Page 5 of Tair

Lucy gasped as the wind coming from the strange dark hole blasted the colorful shawl right out of her hand. She tried to catch it, but it flew over some boulders and vanished from sight. The black-haired man grabbed her, holding her against him with one strong arm. In the next moment a raven-haired woman stepped out of the dark cloudy gap in the air.

This is definitely not better.

Taller than Lucy and her savior, the woman had such stunning features and a magnificent build that she could have been a computer-generated image of a dark goddess. The crimson fabric that draped her seductively-curved body resembled coagulated blood, and yet seemed to move as if it were actively bleeding on itself. The cuffs and neckline had been trimmed with fur the color of fresh pus. The entire ensemble moved like water as the woman floated over to them. Was she walking on air, or just levitating? Her incredible, impossible gown matched the twisted crown of rubies and a sickly green jade-like stone that she wore, which seemed to be nailed into and also sprouting out of her skull.

She can’t be human. Lucy looked into her eyes, which changed color from red to pink to yellow every time the woman blinked. What the bloody hell is she?

Behind her a dozen huge thugs wearing full-face monster masks spread out on either side of her. They were taller than the man who had caught Lucy, and armed with swords that had multiple, highly-polished black blades. Only after another few moments did she realize the thugs weren’t wearing masks. The hideous, nightmarish features were their real faces.

“Son of Rune,” the woman said, her booming voice making Lucy flinch. “Your father died for failing me. You and your brothers shall do the same, unless you find and return what that thieving mortal stole from me.”

Chapter Two

Laird Tair MacRune hadn’t anticipated seeing anyone when he had set out from his clan’s stronghold, Gealladh. All he’d wanted was a walk around their loch-bound island, and the time that took to sort out his thoughts.

“Maybe we should do a runner,” Lucy Brooke said to him, her eyes wide as she beheld the dark Fae queen and her grotesque inhuman guards.

Tair didn’t recognize the wench’s accent, or some of the words she used. At the same time he knew well what she meant, and tightened his arms around her. “We run, we die.”

Leaving the castle now and again alone helped leash his foul temper, which could create more problems than he already faced. The latest news concerning their new and heartless magistrate had angered him, but now it seemed some masked stranger had taken to assailing some local villagers, beating them viciously as he demanded they spill what they knew of some lost treasure.

Thanks to the clan’s midnight raids, which out of necessity had become more frequent, the threat of disclosure had doubled for the MacRune. If they were not careful, they would invoke the ire of those outside the clan, and put a swift end to their raiding. Tair desired a better solution, but at present keeping outsiders away from Gealladh was the best they could do.

Deal first with the worst, Brenna, his lady màthair would advise. She had been a patient, practical tavern keeper who kept even the surliest of her patrons happy. After that other matters shall seem simple.

That tactic meant choosing between the two females he needed to deal with just now—and he knew which to take on first.

“’Tis been a hundred years since you ended my sire, Highness,” Tair reminded the immortal monarch. “Why didnae you ask us do your bidding just after his murder?”

“You dare question me?” the queen shrieked, making her guards lower their heads, and every bird in the trees around them drop stunned to the ground. Beside him, Lucy went very still.

So the ruler of the dark Fae was in a mood, then. If Tair couldn’t appease her, this night would turn bloody, and the wench beside him would die in some ghastly manner along with him and all his people. Glancing down at her pretty face framed by all that shiny golden hair, he knew he couldn’t allow that to happen.

No, she shall live, and so shall the MacRune.

“I wish pay in full the bloodline debt on my clan,” he countered. The sky above darkened with storm clouds that were elongating and would soon begin spinning into a whirlwind. That pressed him to take back his calm and swiftly finish this parlay. “Name your treasure and your terms, Highness, and me and mine shall do our best to appease you.”

“Insolent whelp,” the immortal monarch said, rising above him as a snake coiling to strike. “Do you think because your fellow spawn call you lord you may speak to me as an equal?”

This time the ground under their feet began to crack like old crockery about to shatter, and Lucy made a choked sound.

“Never, Majesty.” He bowed low enough to touch the soil with his brow. “I but wish to ken what you desire from me and mine.”

For a moment the dark Fae queen looked as if she might still unleash her temper, which could set fire to the mortal realm and everyone residing in it. Her gaze shifted to Lucy.

“Give that mortal to me,” she demanded. “She’s useless to you, and I need something to kill.”

“She’s my woman, and has many uses,” Tair said, tucking Lucy firmly against his side. “If you end her, slay me and my clan as well. Then you may have your guards keep looking for your treasure for all eternity.”

Speaking with such disdain to the dark Fae queen, who could easily obliterate his realm with her monstrous armies, was on the verge of madness. No one outside Elphyne could even speak her name, for the sound of it shattered mortals’ sanity. Yet despite the danger something occurred to him. It most likely had been her to send the one who had terrified the local people, obviously in hopes of finding the cluet. Her minion had also failed her, or she wouldn’t have come to demand this of the MacRune.

Red sparks flew from the Fae rubies in the queen’s jade crown, rising like hot embers to glow in midair. “You’re as arrogant as your sire.”

“Aye.” He kissed the top of Lucy’s head. Somehow she’d possessed the good sense to remain silent thus far. “Tell me what I wish ken, and I shall find and deliver your treasure.”

“’Twas a century past in this time that I brought my mortal consort, Osgan, from this wretched realm to serve me in Elphyne.” The queen’s expression softened for a moment, as if stating that had brought back fond memories for her. “He’s a charmer and seducer who convinced me of his adoration. Only after he vanished did I see that he came to me for the sole purpose of stealing the cluet, my priceless treasure.”

Tair knew of the cluet from stories Brenna had told him of his sire’s relentless pursuit of it. The treasure was so coveted that mortals had named the rags they tied for luck to trees around sacred wells or springs cloots. “The wishing cloth vanished before my sire ended your consort.”