Wicked Highlander by Donna Grant Read Free Book Online Page B

placed her hand on his arm before he could leave. The feel of thick sinew bunching beneath her palm made her yearn to touch more. “Let me share with you.”
    â€œYou need it more than I.”
    â€œPlease, Quinn. I don’t want anyone going hungry so that I may be fed.” She broke the loaf in half and held it out. “Won’t you eat with me?”
    For a brief moment she thought he would refuse. He eventually took the bread and moved to sit beside her.
    Maybe it was because he had saved her, maybe it was because he was a MacLeod, but she trusted Quinn. That trust might very well end her life, but she knew she would die in Deirdre’s mountain one way or another.
    â€œYou see in the dark, don’t you?” she asked.
    He nodded slowly.
    â€œWhy then are there torches down here?”
    â€œFor Deirdre. She may be powerful and immortal, but she doesn’t have the powers our gods have given us.”
    Marcail pulled a piece of bread apart and popped it into her mouth. “Interesting.”
    â€œHow did Deirdre capture you?”
    She was surprised by the question. She glanced at Quinn as she finished chewing. “Wyrran were spotted near our village. In the past, small groups of wyrran would roam the countryside looking for Druids. Those were the ones we always fought. But this time, they had a leader. A man.”
    â€œDunmore,” Quinn spat.
    â€œAye. I knew they had come looking for me. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone being killed so I made the decision to leave the village. By that time already half of the village had left to save themselves.”
    â€œThat was foolish.”
    â€œIt is the thought of every person on this earth to live another day. We all knew what awaited us if Deirdre captured us. I do not blame them for running.”
    â€œThen you left as well?”
    â€œI did. It kept Dunmore and the wyrran from following the others. I stayed to the forest and led them about for nearly a week.”
    His brows rose. “A week? That’s impressive.”
    â€œOnly because I knew the land. Impressive would have been escaping.”
    â€œYou couldna have escape’d the wyrran, Marcail. Magic aided them on their quest to find you.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œWhat happened once you arrived here?”
    Marcail took a deep breath. “I was immediately brought to Deirdre. She knew I have knowledge of the spell locked in my mind, but she didn’t try to find it. Why?”
    â€œI’m guessing it’s because she’s afraid to.”
    â€œI don’t believe that.”
    Quinn shifted to his side so he faced her. “Deirdre is nothing if not intelligent. She hasn’t gotten the power she has now by making costly decisions. I think she knew she couldna kill you or extract the spell the same way she knew you had the spell to begin with.”
    â€œAnd how is that?”
    â€œBlack magic.”
    Marcail shook her head. “As a Druid I know just how powerful magic can be, but to get the answers she somehow has…There has to be something else.”
    â€œYou know mie magic. What you haven’t encountered is drough magic. Black magic has much more power than yours. And as long as Deirdre’s been alive and acquiring her power, her magic is nearly limitless.”
    â€œIf that’s so, why doesn’t she have your brothers?”
    Quinn found himself smiling again. Marcail’s mind was quick. “Probably the same reason it took her three hundred years to capture me.”
    â€œWhich is?”
    â€œWe fought her.”
    Marcail grinned, making Quinn forget to breathe. He would never tire of looking at her. She was exquisite. So pure in spirit and form that it boggled his mind that she was sitting next to him.
    â€œThere are Druids who fight her. The difference is our magic cannot touch hers,” she said.
    Quinn didn’t want to talk about Deirdre any more. He reached out and