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  The man dismissed her, shaking his head as he continued. “Mayhap so, but lass, I’ve always been a solitary creature. I wanted my own life, one filled with my own choices. I dinna want to be a part of anything. I dinna want to be a pawn in any greater purpose.

  “When I was only a lad, word of a man seeking young men with magic spread among my clansmen. This stranger needed a group of druids young enough to train and strong enough to help him lock away an evil being on his isle. The moment I heard the man’s story, I knew I was bound to it. Something inside me lit like a beacon welcoming the stranger, I knew it wouldna be long before he found me and recruited me into his group of eight lads he meant to use as protection.”

  “Was the man named Nicol Murray?” Whatever Morna expected the stranger’s story to be, it certainly wasn’t this.

  “Aye.”

  “And where did ye grow up?”

  Morna knew the man’s answer before he gave it. A memory of her own from long, long ago had surfaced. Now everything seemed clear to her.

  “Allen territory.”

  Hamish, Raudrich, the beginning of her own strange tie to The Isle of Eight all tied back to the stranger sitting in front of her now.

  “Ah. So ye fled to the future and hid until another lad was chosen in yer place?”

  The man straightened in his seat to look at her. “Aye. Was my story so predictable?”

  “No, lad, but I am a part of this story whether ye know it or not. Hamish—I suspect he was probably laird when ye were young—and I were once verra close. He called to me as he prepared to die and asked me to look after his grandson, Raudrich, in whatever way I could. Ye see, lad, Raudrich had been called into The Eight by Nicol Murray, and Hamish desperately wanted me to aid his grandson to be set free from a life of duty and obligation. At the time, I thought it a concern that any grandfather might have, but now I see ‘twas more than that.

  “Hamish knew that all those with magic were born to a purpose. If The Isle of Eight was Raudrich’s true purpose, then Hamish would’ve been glad to see his grandson fulfill it. But it wasn’t Raudrich who was supposed to be there, ’twas ye, and Hamish knew it.”

  The man’s eyes filled with tears. He gently closed them as they spilled over.

  “Aye, I’ve no doubt he knew. Hamish always seemed to know everything. Raudrich was my closest friend. I dinna know I was dooming him to such a fate when I left. I was young. All I wanted was to be free. I canna tell ye how sorry I am for what my choices have done to others.”

  “Lad, doona be sorry. Mayhap Raudrich wasna destined to The Isle before, but he certainly is now. I know if ye asked him, he would change nothing in his life.”

  Opening his eyes, the man briskly brushed away the tears. “That is some comfort, at least.”

  “Forgive me, lad, but I doona see how this story has anything to do with why ye came here.”

  “I am not yet finished. At the end of my story, it will all be abundantly clear to ye.”

  Morna nodded, urging him to carry on.

  “After I left and came here to the twenty-first century, I grew up in Scotland. I found work with a farmer not too far from here. He allowed me to sleep in a converted space above his barn. I happily believed that even the ghastly smell which I breathed day in and day out was better than the life that awaited me back home.

  “I returned occasionally to see my mother, who believed I’d found similar work only in my own time. She was relieved that my powers had yet to call me to some great and dangerous purpose, so she never questioned anything I told her verra much.

  “At the age of thirty, the farmer I worked for died. His land was sold to a man who dinna wish to keep me on. I dinna mind. By that age, I was restless and ready to reinvent myself. I went to America and fell in love.”

  Morna couldn’t help but smile, despite the gloomy nature of the man’s story. Of course the man’s wife was modern. Almost all of the women Morna meddled with were.

  “With yer wife?”

  “Aye. The moment I saw her, I was consumed. We fell for one another quickly. Before long, I told her the truth of my magic and where and when I was from. Shortly after we married, I visited my mother alone to tell her of the good news. It was then that I learned of Laird Allen’s murder. I knew that Raudrich would have much to settle after his brother’s death. After abandoning him to my fate once, I couldna leave him alone to handle this.

