“How? Why?”
“I’ll explain what I can. There’s fairy blood within the MacLeod line, and on the last full moon, I made a wish upon the Fairy Flag hidden within Dunvegan Castle. I asked to travel to a place where I wouldnae be forced to handfast with the MacDonald. My wish took me through a portal from my time, and I witnessed the wonders of the twenty-first century right here on the Isle of Skye. Machines flew high above, boats motored across the water at great speed, and cars raced overland on a surface of black tar. I tasted sweets I never imagined could exist.” She grinned and clasped Anne’s hands. “The moving pictures of your television delighted me, and music one can plug into one’s ears. Such miracles.”
“You’ve been to my time.” This was all real, very real.
“Aye, but only for a few days afore I was pulled back a sennight past.”
“So, the Anne they think I am is clearly you. But why am I here?”
“’Tis my fault.” She squeezed her hands. “My wish both took and gave. From my time it gave me the ability to travel forward, but for my wish to come full circle, it took the blood of my blood, and brought you to the past.”
“How do you know all that?”
“The Fairy Flag is the most treasured possession of our clan, and ’tis hard no’ to believe since I’ve seen what I now have.”
“So I’m stuck here? For how long?”
“I dinnae know. I reactivated the portal at Dunvegan because I visited there in your time. Had I no’, I may have remained in the future much longer. How did you arrive?”
“A thick fog descended as I toured these ruins then before I knew it, James pulled me through the portal. Why don’t you want to handfast with Alex?”
“’Tis a long story. Yet I couldnae defy my cousin and go against his decision. Since my parents passed, he has cared for me. If it were no’ me, then it would have been Margaret, Rory’s sister, who would have had to come. She’s too young, and my duty is to my clan. Anne, I dinnae know what will happen now. Do you have any kin who’ll miss you?”
“No, my parents passed away three years ago. They died when our house caught fire, an electrical fault.”
“Then I need to fix what I’ve started. Let me—” Form wavering, she clutched her belly. “Nay, something’s happening.”
“Annie, don’t go.” She grabbed her, but caught thin air as the woman disappeared. “Crap, that did not just happen.” This had to be a really bad dream.
Except it wasn’t, and the physical proof lay spread out before her. She was in Scotland, somewhere far in the past and about to handfast with a Highland warrior who had stirred something deep inside her. She should be petrified, and she was, but an equal sense of homecoming washed over her.
For some reason, or for every reason, she was meant to be here.
Alone in the misty moonlight, Alex paced the barmkin. His bride had arrived on a foggy night like this one a sennight past. She’d insisted she’d been left on the mainland to make her final journey to Dunscaith alone, but why would MacLeod leave her beyond the gates then slink away into the dark? Surely he’d wish to witness their vows, to ensure they were honored.
The fact he hadn’t, had roused both his and Uncle’s suspicions. Donald had taken two of their guardsmen and set out to survey their lands, to find some sign of MacLeod’s journey since Anne had surely not arrived by sea. Now Uncle had vanished. None in the village had seen him pass through, so where was he?
Footsteps echoed through the foggy haze and he swung around.
James appeared out of the mist. “There ye are. I’ve set a guard near your bride’s door in case she decides to make her way outside again.”
“She willnae escape. Neither of us have a choice with the path we now take.”
“Aye, and equally ’twill no’ be a hardship by the looks of her. Her disposition is sweet too.” James rubbed his stubbly jaw. “Mother has enjoyed her company.”
“Mother wants to see the feud come to an end.” When he and Donald had traveled to Dunvegan and signed an agreement for the coming handfast, Mother had applauded it.
“As we all do. ’Twas strange when I found her.” James cleared his throat. “She appeared lost. She even called for Donald, as if our uncle would come to her rescue.”
“You must have misheard her.”
“Nay, I dinnae believe so.”
Alex tapped James’s ears. His brother, five years his junior at three and twenty, was a man he wouldn’t be able to tease for much longer, but he still took every opportunity he could. “Aye, these lie too flat to your head.”
“And yours flap too far and wide.” Eager to topple him, James swept out his leg, except Alex countered the move, caught his brother’s foot and tumbled him onto the hard ground. “Och, take care, I dinnae need bruises sprouting on your coming wedding day.”