Arcane Rising: The Darkland Druids - Book One, R Nicole [suggested reading TXT] 📗

he wore a full beard to match his wild Scotsman look.

“Ach,” Rory said, throwing a pillow at the man’s nether regions, “the lass doesn’t want to see your bits, Jaimie.”

“What’s the matter, lass?” the dog-man named Jaimie asked in an accent thicker than any I’d heard so far. “Never seen a willy before, aye?”

I snorted and laughed. I was in a dream…or a comedy. A tragic comedy.

“Ach, lass,” Jaimie complained.

“A wee willy,” Rory said with a laugh. “Get out, you eejit.”

Jaimie cursed and waddled from the room, holding the pillow over his ‘wee willy’, but forgot about the full moon bringing up the rear.

Rory kicked the door closed with the toe of his boot and threw another log onto the fire. Sparks crackled and embers flew up into the chimney and I almost heard my father’s voice echo to me from within the flame.

“I’m glad you’re awake…and in one piece,” Rory said, sitting on the end of the bed.

My gaze flicked to the door. “Can-can you do that?”

“No,” he replied, “it’s a rare skill. There are only a few of us who can shapeshift.”

“All this time, your dog was a man?”

“He’s not my dog, so to speak,” he told me. “We’re a team more often than not.”

I lowered my gaze and stared at my hand. Flexing my fingers, I felt something ripple beneath the surface and quickly shoved it underneath the blanket.

Rory watched me with a furrowed brow.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“This is my room,” he replied. “We have a house on the Mile. It’s hidden by illusions, so don’t fash.”

Rory’s room? I looked around again but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. There weren’t any magic wands, potions, or robes anywhere. Though somehow, I was sure Druids didn’t work like the wizards out of a Harry Potter novel.

My boots sat on the floor and my jacket, scarf, and bag lay on a rickety old chair.

“You wanted to know if you had powers,” he said. “Well, you popped the cork off that bottle and sent it flying to the moon and back. You went supernova, lass.”

“Supernova?” Was that a technical term? No, I don’t think so.

“You shook the windows. Scared the shite out of me.”

A vision of Owen on his knees before me with the knife in his chest appeared in my mind. “Did…did I kill him?”

Rory frowned. “No, unfortunately not.”

I didn’t want to take someone’s life but it was a double-edged sword. Owen was deeply intrenched in the Scottish police, his façade so well-honed no one would question any tactics he used to get to Rory…and me.

I worried the edge of the blanket. “I just made a whole lot of trouble for you, didn’t I?”

“Aye, but it is what it is.”

“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I didn’t know. About any of it.”

“Don’t fash yourself, Elspeth.” A scratching at the door pulled Rory’s attention and he muttered under his breath, “Ach, what is it now?”

He wrenched open the door and cursed in what sounded like Gaelic.

A large tabby cat sprung up onto the bed and sat beside me, its green eyes narrowing as it inspected me. It had to be at least twice the size of a normal house cat, but it was stunning. Its black stripes were mixed with brown and ginger fur, its whiskers were long and spiky, and its nose perfectly pink.

I reached out to scratch it on the head but pulled back at the last moment. “Is that another person?”

“No, that’s just a cat, but there are strings attached with every animal you see with us.” He kicked the door closed and the fire flickered.

“Strings?”

“Delilah likes to save fragmented souls and give them new life,” Rory explained like it was a normal thing to do. “They used to be human, but for some reason their souls were damaged or broken. Coming back as a cat is better than floating in nothing for eternity.”

“What about the cat?”

He tilted his head to the side. “What about it?”

“Well…doesn’t it mind that it’s sharing it’s body with someone else?”

Rory laughed. “They’re not actual animals. They’re constructs.”

“Constructs?”

He nodded and took my hand, guiding it towards the tabby cat. “Made of Colour so thick, no one can tell the difference between flesh and prism.”

My fingers threaded through the cat’s hair and it purred. It narrowed its eyes as it kneaded the blanket with its claws.

“This is a new one,” Rory added. “Can you see how its fur sparkles?”

I ran my fingers through the cat’s fur and it rolled onto its back, letting me tickle its belly—a rarity for a feline with claws as sharp as the ones currently kneading the air.

“I want to believe,” I whispered, tears gathering in my eyes, “but…”

“You don’t think you deserve it, do you?” Rory frowned. “Why not?”

Despair overcame me and I kicked my legs out of bed. I snatched up my socks and hopped on one foot, desperately trying to pull them onto my feet.

“I can’t stay here,” I said. “I’ve got a train ticket to London.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “What do you want to go to that heaving cesspool for? The only good thing to come out of England is the road to Scotland.”

“Heathrow,” I snapped, not knowing if I should be offended on the English’s behalf—even though I was Scottish myself. Scottish with an Australian accent. “Heathrow is in London and there’s a plane seat with my name on it. I had it all planned out.”

“Oh, so now you’re running away from reality. That’s a healthy way to deal with life’s challenges.”

“You call a talking dog, a monster who plays dress up, a cat with a human soul, and exploding magical powers one of life’s challenges? You’re deluded.” I shoved my feet into my boots and snatched up my jacket.

Rory watched me with infuriating amusement. “By your reasoning, you’re the one who’s deluded, Elspeth.”

I turned. “Excuse me?”

“Well, you’re the one who’s seeing things, after all.” He grinned at me and I felt a sudden urge to punch the smirk right off his