Page 55 of Duncan

He held her tenderly, resting his cheek against her bright hair. “Eilonwy.”

A hand touched Nicole’s shoulder, and when she looked, Duncan stood at her side watching the embracing couple.

“Why are we here? How did we get here?” she murmured to him. “We were just making love in your infirmary.”

“I reckon we’re yet there, and ’tis a dream or a vision we’re sharing.” He watched the embracing couple for another moment before he added, “That man, he’s my sire, Prince Mar, and since the lady resembles you, she’s likely Princess Eilonwy.”

“She’s not my mother,” Nicole told him, unable to stop watching the couple.

He took hold of her hand. “Yet you’re the same. You share blood with her.”

Just as Duncan shared blood with Prince Mar, she thought as the dream began to spin around them. The blurred images made her dizzy, and something was stripping away their clothes. Before the whirling stopped Duncan wore nothing but rain, and all she had covering her was the same golden ivy that had wreathed the princess. Just like Mar and Eilonwy they were holding each other. The silver had vanished from his hair, Nicole thought, enchanted now. He looked more like Shaw, but he was still Duncan.

Wasn’t he?

The couple disappeared along with the stream and the forest, leaving Nicole and Duncan holding each other in a black void. He pressed her closer as tiny blue and green lights began to dance around them, and then came together to show an image of a large vessel sailing through a terrible storm. The crew appeared to be all women, and they snarled and snapped at each other as they clung to ropes and rails while huge waves washed over the top deck and poured through the scuppers.

“They’re coming for you now, and naught shall stop them.” A petite dark-haired woman came to stand beside them, and smiled as Duncan gave her a wide-eyed look. “Hello, Healer.”

“Joana, my brother’s first wife,” he murmured to Nicole before he said to the woman, “My lady. I’m sorry for what Derdrui and the Cait Sith forced you do.”

“I always imagined my time with Connal, ’twould no’ last long.” The woman’s lips curved into a sad smile. “Give Valerie my thanks for saving our love from his broken heart.” She made a sweeping gesture, and Duncan vanished.

Nicole turned her head as her Aunt Merry stepped into a pool of green light on the other side of them. “Why are you here?”

“I did not wish to be, believe me,” the Fae princess snapped. “I hate intruding on the fate of others.” She pointed at Joana. “It was all her idea.”

The laird’s first wife smiled at her as her face began to bulge and darken. “You have no idea what I can do to you and your spawn, you silly bitch.” She seized Nicole with one hand and Merrivane with the other. “Perhaps I’ll squeeze your scrawny necks until your heads pop off. I love the sound that makes.”

Nicole tried to wriggle free and call for help, but the enchantress dug her talons into her neck, and grinned at her with bloodied teeth.

“Why should anyone help you? Who do you think you are, really?” Derdrui asked, laughing in the same way someone else would scream.

A hard slap in the face wrenched her out of the nightmare, and she stared at Duncan, who had her pinned to a wall in the passage outside the infirmary. Both of them were naked, and he was panting.

“’Tis me, Nicole,” he said. “You’re awake now?” When she nodded he scooped her up in his arms and carried her back inside, placing her on the pallet and covering her with a blanket before he pulled on his trousers. “I woke when you began crying for aid in your sleep. I couldnae wake you, and then you ran from me.”

“I had a terrible dream.” It had seemed so real, however, she wondered if it had been more than that. “Can Derdrui come into the mind of a halfling while we’re sleeping?”

“My sire never spoke of her abilities beyond her talent for shape-shifting, yet ’tis possible. He warned us she had no equal in dark power among the Fae.” He brought his tunic to her. “I ripped your gown.”

“Thank you.” She pulled on the tunic and stood, unable to bear the way he was looking at her. She was either going to die or leave him, which seemed to be almost the same thing. “It’s late, so I should go. Good-night, Duncan.”

“You’ll share my bed—or need I toss you over my shoulder and carry you there, my lady?” he asked softly, and held out his hand.

They shouldn’t do this, Nicole thought. Yes, she loved him, with so much passion and intensity that she knew she’d never love anyone else after she left him. Duncan made all her wealth and privilege seem utterly meaningless. In the future also waited her malevolent brother, who might have already seized control of the Fairburn fortune. The fallout of the scandal she’d create when she accused Hudson of trying to murder her would be huge and destructive; it might even cause her father’s empire to collapse. But the more immediate threat, the one that would kill everyone on the island, was still coming for them.

One more night. She reached out and twined her fingers through his. That’s all I want.

The door to the infirmary flung open, and Nyall came in, halted and turned his back on them. “Forgive the interruption, Mistress, but the watchers report an attack on the village that came from the sea. ’Tis likely the hybrids.”

“I must go with the men so I may treat the wounded,” Duncan told her.

Nicole nodded. “I’ll go with you.” When he started to shake his head she added, “Only the two of us can heal each other. If there are a great many wounded, you’ll need me.” She regarded the captain. “I just need to grab some pants from my room.”

Nyall held out a cloak and a change of clothes. “Aye, I suspected you might, so I brought these from your chamber. Duncan, a word with you while the lady dresses?”

After giving her a frustrated look the healer picked up his case and followed the captain out into the hall.