Spellbound (12 page)

24

Addie approached the laird’s table with his platter and ale, and set it before him. He sat alone. When she did not leave but stood nervously gripping her tunic, Kade frowned. “What is it, Addie? I’ve known ye for a long time. Ye ha’e something ye wish to say. Speak.”

“
I know I speak boldly, my laird, but Christel, she helped my husband, she treated his battle wound with herbs. I dunna know if it will heal him, but he’s already a sight better. And we ha’e sort of become, if no’ exactly friends, we ha’e an understanding. I would know, will ye harm her when she’s…yer wife?”

Kade’s
face had a hard look to it. “Are ye asking me if I will rape her, Addie?”

Addie
looked at her feet. “’Tis just that she shared something with me, and I think ye should know about it, given the approach of yer wedding night. I will speak plainly. She was with only one man afore ye, and…she suffered.”

He
stood so abruptly, his arms bracing the table, that Addie took a step back. “She was raped?”

Addie
nodded.

“
By whom? I will kill him.”

“
His name was Tomas. He was no’ right in the head. And he is already dead, my laird. A lad from her village pierced his heart with an arrow but was too late to stop the foul deed.”

Kade’s
frown deepened. “And ye think
I’m
capable of such a foul deed?”

Addie
looked at his face and saw hurt there, but only for a moment, before he masked his emotions.

“
Nay, ‘tis just, well, I know yer heart is set on revenge, and that I can understand, but methinks it should be reserved for the girl’s father, since she had naught to do with the attack….”

Addie
was afraid she would tremble. She had been bold, but it had been born out of concern for an innocent woman who had been kind to her.

“
Addie, ye are bold.”

She
gave a quick intake of breath. “I know it sir. Me husband Gordain tells me so all the time.”

“
But yers is the kind of boldness and bravery I admire. Go now, go back to yer work. And be at ease. Ye should know I wouldna e’er harm a woman in that way, enemy or no’.”

Addie
dipped her head, and left him wondering what sort of monster he’d become, that his own servants would question how far he’d go to exact his revenge. The thought of a man forcing Maighdlin to…. His stomach knotted and he clenched his fists at his sides.

His
rage was blacker than ever. He was sorry someone had already killed the man Tomas.

25

Maighdlin was bone tired. She wasn’t hungry and didn’t wish to join the others for the meal in the hall below, so she wandered the corridors until she found Niall’s chamber. No one was about, so she entered his room and shut the door behind her.

It
was similar to Kade’s chamber in taste and furnishings. She lay down on Niall’s bed and stole an afternoon nap. Soon she was dreaming. She found herself walking in a dark corridor, the stone nearly frozen beneath her bare feet. She walked in the ruins of a castle. She heard moaning, and it was the moaning she was drawn to. It was so…pitiful.

It
was dark, and a lone torch flickered high on the stone wall. She neared a dungeon. A filthy looking guard was busy dropping food on a rope down to a prisoner. She approached the guard. He did not acknowledge her presence as he hoisted the rope back up. Maighdlin peered into the pit.

In
a shaft of moonlight, she screamed as she saw her own dirty face looking up, her eyes an untamed fire. On the wall, someone had scratched a single word:

W
I T C H.

And
then Maighdlin was outside. She felt chains being wound about her as she was placed in a barrel. Someone was bringing a torch close to the barrel. She struggled and thrashed. Then the image turned to a smoking village, where bodies twisted in ugly, red flames. A voice commanded her from what seemed like a tunnel….

“
Wake!”

She
opened her eyes. There were no dungeon walls surrounding her. No chains binding her. No one trying to set her afire. Only Kade’s arms holding her. Tenderly, he placed a finger beneath her chin. He stroked her face softly with the back of his hand. “Why do ye tremble so, lass?” He pulled her closer so her cheek rested against his chest.

“
I…was dreaming.”

He
stroked her hair. “I hope ‘twas no’ of me again.”

“
I was walking in a ruined castle…there was a dungeon…then a fire….” A sob choked her and she could not continue.

“
You are chilled to the bone, Maighdlin.” Kade lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly, warmly. There was nothing of the commanding, brutal warrior she’d seen earlier in the courtyard. The kiss was only soft and searching.

He
traced a fingertip along her kiss-swollen lips. “Ye dream of dark things, Christel. Riderless horses, bloody battles, dungeons. Do ye ne’er dream of anything more pleasant?”

“
Sometimes I am afraid to sleep. Afraid of what my dreams may hold.”

