Spellbound Falls [5] For the Love of Magic (18 page)

Titus brushed a thumb over her cheek. “I almost lost you,” he said roughly. “But that still doesn’t explain your leaving me now,” he added when she tried to speak.

He felt her hesitate and then take a deep breath. “When I realized I was with child, I panicked.” She moved her head inside his hand to look at him again. “Believe me, I would have been less shocked to find out
you
were pregnant.” She went back to staring at his chest. “I left you for two reasons: The first being that you know me too well and would have quickly realized my condition, and the second is that I needed time alone to figure out what to do.”

“There is nothing ‘to do’ if a child has decided to be born.”

She patted his jacket with a humorless laugh. “I needed to figure out what to do about
you
.” She slipped free and sat up, then arched an eyebrow at him. “You made a pact with
your enemies
to keep Carolina safe until her thirty-first birthday, and you wiped out Henry’s entire maternal family when they tried to kill Maximilian. I was afraid you’d make an even more outrageous deal with Providence itself,” she said, waving toward the sky, “to keep me safe. You were taken by surprise when I nearly died having Carolina, but this time you would have had
months
to plan and scheme.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” he drawled.

That raised her hackles. “Do you truly expect me to believe you wouldn’t go crazy when you found out?”

He held his arms away from his sides, his gaze locked on her glare. “Am I crazy now? Or did I go crazy yesterday when you shouted it at me in the middle of a battle? Or after, once you were safe?”

She blinked at him for several heartbeats, clearly nonplussed, then pounced. “No!” she yelped, ignoring his grunt when she hit dangerously close to his groin and started planting kisses all over his face. “You’ve . . . been . . . very . . . civilized.” But then she just as suddenly reared away, her gasp drowning out his second grunt. “Because you don’t believe I’m pregnant!”

“Poseidon’s teeth,” he growled, plastering her against his side before she finally unmanned him. “I will remain civilized either way. Now settle down. I need a nap.”

She held herself stiff in his arms, obviously trying to decide if she believed him or not, then finally relaxed against him with a heavy sigh. “It’s going to take us a month to get home at this speed,” she whispered, apparently also happy to drop the subject.

“Are you in much of a hurry?”

She shrugged. “I don’t mind missing Carolina’s wedding if you don’t.”

Titus blew out a sigh of his own. “I offered Alec a bottomless satchel of money a couple of weeks ago if he would persuade Carolina to elope.”

She looked at him. “That’s why you rode your motorcycle to Pine Creek?”

He pressed her head back down. “The idiot thanked me for the kind offer, but said he likes being a poor ski bum because he claims it makes Jane feel superior.”

Rana snorted into his chest. “You men do love creating that illusion for us.”

“Ah, wife,” he said as he gave her a squeeze, “we create the illusion hoping you women won’t realize you have us on our knees.”

She let out a noisy yawn and patted his chest. “How devious you men are.”

Titus stared up at the puffy clouds marching northward from the Gulf of Maine, bringing with them the promise of an even warmer day tomorrow, and listened to his wife’s breathing slowly even out in sleep. Though he would have preferred a less drastic means, he was glad the storm had stranded them out here in the wilderness, as it was obvious they needed this time together. And since they were on the subject of trying to anticipate each other’s reaction to her . . . what had she called it?
Unfavorable news.
Well, this was probably a good time for them to discuss
his
news. Although now that he knew her secret, Titus didn’t think his would affect her too unfavorably.

Only sentimentally.

It would, however, affect everyone on Atlantis. He doubted Maximilian would be very thrilled, and Carolina would probably throw a royal fit on the scale of one of Ella’s. As for Nicholas . . . actually, the warrior might in fact prove to be an ally.

Not that it mattered, since last he knew he wasn’t running a democracy.

No, the only person whose opinion he valued when making his final decision was Rana. He would tell her as soon as they began the day’s hike tomorrow, so they’d have plenty of time to discuss the consequences of what he was about to do before they shared their doubly exciting news with the rest of their magical world.

