Reclaimed (A Highland Historical Trilogy) (The MacKay Banshees 1-3) Read Free Page B

obviously overcame her better judgment. “What does that mean?”
    Katriona’s heart sank. She knew what it meant because her father, a blacksmith, had loved to tell his two little girls stories and myths around the fire at the end of a long day. He’d been kicked in the head by an unruly stallion before Kamdyn was born, and their broken-hearted mother had never repeated his lively tales.
    “One who has walked in the Otherworld, child, and then returned to their body to live out their days.”
    “You mean—someone who’s died?” Kamdyn whispered, her eyes round as an owl’s.
    “And then had their life restored to them, yes,” the queen confirmed. “It is rare among your kind, but occurs from time to time.”
    “Is Rory MacKay blessed by a Deity?” Katriona demanded.
    “He is not,” Cliodnah answered. “Of this I am certain.”
    “Then he is one of these—these An Dìoladh.”
    “That is the only possible explanation.”
    “How else can he be killed?” It was all Katriona cared about. Her vengeance. Justice.
    “By no means of the Fae or Sidhe.” The queen’s words froze the useless heart in Katriona’s chest. “He may only die by a natural course like any other man.”
    “What about my younger daughters?” Elspeth clutched her hands together as though at prayer, or supplication. “Their vengeance is denied, but their victims are dead. May they be released now to their final rest in the Otherworld?”
    “It is impossible.” The condescension in the Faerie’s voice spilled resentment like hot tar in Katriona’s chest. “If they are unable to exact their vengeance, then their souls are contracted for my use indefinitely. One of the wronged ones must do the deed.”
    “No.” In horror, Elspeth dropped to her knees. “What have I done?”
    “There is no justice in this!” Katriona hissed. “We cannot kill someone already dead.”
    Cliodnah made a dismissive gesture, agitating the frost in her atmosphere. “That does not concern me. They were alive when you came to me seeking vengeance. You should have acted quickly and exacted your justice then.”
    “Our mother was near to dying!” Kylah contended. “We could not leave her.”
    “So you stood helplessly by and let your retribution escape you.” The Faerie queen, ever cold and unaffected, began to fade from view. “Unless you can find a way to regain your mortality, I’ll return by the Summer Solstice to collect you.”
    Katriona’s frustrated cry echoed in the emptiness. As she watched the last of the frost settle and disappear into the ashes and stone, the sound of Kamden and her mother’s frightened sobs gnawed at the edges of her sanity. Kylah’s constant, broken silence became more maddening and excruciating than any Banshees shriek.
    She could not linger here another moment.
    What she could do, is lay the blame at the feet of the man who deserved it.
    Rory MacKay might be immune to her magic, but he was not unaffected by it. He was still mortal. He could still die.
    And before her soul was claimed by the Faerie queen, Katriona would see him dead by any natural course she could devise.

Chapter Three
    “Ye look like ye’re about to meet the Reaper instead of yer bride.” Lorne MacKay slapped Rory on the shoulder with a heavy glove. “Ye’ll like to scare her away by scowling at her so.”
    Rory shook off the trance and adjusted the MacKay badge on his heavy fur cloak. “Aye well, I’m not of a mind to have a bride just now. I’ve other things in need of attention.”
    Like Katriona MacKay.
    Squinting through the MacKay banners down the Road of Wrath that stretched along the river Naver and then angled west to Durness, Rory searched for any sign of movement. The runner had heralded the arrival of Clan Fraser a short while ago, and it seemed all those of Durness, and the surrounding villages of Strathnaver and its men-at-arms stood at the ready to receive him.
    Lorne snorted, scratching his thick, blonde beard with a