“So Lir strikes again, eh?” Rose continued. “She’s uprooted your life just like she did with Jenna and me.”
Elise shrugged. “At least she’s consistent.”
Rose snorted at that. “I suppose so.” She cocked her head, regarding Elise with a shrewd expression. “So,” she said. “Jamie Donald.”
Elise took a sip of tea and tried to put on an innocent expression. “What about him?”
Rose rolled her eyes. “Elise, I saw the pair of you at my wedding. I’d never seen you flirt so much in my entire life. Are you telling me it’s pure coincidence that it wasyouLir asked to go help him?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh yes, you do. If Lir needed a MacFinnan spellweaver, it would have been far easier for her to call on me or Jenna. We do live in this time now, after all. But she didn’t need justanyMacFinnan spellweaver, did she? She needed you. Why do you suppose that is?”
Elise shifted uncomfortably. Rose had always had the uncanny knack of seeing right through her. Damn it. Was there nothing she could keep from her sister? She felt a hot blush creep across her cheeks and took another sip of tea to hide it.
But Rose wasn’t fooled. “I knew it! I know that look! Thereissomething between you and Jamie, isn’t there?”
Elise sighed, putting her cup down on the little table. “Oh God, Rose,” she sighed. “What am I going to do? I didn’t mean for it to happen, honestly, I didn’t.”
“Are you in love with him?”
Elise opened her mouth to deny it. Closed it. Tried again. Failed again. “Yes,” she finally croaked. “Yes, I’m in love with him. God help me.”
A wide grin broke over Rose’s face. She clapped her hands once, delighted. “I knew it!”
“You did?”
Rose nodded. “Yes, because despite everything, despite the danger and the politics and the insanity of it all…you’re glowing. Elise, I haven’t seen you look like this…ever. Whatever happened to the woman determined never to get tangled up with anyone?”
“She met Jamie Donald and it all went to hell. Oh God, Rose. What am I going to do? It’s crazy. Impossible.”
Rose cocked her head. “How so?”
Elise threw up her hands in frustration. “Because…because of everything. How can I even be thinking like this when Islay is in such trouble? When all the people that live there are in such danger? Lir sent me here to save them, and so far I’ve failed miserably!”
Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Failed? Elise, you still talk crap, you know that? I wouldn’t call fighting off two enemy ships, rescuing three men, uncovering a conspiracy, and then ensuring you and Jamie got away safely a failure.” She whistled under her breath. “I’m not sure I could have managed as much. You’ve always been the bravest of us.”
Elise didn’t feel brave. She felt like she was in way over her head. She felt like she’d been winging it since the moment she’d arrived here.
She steeled herself and asked the question she’d wanted to ask since the moment they arrived. “Rose… what do you know about War Weavers?”
“War Weavers?”
“Yes.” Elise leaned forward, lowering her voice. “On Islay an old man told me stories his grandfather used to tell—stories about the MacFinnan War Weavers. He said they were powerful spellweavers who fought in battles.”
Rose set her cup down. “I’ve never heard that phrase in my life.”
“Not even from Mother? Or any of the old family stories?”
“No.” Rose frowned. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not real. We MacFinnans have always had strange gaps in our history. And one thing I’ve learned since coming here is that the old tales and myths often have a grain of truth in them.”
Elise wasn’t sure how to respond. Neil’s story of the War Weavers called to her, but it scared her too.
As if sensing her disquiet, Rose reached over and clasped her hand. “Don’t worry. If there’s truth to these stories, we’ll discover it. And together with Cailean and Jamie, we’ll find a way to drive these invaders from the Kingdom of the Isles.”
Elise felt strength pour into her from Rose’s grip. Her big sister always did have a way of making everything seem better. “The two MacFinnan spellweavers together again, eh?”
“Two?” Rose replied, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you mean three? Jenna will kill us both if we don’t involve her in this.”
