five steps back, her hands on her wee hips as her gaze narrowed and moved from one face to the next, confused.
“Lia? What’s wrong?” Dyna asked, coming up behind her. “Did he try to hit you?”
“Nay. He’s got a different heat to him. A burning that I’ve never encountered before.
I cannot fathom what it is. He never moved, but his aura…
” She took three steps forward again, flinched enough to throw her back a few steps, but this time she gasped, her hand going to her throat.
Grabbing Dyna’s arms, she said, “Keep your bairns away from him. The wee ones. I don’t know what he has, but I don’t trust it. Something in his blood is different…”
Lia spun around and ran toward the end of the boat, throwing herself over the starboard side.
“What in God’s name was that about?” Edan followed her, running to the starboard, though he noticed no one else followed him. “Is she daft?” He peered over the edge of the boat, but she was already on the back of a dolphin, heading away.
He turned around, visibly shaken by the event. His eyes darted around the ship, looking for anything else odd. Everyone stared at him, different expressions on their faces, some shocked, others confused.
He saw Dyna cast a glance over to Ailith, then dropped her gaze as she took Daran’s hand and said, “You need to go back inside the cabin. Cormac is moving again.” She ushered the two away, ignoring their arguments.
“She’s fine, Edan,” Maitland explained. “Lia is the faery we told you about. Nothing can hurt her.” But he didn’t miss the worried glance the man cast over to Dyna, who then gave the same look to her father.
This was different.
This was more than he could handle. He didn’t believe in faeries, yet he’d just witnessed a lass of five or six summers climb up the side of a ship and jump over the side into the sea.
A move that would have proved fatal to Heilyn or Milo.
He rubbed his eyes, as if that could wash away the images he wished to deny.
Roger pointed to a distant spot in the sea. “She’s riding a dolphin that doesn’t go underwater, and it’s faster than this ship, Edan.”
“I know.” His voice lost its vehemence. It has happened. He glanced over at Ailith as if to say she was right. Something otherworldly was going on, and he had no idea what to do about it.
Fortunately, they were interrupted.
“Land!” Ailith pointed off the bow, her voice bright with wonder as the coastline emerged from the mist. A smile broke across her face, and something stirred deep in Edan’s chest, a warmth he’d forgotten existed.
When had he last seen such pure joy? The kind that belonged to wee bairns discovering hidden treasures or finding baby goats in the garden. The kind that now danced in her eyes as she gazed upon Islay’s shores.
Salt spray kissed the air, carried by the breeze.
In that moment, with her hair whipping free and her cheeks flushed pink, Ailith Grant was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
The boat pitched on a sudden wave, sending her stumbling toward the rail.
His hands found her waist, steadying her against him.
Her delighted laughter bubbled up between them, a sound that stirred something long buried within him.
His brother’s words, spoken after Florie’s passing, returned to him. He’d dismissed them as cruel at the time, but perhaps his brother had known something Edan did not.
“She was not meant for you, Edan. You deserve a different love, a true love.”
He hadn’t understood their meaning then, and he’d ignored them. Now, as they resurfaced, he glanced over at his brother, the look telling him that Roger’s mind was at the same place as Edan’s.
He’d just learned precisely what his brother’s words meant.
Ailith Grant was different.