Page 46 of Enchanted

Rosalyn raced outof the great hall and ran into the front courtyard. Tears stung her eyes and blurred her vision. She drew in a breath of the cool morning air, allowing it to seep inside her, calming the turmoil that Alastair’s words had brought forth. He was prepared to spend a small fortune on her to free her permanently from Lieutenant Long. Yet it was the word “family” that had twanged deep inside her. She had not been part of a family for a very long time, and it wasn’t until that moment that she realised how much she wanted to be a part of a family again—part of Keiran’s family.

She tipped her head back, allowing the wind to caress her face. When the breeze failed to bring the tranquillity she longed for, she focused on the sound of the birds in the trees and the waves that gently lapped at the shore in the distance. Last night, when Keiran had taken her into his arms and held her close, she had felt safe and cared for. But not loved or cherished. The sooner she accepted that, the better off she would be.

Rosalyn forced her breathing into a slow, steady rhythm, and drew silent strength from the earth beneath her feet. Every day, she seemed to be finding a newfound connection to the land of her mother’s people. Of her people. The thought brought the sense of calm for which she had been searching. She turned back towards the castle’s doorway when she heard a sound that made her pause. She stopped, listening for the noise that seemed out of place amongst the other sounds of the morning.

A soft screech came again, from a distance. Feeling safe within the walls of the castle, she followed the soft sound that seemed to be coming from the gate. As she neared, she saw a splash of black fur and heard a distinctive meow. She knelt before the gate to see a bedraggled kitten. “Sweet baby,” she cooed as she reached through the iron bars of the portcullis and lifted the kitten into her arms. The kitten immediately started purring and rubbing itself on her arm. “Are you lost?”

Rosalyn studied the animal’s black coat, white paw, and noted a little splash of white on the animal’s chin. The feature that drew her attention was the kitten’s intense blue eyes.

Could this be another kitten from the mother cat Keiran had found a few nights ago? “You must be starving,” she cooed again, rising. With determined steps, she carried the small beast into the castle then back outside and into the rear courtyard where she made her way to the mews.

She opened the door to the small haven Keiran had created for his menagerie of injured animals and moved to find the mother cat nursing her other kitten beneath the table. She held the small, wet kitten out to the mother cat, expecting Midnight to accept the lost kitten. Instead, the animal flinched backwards and hissed, before gathering her nursing kitten closer. Then chaos erupted as the birds in the small space shrieked and flapped their wings, as if they, too, were annoyed with the new visitor. Shivering, the brown rabbit buried itself beneath the hay.

Rosalyn pressed her lips together and frowned. She did not know much about animal behaviour, yet the mother cat and all the other creatures had made their opinion of accepting the new kitten perfectly clear. “Never fear, sweet kitten.” She spoke softly to the abandoned animal in her hands. “I will take care of you. Let us go find you some milk, shall we?”

The mother cat was still hissing and growling until Rosalyn shut the door behind her. “Perhaps you need a bath, too.” She drew the kitten closer to her nose, not detecting any foul scent. What other reason could the animals have for acting so strangely? She nestled the kitten in the curve of her arm as she continued towards the kitchen. “I will wash you and feed you, and then tomorrow we can try to reintroduce you to the others.”

Rosalyn’s steps were filled with such purpose, and her focus was on what she would say to Mrs Honey when she arrived at the kitchen, that she did not notice the splash of white on the kitten’s chin shifting to the bridge of the animal’s nose.

*

Back in thegreat hall, the planning continued as Keiran desperately tried to focus his attention on the ongoing discussion before him. “When do we implement these plans?”

“We can start our plans with Oberon this evening. However, we must wait for the scouts to return with the locations of the English regiments before we can execute that plan safely.”

“What do we do with Oberon once we have captured him?” Keiran met Alastair’s gaze directly.

The heaviness in Alastair’s eyes spoke his thought that Oberon would not be easy to capture and even harder to contain. “We have not been able to find a solution to that.”

“We could force him into the shadow realm. It would not be a permanent solution, but it could take him days, even years to make his way back here.”

“And he will be angry and more dangerous when he finds a way out,” Tormod said.

“How would we even get him into the shadow realm?” Alastair asked. “Mother had to help us the last time at great cost to herself. Can we ask her to do that again and possibly lose her for good this time?”

“Haven’t we already lost her? Or at least the mother we used to know?” Callum asked with a frown.

“Aye. Mother is much changed from when she was alive, but she has been so helpful in the past few months. Without her early warnings, we might have fallen to more than one foe. Besides, none of us can deny that she is changing. She can touch us now. She can feel emotion. She is less translucent every time we see her.” Orrick’s brows came together as they did when he was deep in thought. “I suspect it is because she is clawing her way back from the spirit realm where she is trapped and may eventually find her eternal reward in the afterlife. Then, her half-existence in this realm will be at an end.”

“Mother?” Tormod called out, hoping to draw the Grey Lady to them. To the table he explained, “I know we all only want what is best for our mother. But before we make assumptions, we should ask her feelings on the matter before we make any further plans.”

Answering Tormod’s summons, a frothy grey mist swept across the floor of the great hall, then gathered into a more solid shape at the end of the table, until their mother appeared before them. You called me, my sons? Her unspoken words filled their minds.

The mist that surrounded her lessened, leaving a more solid version of their mother than had ever been there before. Orrick was right. As the days passed, their mother became more of the woman she had once been. Even so, as she walked behind each of them, placing a hand of greeting upon their shoulders, enveloping them in an otherworldly mist that crawled across their skin, her touch left a chill in its wake. She might appear more human, but she was not fully of this world either.

“Mother,” Keiran said. “We need your help. We have a plan to trap Oberon, yet we have no idea how to contain him once he is our prisoner. He cannot die as humans do. Graeme, Aria, and I tried to obliviate him and failed. How do we keep the fairy king contained so that he cannot keep interfering in the lives of the MacLeods now and in future generations?”

Any joy Keiran might have imagined in the Grey Lady’s features vanished, replaced by a sombre expression. There is a way, she said, her voice almost tortured. After the last time I helped Aria and Graeme break through to the shadow realm, I almost faded from this realm, until my children pulled me back. Yet as I existed partially in the human realm, and partially in the spirit realm, I realised I can choose my own fate. I can remain here with all of you, or, when I am ready, I can move on to the spirit realm and my eternal reward. I could also shift into the shadow realm, where I would then stay for all eternity. If that is what you need me to do, I can take Oberon with me to the shadow realm.

“Nay,” Callum and Orrick said in unison.

Tormod crossed his arms over his chest. “If you leave us, we want it to be for something better, not for an eternity of pain and suffering at that man’s side.”

Alastair shook his head, his expression pained. “We can find another way that does not involve you sacrificing yourself, Mother.”

I would happily sacrifice what remains of myself to see my children safe.

“Nay,” Keiran agreed. “There must be another solution.”