Page 11 of Alec

Would I have looked like this? Didn’t she want me to have that, either?

“Go back to sleep, lass,” Alec said from behind her, his voice drowsy.

She closed her eyes.

As Ava walked with Ben Miller to report to the laird she noticed how often he kept glancing back toward Alec’s chamber. His green eyes also looked troubled when he did.

“What’s up, Doc?” she asked.

“Nothing, really.” He glanced at her and sighed. “You are far too perceptive, Lady Ava.”

“And you’re never going to win at poker,” she countered. “Might as well tell me.”

“I’ve been interviewing the other outsiders who came before me,” the clan’s healer said. “I ask them basically the same questions you put to Ms. Gibson: why did they come to the castle, what lead them to the passage with the entry to the spell trap, what they saw as they crossed over, and so on. As far as I know, no one was ever attacked or forced inside by a smelly old man with blood-red eyes.”

“I’m puzzled, too, Doc. Tasgall told me no insects can survive in the trap, and since the clan was cursed, no one can die in here,” she pointed out. “Next thing you know we’re fighting off man-size caterpillars, and the murderer I was tracking burns to death while trying to get rid of me. Now Olivia is tossed in against her will. Things are changing, and fast.”

“Exactly,” Ben said, nodding. “Why now?”

“I can’t say, but there’s likely a good reason,” she said, “and it’s not to help us get out of here.”

During Ava’s time at Dun Talamh she’d ended up with more questions than answers about almost everything. They still didn’t know who had sent in the enchanted giant caterpillars that had attacked the clan and their vassals, paralyzing and cocooning them. Tasgall and his men had managed to defeat the monstrous creatures by beheading them, but it could have easily gone the other way. They’d also unhappily discovered that burning someone to ash was something that the magic of the spell trap could not fix. They were all worried about what would come next.

“Ms. Gibson is different from the rest of us, too, you know,” Ben said. “The enchantment restored her body to how it should have appeared when she matured. I’ve never seen anyone healed by the spell trap in that manner, but it might explain why I have an appendix again.”

She frowned. “Now I really don’t follow.”

“I had appendicitis during med school, and had surgery to remove it, but after I came here it grew back.” Ben patted his right side. “I still have the incision scar, but when I press on my abdomen, the organ is back in place. Ergo the trap restores anything lost to injury, or in my case, surgery. Even injuries here, if they’re bad enough, will result in scar tissue after the overnight healing.”

Ava glanced at her own knuckles, which still bore the faint scars of her father’s beatings, but no longer ached when it rained. Other than Olivia’s beautiful hair, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the young woman, but now recalled how oddly her clothes had fit.

“She said she was four-foot-ten, Doc, but I’d put her at more like five-six, five-seven,” she told Ben. “What would cause the enchantment to give her a sudden growth spurt?”

“I can’t say, but I can almost guarantee that Olivia has a very painful reason.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Her change in body size doesn’t worry me as much as her disturbing effect on our war master.”

“You just have a whole list today, don’t you?” she said. “What’s going on with her and that boy?”

“Do you remember how Alec reacted the first time he saw you?” he chided. “He wanted to lock you up and interrogate you. Only after you saved the laird from his weakness did Alec trust you. He was like that with me and all the outsiders, too. I thought he might throw me in the dungeons after I tried to make the first change to Dun Talamh. He’s so suspicious of everyone his behavior borders on a delusional disorder.”

“I’m fairly sure that’s the war master’s job description,” she pointed out.

“Don’t take what I said as criticism or diagnosis, please,” Ben said quickly. “Alec is very effective at keeping everyone safe. But you must have noticed how protective he was of Ms. Gibson. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s been reunited with his long-lost sweetheart.”

She recalled how Olivia had been clinging to their war master, too. “Maybe she reminds him of another girl.”

“I’d agree, except Alec avoids women like the proverbial plague. Even if our war master found a bunch of naked supermodels in a hot tub, he’d just turn and walk in the other direction.” Ben fell silent as they passed a guard, who inclined his head to Ava. Once they were out of the clansman’s earshot he said, “You know he’s not like his brothers, either, right?”

“Sure, he’s built differently. I expect that he takes more after his mama instead of his daddy,” she said, and gave him a sideways look. “From what Tas told me, Alec’s been the way he is since he joined the clan, so his whatever it is predates the curse.” She thought of Chris, her first lover, who had been killed in the line of duty, and how they had instantly hit it off. “You know, there are people who put us immediately at ease from the moment we meet them. Maybe that’s what happened with him and Olivia.”

His expression grew pained. “The scuttlebutt is that Alec’s never been involved with anyone, male or female. He’s celibate by choice, and he may even be a virgin. But when I saw him with Olivia, I got a definite romantic vibe, didn’t you?”

“A little, yes.” She wondered why Ben was so interested in Alec’s love life, or lack thereof. “You think Olivia is trouble, like Polly was?”

“No, she’s more like a mystery. She looks timid yet judging by her injuries she fought for her life. That may relate back to her childhood.” He stopped in front of the laird’s chamber and gave her a direct look. “Please don’t think I’m gossiping. Tasgall asked me to stay on top of the emotional well-being of everyone in the spell trap, especially outsiders. Alec also has a sensitive position in the clan.”

“Fair enough, Ben.” Ava knocked before she opened the doors and went inside.

As she walked over to the table where her husband sat writing his daily scroll, Ava took a moment to appreciate once more how lucky she had been to wander into this man’s enchanted world. Practically a giant compared to ordinary men, Tasgall McKeran’s heroic build and elegant features went together as oddly but assuredly as his Fae warrior-hunter father and druidess mother. Since warmer weather had arrived he had been spending more time outdoors, adding some pale gold streaks to his mane of light brown hair.