Page 1 of The Runaway Bride and the Highlander
PROLOGUE
1719, Isle of Skye
Rowan reached for the tea leaves, knocking the jug of milk over. The milk spilled out over the surface, reaching the edge and finally dripping onto the floor where Patches, the cat, merrily licked it up.
“Oh, blast,” Rowan huffed, turning to grab a cloth. Her swinging hand knocked over a china cup and it went flying off the table and smashed onto the floor, frightening the poor cat half to death. Patches squealed and ran from the room while the three other women watching the debacle fell into peals of laughter at their sister’s antics.
“At this rate, I’ll nae get my tea until I’m ninety,” Skylar laughed, her eyes glistening as the tears of mirth nearly dripped from them. Of course, her right eye always glistened more than her left, for that was the sign that magic lived within her. Her youngest sister had always been too clumsy for her own good, and nothing had changed in her older age.
“Ye ken the milk is meant tae go intae the cup, Rowan, nae all over the floor,” Lana giggled as Rowan made her usual mess.
“Och, will ye leave me be?” Rowan called back. “I’m doing my best.”
“Aye, yer best at making a mess,” Thea joined in.
“Ye can make it yerselves next time then,” Rowan growled, though a sly smile danced at the corner of her mouth.
Slowly carrying the tray, the crockery tinkling with her trembling hands, Rowan shuffled across the stone floor of the room and lowered it onto the table. Skylar watched her sister with interest, noticing the thin skin of her wrinkled hands. She could hardly help but look down at her own and, almost with surprise, noticed that old age had affected her the same. Softly, she ran a finger over her translucent skin, the swollen purple and blue veins prominent beneath her touch.
“I cannae tell ye how glad I am that we’re all together again after all this time,” Lana sighed, looking lovingly from one sister to the other.
“I ken,” Skylar smiled.
All four of the Morgan sisters nodded in agreement. “Who could’ve kent,” Lana continued, “that after being separated all those years ago, we would find ourselves sitting here now, almost thirty years later?”
Rowan attempted to agree while concentrating on pouring the tea into the teacups. “We can all only be grateful we survived,” she said, a tinge of sadness in her tone. “We’ve lost so much along the way—nae least o’ all, Mother and Father.” She handed out the cups to her sisters before lowering herself slowly down into her seat.
For a long moment, a contemplative silence doused the room, the only sound coming from the crackling logs on the large fire before them. Their mother and father would be long dead by now, given that the sisters were well past their prime, but that is not what Rowan meant. Their parents had been taken from them many years ago, and their lives were cut far shorter than they ought. The sisters had indeed lost much over the years, but for Skylar and Lana, the death of their mother had been more horrific since they had witnessed it.
If they had been an ordinary family, perhaps things might have been different. But they were not. Jenny Morgan had been born with a gift and had passed such powers down to her daughters. Each of them had a distinguishing mark corresponding to the power they possessed. Their mother had told them that the gods needed to mark their own, and one of Skylar’s eyes was so light blue it was almost white, for her power was to see the future of a person if she kissed their forehead. It was a power that almost cost her her life.
“I still remember that day as if it were yesterday,” she said gently, breaking the silence. Her sisters had taken a moment of consideration, but at her words, all turned their attention toward her. She was the oldest and, before their world had been turned upside down, had been the one they had all looked up to. “I have often thought how different things would have been if Mother hadnae had the ability tae detect truth and lies.”
“Or if none o’ us had been born with powers,” Rowan added. “Father would never have had tae send us away.”
“I dinnae think Mother would have changed anything,” Lana said. “She was proud and grateful for her gifts and loved us all very much for ours. Though I still cannae get that horrible night out o’ my mind.”
“It all happened so fast,” Skylar replied sadly. “I remember the crashing sound o’ the front door and then Mother crying out for us tae hide.”
“Rushing up the stairs in a great panic,” Lana continued and shook her head. “Mother was nae far behind us. And then she shoved us intae the closet, ordering us tae stay inside and keep quiet.”
Even now, after all these years, Skylar’s heart beat fast at the memory of it. It transpired that their mother had detected some scheme against the Jacobites and was planning to reveal it so the rebels could be warned. But she never got the chance.
“The thing that still makes me sad tae this day is that I saw what was going tae happen,” Skylar said. “It wasnae very clear. My visions never are, but each time I had kissed Mother, I did see a long rope, a strange white light, and a dark mask.”
“Ye’ve never told me that ‘afore,” Lana gasped, stunned by Skylar’s confession.
“Aye, well, I didnae see there was much point after all that had happened. And besides, all it makes me feel is guilt.”
“Ye cannae do that tae yerself, Skylar,” Rowan said, shaking her head. “Ye couldnae have stopped it, nae matter what ye saw. Yer visions come tae ye, but there’s never a time or a place.”
“I ken,” Skylar sighed.
Rowan was right. Any future that she had seen was never clearly written. Things could change, and when that happened, so did that person’s future. Sometimes she would see objects or faces, but if she did not recognize the face, she could do little to warn or help those who sought answers. The future was always too vague to be seen clearly.
“But still,” Skylar continued, “Mother fought so hard against the intruders. They were determined tae discover where we all were, but even when they tortured her, she resisted. Lana and I watched from inside the closet, and even now, the memory is as horrific as when it actually happened all those years ago.” Skylar shivered. “In the end, when they kent they were getting naething out o’ her, they killed her. And that is when my vision came true. A masked man strangled her with a rope while she wore her white shift.”
“And then Father lost us all,” Rowan sighed. “I cannae imagine how hard it was for him, first losing his beloved wife and then having tae send his daughters away.”
