Page 64 of Rory

“He’s such a horn dog I thought about trying to mate with him, but you know that never turns out well for the mortals,” Mirry admitted. “So I went and found the perfect mate for him. She’s a big, busty blonde mortal I rescued from this weird old guy in Utah who was churching and molesting her. Poor kid was also one of Bodie’s victims, so he probably sex trafficked her for kicks. Anyway, I wiped her memories, and she seems to like doing the deed as much as Jakie, so they should be happy and spawn a mess of progeny.”

They walked together to the forest, where Mirry stepped back as Chlíodhna opened a door in an old ash tree. “I thought you came out of a different trunk.”

“I did.” She smiled. “Rory McKeran always believed he was the only mortal male born inside my world, but in fact there was another. That one’s mortal mother left him with me so the Fae would not hunt him down and kill him.”

Mirry peered through the door at the towering, hairy man striding across a flowery meadow. He was built like her, too massive to be entirely mortal. The fact that he was half-Fae didn’t bother her, but the possibility that they were related on his Fae side did.

“Is that guy part Phrygian?” She grimaced. “Not that I want to nit-pick, Klee, but doing a half-brother is a little too dark, even for me.”

“He is not, I promise. He was in fact born two millennia before you were a twinkle in your dear mama’s eye,” Chlíodhna said. “His sire was the last of an ancient Fae troll bloodline. He fled to the mortal realm when his people were exterminated by the goblins. He’s not evil, by the way, although he does cause earthquakes when he loses his temper.”

“Wow, how dreamy.” She grinned. “Can he come out and play?”

“His presence in the mortal realm would bring down the wrath of those stodgy Fae purists, and he does not wish to die,” she admitted.

The giantess sighed. “I don’t think I can live in your world, Klee. No offense, but I need my own space.”

“If you wish to remain here and go on entertaining yourself with mortals, by all means, stay.” She lifted her hand to close the door, and then hesitated. “What if we move your compound here? You can still reside in the mortal realm, but when you’re lonely, you can go and visit my young friend. He’s quite lonely, you know, and very well-endowed.”

Mirry grinned. “Deal.”

Leaving Tasgall and Doon to take care of the men, Ava went up to the archive room, and opened the enchanted viewing scroll. She’d have to get Rory to activate the spell that made it a window in time, she recalled, and sighed.

“Sure wish you’d just show me who didn’t make it back with us.” As images began to appear on the bespelled parchment she took a step back., “Well, all right then.”

She recognized a few outsiders waking up in unfamiliar but decidedly more modern-looking locations, and then she saw a particular trio sleeping together in a large bed. Since all three seemed to be naked, and the bedroom furniture was classic Mission style, Ava smiled. Elspeth had gone with her two husbands to a world where no one would burn them at the stake for loving each other.

She thought of Elspeth’s friend, and asked the scroll, “Show me where Una is right now.”

On the scroll, the chamber maid appeared in Dun Talamh’s great hall, and seemed to be looking at all the men until she spotted Kelso, and hurried toward him. Tasgall intercepted her before she reached the guard and spoke to her. She nodded and went with him to the guard’s table, where the laird introduced her to Kelso. From his reaction he didn’t recognize Una, but the smile he gave her was very friendly.

“I reckoned I’d find you here, my lady.” Darro joined her and frowned at the scroll. “Did one of my brothers aid you before I arrived?”

“No, sir. I got the magic window opened up all on my own.” She spread her hands and studied them. “Can I borrow that dagger of yours for a bit?”

He unsheathed and offered her the weapon, and then made a startled sound as she drew the blade across her left palm, leaving a shallow cut. “My lady.”

“I’m fine, just testing something else.” She wiped the blood from the blade on her handkerchief, and then blotted her palm. The wound stopped bleeding, closed and left only a thin white mark, which also vanished thirty seconds later. “That about how fast you McKeran boys heal?”

“Aye. If I may?” When she nodded he took hold of her hand, and then almost immediately released it. “We’re able to sense other immortals by touch, my lady. You’ve become one, although I cannae fathom how.”

“Well, I spent some months inside the spell trap, and then there’s that dark blood magic I inherited from those nasty druids.” She met his gaze. “I expect I’m not the only one who got this present, either. We need to find Rory.”

At the entrance to the great hall, Ava nearly collided with Esme as she jumped into Darro’s arms.

“It was me,” she crowed. “I told the enchantment to make us all immortal and it listened.”

Darro hugged her close and gave her a twirl. “Then ’tis smart enough to know you cannae be denied.”

Olivia and Alec were right behind her, their smiles huge as they watched Esme and Darro.

Olivia turned her dazed look to Ava. “It’s true, isn’t it?” When Ava nodded, she said, “I can’t believe it.”

Alec put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “After all we’ve endured?” he said, smiling down at her. “I can.”

Farlan clapped him on the back. “The war master believes?” He gave Ava a wink. “Surely ’tis proof of strange magic at work.”

“Well however it happened,” Grace said, her fingers intertwined with Farlan’s, “even an eternity won’t be enough for us.” Farlan turned to her and lightly folded her into his embrace.