So one way or another, I had to give myself to Dugal Sutherland to save everyone. To that end, my frustration with Adlin only grew for making me go to King Robert first and getting Tavish involved because the old wizard knew exactly what he was doing.
Given the fondness in his eyes as he and Tavish talked, he wanted me with Tavish as much as the king did and undoubtedly knew putting us together would make my mission that much harder. It was clear he loved the MacLeods, and it wasn’t surprising, all things considered, given his clan had been allied with theirs for generations. Not just theirs, either, but the Hamiltons, and that became even more clear as we traveled.
“He's here,”Adlin said hours later when we happened upon an all too familiar cave cut into a huge boulder. He spoke within the mind to keep the conversation from Tavish as he referred to seeing Grant Hamilton's ghost in the Hereafter.“So I think mayhap we’ll be safe here for the night.”
“Just because he's here doesn't mean we should stop,”I countered, seeing him, too, yet I worried because this location was far too connected to me and Tavish, and I didn't doubt AdlinandGrant knew it.
Tavish frowned my way. His brows whipped together, and his hand went to the hilt of the blade sheathed at his waist. “Whois here?”
Unfortunately, it was just as I feared. The more time I spent with Tavish in medieval Scotland, I knew without a doubt he would start catching my private conversations.
And he did so remarkably fast.
I was about to play dumb and ask what he meant when the last thing I wanted to see appeared, and I knew I was in big trouble.
Chapter Four
–Tavish–
ALTHOUGH I MIGHT have been discussing the ongoing strife at the border with Adlin as we traveled north toward MacLeod Castle, I was never more aware of a woman than I was of Ellie, and I didn’t like it one bit. Despite being on another horse, she still consumed my senses from the subtly sweet scent of her skin to the sound of her soft breathing.
I was even more aware of her than I had been of my long-lost love, Elowyn, and I feared it. More than that, I felt guilty because I’d sworn to never love another after she passed away. My heart would only ever belong to her, even in the hereafter. And what made it worse was Ellie being half-dragon, whereas Elowyn had not been, and that didn’t seem right somehow, given our conversations about it.
“I would understand if ye were drawn to a lass with dragon blood,” she had said softly one evening when we were newly in love, gazing at me with uncertainty, yet acceptance. “’Twould make sense if ye preferred a lass more like ye than one who is human with only a touch of magic.” She had shaken her head, woeful. “A witch is no dragon.”
I had assured her she was all I would ever need and kissed her soundly, still feeling the warmth of her lips on mine even as my traitorous eyes wandered far too often to Ellie. I made sureI was discreet, though, only narrowing my eyes at her after I overheard her and Adlin speaking telepathically about someone being here.
Alarmed, I scanned the woodland and demanded to knowwhowas here, so when Ellie didn’t answer, I rested my hand on the hilt of my blade only to discover it wasn’t my blade at all. Frowning, I unsheathed it and scowled, where deep down I marveled at its impressive design.
“Och, look at that!” A merry gleam lit Adlin’s eyes. “’Tis the Viking blade, is it not? The verra blade that assisted Ellie’s sisters in coming together with their fated mates?”
“So it appears,” I grunted, sheathing it before anyone saw a softening in my eyes because my heart would always remain beholden to another. Scanning the woodland again, I repeated my question. “Whois here because I dinnae see anyone?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Ellie lied, looking at me as though she hadn’t been trying to have a private telepathic conversation with Adlin I suspected she didn’t want me to overhear.
“There’s no one here but us,” she assured.
I was about to tell her I didn’t believe her when something did, in fact, catch my eye in a shadowed grove of trees by a nearby cave. Frowning, I tried to discern what it was because, as far as I could see, nothing was there.
“Yet somethingwasthere,” I muttered under my breath, unsheathing the Viking sword again. Unable to stop it, my dragon eyes flared as my inner beast sought to see what tried to hide from it. Even worse, it sought to protect Ellie from whatever it was. My king might have requested as much, but my sudden and far too intense need to keep her safe was something more, and I felt it to my core.
More pointedly, I felt how protective my inner beast was of her already.
The moment my dragon sight ignited, I spied something in the woodland again, only clearer this time. “’Tis a man but not somehow.” I swung down from my horse and moved into a defensive position in front of Ellie, trying to understand what I was looking at. Unsure how to handle this, I called out. “Show yerself, stranger!”
Surprisingly, he did, and I was shocked despite having been told he had appeared on Sloan and Willow's journey back to each other.
“Och,” I exclaimed, as the man became clearer and clearer, yet remained transparent. His features were unmistakable, though. I had seen him countless times in a portrait hanging at Hamilton Castle. I shook my head in disbelief. “Is thatye, Grant Hamilton?”
“’Tis I, Tavish MacLeod,” the ghost replied, moving closer, not floating as one might imagine but walking as if standing on solid ground. I would guess he was around my Uncle Marek’s age, with silver flecks in his dark hair, and wearing the Hamilton plaid with pride.
“And I cannae tell ye how pleased I am ye can finally see me again,” he went on, “for I have visited ye and yer kin often over the years.”
When I glanced at Ellie and Adlin, wondering if he might be a figment of my imagination, they nodded that yes, he reallywasthere. And Adlin, who mentored Grant for years, more than confirmed it.
“’Tis always good to see ye old friend.” Adlin grinned and greeted him as if he saw him often, rather than someone who had been gone for years. “How fare ye in the Hereafter?”
“’Tis as glorious as ever.” Grant met Adlin’s smile. “And ‘tis always good to see ye as well.” He nodded hello to Ellie, surprising me by how familiar he was with her. “And most certainly always ye, Elo...Ellie.”
