Page 56 of Dark Embrace

“Who is MacNeil?”

“A Master who gives too many orders, follows the gods without question and can see—when the gods allow it.” His movements had become angry.

His anger brushed and scraped her skin now. “You sound as if he’s your enemy.”

“Once we were friends. When Ian died, he became my rival.”

Brie slid from the bed, shivering as she left its warmth.

He looked at her bare legs.

She hopped into her jeans. “You blame him for Ian’s murder, too? Do you blame everyone, or just all your friends, or all the Masters?” She was well aware of her harsh tone.

“He was my friend.” Aidan pointed at her, eyes hard. “But he accepted my son’s death because the gods wanted it.”

“I want to meet him,” she said quickly.

Aidan stared.

Brie tried to keep her mind still.

“Ye think he has the key to unlock my secrets an’ my heart fer ye?” He laughed at her. “I have many secrets, Brianna, but I lost my heart when my father took my son.”

“Bull,” she said.

He gave her an exasperated look and left the tent.

Brie jammed on her boots and ran after him. “Aidan, wait. This is important. How can he be vanquished? He was already beheaded. In the future, when you kill a deamhan, its evil power is destroyed, too.”

“Some say he’s immortal,” Aidan said, walking over to the first cook fire. Will was stirring what smelled like oatmeal there. “MacNeil told me he’s mortal. But he has used the past sixty-six years to increase his powers.” He nodded at Will.

Standing there in only her sweatshirt, jeans and boots, Brie was so cold she began jumping up and down. “How does a demon increase its powers?” she chattered.

“The gods gave the Brotherhood three books in the beginning of time. The Book of Wisdom remains on Iona, in its shrine. The Cladich is the Book o’ Healing. Before Ian’s murder, a powerful deamhan had some of its pages, but they are now enshrined on Iona, too. The Duisean was stolen and no one has seen it in hundreds of years.” He paused significantly. “MacNeil told me that Moray has parts of the Duisean, perhaps hidden in yer time.”

Brie had a really bad feeling now. “Okay. What kind of power is in that book?”

“Every power known to mankind.”

Brie began to tremble, and not from the cold.

“And every power known to the gods,” Aidan said.

CHAPTER NINE

THE MISSIVE CAME AT SUNRISE.

The king’s lieutenant wished to parlay with him.

The sun was high over the snowy plain as Aidan slowly rode his black charger toward the royal armies, alone. It was a cold winter morning, and his breath and that of his charger’s steamed in the air. His men remained behind him, lined up across the muddy road, silent. He could hear the bridles clinking from their mounts, weight being shifted from foot to foot, and Brianna thinking. She was terrified because he rode alone to meet Frasier. She was afraid he’d be arrested, believing he would soon hang.

He thought about his bargain with the gods. Brianna might be right, he realized, but he did not fear his own demise. An eternity in hell would be blissful compared to his life amongst the living.

Ahead, the royal army fanned out across the plain, blocking the road, a seemingly endless sea of armored knights and chargers glinting fantastically in the high winter sun. Another man might have felt a moment of trepidation riding forward toward such might, but Aidan felt nothing but resolve. The march on Inverness was insignificant compared to the war with Moray, and his father had promised him that they would meet on this day.

He looked forward to it, but he feared their confrontation, too, for the first time in his life.

Because Brianna’s life was now at stake.