“Go.The both of ye.I dinna run.I fight.”Unsheathing his sword, Grant crossed the courtyard in long, fearless strides and took a defensive stance beside Mairwen.
A fear worse than any Jessa had ever known, an aching worry for his safety, paralyzed her.She could lose him.That thing could kill him before they ever discovered what they could become.From deep within her, a ragingNOburst free and boiled her blood to battle readiness.
“What is it, Jess?”Emily stared up at the strangely swirling cloud, its murky, dark center an unmistakable shadow of a person—an enormous person with arms outspread like great, ratty wings.
“Something bad, like in a horror movie bad, where just as the car starts and you think you’re home free, the monster rips off the roof and grabs you.”Jessa pushed Emily toward the washhouse lean-to.“Go in there.Huddle against the back wall with Griselda and her dog.”
“Where are you going?”
Jessa locked eyes with Emily.“I can’t let him die defending me.I can’t let him die—period.”She pointed at the lean-to.“Now, go.I don’t want you hurt, either.”
Emily huffed.“You’re not the boss of me.Come on.We’ll fight the cloud monster together.”
Jessa didn’t like it, but also didn’t have time to argue.“Come on, then.Let’s do this.”
Emily caught her by the shoulder.“One question—what are we going to use as weapons?”
“Not sure.We’ll make it up as we go along.”
Chapter 12
“What is that feckin’ thing?”Grant asked Mairwen when he reached her.The wind picked up, and more dark clouds rolled in, as though summoned to join the war and blot out the sun.
“It is not awhat.”Mairwen kept her focus locked on the sky while flexing her long, bony fingers.“It is a verra dangerouswho.”
“Now is not the time to dance with words, witch.”A flicker of movement to his right made him turn.He nearly choked with an overwhelming surge of rage, fear, and panic.“Get inside, woman!I’ll not have ye out here.’Tis too dangerous.”
Green eyes flashing like brilliant emeralds, Jessa pointed at the cloud and shouted, “I spotted it first.It’s mine.”
“And I’m helping her,” Emily said, squinting against the stinging whip of the wind.
“No!”he roared above the howling furor of the rising storm.
Jessa ignored him, infuriating him even more as she shoved her way in front of him and ridiculously tried to shield him with her outspread arms.
He picked her up and set her behind him, then bared his teeth at Mairwen.“Get her out of this!Take her back to her time!”
“I cannot,” Mairwen said.“It is too dangerous during an attack.”
Lightning splintered the sky into a thousand dancing pieces, and deafening thunder shook the earth.
“My goddess!”Screeching like a banshee, Griselda, the laundress, hobbled toward them as quickly as her bent body allowed, dragging along an armload of wooden paddles with her.Her small dog raced ahead and took a protective stance in front of Jessa, staring up at the roiling storm with its hackles raised and teeth bared.
If the danger were not so great, Grant would laugh at this army of women and the newly healed dog.Then he went still, remembering how Jessa had made the dog strong and healthy, even though she had denied it.If she possessed the power to heal, might she also possess other powers?“Mairwen—Jessa healed that dog.Made it whole again.Do ye ken she can do more?Could she repel that thing?”
“I did not heal the dog!”Jessa shouted over the wind, but her denial lacked conviction.
Mairwen shook her head, curling away against the gale and shielding her face with her arms.“The Morrigan is too powerful for any of ye.Go inside.The dark one and I have old scores to settle.I shall deal with her myself.”
Grant’s blood ran cold.“The Morrigan?”Fear rooted deep in his heart, not for himself, his clan, or his keep, but a heart-clenching terror for his precious Jessa.He caught her wrist and pulled her close.“Ye must go inside.I beg ye.”
With her teeth clenched in a fierce scowl, she stared up at him as if about to refuse.Then she lunged forward and pulled him down for a kiss, clinging to him with a fury.Nothing else mattered.If they died this day, at least they died together.He dropped his sword and crushed her to him, tangling his fingers in her hair and delving ever deeper into the wondrous taste of her.A force as powerful as lightning crackled through him.When he lifted his head, he lost himself in her eyes.
“I need ye safe,” he rasped, “because I have discovered I love ye just as much as I loved ye in all our past lives.”
She defiantly jutted her chin higher.“And because I love you, I will not leave you here to die alone.”
An ear-splitting wail whipped around them, unleashing the storm’s anger and stinging them with torrential rain and debris.
