Through Time-Pursuit by Claudy Conn Read Free Book Online Page A

the Lower Lake in Killarney.” She turned away from Trevor and Chance and tried concentrating on the three lakes.
    She could picture them in her mind—and all at once, she saw him .
    He stood on a mystically hidden small island in the largest lake—the Lower Lake. He was at the water’s edge of that island, and she could see the ruins of an old abbey behind him. He was reciting something in ancient Danu.
    Instinctively she knew she should withdraw, but she wanted to watch. This was happening in the present, and as she feared, he sensed her—or something—that made him stop his chanting. He looked out onto the lake and then upwards towards the gray and cloud-studded sky.
    She stared into his brilliant black eyes and knew he was looking back into her eyes. They had made a connection. So not good , was her first thought.
    She felt linked to him somehow, as though his eyes held her in place. That wasn’t possible. She was a Seelie Royal and far more powerful than an Unseelie Royal— wasn’t she?
    Chance reached for her elbow and called sharply, “Lass! Coom back to me—lass,” and then more gently, “Steady now …”
    She heard his voice as though it were on an airwave far away, but it enabled her to break the connection with Pestale. She shook off the feeling and frowned. “What?” she said because she was a bit embarrassed.
    “What did ye see, love?” Chance asked gently.
    “The Lakes of Killarney—he is there. He is there right now.”
    “There aren’t any other portals left in Killarney,” Trevor said doubtfully. “Why go there?”
    “Gaiscioch could have had a portal hidden in Dark Magic,” Chance answered him and took Royce’s hand. She was surprised how he always seemed to take hold of her when he was ready to move. The next thing she knew they had shifted to Killarney near the Lower Lake’s shoreline.
    “Don’t like Milesian mode of shifting—it feels sticky,” Royce said to Chance as they stepped onto the grass. “I can shift very well on my own, you know.”
    “There is naught wrong with Milesian shifting,” Chance answered with a laugh, “and I prefer to have ye near when we travel. Now, never mind that. Tell me where he is, lass.”
    Royce saw past the concealment spell the Dark Prince had enacted to the island that hid its presence from prying eyes in veils of ancient magic.
    Absently noticing a large blue tour boat making its slow way past the island, she sighed wistfully. How nice it would be just to relax on a boat and enjoy the beauty of these natural surroundings instead of having to rout out a devil.
    She turned back to Chance and said quietly, “Do you see that island through the magic?”
    “Aye,” Chance said. “Is he there?”
    “He was … but now … I don’t know.”
    Chance stepped to the water’s edge, heedless of the sightseers, and cupped his mouth to shout, “Pestale! Do ye hear me, devil—do ye? I want ye to prepare yerself to say m’sister’s name, for it will be the last thing ye say before I gouge out yer eyes and yank out ye insides and feed ye to the buzzards!”
    Royce walked up to him and touched his bare arm. Her problem had always been that she empathized with others. She felt for Chance and understood the anguish that governed his need for revenge.
    There was nothing she could do for him, so she didn’t speak. He looked down at her, and their eyes met. A blast of emotion swept through her, and she was stunned by the charge. She looked at him and wondered if he felt it as well—an electric current that went through her insides …? Did he feel it? Did he?
    “We shouldn’t give him warnings like that, Chance.” Trevor interrupted the moment. “He’ll leave the area now before we can get to him.”
    “Doona be daft,” he answered Trev gruffly. “He already knows we be cooming for him. If he hasn’t left the area already, he will long before we can locate him, but we are getting closer, and he knows it. What I’m wondering is how