“She is here?In Seven Cairns?”Mairwen rose and hurried to the window, opening it wider to breathe in the wind and search for that which she hoped not to find.
“Not her but one of her own.”Evan joined her at the window.“In the garden.Near Jessa while she slept.”He turned and shot a disappointed look back at Keeva.“The oak was protecting her.As was the earth.Did ye not feel that?”
“I sensed nothing,” Keeva said, her voice shaded with panic.“And thrice I swept the cottage and the grounds for evil and sensed nothing.”
“This is not just yer failing, Keeva, but mine as well.”Mairwen frowned at the view before her, a quiet, peaceful Scottish village, because that was how the Divine Weavers intended to portray Seven Cairns to the world.One main street lined with the sorts of shops and pubs tourists would expect in a sleepy Highland town.Quaint, white-washed cottages and dwellings with colorful gardens and even brighter doors and shutters dotted the landscape on the fringes of the village.Most of those who lived in Seven Cairns were not twenty-first century humans but Divine Weavers from across the realms.A few from this world did live there, but they were far from average mortals.Descended from generations of the loyal Defenders of the Veil and sworn members of the Order, the Weavers considered them treasured allies even though they were only humans with sadly brief lives.She sent her senses into the wind once again, spiritually touching everything she crossed, like a worried gardener searching for invasive insects.Had they all grown overly complacent here within the boundaries of their carefully constructed sphere?
“Why would she be so interested in this particular mate bond?”Mairwen asked, speaking more to herself than Evan or Keeva.
“Could be because the last bond snatched one from her clutches that she had decided should die by war,” Keeva said.“Perhaps she plotted to take Grant MacAlester in his stead.”
“The Mor?—”
Mairwen whirled and silenced Evan with a look.“Her name is not to be uttered on our holiest of grounds.It could give her the very toehold she seeks.”
He dropped to a knee and bowed his head.“Forgive me.”
“What should we do?”Keeva asked softly, moving to stand beside Evan.
Mairwen had no idea what to do.All she knew for certain was that she would protect Seven Cairns and the Highland Veil at any cost.She nodded at the door and shooed them away as if they were children.“Out wi’ ye.I’ve much to stew over.Be more vigilant and share this with all, so they might be vigilant as well.”
* * *
“What willye do when she brings her?”
Grant shifted in the saddle and resettled the worn leather reins in his hands, ignoring Henry’s question as they waited on their mounts atop the rise overlooking the mouth of Cromarty Firth.A ship with a fair-sized cargo of tea, spirits, and lace was due in this evening.The infernal man, who was nosier than an old woman, should concentrate on securing the goods and moving them to their next stop rather than worrying about Mairwen’s return.
“MacAlester?Did ye hear me?”
“I’ve not gone deaf yet, unfortunately.”
“Dinna be red-arsed with me,” Henry said in a low voice in case enemies lurked in the shadows.“’Tis best to be prepared.At least Mairwen warned us this time that she would return rather than just appear all unexpected like as is her usual.”
The man had a point, but Grant wasn’t about to agree with him.Not here in the dead of night while watching for those who might cause his men difficulties with the business at hand.“If ye wish to go down and help Gordon and Lachie with the wagons, dinna let me be stopping ye.”
Henry snorted.“Thank ye kindly, but I would much rather stay right here and nettle yer arse.Me father was a Defender, as am I, and ye might as well be for all ye’ve done to help us.All that’s missing from it being official is ye’ve never taken the oath to defend the Highland Veil.”His gruffness dropped to a more hushed tone of reverence.“Mairwen wants that for ye, ye ken?And they say she carries the blood of both Bride and Cerridwen.If ye’ve the least bit of sense about ye, ye’ll not cross her.”
Grant decided to goad the man just to see what he would say.“I have no intention of crossing her—other than refusing to allow her back inside my keep with some woman she’s found for me to marry.”He eased his horse back into the shadows to remain hidden from the nearly full moon’s light.“And I believe in doing that which is right for the sake of rightness, not because I belong to some secretive, exclusive order.So there will be no vow-taking either.What would ye do if ye were me?”
Even though the shadows concealed Henry’s expression, Grant could tell the man stared at him in open-mouthed disbelief.Henry sputtered and hissed like a boiling teakettle before regaining control and quieting himself.“If I were ye, I would accept the mantle of the Order and marry the feckin’ woman Mairwen told me to marry.”
“Ye’ve no imagination, Henry.Or backbone when it comes to Mairwen.”
“And ye’ve no sense of survival,” Henry spat back at him.“I’ve plenty of backbone when it comes to her.I respect and honor the woman as the descendant of the goddesses that she is.”
“Henry is a wise man,” Mairwen said quietly from deeper in the shadows.“Ye would do well to heed his advice.”
“Dammit, woman.”Grant struggled to calm his poor horse.He’d alarmed the beast when he’d startled and yanked on its reins.“Ye once said ye wished for my clan to believe ye nothing more than an old woman gifted in the ways of herbs and healing.Appearing like this, out here in the dead of night, square in the middle of an important endeavor, is not the way of a harmless old woman.”
“I came to warn ye,” she said, as if he had not said a word.
“Warn me?”
“Ye’ve Defender blood in yer veins, MacAlester, and there are those who would drain ye of it.”
“What the devil is that supposed to mean?”
“Stay vigilant, listen to Henry, and when I return, keep your heart and mind open about the woman I bring with me.I shall also send a few Weavers to watch over ye.”
