Midnight's Surrender

Chapter Six

Two hours later Dale stood with Rennie surveying her land. He’d wanted her to take him around the property to see if he could pick up any kind of magic.

“There is nothing here but grass and rock,” she said, exasperation darkening her voice.

“Obviously there is something. Did your family always live on this piece of land?”

Her forehead furrowed as she turned to him. “Mostly, yes. At one time we had three times as much land but parts were sold off here and there when money was needed.”

“Who bought the land?”

Rennie shrugged, then paused as she remembered something. Dale waited impatiently for her to share it, but all she did was look from one place to the other. When she finally turned back to him, she was pale.

“Oh, God. I don’t think I would’ve realized it had you not asked.”

Dale could hear his god roar with growing fury at what was happening to Rennie, and he had to agree with Shomi. It didn’t take him long to deduce what had upset Rennie. “Harriet has the land?”

“Yes. It wasn’t sold to her or her family first, but she’s been systematically buying up as much land on Coll as she can.” Rennie put her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. “How could I not have realized that? She told me several times over the years, and it just didn’t click.”

Dale took her hands in his and gave them a squeeze. “She doesna have your land.”

“Yet.”

“Ever. No’ unless you want to sell. If you want to remain, lass, I’ll help ensure that you do.”

She blinked, her light green eyes holding his. “You would do that for me?”

“I would.”

“Why?”

He took a step closer and ran his fingers along her cool cheek. Briefly, he thought about lying, then realized when it came to Rennie, everything changed for him. “Because I couldna walk away now if I tried.”

“You just met me. Do you feel compelled to help because you know I’m a Druid?”

It was a practical question, and it was part of his reasoning—but not nearly all of it. The need—primal and visceral—pounded within him to shield Rennie with everything he had.

“It is,” she said, the note of dejection hitting him squarely in the chest.

“Nay,” he hurried to tell her. “At least no’ all of my reasoning. Aye, I want to protect you because you’re a mie, but it is so much more than that.”

“I’ve known you for just a few hours, and yet I swear it’s as if I’ve known you my entire life. How is that possible?”

He shrugged and pulled her into his arms. “I’ve no answers. But I too feel as if I’ve known you forever. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

“It’s scaring me,” she said as she leaned her head against his chest. “Feelings don’t grow so quickly. Do they?”

“I’ve seen the impossible done with magic, so I believe anything is possible.”

She pulled out of his arms, her smile tight. “Let me take you around the rest of the property.”

Dale remained beside her, listening to her describe the isle in the summer and how the tall grass swayed with the sea breeze. The longer he remained, the more he could see himself working the land as she did.

But more than that, he could see himself with her.

It left Dale uneasy. He had been prepared to spend decades or even centuries alone. It never occurred to him that he might find someone he wanted to be with.

Rennie was a calm, steady breeze to the storm that was his life. She was stable, solid in his ever-shifting world. He wanted to hold onto her with both hands.

If he did, he could bring her down. How could he live with himself knowing it was the yearning, the need he couldn’t contain that killed her? Because if evil ever found him again, he had no doubt it would zero in on Rennie and use it against him just as the Druids were used against the Warriors from MacLeod Castle.

Dale promised to help Rennie, but if he really wanted to help her, he would leave Coll and never look back.

Just thinking it made Shomi roar with fury and … fear. Fear from the god inside him? That was a first. Not even when the selmyr were killing him had Shomi been afraid.

“You’re deep in thought,” Rennie said.

Dale shrugged as they walked. “I’m just thinking.”

“About leaving?”

He jerked his gaze to her. “Are you a mind reader?”

“No,” she said with a choked laugh. “There are times I wish I could read minds—like now. But no, I told you, my magic is pretty useless. I don’t have any kind of gift.”

“You have magic. That in itself is a gift.”

Rennie cut her eyes to him. “Perhaps. But you were thinking of leaving. Can I ask why?”

“To protect you.”

“I thought that’s why you wanted to stay?” she asked, confusion thickening her words.

Dale sighed. What a mess he was in. “Both are true. I told you evil has a way of seeking me out. I doona want to bring that to you.”

“Then don’t give in to any kind of evil.”

He glanced at her. “You make it sound easy.”

“It’s a choice. You have to be the one to make it.”

“And if they use you? What if my choice is to let you die or do what the evil wants?”

Rennie stopped walking and faced him. “I don’t know.”

“I do. I’d do whatever it took to keep you alive. That’s what evil does, Rennie. It knows just what to say or do to make a person agree to do evil in return.”

