Page 59 of Love Beyond Wanting
“I think it’s a price he would be willing to pay to be free of Machara.”
Maddock shrugged.“Mayhap so, but even if ’twas possible, Machara would never do it.”
I had an idea.One I knew Maddock would hate.“Maybe we don’t need Machara.”
“I know of no other fae, lass.”
I smiled and Maddock’s expression immediately grew concerned.“I do.Machara’s father.He hates Machara.Perhaps we could get him to remove the fae from Brachan.”
“Lass, how do ye expect us to find him?”
“Machara will tell us.You already told me yourself.She thinks she’s unbeatable.She won’t mind telling me because she doesn’t think it will matter.”
Maddock took my hand and began to walk in the direction of Nicol’s bedchamber.“I suppose there will be no talking ye out of this, aye lass?”
I shook my head and smiled.“None.”
“Then we shall do it together.”
Chapter 39
“Mayhap yer braver than I believed.I nearly had him kill ye, yet ye’ve come to see me again.”
Maddock and I stood side by side, but this time as we faced her, Maddock allowed me to speak for myself.
“Machara, I need you to tell me where your father is.”
“My father?What could ye possibly want with him?”Her tone was decidedly more intrigued than angry.
“I want to go to him and ask him if he will make Brachan fully human like you did with Calder’s faerie lover.”
She lifted a brow as she tilted her chin up.“Why would ye not ask me?”
“I’m no fool, Machara.I know you would never do that for Brachan.”
“Ye are a fool if ye wish to go anywhere near my father, lass.He will either kill ye, woo ye, or keep ye in the land of the fae until ye are old and wilted.”
Perhaps she was right.But this was the part I was meant to play in Machara’s possible defeat.I could feel it in my bones.While I didn’t know Machara’s father, I didn’t believe he would kill me.If what her father wanted more than anything in the world was his daughter’s demise, why wipe out the woman destined to play a role in that very demise?
Machara, of course, didn’t know that.
“Then what do you have to lose by telling me?”
“Not a thing, lass.’Twill be my pleasure to send ye to yer death.Near the Isle’s far shore, two rivers meet.There is a hill, and on the other side is a clearing.Father dwells there in the land of the Fae.If he decides to see ye, he will make himself known to ye.”
Maddock and I had to wait until the middle of the night to speak with Brachan.The men, unsure of what to do with him, locked him away in the room where they’d held Calder, and each took turns keeping watch over him.Maddock had the midnight watch, and I waited until his shift was halfway over before I made my way down to the room.
“Doona speak with him long, lass.If he agrees to do this, we shall approach the others with yer plan, but for now, we canna risk another one of the men coming along and seeing ye.”
Nodding, I kissed him gently before stepping into the small, dark room where Brachan sat tied to a chair.
“You could break free from them if you wished, couldn’t you?”
I grabbed one of the candles near the doorway so that he could see my face as I approached him.
“Kate, lass.Ye have to know I dinna mean to hurt ye.I…”
I reached out to touch his knee.“I know that.Don’t worry.That’s not why I’m here.So…you could break free if you wanted to, couldn’t you?”I was attempting to lighten his mood, and it pleased me that he smiled just a little.