Mac stood on the very same rock he knew his father had stood on not eighteen hours ago, and dried his chest with his shirt before slipping it on and buttoning it up as he watched Niall MacKeage pull what remained of the modern catamaran deeper into the forest. He turned to see Duncan and Nicholas emerge from the woods, Duncan carrying the mainsail of the catamaran and Nicholas carrying the oiled canvas bag Mac knew his mother always kept on her sloop, which was now resting in four hundred feet of water on the floor of Bottomless.

“They appear to have set out for home on foot,” Nicholas said with a grin, tossing the bag into the bow of Duncan’s speedboat. “Accompanied by six wolves.”

“Why would they do that?” Niall asked, his gaze darting between Nicholas and Mac. “They had to know you’d come looking for them.”

Mac slipped on his jacket. “If I were to hazard a guess, I would say Dad is taking advantage of some quality time alone with his wife while she can’t run away.”

“But that’s at least a four-day walk and it drops below freezing at night,” Niall apparently felt compelled to point out. He gestured at the sail Duncan had just tossed in the boat. “And they have no shelter or supplies.” The highlander hesitated in apparent thought, then grinned. “Unless Titus should happen to find a backpack full of food leaning against a tree, along with a tent.”

Nicholas was already shaking his head. “He won’t use the magic around Rana unless it’s an emergency.”

“Mother is a mortal,” Mac explained at Niall’s obvious confusion. “And the magic upsets her stomach.” He looked at Nicholas. “You said Dante had no warning the new god would try manifesting again yesterday?”

“No one knew, not even their leader, Sebastian. And last night Dante told me they still don’t know. Everyone saw the storm from the settlement, but it was too far away on the opposite shore for them to think it was anything more than an ordinary squall. Dante said they’re actually planning another ceremony later this week.”

“According to Leviathan, we now have demons to contend with as well,” Mac said. “Dad set the great whites on them and quickly ended the fight, but I wasn’t able to find out if the entity survived.” Only just now realizing what Nicholas had said, Mac stiffened. “If the storm was along the eastern shore and the new god
did
survive, it could be here on the same side as Mom and Dad. And that means they could end up in the middle of another battle.”

Nicholas shook his head again. “The demons are no match for Titus. And don’t forget he has the orcas, which is probably why he took them.” Nicholas hopped into the boat. “Leave them be, Mac. Your father has been protecting Rana since before you were born, and from enemies far more dangerous than a fledgling god and a few cowardly demons.”

“When he was in his
prime
,” Mac snapped, also vaulting into the boat.

“You might want to refrain from saying that to his face,” Nicholas said with a chuckle. “As I believe he can still whip your magical ass.”

Mac grinned. “He’d have to catch me first.” But he quickly sobered as he looked up at the mountains forming a solid wall along the eastern side of the inland sea, then glanced out over the water before eyeing Nicholas again.

The warrior straightened with a scowl. “No. Leave them alone.”

Mac merely grinned again.

“What?” Niall asked, stepping into the boat and sitting down at the stern as he glanced at Mac. “What are ye thinking?”

“I’m thinking that I see no reason why the orcas have to be their only protection.”

“No,” Nicholas repeated.

Mac merely folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the gunwale.

“Would you please tell me why you’ve been treating Titus like a doddering old man lately?” Nicholas asked.

Mac stared at his childhood friend, then leaned forward and scrubbed his face in his hands. “Because,” he said, dropping his arms to his knees, “he’s up to something. I don’t know what,” he rushed on when the warrior tried to speak. “But ever since Mom left him, Dad’s been withdrawn and more secretive than usual. Why wouldn’t he tell us why he went to Atlantis last week?”

“Exactly how would you be acting if Olivia suddenly left you after only four years of marriage,” Nicholas asked, “much less after
forty
?”

