Lightning split the sky and exploded all around them, arcing in blue and white bursts of energy across the water and the hillside. The rock ledge on which they stood split apart, sending Gray tumbling down to the water’s edge in a landslide of shattered stone.
Ronan yanked Mairi close, turning and shielding her in his embrace as the unholy fire ripped through the air around them. “I will protect ye, lass. Dinna fear—I will shield ye from whatever comes.”
An eerie moan rode high across the wind then shattered into a bone-chilling, high-pitched cackle. “Protect her?” The cruel screeching laughter echoed all around, plucking and pinching at them with icy unseen fingers. “You would fare better protecting yourself, fool. I have risen from the depths of hell and I will have justice for these years of torment.”
Graham belched out a volley of flames as he spread his wings and skimmed across the water’s surface toward them. “Hie back to the depths of torture from whence ye came, witch. Allow me to light yer way.” He unhinged his leathery jaws and released a molten stream of liquid fire into the swell of the growling black cloud.
An angry burst of wind ate up the flames, swirling into a pillar of lightning-filled blackness. The boiling column of crackling energy swirled across the waves, beating Graham back out to sea. “Pathetic beast. Sink back to yer own depths, for after this day is done, ye will never rise from them again.”
Iona the wolf, ears flattened and teeth bared, snarled as she leaped up to the rock and took her stance beside Granny. Shielding her face with her arm, Granny raised her glowing staff and pushed forward against the wind. “This. Is. Over. Your wickedness is done here—”
“It is not done ’til I say it is done!” The air split and shattered with the witch’s anger. “Ye are all fools. The curse has not been broken and this verra day shall mark my return to this world. I shall have my revenge!”
Mairi pulled free of Ronan’s embrace, raising her bloodied arm to the storm as she squinted up into the sky. “Look at this! Look! We did what you said we had to do. We are married. Now call off that damn curse and admit you are defeated.”
Ronan stepped in front of Mairi, locking an arm around her as he held her to his back. “Stay in back of me until I send this evil away.”
The spiral of blackness roiled wider across the firth, stirring the sea into a violent churning mass. Graham floundered and sank beneath the waves as the momentum overpowered him. The ground shook with the force of the sea crashing against the stones beneath their feet. A jeering voice boomed out across the land, overpowering all other sound. “Ye may be wed but ye are not bound. Yer hearts are still separated—one walled off from the other. Ye each feel as though all is lost. The curse is not broken. My evil has once again triumphed over that ridiculous weakness called love.”
Ronan raised his bloodstained wrist to the winds, shaking his fist at the black column rising from the frothing sea. “Our blood is mixed. Our souls are sealed. It is done. We have abided by yer terms.” Surely the witch could not know the truth. Surely, she had no way of seeing into their hearts and knowing just how right she was.
The black energy slowed in its spinning. The crashing waves eased and the howling wind died down. A deep eerie chuckle rumbled forth from the center of the cloud, echoing dark and low like the solemn tolling of a deathly bell. “Think ye I am naught but a fool?”
“I think ye be evil. No more. No less.” He spread his arms back against Mairi, keeping her shielded behind him.
The dark cloud swirled slowly, drawing closer to Ronan. “And I think ye be the fool.” The air exploded with a blinding flash and a deafening rapport sounded, rolling out and repeating in teeth-jarring ripples across the land.
He staggered backward, fighting to keep his footing and hold his post between Mairi and the evil storm intent on destroying them all. His ears rang with a strange hollow keening that twisted him sideways and pushed him to his knees. He fought to catch his breath through the burning grip tightening like a band around his chest.
An unholy chuckling filled the air. “Ye are a lucky man, Ronan Sutherland—since ye have so kindly assisted with my release from hell—ye have put me in the verra best of moods. I shall grant yer wish to end yer immortality. Do ye feel the darkness of cold death closing in around ye? Do ye? Aye . . . ye do. Ye see, my fine chieftain, I have decided to be overly generous and permit yer days to end.”
The icy grip around his lungs tightened, forcing him to his back. He flailed against the unseen force, the pounding rush of his blood roaring in his ears. So, this was how it was to end.He had prayed for death many times. Cursed immortality and the endless span of lonely years. And now that he had finally found the other half of his soul, he would never get to beg her forgiveness and pray for another chance to cherish the gift of her heart.
As he fell back, he reached out and caught Mairi’s hand. He couldn’t die without her knowing.He had to live long enough to make her see the truth in his heart. “Forgive me, my dearest love. I beg ye. Forgive me for being such a damned fool.”
Mairi’s tear-streaked face swam in front of him, fading in and out of focus. Was she crying for him? Did she clutch his hand to her heart? He blinked hard against the roaring darkness threatening to suck him under. “I loved ye from the first moment I saw ye. Ye must know . . .” Coughing spasms ripped through him. An icy numbness settled across him. He had to tell her. Had to say the words. “I hid the things I feared would drive ye away from me. I am a weak man, Mairi. I couldna bear the thought of losing ye or having ye think ill of me. I love ye so much it frightens me. I have never loved before.”
The sweetest scent he had ever known closed in around him. He locked onto the smell as he closed his eyes, sinking back into the soft darkness of lavender and honey—the sweet fragrance of his Mairi—the solace to his heart, the comfort to his soul.
“I loved ye true, my dearest one,” he whispered with a weary breath. “Please know that I always loved ye true.”
* * *
“Ronan!”Mairi rocked him back against her chest, cradling him in her arms as she angrily swiped her tear-stained cheek against her shoulder. “Don’t you die on me—not when you finally figured out how to tell me the truth, damn you! Don’t you dare die on me now.”
Closing her eyes, she pressed her cheek against his forehead and struggled to shut out the chaos around her. She would show that conniving witch. She’d heal Ronan and let him know just how much she loved him. They would say the vows for real this time and that witch could haul her evil ass straight back to hell.
The wind tore around her, stung against her flesh, plucked and yanked at her hair.
“Tell the foolish child she wastes her energy. Tell her the truth, old one.” The witch’s chilling voice boomed like thunder in tandem with flashes of lightning.
“There is no truth to tell,” Granny shouted into the wind with a hard stamping of her staff. The blue crystal sparked with a brighter glow as she edged closer to Mairi.
“Ye ken the truth well enough. I command ye to tell her.” The darkness’s voice crackled and sparked across the turbulent sea.
Mairi jerked around and faced the storm, still hugging Ronan tight against her chest. “Tell me what truth? Spit it out so I can heal Ronan and show you the damn door out of here.”
“Heal Ronan?” Bubbling laughter rolled and echoed from every direction as though the very rocks themselves chortled and snorted at Mairi’s words. “There will be no healing of Ronan. You are the cursed woman, Mairi—just as I once was.” The witch’s voice softened, her tone seeming almost friendly—deadly friendly. “We are the same, Mairi, you and I. A sisterhood, ye might say. Bound by our ability to see all the falsehoods in men’s hearts. Bound by our ability to see their lies. No man is truly capable of love—not real love, not the driving unconditional love we’re consumed with when we’re stupid enough to fall under the spell of their lies. We know they can never be believed. We know the wickedness lying in their hearts.”