  “So—after much convincing and preparation—I took my wife and her father into the past. More quickly than I could’ve imagined, we settled into a happy life there. But it wasna long before my past caught up with me. I couldna outrun my destiny, no matter how much I tried.”

  With the man’s story still unfinished, Morna said nothing as she reached out to give his hand a reassuring squeeze.

  With another breath, he continued. “Raudrich told few within the village, but his loyalty was now pledged to The Isle of Eight. He couldna be laird. After some time home, he asked if I would take the land from him and serve as laird since he could not. It seemed a weighty decision. So, as many in our territory often do, I went to look into a pool of waters that can tell a man’s future to see if mayhap my fate from so long ago had changed, and now I was meant to be laird of Allen Territory.”

  Morna was all too familiar with the magical waters of Allen territory. At one time in her life, they’d caused her more pain than she wished to remember.

  “I canna imagine that went well, aye? Such waters are dangerous.”

  A painful sob escaped the man’s chest, and Morna regretted interrupting his story.

  “Aye, those damned waters have ruined my life.”

  “What did ye see?”

  “It was not my future that I saw that day. Instead, I saw my wife and her place at The Isle of Eight Lairds. She is as tied to The Isle as I was meant to be. While I could choose to abandon my own destiny, I couldna deny my wife hers.”

  “So what did ye do?”

  “I made her promise to remain in the seventeenth century and then I faked my death. I knew that with time she would be led to The Isle so she could fulfill her purpose there. For months she did as she promised, but something has brought her here now. I doona wish to be a bad man, Morna. I foiled fate once. I shouldna do it again.

  “I’ve studied much about The Isle in this time. I know the legends. I know how Machara’s bond over The Eight is supposed to end. My wife is meant to be one of the women to help destroy her, but my love for her is a selfish thing. If she is here, close enough that I can feel her, I willna be able to stay away. I will go to her. I will win her back, and I will keep her here, far from The Isle, damning everyone who lives there. I no longer care what happens to them. This pain within me is too much. All I want is for it to end, either by ye breaking this bond so I may mourn her in peace or by holding her in my arms once again.”

  Her heart heavy, Morna leaned forward to answer him. “I’m sorry, lad. I canna do as ye wish.”

  “Why? How can ye not? Ye must see how important this is. If ye doona help me, people will die. History will change.”

  “’Tis not that I doona wish to help ye. I do. But I canna do so. If ye know all that ye say ye do about The Isle, ye know that magic canna be used to defeat Machara. It must be mortal women that destroy her. Yer wife doesna know that ye live. By removing yerself from her life, by leaving her no choice about whether she wishes to fulfill her destiny at The Isle or remain with ye, ye have already intervened with magic. If I were to sever yer bond without her knowing, ’twould again be magic. She must be the one who decides what sort of life she wishes to live.”

  Morna watched as desperation crept back into his gaze. He stood and began to pace around the room.

  “If I go to her, she will choose me.”

  “What makes ye so sure? Ye said yerself that there is another.”

  “She possesses every bit of my soul. How could I not possess as much of hers?”

  “I doona doubt that at one time ye did, but ye
underestimate the heart’s ability to expand, lad. While ye lived, ye were her everything. I am sure, now that she believes ye are gone, she loves ye no less than she ever did, but ye canna be everything to anyone once ye are in the ground. It serves no one to devote one’s life to those who are gone. After she has grieved ye, she must make room for more.”

  When he stared back at her blankly, the frustration in his gaze said all that his words did not.

  Morna continued, “That’s the way with hearts. Sometimes ye think it willna ever be able to hold such love again, to hold more than it once did, but its ability to open is infinite. More love can always come in. With time, even though her love for ye will never fade, her heart will grow larger. Someone else can saturate her soul, too. Maybe someone else already has.”

  Anger flashed in the man’s eyes, and for a moment, Morna thought the man might lunge at her.

