Gift of the Realm by Mackenzie Crowne Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t know?”
    “I
didn’t. What happened to them?”
    “Well
now, it was a long time ago. Near to three hundred years. The story goes that
Saraid’s parents woke of a morning, nine months to the day of Saraid’s marriage
to Owein the Fine, to find twin babes tucked into a golden basket set close to
the hearth. The wee bundles had the look of their mother, they did, and so the
thrilled grandparents accepted them and raised them as their own. The twins
both married, when they were of an age, and went on to have babes of their own,
but it’s said they suffered from a melancholy sickness. They passed within a
week of each other, long before their babes were grown.”
    “That’s
so sad.”
    Sean
nodded. “It’s the way of legends to tug at the heart strings.”
    They
were both silent a moment, then Keely said, “You said Owein and Saraid went to
live beneath the mound. Would that be the mound at the Door?”
    “Could
be,” Sean agreed. “It’s long been said that the Door caps a fairie raft. But
remember, Keely, there were two fairie bands in Dunhaven. Whether the
Door caps the raft of King Owein the Fine, or King Cael the Strong, is anyone’s
guess.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter
Eight
     
    Colin
stopped short just outside the wooden gate, running his tongue around his teeth
at the sight that met his eyes. Five feet away, a sweetly rounded, denim
covered ass wiggled an unknown invitation as Keely knelt on all fours at the
edge of Morna’s tiny garden.
    A
wide-brimmed hat sat upon her honey blonde hair, a fat braid running down her
back. When she turned her head and her profile came into view, he smiled at the
smudge marring the line of her sharp cheekbone. The simple, white t-shirt bared
her lightly tanned arms, and her delicate wrists disappeared into the cotton
gloves covering her hands. Donovan lay sprawled on the lawn at her side.
    Colin
hesitated, unsure of his welcome. Between his leeriness at tipping his hand,
and Owein’s unwanted arrival in his office yesterday morning, he hadn’t handled
Keely’s admission with his usual charm. She’d set aside her pride, telling him
about the dreams, in order to get some answers, and though she hadn’t seemed
angry when she’d fled his office, she hadn’t been happy, either. His silence
must have seemed like a rebuff to her.
    The
trip with Owein to the Door had been a waste of time. The ring had been just as
empty and silent as Keely had proclaimed it. Owein believed the ring required
both his and Keely’s presence, before it would reveal its secrets. Colin
agreed, and yet found himself reluctant to join her there. He’d join her in the
ring if it became necessary, but only as a last resort. Dunhaven’s Door had
drawn him and Keely together. He had the uncomfortable feeling that standing in
the ring with her would only serve to pull them ever closer to the common
destiny Owein foresaw.
    Guilt
had him eyeing the claw-like tool she wielded like a knife, stabbing and
ripping at stubborn weeds. He didn’t have definitive answers to all of
her questions yet, and for his own selfish reasons, he’d be doing his best to
withhold the ones he did—at least for now. If she were ever to learn the entire
truth, he was going to find himself facing the business end of her temper. He
hoped she wasn’t gardening if and when that happened.
    “Keely?”
he called.
    She
jumped, and his brow rose in appreciation of the colorful and completely
unexpected curse that escaped her pretty mouth.
    Donovan
was on his feet like a shot, a frantic round of barking filling the air as he
loped toward Colin. The enormous dog halted just inside the fence, rising on
his back legs and propping his large front paws on the gate. His entire body
wiggled in welcome.
    “Donovan,”
she snapped sharply.
    The
dog’s deep barking stopped instantly, and he dropped to his haunches with a
whine.
    Colin
looked up to find Keely sitting on her heels. The hand holding the claw