Shadow Highlander

THIRTY-THREE

Galen didn’t move. Couldn’t.

Not when Mairi spun around and strode back to her chamber. Not when Reaghan slowly descended the stairs and walked out of the castle, the women following behind her.

He knew his fellow Warriors would have questions for him, questions he’d rather not answer. Questions he wasn’t sure if he could answer.

For too long he had hidden the extent of his powers. It was only fair that everyone know the truth.

His blood pounded in his ears, his heart was in his throat. He had prayed Reaghan would turn and look at him, give him any indication she wasn’t angry, before she left the castle.

But she hadn’t.

Galen let loose the breath he’d been holding and returned to his seat at the table. No one spoke as Fiona and Braden quietly rose and left the great hall.

“How did Mairi know of your powers?” Quinn asked, finally breaking the overwhelming silence.

Galen shrugged, his gaze on the table. He couldn’t look his fellow Warriors in the eye. Not now, not after betraying them. Possibly not ever. “I looked into her mind to try and find answers about Reaghan.”

“I was there,” Logan said. “We knew Mairi was hiding something about Reaghan. He was worried what it could be. Galen did what any of us would have.”

“True,” Fallon answered. “Did the villagers treat Reaghan badly?”

Galen ran a hand down his face. How had things become so convoluted? All he had wanted to do was keep the Druids safe. It had never entered his mind that they would act so offensively to everyone, Reaghan included.

“Quite the opposite,” Galen said, and forced himself to lift his eyes and look around the table. “Reaghan told me she found a parchment that mentioned her name and that of Foinaven Mountain. She wanted to find the answers to her past, to memories that were gone.”

Logan nodded as Galen spoke. “Reaghan asked to come with us. It wasn’t until Reaghan’s pain came upon her that we saw firsthand the elders were keeping a secret.”

Fallon’s brow was furrowed, his jaw set. “Explain.”

“They comforted her, but not once did they even try to offer herbs or something to dull the headache,” Galen said.

Logan cocked his head to the side. The smile he gave was hard and full of cruelty. “That’s when Galen confronted Mairi. He asked her to give him the answers he sought, and when she didn’t, he looked into her mind.”

“What did you see?” Lucan asked.

Galen met Lucan’s sea-green eyes. “I saw glimpses of her with Reaghan. Reaghan never aged, but Mairi did.”

“Like Logan, I’d have done the same in Galen’s position,” Hayden said. “Galen was protecting Reaghan.”

Galen found Ramsey’s eyes on him, but his friend didn’t utter a word, just stared thoughtfully.

“Can you control someone’s mind?” Ian asked.

Galen turned to the twin and gave a single nod of his head. “I’ve done it only once, and it nearly killed me.”

“Tell us,” Quinn urged.

Galen sighed and drudged up memories he wished he could forget. “I had just escaped Cairn Toul and was trying to find my way in a world that had changed so drastically. I came across a village on the border with England. There were English soldiers there who had killed a man and a woman, and one was about to rape a young girl.”

He paused and swallowed. “I thought I could do anything with my powers. I didn’t even touch him, just focused all of my god’s power and stared at the soldier. I commanded him to leave the girl alone and attack his comrades. For several heartbeats he stood still as stone. And then he did exactly as I commanded.”

“What happened to him?” Logan asked.

“I doona know. I fell unconscious. It took me days to recover. I never tried it again. I will admit, if Mairi had no’ changed her mind on her own and come to the castle with us, I would have used my power on her.”

Fallon dropped his head back on his chair. “We all have special powers. Some are stronger than others, and that we have no control over. We didna choose our gods. They chose us. We live with what we have and make the best of it.”

Galen knew Fallon was telling him everything was all right, but to Galen it wasn’t. It never would be. He stood and looked at each Warrior in turn. “I have no control over my power. If you brush up against me I will see into your mind, your thoughts, your feelings.”

“Every person you touch?” Arran asked.

“Aye. Person, Druid, Warrior, or wyrran. Even animals. No matter how I try to master my power, it eludes me. There is only one whom I can touch and see nothing.”

Logan murmured, “Reaghan.”

Galen nodded. “Reaghan. Whether it’s because of the spell she cast on herself, or something else, I doona know.”

