Crown of Thorns (Legends and Lovers)

I faced that door and took measured steps in that direction. After a few, I stood and listened. I couldn’t hear what was happening on the other side, but I trusted Fiona knew where Duncan was.

Before I could psych myself out any further, I raised my fist and knocked.

His footsteps were slow and likely deliberate, given he’d left on silent feet when he’d dismissed me in the dining room earlier. By the time he got to the door, I was full on annoyed, whether I had the right to be or not.

“Who is it?” he asked from the other side.

“You know who this is,” I said, making sure he heard my petulance.

The door swung open with such force the breeze fanned my hair back.

“Why are you here? I thought I made myself clear I dinnae want ye here.”

I glared at him right back. “I can guess what ‘din-nae’ means even though I’ve never heard it before. The thing is I have nowhere else to go. I have cash.”

He smirked. “Does it look like I need your money?”

“No,” I said quickly and pushed at my hair before crossing my arms. “I can—”

“What?” he asked as his eyes dropped to my chest.

I followed his line of sight to see the tips of my breasts, beaded and making themselves known despite the loose fabric. I shifted my arms to cover the sight.

“If ye came here to offer yer virginity, I dinnae want it.”

I couldn’t stop the flush that heated my cheeks. That didn’t mean I didn’t have another emotion just as strong.

“You’re right. I was ready to lower myself to stay and even offer to cook and clean so I could get answers, which I’m sure you have. But forget it. You are a self-centered ass.” I spun around and only found myself turning back to face him. “You know what?” I pointed at him. “I know exactly who you are, Duncan McAllister. My mother told me about you. History books have it all wrong. But then again, history is written by the victors. And they wrote you right out of that history, didn’t they, hero?”

I didn’t give him a chance to answer. I dove right back in. “You showed up in Kintyre a few months before the civil war of 1644 or 1645, around about, found its way there. The McAllisters, a part of Clan MacDonald, were besieged. And you, the man who had just shown up out of the blue months before and had been taken in by the McAllisters as a cousin far removed, saved a few of them. You hadn’t been known to participate in any of the town squabbles. But you were there to save the eldest son of the McAllisters and send him and a few others off to the Americas. Only as you were making a clean getaway, while hundreds were being slaughtered, somehow you heard the cries of a toddler clear on the other side of the battle in the middle of the town square. None of the children near were of any concern to you. You sent the McAllisters on to meet a boat to take them across the ocean while you doubled back through the melee to save a child who stood crying at the feet of his dead mother. You killed dozens to get to him. Once he was in your arms, some say the skies parted. Others called it thunder. And then you were gone. None of this made it into the history books. In fact, they said only four of Clan MacDonald survived that bloody day, but it’s not true, is it?”

He didn’t look surprised, yet he said, “Ye know not what ye speak, lass.”

“What I don’t know is how that could be you. That was more than three centuries ago. You should be the great-great-grandson of the legendary Duncan McAllister. Yet you are the man himself. How could that be? Are you a vampire?” I didn’t know how I knew, but I did. He was the original Duncan from the 1600s.

His head dipped back as he let out a belly laugh before focusing on me again, chuckling under his breath. “Ye could only wish I was something as mundane as a vampire.”

That wasn’t the response I expected. “There are vampires?” The comment I’d made had been a joke.

He looked down on me again like I was nothing. “Is that really the question ye want to ask?”

With no hesitation, I asked, “What am I?” According to Mom, I possessed certain abilities or gifts, as she’d called them, I didn’t think common to everyday people that others wanted to exploit.

“You are the prize between two worlds in a war I don’t intend on joining.”

“Prize?” I spat. My gaze of disgust had no effect on him.

“Didn’t yer mum tell ye? She told ye all about me and nothing about ye. Or maybe ye aren’t who I think ye are, Elin.”