“
Perhaps I need to give ye something more pleasurable to dream about,” he said huskily.

She
began to tremble again.

“
Damn it, lass! Must ye always be so afeared of me?”

“
Highlander, when ha’e ye e’er promised anything but punishment?”

Kade’s
eyes grew stormy. “Ye dunna understand what ye do to me, Christel….”

“
I understand I am yer enemy and that ye’ve sworn to hate me all of yer days e’en though I….” Had she been about to tell him she loved him?
Nay. It couldna be.

Kade
was silent, his jaw taut. Tentatively, Maighdlin reached out, traced the creases around his eyes, the lines at the corners of his mouth, his lips. “How can we e’er see each other as anything but enemies? I’ve almost grown used to ye calling me Christel, but ‘tis no’ my name, Highlander.”

His
arms tightened around her. He stared at her lips, and this time his kiss was not gentle. But it wasn’t brutal either. It was passionate, demanding, possessive, and her heart thundered wildly in her chest. She could not deny that she wanted him to go on kissing her.

Finally,
he dragged his lips away from hers, breathing heavily. “Enemy or no’, ye do hold me spellbound.”

“
Aye, spellbound, I’m sure,” she said. She remembered with clarity her dream, the word that was scratched into the dungeon wall, and lowered her head.

“
Maighdlin, ne’er hide yer eyes from me.”

She
looked at him again. “Spellbound. Perhaps ‘tis fitting ye say so, for everyone here thinks me some sort of witch who casts spells. Because of these accursed dreams of mine. Because sometimes I see spirits who have unfinished business. Because my father taught me healing with herbs. I canna control it; my visions come no’ only in my dreams, but in any place and at any time of day or night. I simply see and I simply tell. I am no witch.”

Maighdlin
gasped then. Someone stood in the half shadows, and she realized they were not alone.

“
What are ye doing in Niall’s chamber anyway?” Kade asked.

Without
realizing it, Maighdlin grasped her hands around Kade’s middle and leaned as close as she could. “Highlander, there is something I must tell ye, and ye
must
listen this time.”

Niall’s
spirit stepped from the half shadows. He moved his mouth frantically, but Maighdlin could not understand him. His spirit was weak. She didn’t need to hear his words. She knew what she would find in this bed, and what she must do.

She
swallowed. “Yer brother Niall is here with us now.”

Kade’s
features grew angry. “Ye go too far, lass. Ye may trick others with yer stories of ghosts and spirits, but I dunna fear ye. I told ye, dunna speak of my brother.”

“
But he
is
here. I can see him. He canna cross o’er until he makes his peace with ye.” She remembered something Niall had told her. “He told me they teased ye as a lad, they called ye ‘the Bold.’”

Kade
removed himself from the bed where he had found Maighdlin screaming from a nightmare, and stood by it, towering over her. “That was so long ago,” he said, looking at her in confusion, almost as if he wanted to believe her. “But ye’ll need more than a story that an old servant could’ve told ye to prove he is here.”

“
I can,” she whispered. “Ye gave Fenalla a beautiful necklace with a jewel in it the color of sea moss.”

Kade
looked surprised, but only for a moment. “That is also something ye could ha’e easily discovered by talking with any servant in this castle. Fenalla was a beautiful, proud woman. She was particularly proud of that necklace. She wore it often in these halls.”

Niall’s
spirit was gesturing wildly now. “Yea, but she lost it right before ye left for Ireland, and ye were sore distressed, weren’t ye?”

“
Again, no’ something that was a secret.”

“
Aye, but where she lost it and why? No one e’er found it, right?”

His
face hardened. Maighdlin sighed. Her body and her mind were exhausted. She was tired of being scared, tired of fighting him at every turn and then surrendering to his kisses as if she had no will of her own. “I know where it is. Niall’s spirit told me.”

He
was on the bed in a flash, pushing her down. She was pinned beneath his strong, muscular body. “Be careful where ye tread, Christel.”

Maighdlin’s
breath came in sharply. The air around them was tense. Lightning flashed outside the windows, and the skies unleashed a rain storm. Desperately, she sought to still the beating frenzy of her heart.

“
I told ye, I canna think when ye put yer hands and lips on me! Please, just listen. For Niall’s sake…for Fenalla’s.”

“
Whate’er lies ye spin, it will no’ matter. Tonight I will make ye my wife. Ye canna escape yer fate.”

She
squirmed beneath him, the evidence of his arousal pressing hotly against her thigh. “I’m no’ trying to escape my fate. I…will come willingly to yer bed tonight.”