“You didna tell us before because you thought we would send you away, didn’t you?” Lucan asked.

“Aye.” Galen hated to admit his fears, but no one could begin to understand how much he dreaded being around so many people, knowing he would see into their minds whether he wanted to or not. Yet, to kill Deirdre, it had been worth the risk.

He had another family now, and he would fight to keep them.

Hayden rose and walked to Galen. “Every time you touch someone?”

“Every time.” Before Galen realized what Hayden was about, Hayden clamped his hand on his shoulder.

“Now I know why you were always a step behind us,” Hayden said.

Galen ground his teeth together, expecting to see the worst in Hayden’s mind as he had in the past. Yet all he saw, all he felt, was friendship. A deep bond that bound them as Warriors and brothers.

Galen raised his eyes to stare into Hayden’s black ones. “Why?”

“Because you would doubt words.” Hayden dropped his hand and nodded to Galen.

Fallon rose to his feet then. “I think Hayden speaks for all of us. We need you, Galen. None of us believe you have forced those Druids, especially Reaghan, to do your bidding.”

“Thank you,” Galen said, and glanced at his uneaten food. His thoughts lingered on Reaghan. Without another word he left the hall and took the stairs to the battlements.

He scanned the land until he spotted Reaghan surrounded by the women. Galen wanted to go to Reaghan, to try and explain, but he wasn’t sure she would listen to him at the moment.

It was enough that she wasn’t leaving with Mairi. At least that’s what he told himself.

“She’s verra beautiful.”

Galen glanced over his shoulder to find Ramsey leaning against the stones, relaxed and nonchalant. But Galen knew Ramsey well enough to know his friend had sought him out for a reason. “Reaghan is beautiful.”

“Why don’t you go to her?”

“She needs time,” Galen said. “So much has changed for her.”

Ramsey’s boot heels hit the stones as he walked to stand beside Galen. “In all the decades I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you look at a woman as you do Reaghan. Why do you hesitate to go to her?”

“All of you take for granted touching another. I was not given that luxury with my god. I knew I would have to live my life alone. I had accepted my fate. Until I dared to kiss Reaghan. From the instant I realized her mind was blocked to me, I have no’ been able to stay away.”

“So you only want her because you cannot see into her mind?”

Galen inhaled deeply, his mind a jumble. “I cannot deny that is part of why I want her. But in the great hall when Mairi was asking her to leave, the thought of never seeing Reaghan again, of never holding her again, nearly broke me in two.”

“So you do care for her.”

“Enough that when she does lose her memories I will free her to find another.”

Ramsey raised a black brow. “You would give her up even though you’ve found possibly the only woman you can touch without your power interfering?”

“I would.”

“And that, Galen, is what makes you a good man. Forget Mairi and her spiteful words. Focus on Reaghan and what time you have left.”

Ramsey’s words echoed in Galen’s mind long after his friend had walked away. Just how much time did he have left with Reaghan?

*

Mairi paced her chamber and seethed. Ever since coming to MacLeod Castle, since meeting Galen, Reaghan had changed. Gone was the girl so willing to please, and in her place was a woman who knew what she wanted and wouldn’t be bent to another’s will.

But Mairi had no choice but to ensure that Reaghan left with the rest of them. Mairi had vowed upon being named an elder that she would keep Reaghan with them.

“You were wrong to say those things,” Odara said from the corner where she had sat since Mairi’s return.

Mairi clucked her tongue. “It needed to be said. All of it.”

“How did you know about Galen’s power?”

“He told me he used his power for information about Reaghan.”

“And the other,” Odara pressed. “How did you know he had controlled another’s mind before?”

Mairi paused and turned to Odara. In their youth, both of them had been the prettiest girls in the village, and since there were few men, they had become rivals instead of friends. Odara might have won the man Mairi had wanted, but Mairi’s body had remained stronger, not bent and weak as Odara’s now was.

“I guessed.”

Odara’s green eyes narrowed. “You’ve always been a terrible liar, Mairi. The truth, if you please.”

“All right. I was told.”

“By who?”

Mairi smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Galen is a threat to us and Reaghan, and I need to see him dead.”

Odara’s hand went to her chest. “Dead? You plan to kill a Warrior?”

“Aye.”