Highlander's Faerie (Highlander Heat #5)

“Marie, is Katherine in there with you?” Archie shoved against the veil. “Dinnae go to her, no’ yet. I need to hold you, one last time.”


“Marie.” Katherine clambered to her feet, her long blond hair whipping about her in the swirling breeze. “Every day since you disappeared into the past, I’ve returned and waited for you. I’m right here, and I’ve watched those ruins and wished for the castle to reappear. Pick up the amulet. It must be the only way you can get back to me.”

“I don’t want to leave him, but I’ll never leave you.” Marie wrapped shaky fingers around the amulet and slipped it over her head.

Katherine gasped and grabbed her sister as she appeared in full form before her. “Oh my goodness, you’re back. I can finally touch you. You’re real.”

“We’re together again.” Marie mashed their wet cheeks together.

“Archie!” Archie’s brother raced down the trail, his warrior’s sword at his side. “What’s happened?”

“Marie’s gone, John.” Archie clutched the grass and ripped handfuls free. “She’s gone.”

“Then wish for Marie back, as you wished for her in the very beginning.” John crouched beside Archie.

“This is what Marie wanted, to return to her sister. I willnae make her choose between her own kin and me.” Archie seized his brother’s arm. “I must give her up.”

Katherine hugged Marie tight then looked into her eyes. “I can see Archie loves you.”

“He has my heart.” Marie peered at Archie, her gaze filled with such longing.

Katherine glanced between the warrior and her sister. “We should join them, Marie. There is nothing left for us in the future. Mum and Dad are gone. We have no other family.” She swiped the talisman from around Marie’s neck, clasped hands with her and wound the amulet around both their wrists. “Let’s do this, but this time, we go together. You’re not leaving me again.”

“Are you sure?”

Marianne wrung her hands together. “Yes,” she whispered to her daughters as she pressed them, “you must go together.”

“It’s been hard to live without our parents, so yes, I’m sure. Surely you don’t want to lose another person you love too?” Katherine strode toward John and pressed her hand against the veil in front of him. “John, it’s Katherine, Marie’s sister. Tell Archie to make a wish, for both my sister and me.”

“I hear you.” The warrior rose and rested his hand over Katherine’s. “Make a wish, Archie, for both of them. Katherine asks it of you.”

“I’ll try.” Archie squeezed his eyes shut. “Guardians of Dunyvaig, I ask for a wish. For you to send me the woman who has stolen my heart and the one she holds closest to her. Bring them here, so we need never live apart again.” He swept his hand through the air and Marie’s amulet rose, breached the barrier and spun into his palm.

A wind rose and tunneled around Katherine and Marie, whipping their hair across their faces. Marie clutched hold of Katherine. “Don’t let go of me, sis. If you do, you’ll be in more trouble than it’s worth.”

“I’m holding on. Sisters, forever.” Katherine peered back toward Marianne and Locky and smiled.

“Can she see us, Marigold?” Marianne touched her heart.

“Nay, and so too her memories of this past day in the circle are gone, but as kin, she senses your presence all the same. Look.” The fae motioned toward the streaming tendrils of Katherine’s essence which still swirled beyond the veil. They wisped around John and then absorbed into his body. “He is her warrior protector, the one always meant for her. He now holds a piece of her soul. The two are deeply bound.”

The veil thinned and Katherine fell through the barrier and into John’s arms.

“Katherine has made the right choice and lives.” The fae smiled. “Now she must accept her fate and her new bond with her warrior. She cannae survive without him. To do so, will mean her ultimate death.”

“Then that’s a death I’ll never allow.” Marianne held firm to her words. She’d do whatever it took to ensure both her daughters’ survival and that Katherine remembered all that had gone on within this circle. She couldn’t be with them in life, but she would still safeguard their future happiness.

She’d watch over them as she always had.





Chapter 1


Dunyvaig Castle, MacDonald stronghold, 1590, two weeks following Katherine’s arrival.



Katherine stood at her chamber window. Beyond the gates, the faerie circle remained quiet, bare of any breeze, and the amulet glinting in the moonlight upon the center stone where her sister had tossed it following their arrival into the past. Something within the circle called to her, demanding her return, just as her nightly dreams urged her to do the same.