Page 40 of Enchanted

Standing nearby, Alastair smiled and raised their joined hands. “With this cord, the two of you have bound your lives into one.” Alastair shifted his gaze between the two of them. “Rosalyn and Keiran, with the Lord and these good people as your witnesses, your lives are joined. May the next year find you bound in spirit as you are now bound in life.”

When Alastair finished speaking, Keiran drew their joined hands back, and leaning forward, he pressed a kiss, feather-light, across the back of her hand. “I pledge you my life,” he said with steely resolve.

His life but not his love.The words brought an ache to Rosalyn’s chest. She forced the feeling away. Love was not what this binding was about. It was about protection. She could not deny that she needed his protection. It was comforting to know she would not have to stand alone against whatever Lieutenant Long would bring along with his regiment to Dunvegan eventually.

A cheer rose up from those gathered. A moment later, the skirl of the bagpipe sounded, filling the night air with joy and merriment. The beat of a drum and dulcet tones of Callum on his mandolin joined the piper. Instead of looking at Keiran, Rosalyn kept her gaze on the cord that bound them. “Should we not remove the cord now that the deed is done?”

With a finger beneath her chin, Keiran lifted her gaze to his. A sizzle of heat slipped from his skin to hers. “The cord usually remains in place until our bond is consummated.” His smouldering gaze dropped to her lips, and Rosalyn felt her body ignite.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d known that was where handfasting would lead. She trusted Keiran, and he trusted her, but was she ready to give herself to him fully? Though her body warmed at his nearness, though her hands longed to reach out and touch him, she held back.

Sensing her hesitation, Keiran released her chin to stroke his finger along her cheek, then curled it in a tendril of her unbound hair. Her body tingled, as if a spark had ignited between them. His touch opened something inside her, a recognition from deep within, that what they had was something special, almost magical. She stared up at him as moonlight shone on his features, giving him an ethereal look that assured her she could trust him with her mind and her body. “Keiran, I—”

A giant sucking sound filled the air. The musicians stopped playing and everyone turned towards the loch and Little Minch beyond. In horror, they watched the water roll back, leaving a huge expanse of empty beach. In the far distance, a huge wave swelled, glittering in the moonlight, appearing like a wall that stretched from the sea to the sky.

“Everyone, inside the castle!” Alastair shouted.

“What is it? What is happening?” Rosalyn asked, fear lacing her voice.

“Go inside.” Keiran quickly unwrapped the cord from their hands and set her away from himself. “Go inside. I beg you.”

At the fear in his voice, pain tightened Rosalyn’s chest. “Does this have something to do with Oberon? The fairy I saw earlier today?”

He nodded. “He means to kill us all. Please, help the others and seek safety inside.”

Rosalyn doubted a wave that massive would spare the castle or anyone inside it. A low rumbling built, and the wind swirled around them as those gathered in the courtyard swarmed towards the doorway.

“Please, Rosalyn.” His voice was harsh and strained. “I could not bear it if something happened to you.”

Startled by the desperation in his words, she hesitated, and noted that Aria and two other cloaked figures remained in the courtyard, their hands outstretched as though fighting the inevitable rush of the water that would consume them all.

“I must help Aria, Pearl, and Gille. The four of us might be able to undo what Oberon has set in motion.”

She finally nodded and headed for the doorway that Graeme held open for her. “Hurry,” he yelled as the temperature suddenly dropped and a mist appeared between herself and the door.

The mist rose from the ground, then slithered and coiled, releasing a pale light that cut through the silvery darkness.

Rosalyn stopped as her breath quickened, and fear wended though her. The mist grew brighter, like pale snow against a canvas of black, painting the silhouette of a masculine form where there had once been nothing. The form swirled, becoming a twisting, dancing light before solidifying into the being she had seen in the fairy circle earlier today. Fear rose up inside her as his startling blue gaze connected with hers and then Keiran’s.

Keiran kept his gaze fixed on the fairy king. “What do you want?”

“What do I want? Where should I begin?” Oberon laughed dismissively as one eyebrow winged up. “You of all people should know. How dare you try to send me into oblivion. It almost worked, you know. If I had not grabbed one of the sprites and taken her with me, I would have had no power to bring myself back. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the sprite, it was just enough magic to land me deep in the shadow realm instead. Now all of you who conspired against me shall feel my wrath.” His features tightened and his blue eyes flashed with temper.

Every muscle in Keiran’s body tightened, coiled, as if he were preparing to spring into attack. “You have no business here in the human realm. Leave now and there will be no trouble.”

Rosalyn’s fingers tightened. She had read stories about Oberon as a mischievous fairy, meddling in the lives of others. But unlike the stories, Rosalyn could sense something dangerous building inside this fairy. Magic flared in his eyes and shimmered around him in a dark red haze as if it were all too much for his body to contain. The wind kicked up, howling, swirling around those who remained in the rear courtyard. Water dripped from the stone wall surrounding them as spray from the wave condensed.

“The only way I will leave here is with the Fairy Flag. Give it to me or everyone you know and love will die.”

Keiran looked behind him to the wall of water that Aria and the others were just managing to keep at bay. “The flag is not mine to give.”

“But it is mine.” Alastair’s voice came from behind them. They turned to see the laird and Graeme had stepped from the relative safety of the castle.

Graeme clutched the Fairy Flag in his hands. “If I wave this flag, the fairy legions will have no choice but to come to the aid of the MacLeods.”

Oberon’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “And pull you back to Fairyland for all eternity.”

“That is a debt I am willing to pay if it keeps everyone else safe.” Graeme raised his arms, ready to unfurl the flag and send it waving in the wind.