Page 56 of Enchanted

He released her and took her hand as they headed through a sea of green hillsides for the waterfalls in the distance.

“You said there are two? How will we know which waterfall to search?” Together they clambered down a steep incline.

Keiran sighed heavily. “Oberon expects us to split up, to each search one. That we will not do because I am certain that will lead us to the pain part of Oberon’s message. We make a choice and pray it is the correct one in our allotted time left.”

From the path, they could see both waterfalls and two trails leading in separate directions. At the end of one path was a large waterfall, with rushing water that flowed into a stream that joined with the water from the second smaller waterfall. “Which will we choose? The larger one, or the smaller one?”

“Oberon would believe we would choose the larger, so I say we head towards the smaller one,” Keiran offered, guiding them in that direction.

A seed of doubt lingered inside Rosalyn. She stopped, forcing Keiran to do the same. “Or does he think that is what we will expect him to do, so he will do the opposite? And we will find Fiona behind the larger waterfall?”

Keiran’s expression turned grim. “One of us has to make this decision and both of us will live with the outcome, whether good or bad.”

Rosalyn swallowed roughly. “This is the pain portion of Oberon’s message. A choice we must make to save or lose someone we love.”

“Since you were the focus of Oberon’s revenge against me and the MacLeods, it makes sense that he would gear this choice towards your logic instead of mine. I trust you, Rosalyn. Let us follow the path towards the larger waterfall.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “Our past is gone. All we have now is the present. And our future awaits if we can claim it after this madness is through.”

Staring into his brown eyes, she felt his belief in her and clung to it. “We will.”

They took the path to the left. As they approached the waterfall the muted sound of rushing water filled the air. They turned a bend in the path and came to a rock face with a waterfall snuggled into its side. The grey shale surrounding the waterfall glistened with spray. Foamy water tumbled downward, splashing noisily into a naturally made pool that then flowed into the stream beyond.

Looking beyond the beauty of the setting, Rosalyn frowned. “I do not see Fiona.”

“Oberon would not make her easy to find.” Keiran nodded towards the water. “We will have to go through the falls, and hope there is a hidden cave behind the water where she waits for us. Come.”

Her thoughts moved back to the hourglass for a moment before she tightened her grip on Keiran’s hand and followed him into the water. They waded waist deep before they were forced to release their grip on each other and swim through the plunge pool.

“Ready?” Keiran asked as they approached the falls.

Rosalyn nodded and, holding her breath dove beneath the splash, praying for an undercut with air to breathe on the opposite side.

When she came up, Rosalyn was overjoyed to see an open space in the hazy light. She drew a deep breath and searched for Keiran. He was not beside her any longer. She searched the water behind her, then dove beneath the water to see he had become trapped by something on his way into the cave.

Nothing.

Rosalyn dove again and again as fear snaked through her. Where was he? Because he wasn’t below the water. She broke through the water again and searched the cave. He would not have had time to get out of the water before her, would he? Her heart soared when she saw a shadowy figure on the small shelf behind the waterfall. As the figure crept towards her, she cried out, “Fiona!” Relief flooded her even as her desperation to find Keiran left her raw and aching. Oberon had made finding the young woman not difficult once she and Keiran had chosen the right path.

Love and pain,Oberon’s message had been to them. Tears came to Rosalyn’s eyes as the love in her heart swelled, momentarily assuaging her fear at Keiran’s absence. She had loved Keiran from the moment she had first looked into his eyes as she lay dying. And in that moment, it did not really matter if she could love him every day for the next year, or if she were lucky enough to love him for the rest of her life. She would take what joy she could and cling to it for as long as he would let her.

Then another idea occurred to her as she scrambled onto the ledge where Fiona perched. “It is glad I am to see you safe.”

“You came for me,” Fiona said with a tremor in her voice. “I tried to leave this place myself, but I cannot swim.”

“It does not matter,” Rosalyn said slowly. Oberon somehow had known that. Oberon knew many things. And Oberon was a trickster. Rosalyn looked down at Fiona’s arm and noticed the absence of her bracelet. Had Oberon tricked them all into removing the protection of the silver they had worn? Rosalyn’s eyes narrowed for a moment, but then she gave a little rallying shake of her head, and added, “I believe I know how we can get out of this place, but I will need you to trust me.”

Fiona nodded, relief sparking in her gaze. “I do trust you.”

Rosalyn pressed her lips into a thin line. “I apologise for what I am about to do to you, Fiona. Believe me, it is necessary.” Rosalyn brought her hand up, and slapped Fiona hard across the cheek.

Fiona gasped and her eyes went wide. She brought her hand up to cover her cheek, and in the next moment, she faded away.

Rosalyn allowed herself a quick grin before she jumped back into the pool of water and swam to the other side of the waterfall. Fiona was only partially in this magical in-between place Oberon had taken them to. From what Keiran had told her about her own body frozen in time in the old keep, she had determined that only by causing Fiona pain would the woman wake from her enchanted slumber and be right where she belonged, back at Dunvegan.

Rosalyn broke through the surface of the water on the other side of the plunge pool, hoping beyond hope that she might see Keiran. But he was nowhere in sight. Oberon must have taken him while they had been under the water, relocating him somewhere else in this strange in-between place. What other explanation was there for Keiran’s absence when he had been right beside her not long ago?

They had played Oberon’s game and had found Fiona, yet Rosalyn could not really say they had won because now Oberon had taken Keiran from her. “Oberon, you have reneged on your promise to send us home.”

The hourglass suddenly appeared at her feet, the sand frozen in place, reflecting that she’d beat the fairy king’s timeline. “Where is Keiran?”

A breeze suddenly kicked up behind Rosalyn, pushing her along the path she and Keiran had taken before. Rosalyn did not fight the wind. Instead, she let it carry her along until she was back in the Fairy Glen, heading towards Castle Ewen, where the wind died as quickly as it had come.

Ahead of her Castle Ewen dominated the landscape. That was where she would find Keiran. She did not know how she knew this, but she did. Perhaps some of Keiran’s fairy-touched nature was rubbing off on her?

She steeled herself for what came next. It was time to take a stand against Oberon or he would continue to pursue Keiran, and all the MacLeods. They would never know a moment’s peace.

Rosalyn broke into a run. A part of her soul had died along with her parents, and half her heart had died in a Scottish forest—then Keiran had entered her life. And something new had grown inside her, something she never wanted to turn away from again.

She was no longer afraid.