Page 76 of Abducted By the Highlander
“No.” His voice was hoarse, and along with Isolde and Amma, Roisin hastened over to him. What on earth had happened?
Hugh thrust a tankard of warm mead in his hands, and Miles gulped it down, but his hands were shaking and alarm streaked through Roisin as she exchanged glances with her sisters.
“Come, sit by the fire.” Alasdair guided Miles across the solar before he and William tugged the surcoat from his shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
Miles thrust his tankard at Hugh, who refilled it, and Miles ripped his gloves off before wrapping his hands around the steaming mug. “Sgur Castle has fallen and the village razed.”
Horrified, Roisin stared at him as she and her sisters clutched each other’s hands. But before they could say anything, Amma rose from her chair.
“What?” Her voice was low, but it seemed to echo around the solar. “Miles, explain.”
He drew in a shuddering breath. “We saw the fires spreading across the isle from Kilvenie, but by the time we arrived, there was nothing we could do.”
“Who the hell would attack Eigg in such a manner?” Hugh sounded shaken.
Miles shook his head. “We can only surmise ’twas the MacLeods and their cursed feud.”
“Christ, Miles.” Alasdair gripped his shoulder. “We’ll ensure supplies are taken to Eigg first thing in the morning for the villagers.”
“Aye,” William said. “And we’ll rebuild the village, whatever it takes. What of the castle? Was it badly damaged?”
A fearsome frown slashed Miles’s brow. “Do ye not understand? The villagers have gone. There is no one left.”
Silence throbbed in the air, and Roisin pressed her fingers to her lips as the full horror of what Miles was telling them sank into her soul.
“God help us.” Amma stood before Miles, her fingers clasped over her heart. “No, surely that cannot be.”
“Amma.” Isolde wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “Sit down. We will deal with this. Do not distress yerself.”
Amma pulled free and swept her glance over the three of them, and an eerie shiver chased over Roisin’s arms. “My bairns,” she said but although sorrow filled each word, her voice was strong. “We have been so wrong.”
“What do ye mean?” Roisin’s voice was hushed, but somewhere in the back of her mind, an inkling of understanding glimmered. If only she could bring it further into the light.
And then Amma spoke. “The bloodline of the Isle must prevail beyond quietus.”
Roisin gasped softly and beside her Isolde hitched in a sharp breath as Freyja pressed her hand against her chest. The Deep Knowing wasnot something that could ever be said out loud. It was whispered between mother and daughter, a secret edict from the Pict queen that had been held sacred for over nine hundred years.
To be sure, she had shared it with Hugh. And she knew both Isolde and Freyja had confided in their husbands, too. Yet Amma had just stated the revered Deep Knowing in front of a multitude of people and no matter how dearly they were loved, they were not supposed to know of the Pict queen’s final decree to her daughter.
Amma held out her arms and Isolde and Freyja took her hands, and Roisin held her sisters’ hands so the four of them stood in a circle in the middle of the solar. “The Deep Knowing was never about the MacDonalds of Sgur remaining on the Isle of Eigg.” Amma’s voice was hushed. “’Twas about ensuring the bloodline of the isle herself would not perish.”
“Are ye saying the Deep Knowing was telling us weshouldleave the Isle?” Isolde sounded unnerved by the possibility.
“That cannot be.” Freyja glanced at her sisters, skepticism clear in her eyes. “How could anyone, even our formidable Pict queen foremother, know this terrible devastation would unfold?”
“Do ye not recall, Frey, the tales that she was a druid from ancient times?” Isolde gave a shiver. “Maybe she did see something, after all.”
“The power of three,” whispered Roisin, and her sisters and Amma gazed at her, uncomprehending. “Don’t ye see? We were the first generation in nine hundred years when three daughters of Sgur were born. ’Twas a portent that the Deep Knowing was coming to pass.”
“I think yer imagination might be running away with ye.” But Freyja didn’t sound so sure of herself now, and ancient comprehension dawned in Amma’s eyes.
“After my beloved Ingrid and yer dear father died,” Amma said, “I was, as ye know, plagued with the conviction that Isolde should wed William Campbell. I knew it meant ye would leave the Isle, and yet itdid not feel wrong. After all, two daughters of the isle would remain at Sgur.”
“But then Alasdair arrived.” Freyja’s smile was sad as she looked at her husband.
“Aye. And again, I knew ye had to leave, even though it went against everything I’d believed in my entire life. Because, after all, Roisin was still there to fulfill the Deep Knowing.”
“But ye never did see Hugh in my future.” She had always wondered about that, but when she’d asked her, nearly ten years ago now, her grandmother had no answer for her.
