Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (68 page)

Morgaine shook her head, her green eyes
filled with concern. “And that’s not the worst of it, Alasdair.
Your coming forward in time has somehow changed the past.” She
toyed with the glass again and his gut clenched at the sight of her
distress, despite his certainty she toyed with him, as well.

She grimaced. “And I don’t know how to fix
it.”

Those words recalled him to the truth.

’
Twas a lie! Morgaine le
Fee could repair any matter, that much Alasdair knew without doubt.
Her dark powers were boundless and far-reaching, as any laddie
learned at his gran’s knee.

Morgaine could only have chosen not to aid
him, but had not the audacity to tell him flatly as much. Alasdair
could not guess what he had done to earn her disfavor.

Indeed, he had made efforts to accommodate
himself to the vagaries of her world! And he had been gracious
beyond all! Alasdair’s annoyance rose a notch - not unlike many
another mortal who strayed into the world of the unseen, his cause
had been poorly served. Certainly, he had not had any fair hearing
in Morgaine’s court.

But his anger would serve him poorly in this
matter. Alasdair fought to control his response, very aware of the
sorceress’s gaze locked upon him. Could she read his rebellious
thoughts? Were those thoughts what had wrought his doom?

He did not know.

And worse, he did not know what to say.

Alasdair clenched the wee pewter cup of
whisky, feeling in dire need of its consolation. Suddenly, he
wondered whether there was significance in Morgaine’s choice of
water.

Was this another game?

Was there aught awry with the whisky?

Alasdair cleared his throat, as he
considered flinging the dram against the wall. Would it leave a
trail of flames there?

But when he spoke, his words were icily
polite. “You do not join me?”

“
I don’t drink,” Morgaine
declared with a toss of her hair.

It was loose since their adventure in the
car, a great tangle of ebony witchery behind her shoulders, and
Alasdair suddenly feared what she might do to him. There was no
telling what a wee witch with her locks trailing loose might
conjure, and Morgaine had powers far beyond such mortals who
commanded only a fraction of her abilities.

Alasdair recalled well enough Morgaine’s
displeasure that he had been drinking before. He had the eerie
sense there was something of import here that he was missing.

Alasdair arched a brow and watched
Morgaine’s response carefully. “It sounds a matter of principle
with you.”

Her lips tightened and she took a quick
breath. “It is,” she said fiercely.

“
Why?”

Morgaine was clearly discomfited by his soft
question. Her full lips tightened and she looked away. “I don’t
want to talk about it.”

But Alasdair knew that he was hot on a trail
that could lead to his salvation. ’Twould be good indeed to have
some understanding of the enchantress’s thinking.

“
But I do, my lady,”
Alasdair insisted quietly. He leaned forward, trying to compel her
to meet his gaze. “I would know what troubles you and
why.”

Twin spots of color burned brightly in her
cheeks. Morgaine looked from one side to the other, then impaled
him with a determined glance. She took a quick breath and fairly
bit out the words, apparently responding against her will.

“
Because it changes
people,” she said heatedly. “Drinking makes them act differently
and do things they would never do otherwise. It makes them break
promises and hurt people close to them.”

Morgaine choked on her next words, then
shook her head and Alasdair he did not imagine the shimmer of tears
in her magnificent eyes. “It ruins everything.
Everything
.”

She snatched up her glass and gulped at the
water, but Alasdair was not fooled. He had seen these changes of
which she spoke. In most folk, the whisky brought a
lightheartedness, but there were those who turned dark when the
whisky was in their belly.

’
Twas clear enough the lady
had experienced this.

“
Aye,” he agreed carefully.
“I have seen it make a docile man turn bloodthirsty.”

She pressed her lips tightly together and
nodded.

“
And I have seen that man
hit his woman for no reason at all.”

Morgaine looked away.

And there was the meat of the matter, unless
Alasdair missed his guess.

Well, he was not such a fool to alienate his
Faerie hostess, particularly when she was already ill disposed to
aiding him. And if the prospect of a man with whisky in his belly
unsettled Morgaine, there was but one thing to be done.

Alasdair deliberately lifted the wee cup and
set it on the edge of their table. Morgaine’s gaze brightened with
interest, though she only flicked a glance at him.

The servant appeared in a flash. Something
wrong with the whisky, sir?”

Alasdair shook his head, his gaze fixed
determinedly on the sorceress. “Nay, there is naught amiss. My
taste has but changed. Would you be so kind as to being me a vessel
of water, as that of the lady?”

The servant sniffed and swept up the pewter
cup, striding across the tavern in poor temper. No doubt he
disapproved of the waste – though Alasdair was certain the whisky
would not be cast on the ground.

And he only had eyes for Morgaine’s
tentative smile. “You don’t have to do that,” she murmured, though
there was a thread of delight in her tone that he had.

The sight of Morgaine’s pleasure with his
choice emboldened Alasdair as naught else could have done. He could
win her favor yet.

He would win her favor yet.

Aye, he had never been one to back down from
a challenge – and Morgaine’s endorsement could be the greatest
challenge that ever he faced.

But the prize was well worth the
winning.

Alasdair abruptly recalled his gran’s
certainty that Morgaine le Fee was one to grant favors to those
mortals who shared her bed.

And Alasdair knew exactly where he was going
to be, as soon as it could be managed. The very idea made his heart
pound, though he was certain ’Twas only because his goal was in
sight.

It seemed his first instinct had not been
far wrong, after all.

“
Aye, I do.” Alasdair
leaned forward and captured Morgaine’s tiny hand within his own.
Her fingers quivered ever so slightly, this minute sign of her
awareness of him feeding his confidence in his new
scheme.

Was it possible that he, a mere mortal,
already held some sway over the tiny sorceress?

