Forbidden Highlander

Chapter Sixteen

Fallon looked out over the castle from the tower and smiled. He hadn’t expected so much to have been accomplished while he was away. All but two of the towers had been restored, including the one he stood in now.

His heart hurt as he thought about returning the castle to its former glory. He could well imagine his father standing in the bailey with his arms crossed over his thick chest and his dark hair streaked with silver nodding in approval.

At least this was one thing Fallon had done right.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs announced the arrival of his brother even before Lucan stepped through the doorway.

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Lucan said, his brow furrowed.

Instantly Fallon thought of Larena. “Is something wrong with Larena?”

“Nay. She’s woken.”

Fallon let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Is Cara seeing to her?”

“And Sonya as well. Logan and I helped bring up water for her to bathe.”

Fallon swallowed and turned his head away lest his brother see the flare of lust that spiked in him when he thought of Larena in the water. “Is she feeling well?”

“She seems to be.”

He wanted to inquire if she had asked about him, but somehow Fallon kept his mouth shut.

“You need to tell her what you did for her,” Lucan said.

Fallon nodded. “I’m sure I will.”

“Are you going to fight for her?”

He faced his brother then. “She’s mine to protect.”

Lucan grinned and nodded. “Good. I like her. You need to go to her though. She’s in a new place, and the only one she knows is you.”

“I will go to her after the noon meal is finished. She is still resting, and I want an update from the others.”

It was a lie. He wasn’t ready to face Larena quite yet. But as Fallon walked down the winding stairs of the tower, he found he wanted to go to Larena right then and shake her for not trusting him. Then he would kiss her until she melted against him.

It had been so long since he had been around women that he had to remember to treat her like a lady, not some object that was his to claim. Still, the god inside him demanded Fallon declare her as his own, to mark her as his so no other man would dare touch her.

Just as he expected, when he and Lucan arrived in the great hall, the others were already at the table helping themselves to the food Sonya and Cara had prepared.

Fallon took his seat at the head of the table and filled his own trencher while listening to Hayden speak of going hunting that afternoon.

“I’ll be down at the water fishing,” Lucan said.

“Sounds good,” Galen said. “Cara, could you make me another loaf of bread?”

Fallon found himself chuckling as the others groaned at Galen’s request.

Logan threw his empty goblet at Galen but Galen easily deflected it. “Doona you ever get enough, mon?”

“Never,” Galen said with a smile, before popping a piece of bread in his mouth.

There was a round of laughter that even Fallon found himself joining. The castle had missed such sounds, and he was glad to have them return. The men — and women — around his table weren’t true family, but they were his family.

The MacLeods had given their vow to fight Deirdre and protect anyone in need.

It was his duty now to make the decisions. Fallon had always relied heavily on his brothers for their input, and that wouldn’t change. The men sitting around him had proven their skill as warriors, and he valued their ideas.

Fallon waited until everyone was finished talking before he cleared his throat to get their attention. “We had a plan to break Quinn free of Deirdre. In order for it to work, we needed the Scroll and the spell that would bind the gods.”

He paused and took a deep breath. “We doona have the Scroll, and we aren’t likely to get it.” Logan opened his mouth, but Fallon held up a hand for silence. “I have an idea, but before I get to that I want to finish.”

Logan nodded his head and waited.

“Sonya has been a great tool in teaching Cara how to control her powers, but neither of them knows how to bind our gods. Without that spell to bind Deirdre’s Warriors, we will have one hell of a fight.”

“I’m always willing to kill wyrran,” Hayden said.

Galen scratched his chin and glanced around the table. “I don’t like being outnumbered, but if we plan it right we could surprise them and use it to our advantage.”

Fallon nodded. “I also believe that could work to our advantage.”

Lucan put his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. “What do you propose?”

“Has anyone seen the Scroll?”

Everyone shook their heads, as he expected.

“It is my understanding that neither has Deirdre.”

Ramsey chuckled, drawing everyone’s eyes to him. “I know what you’re thinking, Fallon. I like it.”

“Aye,” Fallon said. “I propose that we make our own scroll.”

Hayden cursed and rose from his seat to pace. Galen ran a hand down his face while Lucan studied Fallon with a steady gaze.

