“Aye. Let me look,” Mary said. She stepped closer and put her hands near the opening of the bread oven. “Very good, Sophia. You’re learning, lass.” Mary patted Sophia on the back and handed her a small shovel, which was kept by the stove for this very purpose. “Be careful now. We dinnae want to set theplace afire.” Mary returned to her kneading and Sophia began carefully clearing out the oven.
Dylan stood behind Maggie, placing his hands on her shoulders. When he had touched her in Glendaloch he’d experienced a rush of heat, but here, he didn’t feel anything. Maggie didn’t seemed impressed by his touch either. If anything, her posture had grown more rigid, as if she was uncomfortable with his attention. Dylan removed his hands and sat down in a nearby chair. Strangely, now that he was in the same room with Maggie, all he could think about was getting as far away from her as possible. He took a deep breath and forced himself to stay put.
Mary and Jenna had their heads together over the pasta dough and Maggie seemed mesmerized by Sophia’s actions as she carefully brushed the burning embers out of the oven and into the hearth. She had a very strange expression on her face and Dylan was just about to ask her what was wrong, when Sophia screamed. All eyes turned towards her in horror as they realized her gown had caught fire. Jenna and Dylan sprang into action, pushing Sophia down onto the floor and rolling her back and forth, until the fire was out.
“Oh my God,” Jenna cried. “Are you alright, Sophia?”
It was apparent Sophia was in shock—her eyes were wide and her body shook uncontrollably.
“Fire! Fire!” Mary yelled. Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to the hearth. The fire seemed much larger than it should be, and was leaping dangerously towards the wooden furniture and beams in the kitchen.
“Hurry! We need to get out of here,” Dylan called. Mary was trying unsuccessfully to put the fire out, even as she continued to shout for assistance.
Mary’s shouting drew Latharn, Cormac and Angus’s young companion, Alec, to the kitchen; they appeared in the doorway and surveyed the situation swiftly, concern visible in their faces.The room was quickly filling with smoke and it was apparent everyone needed to get out before it was too late. Latharn ran to Sophia, picking her up in his arms, and battled his way through the thickening smoke and fire. Cormac grabbed Jenna under one arm and hurried her to the doorway before he turned and headed back for Mary, who was still trying to extinguish the fire single-handedly. “Mary, we must leave,” Cormac shouted, picking her up and sprinting out of the kitchen.
“My kitchen!” Mary cried, trying to wriggle out of Cormac’s firm grasp.
Dylan couldn’t believe his eyes. Everything had been fine and then out of nowhere, they found themselves in the middle of a huge blaze. There was something strange about the way the fire had jumped out of the hearth and it had him concerned. To his shock, Maggie was still sitting in exactly the same spot. The fire seemed to be dancing around her as if she were cocooned inside a protective bubble.
“Maggie, come on! We’ve got to get out of here.” Dylan put his hand out to take hers and was confused when his fingers seemed to hit something solid, as if there was an invisible wall between him and Maggie. He tried a second time and Maggie reached for his hand and took it. He dragged her out of the chair and ran toward the doorway, shocked to see Alec standing just inside the entrance of the kitchen, completely immobile. While Cormac and Latharn had immediately sprung into action to rescue the women, Alec seemed dazed and he stared at the fire, as though in a trance. “Alec, let’s go!” Dylan shouted, but Alec remained focused on the fire.
In the split second that Dylan and Maggie stood waiting for Alec to react, the fire disappeared. Without any warning, it was completely gone. The kitchen was damaged, but there was not one lick of flame to be seen. “What just happened?” Dylan demanded.
“I dinnae ken,” Alec replied, and the strange trance he seemed to have been held in disappeared as abruptly as the flames had. “’Tis odd. The fire’s gone.” Alec turned to Dylan. “We should all get outside in the fresh air. We’ve breathed in much smoke.”
As if on cue, Maggie began coughing and Dylan gently guided her outside into the fresh air. ‘Alec’ followed along behind them, filled with annoyance because she knew Brielle had started the fire on purpose.
***
“I told ye to be careful, Sophia, didnae I?” Mary was saying. Despite the fact she was yelling, it was obvious that she was very concerned about Sophia’s welfare.
“I don’t know what happened. I did everything the way you showed me and it all looked fine and then next thing I knew, my dress had caught fire.” Sophia sat cradled in Latharn’s arms.
“Ye scared me good, Sophia,” Latharn said as he stroked her cheek and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. It all happened so fast,” Sophia said.
The real Maggie knew exactly what had happened and she knew Brielle was to blame. She had rushed into the room with Cormac and Latharn when they heard Mary screaming and there sat Brielle, as calm as could be and not worried in the slightest that the fire would touch her. Thank God, Maggie’d been able to put the blaze out. If this was an example of the kind of magic Brielle was capable of, Maggie was going to have her hands full. And now, to add insult to injury, Brielle was sitting all wrapped up in Dylan’s arms, seeming as innocent as a newborn babe. Maggie was seething with anger and jealousy. How dare Brielle steal her man? Maggie was typically a mild-mannered lass, but she did have a fiery temper when it was needed—one matchingher flaming red locks, and seeing her rival with Dylan was enough to cause an explosion.
Angus approached the group from the Great Hall. “What happened, Alec?” he asked quietly.
“Brielle,” was Maggie’s one word response.
“I dinnae like this. We’re lucky there wasnae any loss of life.”
“Aye. Luckily I was able to put it out before it spread.” Maggie was staring at the back of Brielle’s head as Dylan hugged her close. Latharn and Cormac had risked their lives to save the women they loved. And so had Dylan. . Knowing how much he actually cared for Maggie should have warmed her heart, but the knowledge that he was being tricked by Brielle pretending to be herself was a horrible thing to endure. Maggie didn’t think she could take much more of this. Watching him with Brielle every day was almost too much to bear.
Angus seemed to read her mind. “Come, Alec. Let’s take a walk. Clear yer head.”
With a sullen nod, Maggie agreed and they headed through the gates to the outer bailey and as they walked, Angus kept up the conversation.
“I ken ye feel betrayed by Dylan, but ye must ken that he is under Brielle’s spell. He believes her to be ye.”
“But it’s not me,” Maggie protested. “How can he look into her eyes and not know that?”
“I dinnae ken how it’s possible, Maggie. But I’m asking you to be patient with him. We have much work to do here to rid the MacKenzie’s of Brielle and until we do, ye cannae let anyone here know who ye be, just as ye cannae allow them to distract ye from yer task.”
“I don’t understand why. Wouldn’t it be better for them to know who Brielle truly is and who I really am?” Maggie was confused by the whole situation. She stopped in her tracks and stared up at Angus. “It’s just not fair!”