Kade
looked surprised. He parted her thighs with his knee. Her night shift had worked itself up to her waist. “Ye’ll come willingly?”

Maighdlin
nodded. “Please, just please let me tell ye what I must.”

His
mouth made its way hotly down her throat, across her delicate shoulder. He bunched her nightshift so a pert breast was exposed, her pink nipple hardened and quivering. His lips found it and he suckled, causing a shock of heat to flood her soul.

The
sight of his dark head at her breast had her senses addled. She moaned at the pleasure she felt, and her hands found their way traitorously into his hair. It was soft, dark, and silky.

He
moved a hand down her flat stomach, ever closer to her womanhood.

“
Nay! Ye must listen to me! I promised Niall!” She plunged her hand down into a crevice in the mattress. Her fingers searched until they clasped something delicate and cold.

He
kissed her and cupped her womanhood. “Ye canna deny that ye want me, Christel. And I want ye to be mine. Tonight. Tell me ye want me.”

Indeed,
beneath his trews his manhood was large and swollen with need, pressing against her, seeking entrance to her. He lowered his head as if to kiss her again. “Ye dunna deny it.”

She
yanked the necklace from its hiding place, nearly shoving it in his face. He stared in disbelief. “What is this trickery?” he growled, snatching the necklace from her hand and leaving the bed once more. He strode to the window, held it in the waning afternoon light. For many moments, he said nothing as Maighdlin adjusted her clothing.

“
Fenalla was a girl, barely a woman, when ye left,” Maighdlin said quietly. “She became a desirable woman. Niall and Fenalla, they fell in love but were afraid to tell ye. His spirit told me where to find the necklace, to prove to ye that his spirit still lingers. He asks yer forgiveness….”

Kade
stood with his back to her, holding the necklace in his large hands. He was very still.

“
They were together here, in this bed…when she lost the necklace…and they were together when they died. As lovers. Niall wanted to tell ye about his feelings for Fenalla before ye left for Ireland, but he didna know how. After he realized Amaris’ nature, he found true love with Fenalla. He ne’er knew how to tell ye. He loved Fenalla and there was no hope for it. And ye were gone for three years, Kade. ‘Tis a long time.”

He
spun around, his eyes searing, like gold flames. “Ye could’ve found the necklace and hidden it here.”

“
Why would I do such a thing?”

“
E’erything I did, all those years in Ireland, all that fighting, that bloodshed, I did it for her! Her father wouldna agree to the match unless I became a seasoned warrior…‘twas the only way I could make her mine! And ye want me to believe ‘twas my own brother who betrayed me?”

The
candle by the bedside was suddenly doused by a gust of chilled air, and not by either of them. Niall’s spirit cradled his head in his hands, clearly in agony and grief.

Kade
turned back to the window, and Maighdlin could see he turned the jewel about in his hands. Thunder echoed through the castle. “Perhaps yer more like yer father Brodie than I imagined, Christel.”

His
words wounded her to the core but she spoke bravely. “Kade, ‘tis truly sorry I am to be the one to tell ye this, but her heart always belonged to Niall. They were ne’er sure how to tell ye. They didna want to hurt ye. Truly they didna. They couldna deny the passion they felt for each other. And there’s something else. Amaris’ daughter, Davina, have ye ne’er noticed how much she looks like Niall? Kade, at first I thought she was
yer
child.” Niall’s form stilled. Perhaps that was what he was trying to tell her.

“
Davina is yer
niece
, Kade. Niall lives on in her. I am sure of it. Ask Amaris. Niall wants ye to do right by her, to make sure the child is well cared for.”

Ghostly
tears shimmered in Niall’s eyes.

“
Enough!” Kade cried.

Maighdlin
found herself crying because Niall’s image was fading, because she did not know if what she’d done was enough for Niall to find peace, enough for Kade to begin on a journey to forgiving his brother and the woman he’d loved.

Despite
the fact that she was his enemy, she found herself crying for Kade’s hurt, and because he’d been betrayed by the two people he loved most in the world.

“
He needs yer forgiveness, and soon, or he will be stuck between worlds forever…ne’er to be reunited with Fenalla.”

Kade
clenched the jewel in his fist, turned, and stabbed her with his gaze. “Is this how ye cast yer spells? By weaving lies upon lies? Nay. It canna be true. My brother wouldna betray me that way.”

“
But the necklace, ye canna deny I found it in Niall’s bed! How would I know where to find it unless his spirit told me where it was?”

“
Go to my chamber!” he growled. “Now! Await me there.”