“Do you really think we can do this?” Lucan asked. “If Deirdre suspects it’s false we’ll never get Quinn free.”

“Do we have another choice? I cannot stand the thought of Quinn in that dungeon another moment,” Fallon said through clenched teeth. “I’ve waited, just as you asked. And I agree, it was for the best. She was expecting us immediately, and we’ve taken the time to try and learn something that will help us. But the simple truth is, we know no more now than we did when Quinn was taken. I’m through waiting, Lucan.”

Ramsey leaned forward on the table. “I understand that, Fallon. He’s your brother. You would do anything for him, but what if she’s already broken him?”

“Then I’ll fix him.”

There was a moment of stunned silence and then chaos erupted as everyone spoke at once.

Fallon counted to ten before he slammed his hand on the table. “Enough!”

He looked at each man and woman at the table and took a deep breath. “All that matters to me is bringing Quinn home.”

“And what if he’s sided with Deirdre?” Galen asked. “Distance will not sever her hold on him.”

Fallon fisted his hand and looked into Lucan’s eyes. “I know Quinn. He will fight Deirdre with everything he’s worth. If she has pulled him to her side, it’s only with magic. We have Druids who can fight that magic.”

Sonya shook her head sadly. “How effectively is the question. Deirdre’s black magic is very powerful.”

“I willna leave Quinn with Deirdre no matter what.”

“I agree with Fallon,” Lucan said. “Quinn comes back with us.”

Hayden cursed and pushed his trencher away. “Quinn could be a spy.”

“Any one of you could be a spy,” Fallon stated. “Even knowing that we allowed you into our home. Why would I treat my brother any differently?”

Ramsey lifted his hand for silence as Hayden began to argue again. “Fallon has made excellent arguments, and even though I have my doubts that Quinn will be the same man he was before Deirdre captured him, we can do nothing else but bring him home.”

Fallon gave a nod to Ramsey. One by one the others agreed. Now all Fallon had to worry about was getting Quinn away from Deirdre and whatever horrors he brought back with him.

Larena watched from the shadows on the floor above while Fallon spoke to the others. She had planned to stay in the bath soaking, but the need to learn about her surroundings was too great. And, if she was honest with herself, she wanted to find Fallon.

She had dressed in the simple blue gown Cara had brought to her chamber. To her surprise, it fit perfectly. Cara had also supplied woollen hose and several pairs of shoes. Larena had found a pair that fit, and after combing her fingers through her hair she had left Fallon’s chamber.

It was the voices from the great hall that drew her down the corridor and the flights of stairs. Not wanting to be seen, she had kept to the shadows and observed the people below.

She wasn’t surprised to find Fallon at the head of the table. He had a natural ability to lead that others recognized. She suspected that even if he hadn’t been raised to be laird, he still would have been a leader.

Her gaze fastened on him and she watched as he ate and spoke to Lucan who sat on his right. There was an empty place to his left that she knew was saved for Quinn. That Fallon looked again and again at the empty seat told Larena just how desperately he wanted to have his brother back.

She tried to imagine how it would feel to have a sibling taken from her. As an only child, she found it difficult. She’d had friends, but the only other family she’d been raised with was her cousin Naill. He had been several years older than her and didn’t want to be bothered with a girl.

It was a new experience to watch the way Fallon and Lucan interacted. They had many of the same mannerisms, and she expected Quinn had some of those same traits. It was really too bad Quinn had been taken. She would have liked to see all three brothers together.

Larena shifted her gaze to the only women in the group. Cara sat beside Lucan while Sonya sat across from Cara. They carried on their own conversations, but both listened aptly when the men began their discussion.

She recognized Logan sitting at a separate table. The big blond seated with him looked sinister, with his furrowed brow and hard eyes. She would keep her eye on him. Men who looked as he did sought out trouble, and she wanted no part of that.

With her attention back on Fallon’s table she looked the other two men over. The black-haired one had his back to her, but after just a short observation she noticed that he didn’t speak as often as the others.

The other man, with dark blond hair, had an easy way about him, but there was also something in his gaze that spoke of unnamed horrors he had witnessed.

All of them were Warriors. Larena had never been around so many. In truth the only Warrior she knew by face was Camdyn MacKenna.