  “I will take her back. She is mine as long as this bond remains. ’Tis why I need ye to break it.”

  Morna shrugged. Each moment spent in this man’s presence allowed her to see him more clearly. He was a man unsure of everything. A man with so much to learn.

  “Mayhap so. If ye are sure that ye canna move on with the bond ye share still inside ye, then even if I break it, yer business with her willna be finished. Go to her. Tell her what ye must. If she agrees to break the bond, then I shall break it.”

  “She willna agree. She will choose me.”

  Morna stood. Tired and eager to be in Jerry’s arms, all she wanted was for the young man to leave. She couldn’t know if she was making the biggest mistake of her life, but she knew what this stranger didn’t seem to understand—that none of this was for them to decide. She could meddle in love, but she couldn’t meddle in fate, and this time it involved more than a handful of hearts.

  “Perhaps, but ye forget that she’s already grieved for ye. Do ye not think she will feel betrayed when ye show up in her life again? ’Tis cruel what ye’ve done to her.”

  The man followed closely as she walked to her front door.

  “She will forgive me. She will choose me, and the future of The Isle will be ruined. People we both know and love will die.”

  Opening the door, she ushered him out into the cool evening air, before closing the door with her parting words.

  “Ye may be right, but it doesna matter. The choice must be hers. Ye and I are just chess pieces in this game. Everything depends on her.”

  Chapter 1

  Allen Territory - 1651

  * * *

  The widow’s theatrics did nothing to hide the satchels filled to the point of bursting with her late husband’s belongings. Candlesticks, linens, goblets—anything that would sell for a fair price—bulged inside the three large bags lying against the wall.

  “I canna thank ye enough for coming to offer me comfort. ‘Tis truly…” The woman paused as she pinched her eyes closed, narrowed her nostrils and forced tears to come before throwing her arms around my neck for the fifth time since I’d arrived. “I canna breathe without him. And ye…ye are the only one who truly understands.”

  Dutifully, I patted the charlatan on the back. For today, I was still the primary landowner in Allen Territory and such a visit was necessary. She was right—I did understand grief. It was something I contended with each and every day—a constant companion that never left.

  Keeara wasn’t grieving for anyone. If the state of her home was any indication, I’d wager she’d helped the old man to his grave. I’d even double the bet that by nightfall, she and all of the home’s belongings would be gone from this village for good.

  “Aye. I know ’tis difficult to lose someone ye love.” Peeling her off me, I stepped away and toward the door. “I simply wished to come and express my sympathy. Everyone in the village is happy to offer support however we can. For now though, I must go.”

  She said nothing until I stepped just outside her home. Until that point, I thought perhaps I could make it through the torturous encounter without saying something regretful. Her last words to me quickly dissolved any hope of that.

  “I can still feel him. At night when I sit down at the table we shared together, I sometimes feel his hands upon my shoulders and his lips against my cheek. I believe he wishes to remind me that I’m not alone. That he’s still here tending to me the best way he can.”

  Since Ross’ death, I’d yearned to feel him. But my pleading and hoping never did anything to bring about his presence. If my Ross—my beloved Ross—wasn’t going to stick around to look after me, then the stranger Keeara had married certainly wasn’t going to either.

  Looking back over my shoulder, my irritation with her charade unleashed itself.

  “Come now, Keeara. The man was older than yer father. Ye’d been married a week and ye only met a fortnight ago. I doona care that ye dinna love him. But doona make a mockery of those who did love and truly lost it.”

  The feigned expression of agony eased on Keeara’s face. Guiltily, she gave me a nod before closing the door behind me.

  I couldn’t bring myself to take my normal route back home. Today, the walk through the middle of the village back to the castle simply seemed too public. With my successor and his men settling in throughout the territory, I knew I’d be met with questions and the usual concerns that come with introducing people to someone new, and I didn’t have the energy to deal with it today.

