Redeeming Vows (7 page)

Simons face grew strained but nothing happened. He lowered his arms, frustrated.

“It’s okay, we can try again later.”

“No.” Simon tugged his shirt off and over his head and tossed it to the side.

He closed his eyes again and started over.

“The wind will carry me to the tops of the trees.

I will see the fish jumping in the stream.”

Liz swayed next to her sister, Simon’s singsong 50

Redeeming Vows

voice echoing in her head.

He rounded his neck in a stretch and the tissue beneath the surface of his skin started to ripple. Liz swallowed hard, focused on his fingers, and bit her lip. As Simon clasped his hands, his digits disappeared with crisp gray feathers in their place.

She grabbed Tara’s hand, eyes wide, praying for something, but not wanting to see her son change.

Liz felt her body start to rock back and forth. Unable to tear her eyes away from her son, she held her breath.

Blood rushed from her head.

Simon bent his arms, reached them out and for one brief moment, they fluttered in the form of a bird. Liz heard him calling in his head, he flapped his arms again, and they were whole. Human.

“Lizzy?” Tara called to her, but all she could see was her son down a long dark tunnel. He was Simon again, only stars surrounded him.

Fin turned when Tara called Lizzy’s name. As her body started to sway, Fin leapt to her side, catching her before she hit the ground.

The pasty color of her skin brought a wave of panic over him. He lowered her to the ground and brushed her hair from her face. Her head fell to the side. “Mom, are you okay?”

“She’s fine, Simon. Fetch some water.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.”

“No, you did fine. Your mother will be okay.”

Tara drew Simon by his arm and led him toward the water. “Come on, bird-boy. You know your mom, she’ll be all right.”

“I really started to change, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.” Tara and her nephew turned away, talking.

Fin glanced at Duncan. “She wasn’t ready for this.” And watching her crumble to the earth with 51

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her eyes rolling in the back of her head wasn’t something Fin had been ready for, either.

Liz stirred under his hand. Slowly, she opened her eyes. After blinking several times, recognition flashed over her face.

“I fainted?”

Fin nodded.

“Simon?”

“Is retrieving water for you.”

Liz started to sit up only to fall back on her elbows.

“Lay down.”

“I don’t want him seeing me like this.” Her eyes locked with his. “He’ll blame himself.”

“I’ll keep him away,” Duncan told them before leaving their side.

“Dammit.”

The simple curse brought a smile to his heart.

She was feeling better.

“I thought I could handle this.”

“’Tisn’t easy to watch him change.”

Liz sat up with his help, but he refused to let her stand until her color returned to normal, which it hadn’t.

“What if he can’t change back, Fin?”

Fin reached over and clasped her trembling hand. “’Tis in his nature to be human, not animal.

We have to believe he will be able to change at will.”

One small tear dropped from her eye. Her fear ripped him apart. How could he protect her, reassure her that everything would be fine? All he could do was drape an arm around her shoulder and tell her to have faith. The fact that she didn’t pull away when he drew her close was a testament of just how deep-seated her concern was.

“He scared the crap out of me,” she confessed.

“I know.” And he did. He kept his own fears and feelings to himself.

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He sat there holding her in his arms until he felt her trembling subside. When Liz lifted her head from his shoulder, her color had returned to normal.

Her gaze rested on his lips and hers opened slightly.

Was it an invitation? Would she want his kiss?

God’s blood, she was beautiful. At times like this, when she allowed her vulnerability to show, Fin was lost. Without thought of the consequences, he lowered his lips to hers.

At first they simply sat there, lips touching, neither pulling away or moving to deepen the kiss.

Then Liz sent out a simple tiny mewling noise that roused his passion and had him kissing her completely. Her mouth opened and her tongue darted into his mouth. Fin wove his fingers in her hair and deepened everything. Plunging where he probably shouldn’t, touching where he’d wanted to for months but didn’t.

