She’d been alive for over sixty thousand years. Many of her kind wearied of existence long before that.
Not she. She had no wish to cease. Though the loss of Adam Black to his mortal mate grieved her, and she’d considered undoing that as well, she’d learned that there was a human element that was highly dangerous to meddle with. Love’s power was violently unpredictable; it affected events in ways her Tuatha Dé mind had failed to anticipate on more than one occasion.
She could not hope to predict what she could not understand. There were times when she suspected human love harbored a power more elemental and greater than any her race possessed. It infused things with strength in impossible excess of the sum of its parts. Indeed, it had been the matching of each Keltar below with his mate that had tempered them, given them cores of steel, and made her Druids into allies worthy of a queen.
The room below fell into a sudden hush. The silence drew her gaze back to the small group of men and women.
Dageus, Chloe, Drustan, Gwen, and Jessica were all staring at Cian, who had a startled expression on his face and was gazing directly up at her, where she stood beyond the balustrade.
She stiffened. Impossible! She wasn’t even truly there, but a projection of herself, concealed by countless layers of illusion, beyond an impenetrable Fae veil. Not even the most adept of Sidhe-seers would be able to isolate her formless form within the dimensional deception she’d created!
Ah, yes, this Druid had power beyond any other.
“What is it, Cian?” Drustan said, glancing over his shoulder in the direction Cian was looking. “Is aught amiss? Do you see something, kinsman?”
Aoibheal stared at the Highlander, her lips tightening. She smoothed them again. Waited for him to betray her presence.
No, no, no, it was not time yet—it could too drastically alter things—it could destroy what chance they had!
She’d attained a tenuous balance of possibles at best. She needed more time.
She held his gaze, used her human eyes to convey a mute plea. Say nothing, Keltar-mine.
The ninth-century Highlander regarded her silently. After a moment he inclined his head in the barest nod, then turned and glanced at Drustan.
“Nay,” he said. “ ’Tis nothing, Drustan. Nothing at all.”
* * *
Dear Reader:
Though the MacKeltars tried to persuade Cian and Jessi to remain at Castle Keltar, Cian had had enough of stone walls surrounding him, and hungered for the great wide-open.
With the aid of her contacts at the Manhattan museum at which she used to work, Chloe arranged the sale of Cian’s ninth-century, jewel-encrusted wrist cuffs and skean dubh, making Cian a wealthy man.
After a quick trip back to the States—where Lilly St. James bestowed her ecstatic blessing upon them and insisted upon a second wedding attended by the entire extended St. James clan—Cian and Jessi set off to tour the British Isles, so he could see the future he’d missed, and she could indulge her passion for the study of the past.
Cian used his unique “talents” to clear his wife of all blame in the matter of the missing mirror and attendant events, and Jessi plans to one day finish her PhD, but right now she’s too busy living life to worry about planning it.
The two of them were last seen, a little bit tipsy and a whole lot in love, dancing slow and sweet to an old Scots ballad, in a tiny pub in the northern Highlands of Scotland.
On a different note, a great many of you have written to ask whether there will be more Keltar and Fae stories in the future.
Yes. More of both are in the works. I have no intention of ending the Highlander series for some time to come.
Thanks to all of you for loving these Keltar Druids as much as I do.
All my best, and happy reading!
Karen
* * *
SOURCES
Astaire, Lesley, Roddy Martine, and Eric Ellington. Living in the Highlands. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2000.
Bahn, Paul. Archaeology: The Definitive Guide. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. A Brief History of the Druids. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2002.
Green, Miranda J. The World of the Druids. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1997.
Kennedy, Maev. The History of Archaeology. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2002.
Konstam, Angus and Richard Kean. Historical Atlas of the Celtic World. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001.
Melchior-Bonnet, Sabine. The Mirror, A History. London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2000.
Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh and Christopher Simon Sykes. Great Houses of Scotland. New York: Universe Publishing, 2001.
Pendergrast, Mark. Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affair with Reflection. New York: Basic Books, 2004.
Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn. Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2000.