  Instead, I took the route through the woods, along a worn and clearly marked trail, taken by many of those that had lived in the castle through the centuries. It provided some sort of shielded respite from socializing if one simply wasn’t up to acting as “laird” for the afternoon.

  I always enjoyed the sound of branches and leaves cracking beneath my feet. Even after years of living here, the soft crunch provided a sense of grounding I rarely had in my life before coming here.

  “Halt. If ye be a lady, please stay back just a moment. If a man, ye may proceed.”

  “Raudrich?” The distinct deep bellow of my friend’s voice was recognizable anywhere, but I’d not expected to hear it again for some time. I stayed back as instructed and did my best to pretend that I couldn’t hear him peeing just a few steps from me.

  Once finished, he turned toward me with a smile.

  “Silva, ’tis good to see ye, lass. Forgive my rudeness. I knew that once I breached the gates of the castle, Griffith would pull me away and I wouldna have the opportunity to relieve myself until bedtime.”

  “What are ye doing here? Yer letter only said that my replacement was arriving in a fortnight, not ye.”

  Falling in step beside me, we walked together until Raudrich reached his horse. Rather than mounting the great beast, he grabbed its reins and led the horse beside us as we talked.

  “I dinna intend to come when I wrote the letter, but then I thought mayhap ’twould make it easier on all involved if I came to help with the transition.”

  “Last time ye did that, ye ended up staying far longer than ye intended.”

  The youngest of the two Allen sons, Raudrich grew up believing that Allen territory would never fall to him, but after the devastating murder of his brother, Raudrich returned to his home with the intention of finding a man suitable to relinquish his land to. He easily decided on my husband Ross, but only three days after the decision was announced, my husband died.

  Out of duty, Raudrich remained home, even though his loyalty was now pledged to another clan. He waited for another worthy of the responsibility to come along for some time, but when the cost of being away from his druid brothers on The Isle of Eight Lairds began to take its toll, he was forced to leave. In his haste, he deeded all his land to me.

  “Aye, though ’twill not be necessary this time. I leave for home the day after tomorrow.”

  We walked in silence until we reached the castle gates. Once there, Raudrich reached out and gently squeezed my arm. “I am sorry for what I did to ye, Silva. I dinna know my decision would cause ye such misery. I truly be
lieved ye would thrive here.”

  “Ye needn’t be sorry. ’Twas not the duties of laird that brought me misery. ’Tis only that I doona know how to be here without Ross. I wanted to leave even before ye gave me the land. Ye trapped me here, but o’course ye couldna have known that.”

  He shook his head in disagreement. “Had I taken the time to truly speak to ye, I woulda known. I shoulda asked ye if ye wanted it. I have made certain this time that the next person to take over Allen territory desires such a position. What do ye think of Griffith?”

  “In truth, I only know him from the days we spent together while journeying with Sydney to yer home. From what I’ve seen, I believe he will do a fine job with these people, though I suspect he has much growing up to do.”

  Raudrich laughed and nodded in agreement. “Aye. ’Tis true of all men.”

  As if summoned by our words, Griffith appeared at the other end of the courtyard. I smiled at Raudrich before excusing myself. I had already fallen prey to Griffith’s penchant for stealing one’s whole day with unexpected conversation and activity, and I desperately wanted to spend my last afternoon and evening in the master bedchamber of the castle deciding what was going to be the next chapter in my life.

  As a reluctant caretaker for the people of Allen Territory, it hadn’t taken me long to find all of the quietest stairways and hallways to sneak around the castle unnoticed, so it took me no time to reach the room that would soon be Griffith’s. Opening the door, I stepped inside and smiled at the sight I intuitively knew I would find—my new stepsister sprawled out across my bed, her feet hanging off the end as she held a book up into the air as she read.

  “I thought ye might need some help loading yer belongings into trunks.”

  She gently set the book down and rose from her horizontal position to smile at me as I walked over to the bed and teasingly pinched her big toe.

  “That and ye wished to escape yer younger siblings for a bit, aye?”