Page 66 of Love Beyond Words
“That you’re the first of the nine women who will ultimately destroy Machara, but that each woman will be tested in her own time and in her own way.”
Awesome. I’d never been a very good test taker.
“Does it say how I will be tested?”
“This doesn’t, but I found something else that I think does.”
“Okay, let’s finish with the book first. What does it say of the other women? How do you know that you’re one of them?”
“It wasn’t even in the main text of the book. It doesn’t go into detail about the nine women, but there was an author footnote at the bottom of one of the pages. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it said something along the lines of little is known of the women who lifted the castle’s curse, though two of the nine were believed to be sisters, both blonde of hair and blue of eyes, though one had suffered much at the hands of a fire.”
I sat silently for a few seconds.
“That’s an oddly specific footnote.”
“I know, right?”
And then, at the exact same time, we both said,
“Morna.”
Laughing, I continued.
“Exactly. How much do you want to bet that she added that little piece of information just for you?”
“I’d say the chances are pretty good.”
“Is that all you learned from the book?”
There was a brief pause as Kate took a deep breath.
“Pretty much, but the article is what you really need to strap in for, sis. I think it involves you. It was an article about the fall of one of The Eight—the only one who is ever believed to have died of something other than natural causes.”
A lump rose in my throat. I didn’t even want to ask the question, but I knew that I had to. Silently, praying that she wouldn’t say Raudrich’s name, I spoke. “Does it have the man’s name?”
“A Laird Bracht.”
I only knew each of them by their first names. At least I knew it wasn’t Raudrich.
“Does it describe him?”
“It does. It describes him as being a tall and slender man in his late twenties at the time of his death. He supposedly had raven black hair and piercing blue eyes.”
The air left my chest in a whoosh.
“It’s Calder. What does it say?”
He was in his late twenties now. If the article was true, Calder didn’t have much time left.
“Supposedly, this man of The Eight—Calder, I suppose—was seduced by a faerie he met on the shores of the isle. After sleeping with her, his lust for her became unquenchable, and he thought himself in love. In his desperation to be with her, he went to the faerie with whom his magic was bound—Machara—and begged her to turn him into one of the fae. As faeries so often do, she offered him a deal. In his blind need, he took it without thought.”
I shivered and held the phone up to my ear with my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around my knees for warmth.
“What was the deal?”
“She made him promise that he would surrender the first woman to grace the steps of the castle into her care. In exchange, she would make it so that he could be with the woman he loved.”
I was the first woman permitted inside the castle in years, but Calder had made no move to bring me to Machara.
