* * *
Ciara turned awayfrom the window where she’d witnessed the furious storm. Faolan. What had angered him so? Squinting her eyes against the intensity of the lightning, her heart worried at the strength of the storm. This maelstrom resulted from Faolan’s emotions. She read the energy crackling through the air as though it were words on a page. Her husband was in a rage. Something had challenged him and he’d lost the battle when he’d lost control of his emotions. He hadn’t handled the defeat well from the sound of the hissing lightning as it split through the trees.
As she absentmindedly rubbed at the taut, itchy skin of her swollen stomach, Ciara flinched against the bright flashes of light. She let the tapestry fall back over the window and waddled over to the pillowed bench beside the fire. Easing her unbalanced body back against the cushions, she grimaced as she scrubbed her ankles together and peeled her shoes off her swollen feet.
The babe would come soon, maybe even tonight. She sensed her son’s impatient little soul. He grew restless inside his safe haven. Her heart stormed with mixed emotions. She longed to hold her baby in her arms but she would also miss the weight of him inside her. And once he was born, she would be one step closer to having to leave this life she had grown to love.
Love. She’d never thought it possible that she would ever love. What a cruel emotion, this mysterious energy of love. So capable of filling the heart to overflowing with ecstasy and then dashing it to pieces with unspeakable pain. She had to figure out a way to stay. She had to convince the goddesses it would be for the best.
But even if she did, her time with her loved ones would still be so short, for they would end up going where she could never follow. She was immortal. She had no soul. Ciara was an energy meant to drift upon the winds of time, traveling from one plane to the next. Although mortals’ lives were short, their souls passed on to greater realities than she could ever imagine. Ciara didn’t care. She would do whatever it took. She’d beg, borrow, or steal whatever time she could to stay with Faolan and her son.
A sharp pain stabbed deep within her body, tearing her from her thoughts. She caught her breath and forced her muscles to relax; then she smiled and closed her eyes. He would come tonight. Before the rising sun had chased the full moon into the horizon, she would hold her son in her arms.
Alec. Where was Alec? She wanted him present at the birth. She called out to him with the power of her mind as the pain in her belly eased. Alec had been with her for eons, through many a battle against the darkest of foes. He knew her better than anyone. Who better to keep her mind occupied as she struggled to bring forth her child?
The thought of Faolan staying with her during the birth didn’t even cross her mind. Men of this time were useless when it came to childbirth. To Faolan, childbirth was a greater mystery and more frightening than the blackest of magic. A strained laugh escaped her as she paced about the room. Ciara considered the midwives of this century an unfortunate necessity. For appearance’s sake, she would allow them in the room. She sighed as she stroked her spasming belly. She didn’t really want them to assist with the birth, but she really didn’t have any choice. It would seem truly odd indeed, if the laird’s wife brought her child into the world alone. She needed Alec to keep her company. Where was he? Why didn’t he answer her call?
Another pain clenched, this time lower and longer, causing her to double over and catch her breath.Damn Alec!Apparently, he’d decided to ignore her summons. She should’ve known better than to release him from his spell.
As the worst of the contraction subsided and her muscles relaxed, Ciara hitched her way across the room. As she exhaled, she sent a thought of thanks to Faolan’s time-traveling mother for having bellpulls installed in the laird’s rooms.
Yanking on the rope hanging beside the bed, she waited a few moments then yanked again. After what seemed like forever and at least one belly ripping contraction later, one of the youngest chambermaids bubbled through the door. As soon as the girl saw the pained expression on Ciara’s face and the way she held her middle, the maid shot back out into the hallway, bellowing at the top of her lungs.
As Ciara eased herself down into the bed, she rolled her eyes and lay back against the pillows. She groaned in disbelief as she listened to the tiny girl screech for someone to fetch the midwife and tell the laird his wife’s time was at hand. With a heavy sigh, she tried to force herself to relax since it was apparent the mortals were going to panic.
ChapterTen
Faolan’s eyes widened as Ciara’s enraged cursing thundered from the other side of the bedroom door. The sound of shattering pottery followed another stream of profanity and the muffled thumping of scurrying feet.
He turned to Maxwell and Ian where they stood with him in his vigil in the seating area of the torchlit hall. “Is it normal for a woman to get so violent when she’s trying to bring forth a child?”
Maxwell shrugged and raised his hands in the air. “I am relieved to say this is the first time I have ever been this close to a birth. As far as I know, I have no children. Which I must admit is quite a relief, since I have no wife.”
“Ma says ’tis a fight to bring new life into the world. She told me women are even greater warriors then men.” Ian edged his way farther away from the door as he spoke, eying it as though demons battled on the other side.
The two men and the young boy warily glanced at the door as another torrent of curse words resounded from the other side. They all three slid a little farther down the hall as though they feared the door was about to blow off the hinges.
“Where did she learn all those words?” Maxwell whispered as he watched the door.
Faolan ignored Maxwell’s question and cleared his throat as he turned to Ian. “Did your ma say how long these things usually take? This has been going on for hours.”
Ian squinted both eyes shut as he searched his memory, then finally shrugged both skinny shoulders. “Seems like every time Ma goes to help with getting a bairn to come out, it takes a really long time.”
At that moment, the hallway filled with the enraged cries of a howling infant from the other side of the bedroom door.
Ian’s mother, Maidrie, emerged from the room, her red face wreathed in smiles as she waved them closer. “My laird, ye have a fine healthy son and your wife is safe as well.”
Faolan grabbed her by the shoulders, lifted her off her feet and laughed as he peered around her into the room. “Thank ye, Maidrie. I must see them. Are they ready for us to come in?”
With a bob of her head, Maidrie patted Faolan on the arm as she stepped aside to guide him through the door. “Oh, aye! Your lady is ready for ye. She sent me out here to fetch ye.”
Face pink and flushed and her hair damp with sweat, Ciara beamed from where she lay against the pile of pillows propping her up in the bed. She held her son cradled to her breast, smiling down at his greedy rootling. “Apparently, your son worked up quite an appetite making his way into this world.”
Faolan edged his way across the fur-covered floor. He couldn’t breathe; the sight before him sucked the wind from his lungs. Easing himself down on the edge of the bed, he stared in wonder at the bundle nestled in Ciara’s arms.
Silvery down, fine as threads of silk, covered the babe’s head. His little face was still red as he suckled at his mother’s breast, his tiny hands clenched into earnest fists.
With a shaking hand, Faolan reached out and stroked the child’s velvety head; the small crown disappeared inside his massive hand. Amazed at the warmth and the softness of the baby’s skin, Faolan smiled at the silky curve of his son’s plump cheek.