Mac dropped his gaze to stare down at his clasped hands. “Point taken.” He looked up. “But I still say he’s up to something. Mother leaving him might be a big part of it, but I can feel in my bones that he’s planning something . . . epic. And if you’re honest, you have to admit you’ve also felt it.”

Duncan gave the boat a push, then hopped onto the bow as it glided away from the shoreline. “Has anyone learned why Rana left him?”

“No,” Mac said with a shrug. “She’d confided in no one, not even Carolina.”

“Nor Mom,” Nicholas added. “Although I saw hints last fall that Rana was unhappy.”

“But she and Dad were acting like newlyweds all winter after you got back from your mission,” Mac pointed out.

“So what’s the plan, gentlemen?” Duncan asked, sitting down behind the wheel but not starting the engine. “Do we send out a search party for them?”

“No. Instead, I think we should look for signs that the new god managed to reach shore.”

Duncan’s jaw went slack as he glanced up the inland sea. “You’re talking about searching over fifty miles of shoreline on just this side alone.”

“Which should take less than a day for a small army of gulls,” Mac drawled.

He then stood up and spread his arms—stifling a grin when he saw Niall stiffen—and braced himself against the surge he knew was coming. Feeling his body slowly begin to expand as he called forth the energy surrounding Bottomless, Mac silently summoned his feathered allies until the sky above the boat was filled with noisy gulls. He instructed them to search every nook and cranny of shoreline, beginning on the eastern side of the sea, looking for even the smallest sign that something had dragged itself ashore. The darting and diving birds circled in raucous chaos before suddenly dispersing in three directions: one group going north, the other south, and the third racing out to the nearest islands.

“Jesus, Joseph, and Mary,” Niall whispered, dropping his gaze from the sky and his eyes widening even more as Mac slowly returned to his normal height.

Mac lowered his arms and grinned. “Have you not seen de Gairn ever work the magic, MacKeage?”

“Matt . . .” Niall cleared his throat and shook his head. “Nay, not directly.”

“You’ve felt the brunt of it a time or two, though,” Duncan said with a chuckle.

Mac looked at where his parents had come ashore yesterday, then sat down again to disguise his shudder as he recalled Leviathan’s account of his father’s struggle to save his mother. Why hadn’t Titus used the magic to whisk her to safety instead of swimming more than a mile through frigid water in the middle of a vicious battle? He could have had her on top of Whisper Mountain with no more than a blink of his eye, far away from storms and demons and freezing temperatures. If nearly drowning didn’t constitute an emergency, then what in the name of Hades did?

“So now what?” Duncan asked as he started the motor and slowly idled north.

“Now we wait,” Mac said, “to see if the world has a new god.”

“And if it does?” Niall asked.

“Then we wait to see if we’ve gained an ally or an enemy.”

“And your parents?” Duncan asked.

Mac rested against the gunwale and looked toward the mountains. “We wait to see if they walk out of the wilderness holding hands or throwing rocks at each other.”

The latter, he was afraid, being a real possibility if the secret Titus was keeping had made him desperate enough to kidnap his wife.

• • •

Slowly working the tangles out of her hair while strolling down the old tote road, Rana smiled as she remembered feasting like royalty on spit-roasted partridge last night, thanks to the hunting prowess of their four-legged warrior—Kitalanta apparently assuming that anything with feathers was edible. Then again, maybe the orca had learned a little something about the human palate during the time he spent on land with Alec and Carolina each summer.

She was just thankful he hadn’t brought them seagull.

“No,” her husband said gruffly, taking the comb from her and slipping it in his pocket before clasping her hand in his. “I like seeing you beautifully disheveled.”

Rana continued smiling at the road ahead, wondering how he’d liked her falling asleep on him last night after only a kiss. And how beautiful he thought she had been this morning when she’d bolted for the woods just as he was reaching for her, or how he’d enjoyed listening to her throwing up spit-roasted partridge and figs and what she suspected was leftover seawater from her near drowning.

