Highland Fires by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online Page A

distinct
feeling that he needed to keep moving and get Ahryn to safety. And
that’s when he realized there had to be more to Ahryn than she had
told him.
    As they followed the coast, Lugus thought
back over the Fae court. Their kingdom was much like the Scottish
and English kingdoms. There was a king and queen, princes and
princesses, dukes, earls and so on. The Fae had begun Britain’s
monarchy.
    Despite Lugus’ attempt to discern if he had
somehow known Ahryn before now, he couldn’t place her. If her
family was a member of the nobility, he didn’t remember it. This
didn’t surprise him considering he had spent several millennia
locked in the Realm of Shadows to pay for a crime he hadn’t
committed.
    Just thinking of that realm sent a shiver of
dread through him. He had been the only person to leave that realm
alive. It was meant to kill, and it had nearly done just that. Only
his vengeance had kept him alive.
    To this day he didn’t like dark places, not
when there had been a time he thought never to see light again. It
was why he loved watching the sun rise every morning. It was his
way of celebrating evading the darkness.
    “Can we
rest?” 

    Ahryn’s voice jerked him to the present. He
looked over his shoulder at her and found her leaning against a
tree several paces behind him. Lugus thought over her request for a
moment, and then turned and walked to her.
    “Just for a moment. We need to cover as much
ground as we can tonight.”
    “Why are you in such a hurry? Marcus will
never find us now,” she said as she sank to the ground.
    Lugus scanned the area. “I’m not so sure of
that.”
    “How could you possibly know?”
    Lugus jerked at her words. He didn’t need
another reminder that he wasn’t a Fae any longer.
    “I apologize,” Ahryn said softly. “That was
uncalled for. I only meant–”
    “I know what you meant,” Lugus interrupted
her. “Call it a feeling, but just as easily as Marcus captured you
with that slave bracelet, he will know where we are headed and
why.”
    “I see,” she murmured.
    Lugus squatted beside her and tried to see
her face in the darkness. “How did Marcus know you were a Fae?
Didn’t you cloak yourself?”
    “Aye,” she said with a nod. “I took the
precautions so that no one would realize I wasn’t mortal. I have no
idea how Marcus knew. He wouldn’t divulge that information to me,
but I gathered that he was rather proud of the fact.”
    “Is he intelligent enough to have done it on
his own?”
    “He’s smart, but discerning a Fae from a
human when a Fae is using magic takes magic, not simple guessing. I
think he had help.”
    “My thoughts exactly,” Lugus said. “The
question is who?”
    “I wish I knew. Fae magic is some of the
strongest around.”
    “Aye. Do you remember whose is as strong as
ours?”
    For a long moment there was silence. Then
Ahryn said, “The Draconia.”
    Just hearing the name sent wariness through
Lugus. “We fought over this realm once. It was a battle in which
both sides lost vast numbers, yet we came out ahead. The Draconia
left that day and never returned.”
    “Were you there?” she asked.
    Lugus swallowed and looked to the ground. “I
was. My brother and I had just come of age to fight, and despite
our father’s wishes, we fought.”
    “I recall from the teachings that the
Draconia were the only ones able to control dragons.”
    Lugus lowered himself to the ground and
leaned against a tree facing Ahryn. “I suppose they also told you
that the Draconia taught us everything there was to know about
dragons?”
    “Well…they say they didn’t
teach us everything , but they did bring the dragons.”
    He shook his head in disbelief. “I will admit
that it was long ago, but I would have thought that part wouldn’t
have been forgotten. Nay, dragons at one time were on just about
every realm. They are more ancient than our race or the Draconia.
The dragons on this realm and the Fae realm were very similar,