Page 3 of Highland Warrior
After a few minutes, the crystal stilled and skewered the map with its sharp point.
The Caledonian Forest.Of course. Within its ancient black depths any myriad of evils could hide. It was said that Fairy Magick still protected some of the forest, and that could be blocking each of the de Moray’s attempts to find the Grimoire.
“Ha,” he crowed in triumph. “I’m coming for ye.” Grabbing his cloak and riding boots, Malcolm strode from his laboratory with vengeance lengthening his every step.
In his haste, he nearly knocked over his cousin, Kenna, when he rounded a corner on his way to the stables.
She jumped back into her mate, Niall’s, broad chest and the man steadied her with gigantic, yet gentle hands whist glaring daggers at Malcolm.
“Malcolm,” she exclaimed, her amber eyes glowing with genuine pleasure. “I haven’t seen you in ages, you’ve been so isolated in your cave. Where are you off to?”
“The Caledonian Woods,” he answered shortly, making to step around them.
“Going hunting are you?” she asked brightly, putting a fond hand on his arm.
“Aye.”
“For game or for herbs?”
For evil.“I must be on my way.”
“Of course.” she kissed him on the cheek, which produced a soft sound of protest from her looming mate. “Ride past the west gate on your way out. My love and his men are erecting spear-tipped fence posts that would stop a war horse. It’s really very clever.”
Clever?Malcolm met Niall’s light-eyed glare across Kenna’s head and spoke to him in Gaelic. “My people were mapping the stars and discovering the mysteries of the universe while ye Nordic barbarians were still dragging your knuckles in your own people’s blood and shit.”
Niall’s eyes narrowed even further with suspicion. “What did he just say to me?”
“They’re just trying to help,” Kenna answered back in the language of their fathers, putting a staying hand on her mate’s chest.
“I should hex them all with a pox for making changes tomykeep withoutmypermission,” Malcolm growled at Kenna, still in Gaelic.
“You’ve been locked in your laboratory for days,” Kenna argued.
“Did he just threaten you?” Niall growled, taking a step forward with murder flashing in his eyes.
Malcolm made a fist, ready and willing to go to blows with the interloper.
“Oh… he said that you all are, indeed, quite clever,” Kenna lied, sending Malcolm silent warnings of wrath. “And, he saysthank youto you and your men for their hard work.” She annunciated every word through gritted teeth.
The Nordic giant quirked a suspicious eyebrow. “That’s not what it sounded like.”
Kenna grabbed Niall’s arm and guided him around Malcolm. “Oh, you know Gaelic, a rather harsh sounding language sometimes, isn’t it? Let’s go check on Ingmar and Bulvark, shall we?”
Malcolm watched as Kenna led her mate past him and disappeared around the corner in a hurry. He’d need to figure out what to do about these Berserker men. They weren’t even properly married to his kin, and yet they’d begun living together as though they had been in an alarmingly short time.
Turning, he stalked down the corridor, his footfalls echoing off the stones. First, though, he needed to stop the impending Apocalypse. Everything else could wait.
Going after the remaining Wyrd Sisters on his own was reckless, he knew. But he had a secret vengeance to reap.
And if Malcolm was in a forest, he had more than enough weapons at his disposal.
Chapter 2
My name is Vían. It was all she remembered. Anything else had disappeared into the nether ages ago. Her memories, her identity, and her humanity. She knew she used to be something. Someone. That she had loved, and had been betrayed. But even those details had begun to dissipate within the cold, dank void that had been her home for centuries.
When the madness set in, when she felt as though she’d fall through her prison that was as insubstantial as air, and yet as strong as iron, she’d press her cheek to the cold floor and chant the one thing she knew for certain over and over again.
My name is Vían.
