“Rob, you don’t know where we’re going?”
“Do you? Can’t you use your magic to find our path?”
“I don’t have any magic,” I lie.
The words are flat, falling out of my mouth in automatic denial but they lack the force of belief. I do have magic. Sometimes. If I’d trained with the Druid longer, I might even be able to wield it at will, but I couldn’t be patient. I almost regret my decision, but that tingle is denied knowing what might be happening to Duncan right now.
“Aye,” he says, suspicion on his face as clear as anything.
“I heard some of the clan talking about the old ways,” I say. “What does that mean?”
He scoffs with a shake of his head.
“The elders are crazy,” he says.
“But what does it mean? What are the old ways?”
“Honoring the Fae,” he says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Alesoun does it; did her a lot of good did it not?”
I remember Alesoun leaving dishes outside her door at night.
“What else though? I mean, leaving some food out the door doesn’t seem like a lot to ask or do? It wouldn’t violate any Christian beliefs.”
“You sound like a witch.”
He doesn’t look back and his words are monotone, but they cause a cold to trace from the base of my spine that spreads through my head.
“Rob, I promise, I’m no witch.”
“And is that not exactly what a witch would say?”
“Why are you angry with me?”
He stops. He lowers his head and his shoulders bunch. He’s breathing heavily and not from exertion. Moving slow he turns around and his face is contorted with anger. The cold becomes ice in my veins, freezing me in place.
Primal instinct screams through my nerves to run. When he closes the distance, he’s a predator, stalking his prey, and that prey is me. I raise my hands, motioning for him to stay back. He moves in until my hands are on his chest, and I know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, I won’t be able to stop him.
He’s big. Muscular. Stronger in every way than I am. Panic slams in and I step back before I can stop myself. I wrestle with my emotions and instinct because I’m not going to back down. I’ve done nothing wrong. I healed him, and he has no right to act this way.
They’re brave thoughts that wrestle with the very real awareness I’m a female alone with a much stronger man miles from the nearest help. I’m also in a time when women being raped and tossed aside was not an uncommon occurrence, happening in most any raids or clashes between clans.
His chest rises and falls rapidly. His hands clench and unclench. His jaw tightens and he’s shaking. I feel his heart thrumming beneath my hand.
“Whoareyou, Quinn?” he says, his voice an octave deeper than normal, almost a growl.
I move my mouth, trying to work moisture back across the sandy dryness. Ice in my belly, heart fluttering, but beneath the fear is a small trickle of power. It might be enough if I must use it.
“I’m a girl,” I say. “That’s it. A girl who loves your friend, Duncan. And he loves me.”
His eyes bore into me and he doesn’t calm. He takes a step back and half-turns. I exhale in relief as he takes another step. Then in a single, fluid motion he pulls the claymore off his back and before I can blink the sharp edge of the blade rests against my neck.
“Liar,” he exhales. “If you’re not a witch, you’re a spy. You caused this.”
ChapterNine
The sensation of razor-sharp,cold steel on my neck is terrifying. I don’t blink, don’t breathe, don’t dare move. A warm trickle slips across my collarbone. Rob has his eyes narrowed and his teeth bare.
“Tell the truth,” he growls.