Alasdair stroked the back of her hand with
his thumb and dared to stare directly into her eyes. “For I pledge
to you this moment, my lady – as you have sworn to take me home –
that I shall let no whisky touch my lips while yet I am in your
domain.”

“
It’s not my domain,”
Morgaine protested, but ’twas clear she was pleased. There was no
doubt of that, though she seemed embarrassed by his intensity as
well. “Why would you do that?”

“
Because you wish it to be
so.”

“
I never said
that.”

Alasdair smiled slowly, noting how her
defiance melted away. He dropped his voice to a seductive rumble.
“Your eyes, my lady, did all the telling.”

And it was true. Even now, a heat lit their
emerald depths, and Alasdair knew he had embarked well upon his
quest. He remembered the sweet heat of her kiss and his loins
tightened with enthusiasm.

Suddenly Alasdair wondered why he had been
so intent upon winning the goodwill of her advisors and not that of
the lady herself. As he stared into Morgaine’s eyes, he could not
for the life of him think of a single reason.

Wanting only to see her smile fully again,
he squeezed her hands and winked at her, then sat back to drank
heartily of the water. ’Twas not half bad when ’twas cold like a
mountain stream.

She liked tales. And Alasdair had a thousand
of them. Should he need to sing them all to win his way between her
thighs, ’twould not be too high a price to pay.

And if a day in this enchanted land made a
year in the world of mortals, Alasdair had best begin his conquest
now.

“
I have a tale for you, my
lady,” he said quietly and knew that only one would do. “’Tis a
tale of the knight Tam Lin, a knight stolen away by the Faerie
Queen but won back by his mortal love.”

“
But we have to talk. You
really need to believe me about this time thing…”

“
There will be time enough
for talking, but this be the time to see a fair lassie smile.”
Before she could argue any more, Alasdair tapped his toe and began
to sing.

Janet has kilted her green kirtle,

A little above her knee.

And she has snooded her yellow hair,

A little above her bree.

And she is to her father’s hall,

As fast as she can be.

Four and twenty ladies fair

Were playing at the ball.

And out then came the fair Janet,

One flower among them all.

Four and twenty ladies fair

Were playing at the chess.

And out then came the fair Janet,

As green as any glass.

The few other patrons of the tavern turned
and lifted their glasses in silent toast to Alasdair’s tune. He
nodded his acknowledgement and continued on, delighted to see a
sparkle of interest in the lady’s eye.

Out then spake her father dear,

And he spake meek and mild.

“
And ever alas, sweet
Janet,” he says,

“
I think thou is with
child.”

“
If that I am with child,
Father,

I must myself bear the blame.

There’s never a laird about your hand

Shall get the babe’s name.

If my love were an earthly knight,

As he’s an elfin gray,

I would not give my own true love

For any lord that you claim.

The steed that my true love rides

Is lighter than the wind;

With silver is he shod before,

With burning gold behind.”

Blake and Justine came into the tavern then,
their faces lighting up when they spied Alasdair and Morgaine. They
made their way across the room and sat beside them, and soon
Blake’s fingers were tapping lightly on the rim of the table.

Meanwhile, Alasdair sang about Janet seeking
out her beloved Tam Lin to tell him of the babe she carried. Tam
Lin, it turned out, was not of the Fae, but a mortal captured by
them. Janet demanded the tale and the knight Tam Lin complied.

“
And once it fell upon a
day,

A day most cold and foul,

When we were from hunting come,

That from my horse I fell.

The Queen of Faeries she caught me

And took me to her domain to dwell.

And pleasant is the Faerie land,

But, an eerie tale to tell,

Aye, at the end of seven years,

We pay a tithe to Hell.

I am so fair and full of flesh,

I fear it will be myself.

But the night is Halloween, lady,

The morn is Hallowday.

Then win me, win me, as you will,

For well I want you to.

Just at the murk and midnight hour,

The Faerie folk will ride.

And they would their true love win,

At Miles Cross they must bide.”

Alasdair changed the pitch of his voice to
sing Janet’s part.

“
But how shall I know thee,
Tam Lin,

Or how my true love know,

Among so many uncouth knights,

The like I never saw?”

Alasdair leaned closer to Morgaine, lowering
his voice to confide Tam Lin’s wisdom.

“
Oh, first let pass the
black, lady,

And then let pass the brown.

But quickly run to the milk-white steed,

And pull his rider down.

For I’ll ride on the milk-white steed,

And always nearest the town.

Because I was an earthly knight,

They give me this renown.

My right hand will be gloved, my lady,

My left hand will be bare.

Cocked up shall my bonnet be,

And combed down shall be my hair.

And there be the clues I give thee,

No doubt I will be there.

They’ll turn me in your arms, my lady,

Into an asp and adder.

But hold me fast and fear me not.

I am your babe’s father.

They’ll turn me to a bear so grim,

And then a lion bold.

But hold me fast, and fear me not,

As you shall love your child.

Again they’ll turn me in your arms,

To a red-hot rod of iron.

But hold me fast and fear me not,

I’ll do to you no harm.

And last they’ll turn me in your arms,

Into the burning gleed.

Then throw me into well water,

Oh, throw me in with speed!

And then I’ll be your own true love,

I’ll turn into a naked knight.

Then cover me with your green mantle,

And cover me out of sight.”

The server brought two tall tankards of ale
for Justine and Blake and another glass of water for Alasdair. He
looked pleased at the song, for a few more patrons had slipped
through the door to listen.

But Alasdair had eyes only for his lady’s
dawning smile. His voice dropped low to tell of that All Hallows’
Night.

Gloomy, gloomy was the night,

And cold was the moon’s glow,

As fair Janet in her green mantle

To Miles Cross did she go.

About the middle of the night,

She heard the bridles ring.

This lady was as glad at that

As any earthly thing.

First she let the black pass by,