She rose up on her toes and kissed him. “Then we’ll make sure evil doesn’t come near us, and if it does, I’ll just use my magic to make sure it doesn’t use me against you.”

“You’re one amazing woman.”

Rennie beamed, even if she knew his statement wasn’t true. It still felt good to hear it. “I know,” she said and started walking again.

Ever since Harriet’s visit she had been on edge. With Dale beside her, she was able to rest a little easier because she knew he was a Warrior, but she hadn’t seen him fight.

The tales of the Warriors were legendary, but did that mean he could be as fierce as the Warriors of old? All she had to do was look at herself to know how messed up things could get.

Her family was known for its powerful magic, but she had gotten very little of it. So little in fact that she hadn’t received any type of special magic like others in her family.

Her mother, for example, was precognitive, and her aunt had been an empath. Even distant cousins could do more magic than she could. It was embarrassing, and when you added in the visions people got when they touched her, it made her a pariah.

“This is nothing but graze land for the cattle,” she said when they topped another small hill. “It’s a pasture I don’t use too much because it’s so far from the house. It was a favorite of my aunt’s though.”

Dale had gone quiet, his body almost vibrating he was so still. “A favorite of your aunt’s?”

“Yes. Does that mean anything?”

His dark eyes fastened on her intently. “Oh, aye, lass, it does. Do you no’ feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“The magic. It’s strong and verra old.”

Rennie looked around the empty pasture. “Magic? Here?”

“I thought there was a chance of something, and we’ve found it.”

“What magic?” she asked irritably. “I don’t feel anything.”

He took her hand and pulled her down the hill after him through the snow. “You will. It’s old magic, Rennie. I can no’ believe I didna feel it before. I might have had I no’ been so focused on your magic.”

She couldn’t help but preen at his words. He liked the feel of her magic. That was wonderful to hear, just as it had been deliciously sensual to listen to him describe what her magic felt like.

Rennie moved as fast as she could. She didn’t know this pasture as well as the others, but Dale navigated them around partially hidden stones in the snow.

“My heart is pounding with excitement. This is like an adventure,” she said with a laugh while she watched Dale jump over the fence.

He grinned and held her hand as she climbed up to the top of the fence before his hands spanned her waist and he set her down beside him before they started walking again. “An adventure? Lass, you need to get out more.”

“I know. Have you seen much of the world?”

“More than I’d like to thanks to the military. I’ll be happy never to see Afghanistan again.”

“Ah.” Rennie bit her lip at her stupidity. Here she was thinking it was some kind of hunt, and Dale had seen actual combat in the military and out of it after he had become a Warrior.

“No need to act as if you’re walking on eggshells. I killed for the government and I killed to stay alive. I have to live with that.”

“You act as if it doesn’t bother you.”

“It bothers me.”

When he halted next to a large rock protruding over four feet from the ground, she thought it was to tell her more of his time in the military. Instead, he smiled and took her hand.

“Are you ready to discover your past?”

“No,” she said and then busted out laughing. Dale’s answering grin made her laugh even more. When she recovered she said, “My most grand adventure besides leaving home for Scotland is whatever I experience through movies.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then you might want to prepare yourself, because I think we’ve found what it is Harriet wants.”

Rennie had no choice but to follow Dale when he kicked aside snow to reveal hidden steps that led into darkness. His hand never released hers, and she wasn’t sure if it was to help keep her steady or make sure she didn’t run away.

Running away was very tempting, she mused when the darkness fully covered her. All she could think about was booby traps, bugs, and something waiting for them that was better left alone.

“I can’t see a damn thing,” she whispered.

Dale’s chuckle bounced off the rocks to echo around them. “I can. Warrior, remember? Stay here.”

“Wait!” she cried, but Dale had already released her hand and disappeared.

Every sound was magnified in the darkness. She could hear something off to her right and realized it was Dale’s boots as he walked around.

The sound of rocks falling shattered the silence suddenly, causing her to duck and cover her head with her hands. A second later she made out a shape coming at her as her eyes adjusted.

“It’s just me,” Dale said.

Rennie let out a relieved breath and straightened. “I don’t like this place.”

“You will once you see it. Now, can you use your magic to create fire?”

“Yes, why?”

He put something long and heavy in her hands. “Light the torch, Rennie.”

She called to her magic, letting the feel of it consume her before she channeled it into fire. The sensations ran down the length of her arms, through her fingers, and then light flared brilliantly from the torch.

Rennie gasped when she saw the small chamber they stood in etched with Celtic carvings and knotwork—all of them holding magic.