Page 74 of Laird of Twilight
“I made a wicked bargain when I went into that hill,” he said. “I traded myself to her, to the queen. I did it to further my business. And I did it for my family, for your grandmother and your father, for the wealth it would bring us. She gave me the gift of the weaving in barter for my companionship. I was lured in by her charms, and believed it a fair trade. Earthly riches through my own efforts, with a little help from magic. But I was wrong. And I pay for it every seven years.”
She looked over at him. “What are you telling me?”
“I became the queen’s lover,” he explained, “and she calls me back to her.”
“You should not tell me that much,” she said uneasily.
“I should, so you will understand what a danger their kind can be, especially for those who dismiss their power. I am bound to the queen by a spell that I cannot break. For years I have been held by the glamourie she put on me. It is a wicked trap. I betrayed my dear wife for that bargain. She died knowing I was caught in the thrall of a fairy lover.” He glanced at Elspeth. “I would give anything to be free of that. To be forgiven for what I have done.”
“And free of the weaving, and all you have worked to accomplish?”
He stopped the vehicle, the house looming just beyond. “I would give up all of it,” he said firmly, “and never visit the Fey again, never see my son again. I would give up all of it for your happiness, Elspeth. And to make my own love happy today. Peggy Graham,” he said softly.
“Peggy!” Elspeth caught her breath. “Oh, Grandda, I hoped so. Does she know?”
“Not all of it. I am an old man, older than most think. Who knows how many years I have left. Peggy is a fine soul and accepts my past and does not bother about whether or not it is true. She loves me, I think. Aye, well.” He lifted the reins again. “I wanted you to know all of it. I want to stop you from making a mistake too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do not give up your happiness and stay at Kilcrennan just for me. Do not sacrifice your future so I can weave in the strange manner that I do, and visit the Fey on my appointed day. Do not. Because I would rather be quit of it.”
“And the weaving?”
“The madness of it, aye.”
She nodded slowly. “If I found love, it might break the spell?”
“Let it break. We cannot live in fear of the fairies. Accept Struan’s proposal.”
“Even so, he would want to live in the Lowlands, while I want to be in the Highlands. I love this place. And you, and Peggy.”
“It is a problem,” he admitted. “But there is a solution, and you must find it. Go on. Go inside and tell your laird you love him. He will be happy to know it.”
Hope bubbled up. Part of her wanted to leap out of the gig and run to the house, but she sat twisting her gloved hands in her lap. “If I did this, and the spell broke over you, as you say, what would happen to your work?”
“A weaver is what I am. I would just be slower.” He chuckled, but she saw a glimmer of both sadness and courage.
“What of the fairy treasure that you wanted to find?”
“I cannot find it. I might bargain with them again. They do love to bargain,” he said wryly.
“If this is all true,” she said, “what would happen to you, Grandda?”
“Do you still not believe it? You have questioned it since you were a wee lass. What would convince you, when I weave like a lunatic some nights, and when you saw the Fey yourself with your own eyes not long ago?”
“It could be the whisky upon me, and you.”
“Why do you think my MacGregor cousins call it fairy brew? Stubborn lass,” he grumbled. “I can think of another reason for you to marry Struan.”
Her breath caught. “What is that?”
“He saw me at the weaving that night, did he not?”
She glanced away, aware of what else had happened that night with Struan. “He did notice you were weaving rather quickly,” she answered carefully.
“The secret must stay with us. So he must become part of the family.”
Elspeth gasped. “You gave him the fairy brew deliberately, to spin his head around, and then you went to your weaving. I wondered—but I am sure of it now.”
