Devils Highlander (Clan MacAlpin 1)

He'd convince Marjorie of his love. Sacrificing his blackened soul, if need be — his devil's soul — to do her bidding. He'd failed those he loved before. He'd not fail now. He would find Aidan. He'd make his brother stop whatever mischief he might be about. For Ree.

And then he'd stop Archie and Jack and whomever in hell else he had to stop to make her happy.

He stood, panting, at the head of the quay, ready to confront a brother stolen from him thirteen years ago.

The moon was bright, and the modest sloop bobbed in a shaft of white light. The Journeyman. Cormac imagined he felt his brother's presence close by.

“Cormac,” someone said from the shadows along the edge of the pier.

He tensed. The voice was new to him, but something in its timbre struck a chord in his heart. It was Aidan's voice.

Cormac turned, wondering how it was he hadn't noticed the figure seated along the dock, feet dangling over the water. Aidan had always been the only one able to sneak past him.

“Is it truly you?” Cormac's chest tightened with emotion.

Aidan stood, stepping into the moonlight. Even in the dark of night, Cormac could see that his brother's skin had grown weathered, his tone duskier, with lines about his eyes and mouth. The years had hardened him.

Cormac went to embrace him but stopped. Gone was the pla

yful scamp of their youth. Instead, the man who stood before him had a body scored with the muscle of hard labor, his rigid stance speaking to rage barely contained beneath the surface. “Aidan… “

“There's a name I've not heard in some time. ” He gave Cormac a hard smile.

It was a type of vertigo, meeting this brother, whom he'd loved above all, as though they were strangers. “What are you called, then?”

“For years, I was simply Boy. ” He tilted his head, examining Cormac through slitted eyes. “I thought I'd seen you, you know. Earlier on the dock. But then you were gone, and I thought mayhap you were just a ghost. I live among many ghosts. ”

Cormac didn't know what gulf his twin needed to cross, but he did know that he wanted Aidan back among them, and he'd help him across this final stretch. “I felt like I died when they took you. ”

“Funny that,” Aidan said, his tone brittle. “I just about died in truth. ” Cormac swallowed. What had his brother endured, who had he become? He appealed to a different tack. “How long have you been back in Scodand? Why didn't you try to find us? Why did you not come home?”

“Home? I've no home. Scotland is your home. ”

Deep inside Cormac, a ten-year-old boy fumed, and he fought the urge to cuff his brother. “Are you angry with me?”

Aidan shrugged. “You're right, of course. I have much anger. None of it for you, Cormac. ” He stretched out his hand. “Come, let's meet as brothers. ”

As they clasped hands, Aidan attempted a smile, but Cormac could see the uneasy strain of it. His brother cut a quick glance at the Oliphant, and Cormac wondered what he might be hiding.

“Let's walk from here. We can walk, and you can tell me news of our esteemed family,” he said sardonically. “I imagine Mother didn't take the whole kidnap nonsense very well. ” Cormac bristled. “Mother died within the year. ”

Aidan blinked slowly. It was a simple movement, but a brother knew, and in it Cormac saw a lifetime of pain, of hopes dashed.

“I'm sorry,” Cormac told him. “She loved you too much. We all did. We all do. ” Aidan looked away, casting his face in shadow. “And the rest of them?”

“Father died, too. At the battle of Dunbar. ”

“You'll have to forgive me, brother mine,” he said with a bitter laugh. “My knowledge of Scottish history isn't what it should be. ”

“Of course. It was 1650 when Da died. A few years after you'd been taken. The others are alive. Anya is wed, and is with her husband in the west. The rest live in Dunnottar. ”

“Dunnottar?” Aidan stopped for a moment in astonishment.

“Aye, in the castle there. ”

“You jest. Who exactly did Anya wed to win the family such a prize?” Cormac allowed a grudging smile. “No, 'tis not like that. There's a jest to be found, but it's the castle itself. It was nearly destroyed in the wars and tumbles about our ears. I keep waiting for the villagers to kick us out, but nobody seems to have the heart. ”

“Dunnottar,” Aidan mumbled again, and then there was a protracted silence.