“Aye, I ken…” Dirc told him, obviously divining Eian’s thoughts. “But it’s true. They wed just before I came here.”
Slowly, the implications of this news sank in. Eian ran his fingers through his hair, and it fell back down in loose waves around his face. "Then there was no real reason for me to come here. No one needs the charm… I should probably put it back where I found it."
"No, lad, keep it a while longer. It might be useful yet. But ye’re right, ye’re quest for the charm is done, and there’s no reason for ye to stay longer at Lochain. I expect ye'll be coming back to Creagmor with me tomorrow, then? Ye'll want to see yer brothers, and there's a new lot of men in for training. Bren could use yer help with them. The big battle is yet to come, ye ken. We must always be prepared."
"What big battle?"
"The big battle between good and evil, of course. Where have ye been?" Dirc rolled his eyes and Eian frowned at him, confused. But that was nothing new when talking to Dirc.
"Oh, aye, of course”, he said carefully, as one might when talking to a lunatic. “And aye, I'll be coming with ye tomorrow. Nothing more to keep me here now." God, how those words felt wrong on his tongue.
"Right, then. Ye'll need to tie things up here and pack yer things. I'll be seeing ye first thing in the morning."
Dirc paused expectantly, as if waiting for Eian to say something else, but since Eian didn't have any idea what that might be, he just nodded. "First thing, then. I'll be ready." He should be glad that the decision of whether to stay and search for Allia was taken out of his hands. The lass had probably just run off with a lover. Hehadseen that man kissing her… Oh god. It made perfect sense now. All of it. Why she hadn’t given in to his advances, the man in the orchard meeting her in secret. He hadn’t seen the man again, and now Allia was gone as well… Hell if he didn’t feel like he had just been stabbed right through the heart.
Dirc walked away mumbling something about ‘blind, stubborn imbiciles’ and ‘men without brains even under their kilts’.
Eian couldn’t be bothered to think about what, if anything,thatmeant. He was too busy trying to override the sick feeling building in his gut and persuade himself that returning to Creagmor was the right thing to do. Certainly if Allia was actually his mate, Dirc would have already known, and would have told him, wouldn’t he? And she wouldn’t have forsaken him for another man. He should be relieved to find he was still a bachelor in every sense, free to do as he pleased. Because if the lass had truly been his, Eian wouldn’t have rested until he found her, and he would have killed any man that tried to take her from him. Aye, he should be glad to be free, but last night’s dream kept coming back to him in fits and starts. And he knew in his gut that if he could have half the feeling of peace and joy he had felt in that dream, he would give up bachelorhood in an instant.
***
Allia stood in the circle of stones, glancing around once more to make sure no one was watching. Her heart was pounding, her mind racing… was she really going to do this? Uncle Leon was going to be furious when he found out she was gone. She would probably have to go into hiding for a while on the other side… but he didn’t own her, damn it! She had rights! Well, maybe not here, but she hadn’t asked to come back here, and well, it just wasn’t working out, was it? She was going home. And she would get her kitten back, too. Or if not, she would get a new one. Maybe even a puppy. Who knew?
Before she lost her nerve, Allia said the last words that would complete the spell she had memorized long ago under Mairi’s careful tutelage. The ancient words called upon the powers of the earth and of the circle of time, and she could feel them reaching out to answer her. Allia held her breath and waited, but just before the world around her disappeared in a swirling mist of light, she saw an older man in sorcerer’s robes running towards her. He was waving his hands and shouting at her, but there was nothing he could do to stop her now, she was already gone.
When the unearthly mist cleared, Allia sat up from the awkward position she had landed in and stepped once more out of the ring of stones. Things looked much the same, except that there were more, smaller, trees again, and of course they were in different places. And of course the strange man in the robes was gone. She would have to walk a few miles to reach the edge of the nearest town where she had hidden her things. She hadn’t known if she would ever need them again, but now she was glad she had planned ahead anyway.
She put one foot in front of the other, started walking purposefully through the woods, but with each step, she could almost feel something tearing inside of her. It was Eian, she realized all too quickly, because his face was all she could see in her mind’s eye. He had gotten into her heart despite her best efforts to keep him out, damn him. She had an almost physical urge to turn and run back to the stones. Return to where he was, fall into his arms. Tear off his clothes. Kiss his warm golden skin and run her fingers through his thick, soft hair, and damn the consequences. She drew in a sharp breath as heat flooded her body and her heart felt as if someone was squeezing it tight within her chest.
No. No! You know how it would end… you could never keep him. He would leave you, Allia. One woman could never hold onto a man like him, you know it’s true!
It was only the heart-wrenching thought of Eian leaving her for his next conquest that kept her going forward. With all the will she possessed, Allia held onto that thought and walked on, reaching the village in less than an hour. She retrieved her belongings from a small box she had hidden deep inside a hollow tree and made her way to a small inn she knew of in town, feeling exhausted and all but ready to burst into tears.
***
True to his word, Dirc was waiting for him by the gates at dawn, although one look at Eian’s darkly brooding expression kept the sorcerer’s usual wry humor relatively subdued.
When Dirc had realized the lad was too stubborn, or too stupid, to go after his woman, he had gone to stop her himself, but he’d been too late. Too late to stop her and too late to spare her what would happen next. Och, well. No one ever said love was easy. Maybe this was just the way it had to be, as some things were.
They travelled in silence for some time, until the sun had risen above the hills in the distance. By then, Eian had come to a soul-shattering conclusion.
He knew that:
a. The clenching, tearing feeling in his chest that he had felt since Allia had left was not normal. b. The terrible ache had lessened last night when he dreamt of her in his arms, only to be replaced by a more familiar kind of ache, yet stronger than he had ever felt before, and c. He wanted to be with her, looked for her everywhere he went, and even now, the farther they rode away from the castle, the more Eian thought he just might lose his mind.
Aye, he had finally gone and done it: he had fallen for a woman. He had all of the symptoms… had watched all of the same things happen to his brother.
She is my mate.
Eian drew in a sharp breath as he finally let the realization come crashing down on him, erasing every last shred of doubt and filling him with a certainty the likes of which he had never known. She is my mate. I have a mate.
But she didn’t want him.
What happened to a man when his destined mate wouldn’t have him? Did he eventually wither and die of wanting her? It certainly seemed to him the most likely outcome, based on the last several hours.
Dirc looked at Eian cautiously out of the corner of his eye, watching his thoughts cross his face, relieved the lad had finally come to his senses. “Do ye want to talk about it, lad?”
Eian shook his head. “No. I canna have her, and she’s run away, besides.”
