Midnight's Captive(64)

Lucan crossed his arms over his chest. “You might be right, Ramsey.”

“Sonya said she had a bump on her head. Maybe she was knocked out, and that’s when she lost her magic,” Dani suggested.

Charon squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he recalled Laura’s words during their conversation. When he opened them, he looked at the amber liquid in his glass. “Laura said it was seeing Wallace pour his drough blood in me that caused her magic to rise. There was something in her voice, something that said she hadna known what it was.”

“Until Wallace told her,” Broc said with a growl.

Charon drained his glass again and set it down on the table with a thud. “If only we had gotten to her first.”

“What’s done is done,” Larena said. “We deal with what we have.”

Fallon looked at Charon. “Larena is right. I’ll honor your request to question Laura on your own. Until such time as it begins to put everyone else in danger.”

“Agreed,” Charon said.

He started to turn away when Isla called for him to wait as she rushed into the kitchen. A moment later, she returned with a tray of food.

“I’m sure she’s hungry,” Isla said.

Charon took the tray. “Thank you.”

“Trust your heart. It won’t lead you astray.”

He remembered Isla’s words as he walked the stairs back to Laura’s chamber. Charon would rather have taken Laura back to his house, but that option was lost to him now. Thanks to Wallace.

Charon paused outside Laura’s door and swallowed as he shoved thoughts of Jason Wallace aside. He shifted the tray and raised his hand to knock when he heard the shower.

He opened the door before quietly walking inside. Steam billowed from the tiny bathroom and the half-closed door. Charon set the tray down on the bed and closed the door, where he stood waiting for her while doing his damnedest not to stalk into the bathroom and join her in the shower.

After finally giving in to his desire for her, Charon found it difficult to deny his cravings. Laura was like a drug. He’d had a taste—and needed more.

A few minutes later, the water shut off. Charon thought remaining where he was would make it easier on him.

It only made it worse.

He imagined the water coating her body, a drop hanging on the edge of a nipple, waiting for him to capture it in his mouth. His eyes slid shut when all the blood rushed to his cock as he remembered lovely rose-tipped breasts.

With a groan, he clenched his teeth. He heard her moving around and could picture Laura drying off, the towel moving over her silky skin just as his hands had a day before.

His eyes snapped open when she walked out of the bathroom in tight leggings and a shirt and halted as she caught sight of him. He met her gaze before he nodded to the bed. “I brought you food.”

She said not a word as she combed out her wet hair and hurried to the tray.

“Jason told you his story of the Druids and Warriors, but let me tell you mine,” Charon said.

When she looked at him, silently waiting, he figured that was as close to a yes as he was going to get.

He inhaled deeply and began. “In the history books, it describes the Celts as tribes who were always at war with each other. They’re described as savages, wild as the land they inhabited.

“But that wasna the case. Aye, the Celts were savage fighters. They held off the Romans for years. Their ability to use the land as an advantage over the Romans is one reason Hadrian’s Wall was built. Rome never conquered Scotland or her people, but they wouldna give up.”

Charon leaned back against the door, thinking to an earlier time in history when the clans had ruled as his gaze shifted to the window. “The Druids had roamed the land for generations. They were the teachers, the healers, and sometimes even the judges. Clan leaders turned to the mies for guidance and advice on everything from where to hunt to when to go to battle.”

He found Laura intently listening while she continued to devour the food on the tray.

“The Druids, like anyone else in this world, have a good side and an evil side. The good are the mies. They use the pure magic given to them by nature. They can make plants grow, heal, speak to the trees, and many other amazing abilities.

“The droughs, on the other hand, are evil. They perform a ceremony where they give their blood and soul to the Devil in order to use black magic. You can tell the evil Druids by the cuts on their wrists from the ceremony, as well as the Demon’s Kiss.”

He paused as he tried to find the words to describe it. “A Demon’s Kiss is a silver vial worn around a drough’s neck. It holds the first drops of their blood after becoming drough, and it can be used to heal them.