A flame built within him at such an alarming rate, he thought he would combust. Liz’s hands and nails dug into his shoulders with desire. Fin brushed his hands down her back and rounded to the side of her breast. She arched toward his touch and quivered. Although he knew the kiss could go no further, he tantalized her more, his tongue danced with hers.

His body hardened, signaling to him to end their embrace. Against his will, he removed his lips from hers. Her eyes remained closed, her breathing as sporadic as his own.

“Oh, God. That shouldn’t have…”

Fin placed a finger to her lips, stopping her words. “We both feel this way, Elizabeth. This spark between us.”

“Yes, but…”

“No
buts
. Don’t think on this now. It will only confuse you further.” This was exactly what he told himself, even though his mind worked just as 53

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quickly as hers to come up with a logical explanation to their attraction. He didn’t, however, want her fighting him. At least not right now. Holding her in his arms, feeling her body responding to his touch…

That he wanted.

Oh, yes.
That
he wanted more than water, more than air.

The voices of the others returning cut off their intimacy and conversation. Duncan, Tara, and Simon, soon surrounded them, excitedly talking about Simon’s change.

All Fin could think of was how soon he could get Elizabeth back into his arms.

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Tatiana gazed upon the corpse of her uncle, unmoved. With his death, came her birth, or so her visions told her long before this day arrived. Closing her eyes, she rekindled the images that revealed her future.

As night time fell on the eve of the Romani’s final
journey, a powerful darkness would end her uncle’s
life and deliver her from the hell he made it.

Her redemption didn’t come without cost. Her
uncle’s death would be the first of many, but
Tatiana’s suffering would be over as long as she
stood beside the dark power.

Tatiana lifted her head and opened her eyes. In her path stood Grainna, a woman who appeared more beautiful than any she’d seen in her fifteen years. Yet that appearance only licked the surface.

Under the plane erupted Grainna’s aura, which took skill to look past. It held a dark fog and enraptured the battered souls claimed by Grainna’s hands.

These long dead souls opened their voiceless mouths but no sound came. Tatiana wondered if when Grainna slept these souls spoke in her dreams.

“What do you see, seer?”

Tatiana’s head started to ache. The talons of Grainna’s power started to find a break in Tatiana’s mind and worm their way inside.

“My travels are over. I am to stay with ye.”

The nameless souls swirled, and attempted to find the very edges of Grainna’s aura. Her brows drew together and jaw tightened. “I have no need to 55

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keep a child by my side.” These words spat out in anger. Grainna’s irritation slammed into Tatiana’s consciousness, forcing a vision clouded in darkness.

She stumbled back, reached for the pain in her head, willing it to stop. The vision drew from the past and not of the future. “I am not Druid,” Tatiana managed, though her skull felt as if it were splitting in two. “Killing me would not bring ye my visions.”

Grainna flew upon her, her breath streamed down her neck.

Tatiana cowered.

“How do you read my thoughts?”

“I do not read ye, Grainna. I see the past.” Even as the words tumbled from Tatiana’s lips, she knew this was only partially true.

The black of her eyes swirled in thought.

“I can be yer eyes of the future. So long as ye let me live.”

Grainna reared back, considered her words. As her hand lifted, Tatiana bit hard on her lip, drawing blood, but didn’t cower a second time.

“I can kill you now.”

“I know.”

But death didn’t come when Grainna placed her palm on her head. Instead, numbness replaced the pain her vision brought.

“Thank ye.”

“Do not thank me yet, seer.”

As Grainna turned away, the Romani, who stood by and watched the entire scene, parted in her path.

Tatiana knew Grainna would not be destroying her any time soon.

****

Redeeming Vows

survive a fight. For that reason, Fin held little back.

His sister’s happiness depended on Todd’s life.

A shout bellowed from the tower. A signal rose in the air, telling all who listened that a rider approached.

Fin climbed the steps to view the unexpected visitor. As the rider drew near, the tension in his shoulders dissipated. The amber-and-black mantle claimed the knight belonged. Fin ordered the gates down and instructed his squire to bring his father.

“Who is it?” The question came from Todd.

