Page 10 of Taming the Highland Beauty

“So essentially, you were just like the villagers, demanding Gille help you at the expense of her own life.” Alastair shook his head. “Do we know anything about how to break her curse?”

Callum frowned at Alastair’s words. Had Callum acted like the villagers, forcing his will on the fairy? Nay, he pushed the thought away. Fairies were not like humans. They did not experience the same kinds of emotions. Gille had come back to Dunvegan because she needed their help. Feeling satisfied with his conclusion, Callum answered, “Mother might. If she does not disappear before she can tell us.” Callum hesitated. “There is more.”

Alastair’s eyes flared. “More?”

“I am not sure what to make of it all, but as Gille and I were returning to Dunvegan by boat, several grey and black seals tried to overturn our vessel. I could not shake the feeling that they were angry, and that their fury was directed at the MacLeods. Do you have any idea why those animals would act in such a manner?”

Suddenly, an icy breeze swept through the chamber followed by a frothy grey mist. It swept across the floor then gathered into the shape of a woman, growing denser with every beat of Callum’s heart. Their mother’s soulful grey eyes connected with his. The seals are not our friends. Stay away from them, I beg you.

The Grey Lady’s dark hair and ivory skin were less solid this morning than they had been even yesterday. If they did not find a solution, she would be lost to the spirit realm before long. But there was something new about her as well, a new kind of darkness that had come to her eyes. In the eyes of his enemies, Callum knew that look to be deception. “Mother, what are you not telling us?”

The ghost started and reared back, but the impression of prevarication remained.

“The seals, Mother. Particularly the grey seals, why did they act as though they wanted to harm us? This wasn’t the first time the MacLeods have been attacked in the waters surrounding Dunvegan.” Callum narrowed his gaze on her ghostly face. “Does this have something to do with the story of the selkie wife you told us the other night? You were very emotional in the retelling.”

Her face darkened. Leave things be, Callum Joseph MacLeod, for your own safety.

Callum straightened his shoulders. Never in all his life had he challenged his mother as he did now. “How can we do that if we are to help you? Do you not want us to save you?”

The Grey Lady’s features paled again as she clutched her midriff and doubled over in pain. Aye, I want to be free of my burdens, but the toll on my family might not be worth the cost of my half-life.

Concern pulling at the corner of his mouth, Alastair moved to their mother’s side. He tried to put his arm around her, but his grasp only slipped through her increasingly incorporeal body. “Perhaps we should call Lottie to see if she can ease your pain?”

Lady Janet shook her head. There is nothing more Lottie can do for me. But perhaps it is time that I do something for Lottie.

Callum’s gaze connected with Alastair’s. “What are you talking about, Mother? What does our healer have to do with what is happening to you?”

Everything. Tears welled in their mother’s eyes, sliding down her cheeks. She said nothing more, continuing to grow more and more despondent with every passing moment.

“I shall go find Lottie. Perhaps she can explain,” Alastair said, leaving the chamber.

Even though there was nothing solid to hold on to, Callum wrapped his arms around his mother and pretended that she was as solid as she had been a few weeks prior. “We will figure this out, Mother. None of your children are going to let you slip away from us without a fight. And with Gille to help us, I am certain you will find a solution very soon.”

It is my own fault. My failings have brought me to these depths, my child. I am the one who must make amends, if I only knew how, or vanish into the spirit realm as I deserve.

As her strange words faded from his mind, the grey mist in his arms shifted to a bright white that lifted towards the ceiling, then disappeared. “Mother?” Callum called, his voice echoing in the now-empty chamber, his arms suspended as though still holding his mother.

He lowered his arms. There was much more to Lady Janet’s disappearing and pain than any of them had previously assumed. Somehow the healer who had been with the MacLeods since Callum’s birth had a role to play in their mother’s unfortunate half-life.

Callum headed for the door, but paused at the threshold, suddenly torn as to what direction he should head. Should he help Alastair find Lottie to see if she could help unravel the strange ramblings of their mother? Or should he go abovestairs to check on Gille? Only she could assist their mother in moving to the afterlife she deserved.

Or was her current torment what Mother deserved? For the first time in his life, Callum wondered if his mother was completely the innocent victim of their father’s rage when he left her in the dungeon to die. By her own words, she had admitted to harming Lottie in some way.

Even so, whatever had happened in the past did not mean he did not want to save his mother now. Perhaps instead of finding Lottie or helping Gille, he should figure out where their mother went so that when Gille was ready, she could set their mother to rights. Using Gille’s magic was more urgent than ever.

For a moment, Callum’s steps faltered in the hallway. His thoughts were exactly those of the village men. He wanted to exploit the fairy and her magic for his own purposes. He would force her to do so just as everyone in her prior life had done. Callum frowned. No wonder she had a difficult time letting go of her anger. Oberon, and perhaps others, had never allowed her to decide her own path. They all had forced her to become a recluse, a beast relegated to the forest.

He was not like Oberon. Perhaps he should wait—a day or two, as she could not afford but a few—until she recovered from the fire and felt more secure here at Dunvegan. He straightened and continued his path down the stairs while considering how he might expedite Gille’s sense of security in being with the MacLeods.

Callum paused again before heading out the door and towards the old keep where he often found his mother lingering. He was still being manipulative of Gille for his own purposes. He thrust away the thought and kept walking. Perhaps, he could turn the situation into a beneficial one for both Gille and his mother if Lady Janet had any knowledge of how Gille might break her curse. Then the situation might be seen as beneficial to both. And he could shed the feeling that he was extorting Gille as others had in her life.

Lady Janet was the only one who had remembered Gille after Oberon had cursed her. There was a great likelihood that she did have some knowledge no one else had. Feeling less burdened by his own actions, Callum continued towards the keep.

If he had knowledge of some way to help Gille, then he would no longer have to force her to help the MacLeods. She would do so willingly. At least that was his hope.

*

Gille allowed Gwendolyn and Aria to lead her upstairs to a bedchamber in the castle’s south tower. She had been to Dunvegan before but had never stayed inside the castle. She had always run to the woodlands, searching for more familiar surroundings. But now, the woodlands were gone. The skeletal remains of the trees would offer her no comfort. And if she were honest, she did not want to leave. The villagers knew where she and Callum had gone. They could be outside the castle walls, waiting. Gille shivered. Those men would not be as kind as the MacLeods if they captured her.