“Me? But it’s my brother who will be chieftain.”
She shrugged. He would learn soon enough of the sorrows to come.
“Can ye tell me what woman I must choose, then?” Connor asked, worry furrowing his brow.
“Ach, the lass will choose ye,” she said, and pinched his cheek. “Ye just must be wise enough to know it.”
She looked to the cottage door just before the sound of the knock. Alex, who was closest, opened it and laughed when he saw the little girl with wild, unkempt red hair standing there.
“ ’Tis only Ian’s wee friend Sìleas,” he said, as he pulled her inside and shut the door against the cold.
The girl’s large green eyes took in the room, then settled on Ian.
“What are ye doing wandering alone outside in the dark?” Ian asked her.
“I came to find ye, Ian,” the girl said.
“How many times must I tell ye to be careful?” Ian tightened his mantle and turned to the others. “I’d best take her back to her da.”
The old woman thought the lass’s da should be skinned alive for letting the wee bairn wander about as he did. But he was not the sort of man who had much use for a daughter.
“Were ye no afraid the faeries would snatch ye?” she asked.
Sìleas shook her head. Ach, the poor child knew that the faeries steal only the children who are most precious to their parents.
“Come on, then,” Ian said, taking the wee girl’s hand. “I’ll tell ye a story about a selkie as we walk.”
Sìleas looked up at the lad, and her eyes shone as if God himself had sent the strongest and bravest warrior in all the Highlands to be her protector.
CHAPTER 1
ISLE OF SKYE
Scotland
1508
Sìleas’s outstretched hands bumped and scraped against the rough earthen walls, touch replacing sight, as she raced through the blackness. Small creatures skittered before her, running in fear as she did.
But there was no echo of footsteps behind her. Yet.
A circle of gray light appeared ahead, signaling the end of the tunnel. When she reached it, Sìleas dropped to her hands and knees and crawled through the narrow opening, mud dragging at her skirts.
Brambles scratched her face and hands as she scrambled out the other side. A burst of clean sea air surrounded her, blowing away the dank, new-grave smell of the tunnel. Sìleas sucked in great lungfuls of it, but she had no time to stop.
Startled sheep stared or trotted out of her way as Sìleas clambered up the hill. She prayed that she had not already missed him. When she finally reached the path, she flattened herself behind a boulder to wait. Before she could catch her breath, she heard hoofbeats.
She had to be certain it was Ian. With her heart thudding in her ears, she peeked around the boulder.
As soon as the rider rounded the bend, she shouted his name and jumped out onto the path.
“That was dangerous, Sìl,” Ian said, after pulling his horse up hard. “I nearly rode over ye.”
Ian looked so handsome on his fine horse, with his dark hair flying and the glow of sunset shining all about him, that for a long moment Sìleas forgot the urgency of her trouble.
“What are ye doing out here?” Ian asked. “And how did ye get so filthy?”
“I’m escaping my step-da,” Sìleas said, coming back to herself. “I came out the secret tunnel when I saw them turn ye away at the front gate.”
