When she next wrote, she had given birth—to a daughter, the letter said—but the father had taken the baby for himself and chased Vanora away. She hated the father. Not only had he stolen her child, but he had forced himself on her. In the end, she had found shelter in a neighboring land and still hoped to see her daughter someday. With that, the last letter ended.
Payton’s desperation rose.
“There are only a handful of papers left, and we haven’t found out anything!”
Still, they carefully unfolded another piece of paper. And it was exactly what they had been looking for.
Vanora had written down one of her visions. She had seen the day of her death. To avenge a terrible injustice, she would pronounce a curse upon her enemies. But then she herself would die at the hand of her own daughter. The curse would last for many years, even centuries, until the injustice was made up for by a selfless sacrifice of love. And her daughter would be the one to lift the curse.
Payton banged his fist on the table.
“Damn! What does this all mean? This can’t be right.”
Blair nodded. “Yes, you are right. The witch was wrong! She cursed us, and it lasted as long as she predicted, but her daughter didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Payton stared at the rows of candles, deep in thought. “It might be useful to know who her daughter was,” he mused.
“It wouldn’t matter. She’s long dead by now and will hardly be able to help us.”
“But if Vanora was right, then her daughter should still be alive, shouldn’t she?”
“Payton, face the truth. She was wrong. We both know who killed Vanora. It was Nathaira, not Vanora’s long-lost daughter.”
“I know. But I just can’t believe all of this was for nothing!”
“I know how difficult it is for you. Nevertheless, we should try to reach Sean. Then we’ll decide how to proceed.”
Payton dug his face in his hands. He couldn’t just swallow his disappointment and move on. He knew there had to be a logical explanation. He wished she had written down who the child’s father was, or even which clan had kept her prisoner for so many years.
The letters had made it clear that she’d found shelter with the Camerons. And she had mentioned finding refuge with one of the neighboring clans. That meant that she had fled from either the McLeans, the McInrees, the Stuarts, or the McDonalds. The only place he could rule out for certain was his own home, if only for the reason that they didn’t have a tower. And his father had been a peaceful man, who would never have done such terrible things.
He supposed he would have to talk to Cathal again, to see if he had any ideas. After all, the Stuarts’ castle did have a tower dungeon. And they had always had bad relationships with their neighbors. Still, it seemed unlikely, Payton thought. He would have heard something if Cathal’s family had ever caught a Fair Witch.
That left the McInrees and the McDonalds. Maybe Sean would be able to help. At the time of the curse, his brother had an eye on almost all the girls in the land. A witch’s daughter would surely have caught his attention.
Feeling more confused than ever, Payton stood up. The brothers took their leave from Beathas. As they turned to go, the Wise Woman reached for Payton’s hand and whispered, “When you understand the truth, darkness will devour you—but you will be happy.”
The old woman’s strange words fluttered around in Payton’s thoughts on the boat ride back, but he didn’t have much time left for thinking. The brothers had hardly regained solid ground when Blair ran off and found a young fisherman to take them back to the mainland. Then after a disconcerting phone call with Sean, they were on their way to Delaware.
CHAPTER 25
Delaware
Just like the Stuarts who had arrived the day before, Sean had to find out Samantha’s address before he could make his way there. No sooner had he arrived than he witnessed Cathal and Alasdair kidnapping a young woman who was a complete stranger to him. He had no idea what they could want from her. Totally confused, he followed them to a motel at the outskirts of the town, where he parked directly next to the van.
He was steaming mad as he stepped up to the three of them, just as they were dragging the girl out of the van.
“What is going on here? Are you crazy?”
They were not at all happy to see him.
Nathaira was particularly unhappy. “Are you spying on us? What in the world?”
She swore loudly at Sean and went for his neck, but Cathal’s thundering voice stopped them in their tracks.
“Quiet! We can discuss everything inside. We need to get the girl off the street before somebody sees us!” He pushed Ashley roughly, and she stumbled forward.