Her eyes flashed and her fists clenched at her sides. “I can’t lose you, Cailean. I love you!”
*
Cailean’s eyes flaredwide as Rose spoke those words. He went very still. Around them, the breeze plucked at Rose’s hair and clothing, and the sea hissed against the headland. The raucous cries of seabirds filled the air. But between them, all was still.
“What did ye say?” Cailean whispered.
She gazed up at him. “I love you, Cailean MacNeil. I need you. Which is why I won’t let you do this. I won’t lose you. I can’t.”
He blinked slowly, as if trying to figure out if this was real or just adream. She placed her palms flat against his chest. “Nowdo you get it? Now do you see why I came after you?”
He cupped her cheek with one hand. “Is this real?” he whispered. “Never did I think… never did I dare to hope…” He swallowed thickly, his throat bobbing.
She shook her head. “I know it’s crazy. When Lir brought me here, she said I might find what I’ve been looking for. I didn’t know what she meant at the time, but I do now. It’s you, Cailean.You’rewhat I’ve been looking for.”
His eyes slid closed. He pressed his forehead against hers and she breathed deeply, breathing in the scent of him. He was here. He was alive. That’s all that mattered right now. They could figure out the rest from there.
“What are we going to do, lass?” he whispered.
And that was the question, wasn’t it? No matter what they felt for each other, they both still had their duty. She’d vowed to end the sickness that afflicted this island and Cailean, she knew, would do whatever it took to save his people and his daughter.
Frustrated rage welled up inside her. Was their love to be destroyed before it could even begin?
There has to be another way, she thought.There has to be.
She pushed away from Cailean. He watched her warily, his stance tense as though readying himself to stop her from doing anything stupid.
“What are ye thinking, love?” he asked softly.
“I’m going to speak to him.”
“No, ye are not!” he snapped. “Ye know what happened last time! He isnae to be trusted, Rose. He will try to snare ye!”
“I know that. And last time you were here to bring me back. You’ll just have to do the same again, won’t you?” She huffed out an exasperated breath. “I have to try. What else can I do?”
He stared at her and she read a hundred different emotions in hiseyes. Longing. Desire. Helplessness. But most of all, fear. Fear for her. For his daughter. For what this might cost. But there was also a weary kind of resignation as well.
“All right,” he breathed. “I’ll be right beside ye.”
She leaned into him, breathing in his reassuring, sea-and-sky scent. “I know you will.”
Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself to her knees. She closed her eyes and sent her senses questing outwards. She felt the god immediately. His presence slammed into her like sledgehammer, battering at her senses. Rage. Frustration. All-consuming hatred.
Give him to me!The voice boomed through her head like thunder.Son of the betrayer’s line! I will tear him apart! I will bathe the waters with his blood! I will make them all pay for what they did to me!
It was so powerful it almost flattened her. She pressed her fists against her head and screwed her eyes shut tight, battling against the raging torrent of the god’s power. It was like standing in the path of a hurricane, like staring into the heart of a volcano. She’d never felt such rage and grief. Such suffering.
You cannot have him, she said to the voice.He was not the one who trapped you. Your lover did that.
Because of the poison he and his kind poured into her ear! And now she is gone and I am alone! You think to seal me back in here, spellweaver? Ye dinna have the power! Ye are just an insect against my might. Ye willnae give me the MacNeil? Then I will take ye instead! Come to me! I will drown ye!
Something washed through Rose’s mind. Gone was the rage, the frustration, the hatred. Instead, something soft and soothing filled her. In her mind’s eye she saw cool dark caves washed by the gentle sigh of the waves. She saw forests of kelp waving gently in the breeze, multicolored fish darting between their fronds. She saw moonlight on a dark ocean as still as glass. She saw tranquility. The peace of oblivion. All she had to do was dive in and it would be hers. No more cares. No more worries.
She felt her will fading, all thought and desire being washed intothe endless sighing of the waves. It would be so easy to give in. So easy to step forward, to dive into the deep, dark water and let it close over her head…
“No!” a voice spoke by her ear, and she felt a firm grip take hold of her arm. “Come back to me, Rose, come back.”
A face floated into her mind. A handsome, beloved face, and all of a sudden the god’s compulsion shattered.