The morning sickness had caught her by surprise, since she hadn’t had any bouts of nausea up to this point. She’d been in a constant state of queasiness at the beginning of her other two pregnancies, but both the midwife she’d had for Maximilian and Maude had assured her that throwing up was a welcome sign the babe was settling in strongly. And that had made her worry about not feeling sick with this babe, although she had been taking many naps and gaining weight.

Titus squeezed her hand just as she heard him take a deep breath. “What if I were to tell you,” he said quietly, “that you’re not the only one who’s been keeping a secret these last couple of weeks?”

She lifted her gaze to his and widened her eyes. “You’re pregnant, too?”

Instead of returning her smile, he looked at the road ahead. “Have you found yourself feeling homesick for Atlantis this past winter?”

She looked up at him again, alarmed by the seriousness in his tone. “Well, I’ll admit I have missed my friends and our staff.” She gave a soft laugh. “And the warm, sunny weather.” She stopped walking. “Why do you ask? Are
you
homesick? Is that why you went to the island last week?”

He gently tapped the tip of her nose and started them walking again. “I went home to get you some of Mathew’s peaches and figs.”

“And Michelin’s goat cheese and bread. Did you bring them back hoping to make
me
homesick?”

He gave her hand another squeeze. “That was not my intent, and I’m sorry if they did.” He hesitated, then said, “I went back to walk the length and breadth of the island and merely . . . look around.”

“And what did you see?”

This time he was the one who brought them to a stop, his deep green eyes troubled. “I saw the accumulated knowledge of mankind in practice; people living in peace and harmony and joy as they stretch their imaginations to add to that knowledge.” He looked past her into the distance and shrugged. “I saw a myth.”

“Atlantis is as real as you are,” she said, reaching up and clasping his face so he’d look at her. “You built it precisely to prove that living in peace and harmony and joy is
not
a myth; that mankind
does
have the knowledge and resources to create a better world.”

He wrapped her up in his big strong arms. “They’re not getting the message. But for a few shining examples, the world is no better off than it was three thousand years ago.” She felt his chest deflate on another sigh. “If anything, modern technology is accelerating humanity
away
from the truth.”

His embrace tightened at her gasp. “You do
not
believe that.” She wiggled her arms free to clasp his face again. “Mankind’s stubbornness isn’t new,” she said softly. “So why has it suddenly become an issue? And what does it have to do with my being homesick, which is where you started this conversation?”

“Atlantis is no longer serving its purpose.” He pulled her hands down and held them in his. “And I believe it is time for it to stop being a myth and finally be discovered so the world will have indisputable proof that the magic is real.”

“But to what gain?” she whispered, feeling a cold chill race up her spine. He was talking about destroying their home. “What do you expect modern man to do with the discovery of an ancient, advanced society?”

“I would hope they would study it and learn the lessons it has to offer.”

“And our people,” she asked softly. “What would you have happen to them?”

He released one of her hands, but kept the other firmly clasped in his as he started walking again. “The majority of the population is the original settlers I gathered together, and I would give them the choice of returning to their countries in their natural time or following their children, who have already migrated into the real world.”

Rana was at a complete loss as to what to say, much less think. Well, other than
he
had obviously been thinking about this for some time. Sweet Athena, his secret certainly put hers into perspective, didn’t it?

“Do your thinking out loud, wife.”

“You . . . you don’t believe destroying Atlantis is a bit drastic to prove your point?”

“It has outlived its purpose,” he repeated. “The Trees of Life are safely scattered around the world and are thriving, as are two generations of Atlanteans. Some of our people have already followed their children, which was always my intent.” She looked up to see him smiling. “It is they who subsequently gave the world many of its great artists and scholars and innovators; men such as Da Vinci, Newton, Galileo, Einstein, and Buckminster Fuller, to name a few.” He shot her a wink. “And your good friend Johann Strauss.”