Ishbel and Reese, both of them Master Spell Weavers, blocked her way.The furious woman tried to shove around or through them, but they stayed in front of her.
“If you don’t move, I will move you,” Emily said to them, baring her teeth like a wild beast.“I put the fear of all that is me into my five brothers.Don’t think I won’t hesitate to put some fear into you.”
“Let her pass,” Mairwen said with a resigned sigh.It was always the same whenever the fated mates showed up at Seven Cairns with friends or family in tow.The one left behind struggled with accepting that which had been done not only for the sake of the mates but for that of the Highland Veil.“It is time she and I had our discussion.”
“If acceptable,” Ishbel said, “we shall stay since her energy is quite high and could become uncontrollable.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”Emily demanded.When Ishbel remained silent, Emily stormed over to Mairwen, planted her hands on the table between them, and leaned forward until they were almost nose to nose.“I woke up this morning in that cave from yesterday’s massage session after dreaming about Jessa screaming for help, and you think you’re going to talk in code around me?I ain’t having it!”She pounded the table with both fists, rattling Mairwen’s notebook, pen, and teacup.“Where the hell is Jessa?What have you done with her, and what kind of drug did you slip me that made me lose an entire day of my life?”
“Sit and I will tell you everything you wish to know.”Mairwen folded her hands and waited.Unstable energy rolled off Emily in waves.The lass needed to calm herself before discovering she was more powerful than she realized.Magical misfires were never a pretty sight.
“I shall put on more tea,” Ishbel said with a pointed look at her husband.
Reese nodded and settled into a chair on Emily’s side of the table.
“Just because you’re a man, don’t think I won’t take you on,” Emily told him.Fixing him with a glare that dared him to make a move, she jutted her chin higher.“Five brothers.Remember?”
Reese grinned.“Challenge accepted, lass, but let’s hold off until ye hear what Mairwen has to say, aye?”
Mairwen settled more comfortably in her chair, hoping this time it would be easier to explain to the one left behind.After all, Emily was special.Mairwen even suspected there was Spell Weaver blood in her veins.She could almost smell it.“Yer Jessa is on her first date with her Mr.MacSexy, ye might say.”
Emily’s angry eyes narrowed even more.“You told her you didn’t know him.”
“Aye, well—I never exactly told her I didn’t know him.”Mairwen tipped an apologetic nod.“A lie of omission, I suppose ye might say.”
“A lie is a lie, and why would it be necessary to lie about knowing the guy?”
“Because a first date with Grant MacAlester is not as simple as meeting him at Lilias’s pub at an agreed upon hour, and it was verra important they meet and realize their fates are intertwined in the best possible way.”
“Why is it that whenever you talk, you sound like the voice-over for some epic fantasy movie?”
Mairwen couldn’t help but laugh.What a powerful personality this one had.She rather liked her.“It must be the Highlands.Magic runs deep here.Can ye not feel it?”She sent the faintest ripple of energy Emily’s way, wondering if the lass would grant her a reaction or attempt to hide it.
Emily glared at her.“I don’t believe in that stuff.”But her eyes revealed her lie.
“I believe ye do, lass, at least, more than ye’re willing to admit to me or yerself.”
“Where is Jessa?”Emily straightened and resettled her stance, as if preparing to leap across the table and grab Mairwen by the throat.Reese edged forward, poised to stop her.
“She is with the laird of Clan MacAlester, the Earl of Suddie, at his keep just beyond the village of MacAlester Crag.”
“She would never leave without telling me.What did you do?Drug her and carry her off?”
“She was not drugged.She was quite alert when she passed through the Veil to Scotland of 1785, where Grant MacAlester lives.That is why ye heard her call to ye in yer dreams.”
With a disbelieving growl, Emily rounded the end of the table, yanked Mairwen’s chair around to face her, and drew down until her nose was a hair’s breadth from Mairwen’s.“Enough of your games.Stop with the mystical bullshit you use on stupid tourists and take me to her.”
Reese grabbed Emily by the shoulders and tried to drag her back.She popped her head back and butted him square in the face, then whirled around, planted her boot in his chest, and shoved, making him tumble back over a trio of chairs.
She turned back to Mairwen with dangerous fire flashing in her dark eyes.“Where is she?”she said, her voice a low guttural rumble.
Ishbel came running back into the room and hurried to set the tray on the end of the table.“Quies!”
Emily froze as if Ishbel had made time stand still.
“I told ye to watch her!”Ishbel told Reese, who was trying to stop the blood gushing from his nose.
“I was trying to be easy with her,” he said, his words muffled by his bloody hands.
