MacAlister's Hope by Laurin Wittig Read Free Book Online Page A

it,’ and then she reached up to the top of her staff, and the stone seemed to leap from its place there into her hand. She told me how to use it and I have had it ever since.” He pulled the stone out of the pouch and held it between his thumb and forefinger as Annis had done before. “’Tis called the Winter Stone.”
    “It does remind me of winter’s swirling snows,” Fia said.
    “Aye, but Beira said ‘twas a tear from the Cailleach Bheur , the mother of winter, and that because it came from her own heartbreak it reflected the hearts of anyone who held it. She also told me it would bring me to my destiny.” He looked up from the stone in his hand to the woman he had never been able to forget.
    “So the pink reflects the heart?”
    “Aye, if someone who holds it speaks from the heart—the truth, at least as that person believes it to be—pink will flow through the white. And if that person lies—speaks against her heart—”
    “It turns a murky, almost black, brown,” Fia said. “That is how you knew Annis lied.”
    “It is. ’Tis also how I knew you and Elena both believed you would be able to help the chief.”
    “I only believed I would do my best to help him,” she reminded him.
    “Aye, but it was spoken from your heart. Elena believed you would heal him.”
    “She did. She has always believed I could do whatever I put my mind to.”
    “And is she usually right?”
    Fia smiled. “Aye, always as far as I can remember.” She stared at the stone as if she tried to see within it. “Have you ever seen other colors?”
    “Aye, but I do not ken what they mean. Biera only told me of the pink and brown. I saw blue once, a pale purple a few times. On spring days it sometimes takes on a yellow cast, like fresh butter.”
    Fia clasped her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. “May I try something with it?”
    Without hesitating, he handed it to her. She quickly rose and held her hand out to him again. “Come with me. I need you to watch the stone in case I cannot see all that you see.” He gladly took her hand, relishing the feel of her palm against his as he scrambled to his feet, not needing her help, but not passing up a chance to touch her.
    She led him back to the chief’s bedside and dropped his hand. She held the stone in her palm, closed her eyes and simply stood there, as if she composed herself, though for what he knew not.
    When she opened her eyes, she stared down at the stone balanced on her open palm as she began to say the names of herbs, then other things he did not recognize. With each word she spoke she paused and waited as the stone filled with light—pink sometimes, brown others, and then, suddenly a beautiful green infused the white ribbons within the stone while pale pink shadows played along its edges.
    “That is the one!” She beamed over at Kieron, her face alight with wonder. “Did you see it?”
    “The green and pink, aye, but I do not ken what the green means. I have never seen it before.”
    She held the stone out to him. “Take it. I am done.” She bounced up on her toes as he grabbed it and gave him a quick kiss. “I know how to help the chief!”
    “You do?” He returned the stone to its pouch.
    “Aye. I named the things I thought would help him, along with things I knew would harm him—I needed to test my theory. In every case the herbs that would harm turned the stone that sludgy, murky brown. The herbs I knew would not harm him were pale pink, but when I hit upon a salve with several different components, the green almost overwhelmed the pink. Green is the color of new life in the spring. It is the color of wellbeing, health. It is the color of your eyes, too.” She smiled shyly at him, before her grin lit up her face again. “I am sure that is what green meant in the stone, too. Not your eyes,” she said quickly, her cheeks turning a becoming pink, “wellbeing and health.”
    Kieron was stunned. Never would he have thought to use the stone in