“I cannot tell. He is too far away.”

As the rider drew closer, Fin’s hand slipped from his sword at his hip and his lips pulled into a grin.

Logan.

Logan jumped from his horse the second he came to a halt. His bearded face dirty from riding didn’t hide his appreciation to be home.

A squire caught the reins Logan tossed his way before addressing him. “God’s teeth, ’tis good to see ye,
my lord
.”

Fin’s baritone laugh shook the walls. “As a second son, I’ll never be your lord, Logan.” The men clasped hands with forearms with genuine affection.

“How long has it been?”

“Near three years.”

“Is that even possible?” Fin knew it was.

“Aye.”

A sharp squeal came from the shadows. Myra’s voice rose while she ran into the courtyard. Fin stepped away when she affectionately greeted Logan with a hug. Todd kept a watchful eye on the exchange, but said nothing.

“You’re home!”

Logan put her back down. “I would have been sooner if I skirted outside of Lancaster. They kept me there nearly a week.”

“Everything is quiet, is it not?”

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“Aye, but there is news from your neighbors.”

Fin wanted to ask what information he had, but Todd stepped forward and placed his arm around his sister’s waist.

Logan’s eyes took in the exchange.

“Seems I’ve missed much.”

“Logan Douglass, this is Todd Blakely, my husband.”

Logan accepted Todd’s hand.

“Ye have a wonderful prize in a bride such as Myra.”

“Yes,
I
do.”

Fin laughed. Todd’s reply and possession was the instinctive reaction of many men when it came to Logan. His fair features and easy smile won him many favors among the women. In truth, Myra probably sat on a short list of women not interested in his prowess.

“Does Gregor know you’ve arrived?”

Logan shook his head.

“I’ll find him,” she said before turning back to the keep.

“I hear Duncan has married and sired a son.”

Fin walked with him and Todd out of the heat.

“We’ve had a productive year.”

Todd snorted by his side, but said nothing.

Inside the cool, stone walls of the great hall, Fin led Logan in and took a seat. “Alice!” he hollered.

Soon the kitchen maid scurried into the room, towel in hand. “Aye?”

“Fetch some ale and food for our traveler.”

Alice nodded and returned to the kitchen.

The sound of slippered feet drew from the stairs.

All eyes glanced to see who came. When Fin recognized Elizabeth’s gown, warmth settled in pit of his stomach. They’d said little since their exchange the day before.

“Who is this bonny lass gracing yer home?”

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The mirth in Logan’s tone brought Fin’s eyes to him. The inquisitive stare and lift in his lips leapt in his throat with a passing wave of jealousy. “’Tis Duncan’s sister-in-law.”

“Mom.” Simon ran from around the corner, cutting off Elizabeth’s entrance to the room.

Logan leaned over. “Is her husband here as well?”

“Nay, Elizabeth is…widowed.” Fin knew where the questions were going and didn’t care for them at all. Logan’s gaze swept her frame from across the room. The man already calculated his chances with her. Before he could set the man back, Elizabeth stepped into the room with Simon at her side. Logan shot to his feet, wiping a hand over his overgrown beard.

Simon opened his mouth to say something before he glanced at his mother. Fin knew they spoke to each other inside their heads. Liz’s eyes fell on Logan and her hand caught Simon’s attention.

“Seems we have company, Simon. Perhaps the cottage will need to wait for a day or two.”

Fin caught her gaze and gave a quick nod of approval.

“An introduction, Finlay?”

Logan chuckled. Fin extended a hand toward Logan. “Logan Douglass, this is Lady Elizabeth McAllister. Logan Douglass is son to—“

A robust bellow came from the main hall as Ian, Gregor, and Lora added to the growing numbers in the room. They turned and watched Gregor step forward.

“Son, ’tis good to see ye!”

Gregor pulled his son into a fierce hug, smiles and pats on the back came from all sides. Duncan arrived with Tara on his arm. Before long they all stood and welcomed their treasured friend.

Elizabeth and Tara stood to the side and 59