Celtic Stars (Celtic Steel Book 4) by Delaney Rhodes Read Free Book Online Page A

were making their way back to the Island, to the boats after having worked in the fields for the day.”
    “Claira is yer mother,” Darina interjected.
    “Aye – she became me mam,” Gemma  replied, nodding in agreement. “I’ve no good idea who I really am, I was but a lass of three years I believe at the time.”
    “Dear God, without a family and loose in the lands at three,” interjected Ruarc.
    Gemma took a long swig from her goblet before continuing. “Later, Claira asked how I managed to escape the slavers. I told her my name because I remember being called Gemma, and then I told her about becoming a rabbit. At first she laughed until I thought she would cry.  I was quite sure she thought I was mad on top of dirty and naked, but it wasn’t a laugh of disbelief, more of a laugh of joy.”
    “What do you mean?” Flynn asked.
    “Well, the laugh you make when you find something altogether familiar and humorous at the same time, I suppose,” Gemma replied. “Because no sooner had I peeked my head over the washtub she stuck me in that I looked down to see a white rabbit right where Claira had stood just moments before.”
    “Claira was a shifter too?” Airard asked.
    “Aye.”
    “What has any of this got to do with my Daenal?” interrupted Jamie Burke. “Time is a wasting and I’ve got to be moving along,” he spoke sternly as he rose from his seat and alerted his guards to be ready to move.
    “Wait, Jamie,” Gemma replied. “Please wait a moment. I can help, I can go to Dragon’s Point. None of you here can climb the face of that rock without getting killed, and ye know this. Ye’ll either drown in the falls or fall and break yer necks. I can get there, I can get right into the lair and see if Daenal is there, and if she is, I can help you figure out how to get her out. Let me be the eyes and ears here. Let me, I know I can do this.”
    “And what if ye fail, Gemma?” asked Jamie. “What if the dragon eats ye afore ye can get back to us? What then?”
    “Well, Jamie, I know that’s possible. And I am willing to accept the risk. I love Daenal, I wouldn't dream of doing nothing here. Give me until sundown tomorrow. If I have not returned, then ye can count me as gone and ye all can make another plan, determine some other path for her rescue. Just please, at least let me try, for Daenal's sake.”
    “I just canna believe this is happening. A witch, a demon, a dragon, a shifter, by the god’s what else will we encounter?” moaned Darina, as she rubbed her swollen belly. “I just don’t know what to think ana'more, I really don’t.”
    “Darina,” said Patrick, “Gemma is our best hope. Let her go take a look at what is really going on here. Let her see if Daenal is really there if the dragon is in its lair at all, if she is alive. And if she is,  we will see what can be done.”
    “Gemma, will ye take Fanai with ye?” Darina asked, motioning to her falconry hound lying next to her on the floor. “If something were to become of ye, if ye were to need some kind of assistance, Fanai will return and tell me.”
    “Don’t ye look at me that way,” Darina spat at a very hesitant Patrick. “This dog tells me all kinds of things, whether ye, believe it or not. It won’t hurt nothing for him to go as far as he can see her and wait. If I tell him that is what he is to do, that is what he will do, I tell ye.”
    “Aye, Darina, I will take Fanai  with me.”
***
    He sat quietly for  a moment, gazing intently between the crackling fire on the hearth and the woman standing before him motionless. It was some time before he spoke, long moments that tried her patience and caused her to wrestle intently with her hands. Her hands were now clasped crudely in front of her as if they would escape were they given the chance. Her aura had changed since he last “saw” her. No longer a dark charcoal gray, it gave off the illusion of – could it be – happiness? Not sure what to do with that