Page 97 of A Rogue in Twilight
He reached out to touch Niall MacArthur’s shoulder with a finger, pushing. He felt muscle flex, saw the man move.
Niall smiled. “I am human. Magic keeps me here.”
“How is it I can see you?” James asked.
Niall smiled gently, sadly, and gathered his fairy-wife under his arm, much as James held Elspeth safe and close. “When you opened your mind to allow the impossible, all things, including our magic, became possible.”
“James MacCarran may have fairy blood,” the queen said then. She was a shining, lithe, gorgeous creature.
“It has long been said in my family. But it is just a legend.”
“Legends are born of truth. Your fairy blood allows you to see us today.”
Again he wondered if he had inadvertently sipped some wild Highland brew that day. But he had not. He had to accept that this was happening before him.
“Take my hands.” The queen reached out. “Do not be afraid.”
“We do not want to go into your land,” Elspeth said quickly.
“Briefly. Let us show you something,” Niall said. “I give you my word, daughter. No harm will come to either of you. We will bring you over and back again. I vow it.”
“A moment there is a day here,” James said, remembering his grandmother’s writings. “A day can be a month. A year.”
“Only if we cast a glamourie over you. Only if you eat or drink in our world,” the queen said. “Only if you look back as you walk away.”
“Come see what few have ever seen.” Niall beckoned.
Frowning, James felt the queen’s outstretched hand meet his, cool and soft. Beside him, he kept his arm, tight and protective, around Elspeth.
Riona reached out, and Elspeth touched her small, lovely hand.
The air went to mist and light, and James felt himself flowing forward as if on water. Then a glittering, gem-studded wall of solid rock turned to gray mist and he was through.
Awestruck, he saw rock walls of golden stone in the shape of arches and vaulted ceilings, stretching into a long corridor. Walking with Elspeth, holding her hand tightly, he followed the three. As he moved, he looked all around at a wonderland of subterranean passages, lit as if from within, tunneling into the heart of the earth.
And he realized then that he was walking easily without a cane or a limp.
Moments later, the queen slipped away, lifting a hand in farewell. Keeping Elspeth’s hand in his, James followed Niall and his fairy wife along the hewn corridor toward a blaze of light. He heard a carillon of laughter, the strumming of harps, a steady drumbeat, voices raised in song, the skirl of pipes.
Niall turned. “Do not cross any threshold here. Follow only us. You will see food and drink, but do not partake. Speak to no one but us.”
Chambers like cells and bubbles in the stone lined the corridor. James and Elspeth walked steadily past, following her parents. The rooms gleamed with light and crystal, gorgeous fabrics, polished furnishings. Though he heard voices, he saw few people, and those were either translucent or shadowy.
Tables along the hallway held dishes of fruits, cakes, breads, cheese. Wine trickled from silver fountains into crystal goblets. James felt intensely thirsty, desperately hungry. Wanting to pluck grapes from a golden bowl or take up a goblet, he moved on.
The tunnel split into three paths that channeled through the heart of the stone. To the right, he saw a lofty room filled with light, music, ghostly laughter. To the left, the rock walls flickered as if from fire, and he heard the sound of a hammer upon metal, as if from a forge. The center pathway was dim, dull. Niall led them that way.
The tunnel walls flickered with flash-fire colors that traced along veins of gold and silver, ruby and emerald. He touched the wall, his fingers coated with sparkling dust.
“Do not,” Niall said. They walked on.
Now the floor sloped upward and they climbed its ramp. His leg, even after the climb up the mountain to the cave, did not hurt at all. He walked with more stability and ease than he had in the seven years since his injury.
He gathered Elspeth close again, and she braced her arm about his waist as they walked up the stone slope. Ahead, he saw sunlight, a cave opening, trees and sky.
Niall stopped near the top of the incline. “Here we will leave you. Go back to your world. We have no hold over you now. And we are in your debt.”
“Father,” Elspeth began, and threw herself into his arms. Then she turned to her mother, their delicate faces and shining dark hair so much alike. James swallowed hard, watching, aware that she might never see them again. She drew back, tears on her cheeks. Niall clasped James’s hand. “Take care of her. She is precious to us.”
