Page 52 of Shaw

Duncan appeared next to Julianne, and gave her a sharp look. “You returned with naught amiss, my lady?”

“I’m good, thanks, Doc.” That reminded her. “I found this in that petrified forest when Shaw took me there. It was just hanging from a branch, so I thought it was a leaf.” She took out the stone pendant and offered it to him. “If you look at it long enough the outside starts shimmering.”

“’Tis likely a Fae object of power,” he said, studying it. “Sometimes the golden eagles from the ridges pick up shining things from the bay shore. ’Twas likely how it landed in the Stone Forest.” He tucked it into a small pouch. “With your leave I shall sequester the object in my cabinet. That should null any lingering enchantment.”

She sensed that was the right thing to do with it, as if he were supposed to have it all along. “Sure, no problem. It’s been making me uber nervous anyway.”

“If you desire a calming brew, come to the infirmary.” Duncan bowed and left.

Valerie peered at her for so long that when she frowned at her she said, “Sorry for staring. You seem a little different now, Julianne, but I can’t tell what’s changed.”

“Might be that my brain got bounced around during the jumps. I got a concussion once when I was in training, and that made me dizzy and cold like I got in Japan,” she admitted. “The only thing that made it go away was when Shaw rubbed my, um, new ink.”

The laird’s wife tensed. “You mentioned you had a very bad nightmare. Can you remember any details?”

“Some of them.” She described Eva and the two blobs of light, and how much her head had hurt when she woke up. “I don’t usually get salty about dreams, but this one seriously creeped me out—and it hurt me, too. When I woke up I’d scratched me and Shaw really bad. I’ve never done that before in my sleep.” She pulled up the kimono sleeve to show them, but the scratches had already disappeared. “They’re gone. Huh. I guess they weren’t as bad as I thought.”

“Did the lights or Eva speak with you in the dream?” Valerie asked.

Julianne nodded. “My bestie wanted me to talk to my Aunt Klee for some reason. She sounded scared. Also, she’s like living in Canada now and I didn’t even know. The blue-green blob said I saved her husband’s bro, and something about butterflies. The darker light…” She winced as a sharp pain ran up the back of her head and split in two to hammer at her temples. “I don’t remember what that one said.”

“Your best friend is someone that you completely trust?” Lark asked. When she nodded she said, “That may have come from your subconscious. Maybe you were telling yourself you need to talk to your family.”

“Maybe.” She glanced at the laird’s wife. “The second one sounded the same as the woman’s voice I heard when I rescued Shaw in the future. Do you think that was Lady Joana?”

“It’s possible her spirit may have used the ring to communicate with you again, “ Valerie said, her expression growing thoughtful. “She was a wonderful woman who sacrificed herself to protect my husband and the clan.”

Her voice dwindled as she kept talking, but all Julianne heard was the last thing the dark light had told her in the dream.

You no longer need my protection. Shed it when you wish.

Shed meant get rid of it, so she closed her eyes and made the wish. Quit protecting me, then.

The pain in Julianne’s head shut off, so abruptly it made her gasp. At the same time a part of her mind that had always been dark opened and brightened. She sensed she was falling into that brightness, and everything else around her was fading away, but she couldn’t stop herself. Dizziness made her press her hands over her eyes until everything went still, and the air grew warm and fragrant with lavender.

When Julianne lowered her hands she found herself standing in the family garden at the farm. Lavender from the patch her mother always planted for sachets perfumed every breath she took. Butterflies flitted around her, landing on the white, fragrant blossoms of the lemon trees and the silk spilling from the baby ears of corn.

“If this is heaven, I’d like to stay,” she murmured, walking through the rows of tomato and cucumber plants. “I just need Shaw here.” She saw someone moving through the peas and stopped in her tracks. A sweet scent drifted to her, one she’d smelled several times before now. “Dude, is that you?”

“Your lover is not here, sweet girl,” a melodic voice said.

Klee emerged from the tangle of vines, dressed in a wide-brimmed straw hat and overalls. Barefoot as always—had she ever seen her aunt wearing shoes?—she carried a basket of radishes and carrots. Small brown rabbits followed her, hopping around her feet like puppies hoping for a treat. The sweet scent coming from her grew more intense, like that of candy apples.

Klee always smelled of candy apples. Why had she forgotten that?

“You were at the courthouse, and in my nightmare too?” Julianne knew she hadn’t left the twelfth century, so this only meant one thing. “Oh, come on, I can’t be dead.”

“Hmmm.” Klee scrunched up her face. “As a mortal you can die, of course, and someday I expect you will, but that wasn’t my plan when I emerged with you. Don’t ask me what that plan was, either. I can never remember such annoyances.”

She glanced around her. “Where’s Shaw MacMar?”

“Back on that enchanted island of his, I imagine.” Her aunt knelt down to distribute the carrots she’d picked to the rabbits before dusting off her hands and setting the basket on a stump.

A thousand amber and bronze lights swirled around her, changing her appearance from that of a human woman to a being with dark green hair and huge, dreamy brown eyes. She no longer looked entirely human, as she had long ears like a rabbit, and her eyebrows resembled short green quills more than hair. Crystals hung from her ears and glittered around her neck, wrists and fingers, but they seemed more liquid than precious stone. She smelled intensely of candy apples now.

“You don’t have hairy feet, do you?” Julianne demanded.

“No. That would be disgusting.” Klee laughed and held out her arm. “Come and take a walk with me, my sweet girl.”