A Streak of Lightning by Michelle M. Pillow

Author:Michelle M. Pillow [Pillow, Michelle M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Raven Books LLC

Chapter Eleven

The MacGregor family meant well.

Katherine could see they cared for their brother, but they sometimes talked to him like he was a child needing direction. Margareta often cut him off mid-sentence, and Cait would shake her head like an exasperated parent. Murdoch and Angus followed them up with jokes, reminding Raibeart of some antic he’d done in the past—running naked and drunk through the woods, getting them lost on some make-believe adventure, proposing to endless women. Raibeart was their fool, and they appeared to enjoy laughing at him.

Katherine also knew that despite these flaws, they needed the family’s help and experience. She was not a witch or a warlock, and she did not understand the magick that had kept her locked away for centuries. Before her prison, she had been a young woman with small dreams. She wanted her family safe. She wanted to find a husband to love. She wanted children. She went to church, did her chores, and helped her neighbors whenever it was within her ability.

“Drink more,” Cait urged, pouring dark liquid into her cup. “It will help.”

Katherine didn’t care for the bitter drink, but it did seem to help clear her thoughts. Talking about the past unfurrowed her memories, smoothing out the edges and bringing light to the shadows. Raibeart stayed by her side, holding her hand under the table as if afraid to let go.

“Eat.” Margareta put yet another tray of food in front of her, trying to tempt her appetite. Katherine took the only thing that looked familiar—a slice of oat bread with honey. She didn’t feel like eating, but it seemed to make Raibeart’s sisters happy, so she made an effort.

Katherine held nothing back, telling them everything she remembered. When she finished with her story, Raibeart did the same. Some of what he said was difficult to hear.

She was a mother. They were parents.

Katherine did not remember being pregnant, though she remembered making love like it was a scene watched through the prison mirror. She remembered being happy, but that happiness felt like a dream within a dream held hostage by a nightmare. Still, her desire to protect Donovan in the misty forest had been as strong as it had been confused.

Alice was an inthrall. Raibeart’s inthrall.

“She has helped herself to my magick for so long that it has sapped away her sanity. Whatever perceived slight she carries with her is now wrapped up in rage and delusion,” Raibeart said.

“Not only her sanity,” Murdoch answered. “It is fair to say her thievery has, at times, affected your sanity as well.”

“It would explain the nightmares and why ya feel the need to run yourself to sleep each night,” Angus added.

“Though it doesn’t explain the naked part,” Margareta muttered to her husband.

Perhaps the hardest to hear was that Raibeart had betrayed her with Alice. That is how the woman first got hold of his magick.

“That’s one hell of an STD,” Murdoch whispered to Angus, none too quietly.

Logic told Katherine not to hold a grudge about something that had happened centuries ago.

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