Beyond the Highland Mist

Page 111

The Hawk continued without interruption, unrolling his scroll farther.
“Did you write a goddamn book? You can’t do it like this,” Adam said through gritted teeth. “You get one command. You can’t read that whole thing.”
Hawk almost laughed aloud. The trickery would begin now. Any loophole the fickle fairy could find he would try to use. But the Hawk hadn’t left any loopholes. He kept reading.
“I said give it up, you infantile, mewling mass of mortality. It won’t work.”
“… and you will never …” Hawk continued.
Adam snarled and raged, his icy face turning whiter. “I will curse your children, your children’s children; I will curse Adrienne and all her children …” Adam dangled evilly.
Hawk stiffened and paused. His eyes flew to Adam’s.
Adam stifled a snicker of glee, certain that the Hawk would slip and break his command.
Hawk’s lips drew back in a fierce snarl, “… and you will never seek to lay a curse upon my family, my seed, myself, or the family, seed, or self of anyone I command you to forsake or any Douglas commands you to forsake … including Adrienne; with Douglas being expressly defined as any relative by direct blood tie, marriage, or adoption, seed being defined as progeny, children adopted or otherwise obtained, you will not harm any animal belonging to …”
Adam paced a stunted space of earth, fear now evident in his every step.
“… obedience being defined as … and when you return Adrienne to me, all will be in order at Dalkeith-Upon-the-Sea … the Hawk and all his people being protected from any harm, alive and in the best of health with no tricks played … and Adrienne will be bringing her cat safely back through time with her … and …”
Adam’s face, once beautiful, was a livid mask of hate, “I will not lose! I will find a way to defeat you, Hawk.”
“… and you will forgo any thoughts or actions of revenge against the Douglas …”
Adam waved his hand and Adrienne appeared, looking utterly stunned, clutching a clawing cat in her arms.
The Hawk shuddered imperceptibly, knowing this was just one more trick by Adam to get him to break his command. Five months, five horrible, heartless months without a glimpse of his beloved’s face, and now she stood before him. Breathtakingly, heart-wrenchingly lovely. Hawk’s gaze rested hungrily on her face, her silvery mane, her lush body, her round belly …
Her round belly? His eyes flew to Adrienne’s, wide with astonishment and awe, as a violent possessiveness rocked his frame.
His child! His daughter or son. Blood of his blood—his and Adrienne’s.
Adrienne was pregnant.
Hawk was speechless.
Adam grinned wickedly—and the Hawk saw it.
He would not lose Adrienne. He had too much to read yet. With iron force of will, Hawk averted his eyes from his beloved wife.
It was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his entire life.
Adrienne’s eyes devoured him.
She was afraid to interrupt, afraid to move. Somehow she’d been miraculously yanked right out of her library, and Moonie, who had been across the room by the fire, was curled snugly in her arms. She could still see Marie’s startled face fading before her eyes.
And there was the Hawk, beloved husband and life itself.
“How could you resist me, Beauty?” Adam was suddenly the smithy again, kilt-clad and glistening. “I am every bit as beautiful as the Hawk and can please you in ways you can’t even dream. I could turn you inside out and make you weep with ecstasy. How could you forsake me?”
“I love my husband.” She’d spent many months clinging to the hope of the Hawk’s child growing inside her and studying everything about Celtic lore she could get her hands on in hopes of finding a way back. But the Hawk, it seemed, had found it for her.
“Love. What is this love thing you mortals prize so highly?” Adam sneered.
Enough, fool, came a silvery peal of the Fairy Queen’s sigh.
Even Hawk slurred over his words, midsentence, at that voice.
And enough from you, too, beautiful man, legendary Hawk.
Sweeter than the chiming of bells, her voice was a sensuous stroke of heaven. But Hawk continued, without interruption, “… and as used in this command, the word person shall mean and include, where appropriate, an individual or other entity; the plural shall be substituted for the singular and the singular for plural when appropriate; and words of any gender shall include any other gender …”
Adrienne watched her husband, her eyes blazing with love and pride.