The men below most likely knew she was a Warrior by now. How would they react to her? Fallon was the only person she really knew, and they had known each other mere hours. Had she made the right decision in asking him to bring her here?

Then she remembered the attack in Edinburgh. Deirdre had discovered her. Deirdre’s reach seemed endless, and if Larena knew anything about Deirdre it was that the drough never gave up when she set her sights on something. And now, her sights were set on Larena.

It was good timing that Fallon had come to Edinburgh when he had. She would be dead now if he hadn’t been there. She owed him her life.

She covered her ring with her left hand. She could repay Fallon by giving him the Scroll, but every time she thought of it, she grew sick to her stomach.

Robena had drilled into her mind endlessly how important it was for the Scroll never to land in Deirdre’s hands. Everything Larena had fought for these last hundred years would be in vain if she handed the Scroll to Deirdre.

The change of tone below drew Larena out of her thoughts. She peered around the stone and listened as Fallon spoke. He was calm and in control, fully in his element in his castle. She loved watching him. He was amazing.

Larena wanted to go to him and kiss him.

She started toward him when she heard Fallon mention the Scroll. Her heart leaped into her chest when she heard him say he’d never intended to give Deirdre the real Scroll, only a fake.

Her fingers clutched her ring, ready to pull it off and show everyone the Scroll so they could copy the Celtic scrollwork that would let Deirdre know it was real.

But then she stopped. Fallon would want to know why she hadn’t told him in Edinburgh.

Larena hated lying to him. Fallon had told her things she knew he had never shared with anyone else, but she couldn’t do the same. There were some things, such as the Scroll, that the fewer people knew about them the better.

She took a deep breath and looked around the table to find Cara’s gaze on her. Larena shook her head, hoping Cara would keep quiet. Cara gave a small nod of her head in acknowledgment.

Larena knew she should go down to the great hall and introduce herself, but she couldn’t move. She turned away from the scene and leaned her back against the stone wall.

She had spent several years at the king’s castle, but she had always kept herself separate from others. Her inability to trust, Malcolm would say. Malcolm had been her only link, and even then she hadn’t allowed herself to become too attached to him since she knew she would leave him one day.

Now, below, there were six immortal Warriors. What the MacLeods had done by opening their castle was to create a family. The last time Larena had been part of a family they had scorned her and driven her from her home.

But she had to stay with Fallon. If Deirdre captured her, it would only be a matter of time before she discovered what her ring was.

Larena sighed. She would do as she always did then and keep her distance from everyone. It was the only way she could survive.

She turned to walk down the stairs and found Fallon before her. Her lips parted as she gazed into his handsome face. He always took her breath away, and the need to touch him, to feel his arms around her, was crushing.

She hadn’t noticed before that he had traded his kilt for a tunic of deep red and leather breeches, faded with time and use, that were tucked into black boots. He looked more natural in this attire, and she couldn’t say which she liked better, the kilted Fallon or the casual one before her now.

“How did you know I was here?”

He shrugged. “I smelled your scent.”

A thrill went through her at his words, and she had to remind herself to keep her distance even though everything inside her cried out to be his.

“How do you feel?” The question was voiced in a calm manner, but the way his dark green eyes burned her body caused her blood to quicken.

“As if the attack never happened.”

“Good.” Fallon held out his hand. “Everyone is waiting to meet you, and I want to hear about the attack.”

She placed her hand in his, and then stopped him when he would have turned away. “Wait. I … I need a moment.”

“For what?”

“There are Warriors down there I don’t know.”

He regarded her silently for a moment. “My brother would never hurt you. He will protect you with his life. The others have proven their worth to me. They are here to put an end to Deirdre.”

“I know.” How could she explain it to him when she couldn’t understand it herself?

“Come,” he said with a pull of his hand. “Everything will be all right. Trust me.”

Trust. It was just a word, but it was something she didn’t allow herself to do. With Fallon, however, things were different.

She let him tug her onto the stairs. The conversation in the hall fell quiet as they descended. She swallowed, hating the eyes on her. It had been easy to blend in at the king’s castle, but she wouldn’t get that luxury here.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Fallon.

“For what?”

“For saving my life.”

He shrugged as if it meant nothing. There was something about Fallon that had changed. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but he wasn’t the same man she had shared a bed with in Edinburgh.