“But how was I able to see that place. To feel what I felt?”
“I have ideas about that, but I must warn you. Some of the things I’m about to tell you may challenge what you think you know, Mr. Mann.”
“So long as you have some answers for me, and don’t jerk me around, I’m all ears.”
“I promise I’ll do my absolute best to answer all your questions.” Gunnach smiled wide, and for the first time since I’d been in Scotland, I felt a moment of peace. My thoughts went to Shakespeare.
“The milk of human kindness,” I said quietly.
“Almost,” Gunnach said.
“What?” I asked.
“Macbeth spoke about the milk ofhumankindness, but I am not human.” A chill ran down my spine as Gunnach continued, “And I suspect, neither are you.”
“What are you saying?” I asked, my brain buzzing with the same kinetic energy I’d felt when Isla Gunnach touched me earlier.
“Do you really not know what I am?” Gunnach asked, his ice-blue eyes piercing into my soul.
“No.” I shook my head. “But I know what I am… confused and freaked out.”
“I am part of an ancient blood line that started in Iceland and found its home in Scotland centuries ago. An ancient race of people who have remained in the frozen shadows of this world for most of our lives.” My heart beat faster as he continued, “Arric, I am Cauld Ane. As are you.”
As soon as he spoke the words, my tattoos glowed, and my entire body hummed with electricity. It was as if a veil was lifted from my mind, revealing a deeper, previously hidden truth about who and what I was.
At that moment, I knew Kade Gunnach was not merely a business tycoon, but a king. A king I felt a sudden but deep instinct to protect with my very life if need be. He was my king.
Before I was aware of what I was doing, my knee hit the floor. “Your Majesty,” I said, my head bowed.
“Rise, Arric Mann,” the king spoke, and I stood to face him.
“I don’t understand,” I said, disoriented and out of breath. “What’s going on? What the hell is happening to me?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” he replied. “I may have as many questions for you as you do me.”
“I highly doubt that,” I said.
“I don’t understand how you’ve been able to survive on your own. Having no knowledge of your bloodline.”
“Bloodline?”
“Aye. The bloodline of the Kalt Einn. An ancient race that has walked this earth since the earliest days of man. Norsemen from Iceland. Powerful. Nearly immortal. The very ones who inspired the Norse mythology itself.”
“The cold ones,” I replied.
“You understand the old tongue yet possess no knowledge of our history,” Kade said, seeming as genuinely baffled as I was.
“And you’re saying I’m one of these Kalt Einn or Cauld Ane?” I asked.
“Kalt Einn or Cauld Ane. No matter what we’re called, we are all of the same bloodline.”
“And we’re immortal?”
“Temperatures over sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit can kill us, and we’re highly susceptible to the toxic effects of a rare flower called red fang. Other than that, so long as we’re not mortally wounded beyond repair, we can live for centuries.”
Even though the words Kade Gunnach spoke sounded like fantasy to my ears, somehow my heart knew them to be true.
“How could I not have known any of this?”
