Rose of the Mists by Laura Parker Read Free Book Online Page B

horrid creature with huge fangs and claws so sharp they’d flay a man with a single stroke!”
    Una’s carroty brows rose for an instant before her eyes narrowed skeptically. “And so, how would ye have me believe ye escaped so fierce a brute?”
    Meghan’s imagination faltered until the stinging sensation of her palms reminded her of her first adventure of the morning. Triumphantly she held them up for the older woman to see. “I climbed a tree!”
    Una chuckled and shook her head, disturbing the thick plait resting on her shoulder. Once the plait had been carrot red; now it was grayed with age. “I’m nae so great a fool as to believe that tale. Beast, is it? I’d as lief believe ye’d been with some man.”
    Meghan’s gaze slipped away as a guilty blush suffused her cheeks. Was there some difference in her, she wondered, that her aunt suspected what she hoped to keep secret?
    Alive to every nuance of her niece’s moods, Una did not miss the change as the girl’s face warmed to scarlet. “Meghan, lass, what have ye done?” She caught her niece’s shoulder and tried to catch her chin but Meghan kept her head lowered.
    After a moment, Una released her with a sigh. “I’d nae have believed it possible but—” She paused to pass a hand over the sweat on her brow. When she glanced up there was a new look in her eyes, a kind of desperate knowledge. “There’s a man somewhere who knows the answer to me questions. Would ye deny me that, Meghan?”
    Meghan’s gaze fastened on the long neat rills of dirt raised by the bristles of Una’s broom as if the earthen floor held clues to what her answer should be. Her lie had been spontaneous, uncalculated; and now that Una had seen through it, she had no choice but to revert to the truth.
    “I did not run from a beast,” she admitted reluctantly. “There were herdsmen in the forest. I—”
    “Herdsmen?” Una repeated in horror. “Ye wicked, wicked lass! Ye know better than to go near the settlements. A thousand times I’ve warned ye. After one glimpse of yer face, should a babe sicken or a cow abort her calf, they’ll descend upon us like wolves upon a wounded stag!”
    Fear washed through Meghan as she raised a protective hand to her left cheek. Una’s anger was no easier to bear than the unfounded wrath of the herdsmen. “’Twas a dream that made me go there,” she confided. “It came to me in sleep last night. I sought to learn if ’twas true.”
    “The dreams.” Una sighed in defeat, her strong square shoulders sagging. It had been many months since the visions had visited Meghan. She had hoped, had dared to believe, that they were gone once and for all. Now that hope was dashed. Leaving Ulster had not broken the link with the otherworld. “’Tis always the same. What’s a body to do against such temptation?”
    “It foretold a man’s death,” Meghan whispered.
    Una gasped and crossed herself. “Mercy’s Grace be upon ye, child, for the burden of such evil knowledge.”
    Meghan blinked back the tears that roughened her voice. “Why do the dreams come to me? What am I that men must fear me so?”
    The older woman shook her head. “’Tis not for ye or me to say what brings the sight. Ye must learn to keep the visions in yer heart, tell no one. I do what I can for ye. There’s been no cause for any to wonder what more a mother could have done for ye.”
    It had been many years since Meghan had voiced the question, but now it held a new urgency in her mind. “Why will ye never tell me who my mother was and what happened to her?”
    “Ye had no mother, to tell a plain truth!” Una snapped, turning a blind eye to the expression of hurt on the girl’s face. “But enough of that.” A new horror electrified her face. “Meghan, lass, ye didn’t lead the herdsmen here?”
    “They didn’t see me,” Meghan lied, fearing what Una would do if she knew the truth. “I did climb a tree. When they passed by, I went to the pond to swim, but a