Midnight's Promise by Donna Grant Page A

in Larena’s eyes.” Malcolm’s hand fisted as the words passed his lips. It caused something to move inside him, emotions he didn’t want to deal with began to stir.
    “She blames herself, you know. Both she and Fallon had every intention of telling you about your god.”
    “It wouldna have made me remain at the castle. I thought my destiny was to be laird. Instead, I’m … this. I killed Duncan.”
    “You did what you had to do to keep Larena safe. No one blames you for that. Deirdre was a master manipulator. She used you.”
    “Nay. I think this was always inside me, I just chose to ignore it. Keep your attention on Wallace and no’ me.”
    Malcolm ended the call and dropped his head back against the stones. Why had he called Phelan? It wasn’t like him. Then again, he wasn’t exactly himself since meeting the beautiful, infuriating, courageous Druid.

 
    CHAPTER
TWELVE
    For two days Evie hoped to look up from her computer screen to find Malcolm standing in her doorway once more. And for two days she was disappointed.
    She promised herself not to go looking for him after the last time. Malcolm had an off-putting way of letting it be known he didn’t wish to be bothered.
    “Damn,” Evie said and squeezed her tired eyes shut.
    There were just a few more finishing touches to put on her new and improved set of walls, traps, and dead ends for anyone brave enough to try and hack her site again.
    Between writing new code and a virus to attack any potential hackers, Evie was also doing more research on Druids. Given the story Malcolm told her, she was able to refine her search and include Deirdre’s name.
    The links that pulled up were mind-boggling. Evie had been to twenty of them before she realized Deirdre was a legend and few actually knew the story.
    Yet there were parts that were consistent in each of the sites that mentioned the Druid. The fact that she was missing from history for four centuries was a common thread.
    If that part of the story Malcolm told her was true, then the rest had to be as well. It wasn’t that she thought he lied. It was just that she had a difficult time processing all she’d learned.
    Her phone beeped, drawing her out of her thoughts. Evie reached for the mobile that was always near. She smiled when she saw Brian’s text about acing some exam.
    She quickly punched the keys to congratulate him. No sooner had she hit send than another text from him popped up asking if he could bring a friend home for the holidays.
    Evie stared at the screen for several seconds before she said yes. She didn’t stop to think how she would make it work, only that she would. She had to. For Brian. For herself.
    There were a few more texts talking about one of his teachers and the amount of work in a class. But Evie’s mind was racing.
    Once Brian said good night, she gently set her mobile aside and rubbed her temples. Her plan had been to stay hidden until the people wanting her information got tired and left her alone. Obviously, that plan wasn’t going to work. She’d have to come up with a new one.
    She touched the pendant beneath her shirt. “Keep it safe always. It’s dangerous ,” her grandmother had urged every day from the day she gave it to Evie three years before. They had been her grandmother’s last words as well.
    In the year after her grandmother’s death, Evie had searched for answers, answers her grandmother either hadn’t known or refused to share. Evie had begged to know about Druids, but nothing would make her grandmother budge in talking.
    Evie set aside her laptop and rose from the sofa. As guilty as she felt for using her magic to put some rugs throughout her chamber, she was glad she had. The cold penetrated the stones, even through her wool socks.
    The only thing missing from Cairn Toul was a kitchen. Though she hadn’t seen Malcolm, she’d found the food left in her sitting room.
    She hadn’t known how to cook the pheasant that first night, but magic had taken