Highland Fires by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online

leather
for me to begin work on your sword and sheath,” Jonathon said, his
lips thinned in pain as the men tightened their hold on him.
    Marcus glanced at Jonathon’s wife huddled at
the door to their cottage with their children. “The difficulty is,
Jonathon, that I have no idea if you are lying or not.”
    For several moments Marcus debated on whether
to kill Jonathon and his family. Finally he waved away his men, and
Jonathon dropped to the ground. Marcus stepped on Jonathon’s hand
and grabbed his hair and pulled until Jonathon looked at him.
    “I will have you watched. I am sure Lugus
will return here, and when he does, I will be waiting for him.”
    Marcus released him and walked to his horse.
Fury pumped with every beat of his heart. He had worked long and
hard to secure the enchanted slave bracelet, and then worked just
as hard to make sure it was a Fae that tried it on. He refused to
believe he had lost Ahryn, because if he had lost her then he had
lost everything.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Lugus cracked open the door to make sure no
one was about. The castle occupants had long since found their
beds, but he had wanted to be cautious so he had waited another
hour. He held out his hand as he pushed the door wider.
    Ahryn placed her hand in his, and he led her
from the storeroom. He paused and pulled her into the shadows
before he closed the door and scanned the bailey again. She stayed
behind him, always keeping to the shadows, as they slowly worked
their way to the massive gate.
    Lugus saw four guards at the gate, two on the
gatehouse tower and two in the bailey. He had hoped to get out of
the castle walls without having to kill anyone. He had done enough
of that for four Fae lifetimes. But, it looked as if there was no
way around it.
    “I have an idea,” Ahryn whispered near his
ear, her warm breath sending chills racing along his skin.
    Lugus halted, his hand reached for his
throwing dagger, and looked at her. “And what would that be?”
    She smiled seductively. “I’m Fae, Lugus. What
do think I will do?”
    He stared after her as she walked toward the
two men at the gate. They each fell under her spell immediately as
she smiled at them. There wasn’t a need for her to even speak for a
Fae’s sensual essence drove humans mad with desire. And that was
all that was needed to keep the guards’ attention.
    Lugus crept toward the door in the gate, his
eyes never leaving Ahryn and the two guards. He reached over and
unlatched the door then quickly stepped through it. Instead of
dashing into the shadows, he waited for Ahryn. If a situation
became too much, a Fae could just vanish back to their realm, but
Ahryn didn’t have that luxury, and now Lugus worried that the men
would overtake her.
    Just as he was about to step back through the
door he heard Ahryn’s magical laughter.
    “I cannot express how grateful I am,” she
said as she stepped through the doorway. “I will never forget
either of you.” She gave them a little wave then shut the door.
    When she turned to Lugus, her smile vanished.
“Ready?” she asked.
    “What did you say to them?” he asked as they
crept to the shadows.
    She chuckled. “I lied. I told them I needed
to go for a walk and clear my head for my impending marriage.”
    Lugus shook his head, but he admired her
imagination. Where as he always went in with brute strength, Ahryn
used her head and thought things through.
    “You know what will happen to them when
Marcus discovers what they did,” Lugus reminded her.
    She shook her head. “He won’t do a thing
since neither man will remember ever seeing me.”
    “So you can use some of your Fae magic?”
    “Some and only in small doses.”
    It was something Lugus tucked away for future
reference. He had assumed the bracelet rendered her without any Fae
magic or abilities.
    With the cover of night and the clouds
concealing the moon, they were able to put a lot of distance
between them and Marcus. Yet Lugus didn’t stop. He had the