Page 17 of Enchanted

Chapter Seven

At dawn the next morning, Rosalyn crept silently out of the castle and into the rear courtyard, moving to the crenellated wall that looked out over Loch Dunvegan. She gathered the cloak that had been left outside her locked chamber door around her shoulders as she drew a breath of the salt-laced air. The sky was painted with shades of pink, purple, orange, and blue as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. The light reflected off the water and the misty hills in the distance.

When she was in London, Rosalyn had loved this time of the morning when everyone else was still abed. She would put on a coat and head outside to watch the sun rise over the city, feeling its vitality energise her. But here at Dunvegan where the air smelled both sweet and salty, and birdsong and the waves gently lapping at the shore were the only sounds, she experienced a rebirth of spirit. The day lay before her, an open slate filled with possibility.

“What are you doing?” a male voice came at her from behind.

Rosalyn turned to face Keiran. “Haven’t you ever seen anyone enjoying a sunrise before?”

“With what intent?” he asked, his tone brittle.

She frowned at the mistrust in his voice. “If you think after all I have been through in the past day that I would jump and harm myself, then you do not know me very well.”

They stood together in silence a moment before he sighed. “You are right. Perhaps we should change that.” He came to stand beside her, gazing at the sunrise. “This is my favourite time of day. Each sunrise is different. And the colours . . . they are so beautiful.”

Was he expecting her to reveal her deepest thoughts to him? All night long Rosalyn had wondered why all the MacLeods were being so nice to her. It made her wonder what they were hiding. There had to be a reason she had been warned against the Scots all her life, even though the ones who had cautioned her knew she was half-Scot as well. “I have no idea what you want me to say to you. We are supposed to be enemies.”

“Are we?” He turned to look at her. “Or are we just two people who were placed on this earth at the same time? I have already told you I mean you no harm. You are free to leave if that is what you would like. And yet this morning instead of leaving, you came out here to watch the sunrise. It appears that perhaps instead of being enemies, we might as well find common ground.”

“Such as what?” she asked, still suspicious of him and his family.

His gaze connected with hers in an unsettling way. “Do you trust me?”

She hesitated to answer as she twisted her hands before her. What was he asking her?

He held out his hand. “It is an aye or nay question.”

She swallowed roughly. “I could trust you, but it depends entirely on what you are asking of me.”

He reached for her hand, holding it gently, allowing her to pull away if that was what she chose. “Come with me. I do not think you will be disappointed.”

With a hitch of her breath, she allowed Keiran to lead her back into the castle and down a long hallway until they stopped once more outside the chapel. “I discovered this secret only yesterday.” He pulled her inside and stepped back towards the side of the chapel, then released her hand as his gaze lifted. “Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”

Rosalyn’s breath caught at the sight before her. The morning sun streamed in through the yellow and gold stained-glass window above the altar, bathing the entire chamber in a golden hue. But the light was not stagnant. The lead lines between the glass made the light dynamic—as though gliding through the chamber like water over pebbles.

Instantly, she was transported back to that moment in the forest when she had died. Her essence had left her body to hover over herself.

She is an abomination.The English soldier who had stabbed her said. The world is better off without her.

It was then that Keiran rose up, striking the man down. The colours of the rainbow surrounded him as he hurried back to her side and, placing his hands on her chest, brought her back to life.

A ripple of sensation moved down her spine as the light from her memory merged with the light in the chapel. Light. It was essential to all life, and a symbol of hope and guidance, knowledge and understanding, wisdom and truth, and love. At the moment of her death, light had flared from within Keiran himself, not from an outside source.

Was that light a sign from heaven above? Was Keiran her enemy, or was he pure goodness that could only have come from God? She turned around the chamber, taking in the light but also the idea that Keiran had been sent to her in a time of great need. And if so, she had no reason not to trust him.

“It is incredible,” she finally said when she could voice words again. “I had no idea you could use light in such a way.” She turned to Keiran and for a heartbeat, she saw the rainbow of colours that had surrounded him in the forest. She blinked and the light was no longer there. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”

“Sharing my discoveries with you makes them even more special,” he admitted. “My brothers and sisters have no doubt discovered the secrets of Dunvegan and witnessed them many times. Yet all this is new to me . . . and to you.”

At his words, she frowned. “Until this moment, I do not think I realised how much of an outsider you are to your own family.”

He shrugged. “I have only just returned to them. Many of their ways are still unfamiliar to me, and there are many skills I have never learned that they all hold in high esteem.”

“Like reading and writing?” she asked softly.

He nodded. “Among other things.”

Rosalyn straightened. “I want to help you learn how to read and write, and anything else I might impart to you from my own limited education as a female.”