The Magic of Highland Dragons Read Online Free Page A

said under his breath.
    “What did you say? The color who prefers?”
    He chuckled, pulling two strands of hair back from either side of her head and giving them each a little twist before tying them at the back with a piece of ribbon he had pulled out of his pocket. “Ah, that’s better. And patience. Ye’ll find out soon enough.” He stepped back, gazing at her, looking deep, and absently rubbing his chin. “Ye’ll ken all, in time. No worries. Ye have an affinity for the mysteries of our world, I think. A strong and clever mind too. Most lasses would be cowering on the ground by now, having arrived as ye did with nay warning.” He paused for a moment, a strange, wary look crossing his face. “Ye didna have any warning, did ye?” When she shook her head, he went on. “Aye, ye’re verra strong and a beauty too, as a boon. Ye’ll do verra well. I’m quite pleased. The fates are no’ always so generous, ye ken.”
    “But…”
    He took her by the hand and led her out of the cottage before she could ask any more of the questions tumbling around in her mind. It was just as well; she probably wasn’t ready to know the answers. She hadn’t even gotten past waking up in Scotland yet.
    Faith followed Dirc, stumbling after him. Everything felt oddly surreal; the strange clothing flowing around her legs as she walked, even the angle of the sun in the sky and the quality of the light. All just a little different. A little bit unfamiliar. She looked down at her feet, wrapped in delicate leather shoes. Through their thin bottoms she could feel every stone, every root that she stepped on, each a stark reminder that she walked on solid ground, and not within a dream.
    She was in Scotland. And no one at home would even know she was gone. They wouldn’t know until Monday morning, when she didn’t show up for work. Brian would wonder where she was, wouldn’t he? Would he worry? Would he look for her? Probably not. More likely he would think she quit, gotten a better job. Disappeared without bothering with goodbyes, as so many people did. She hadn’t even lived in D.C. long enough to have any close friends there who might call the police when she didn’t answer her phone or her door. Or… perhaps she would awaken in a psych ward somewhere, having suffered a massive delusion that she had been transported to Scotland , sometime in the past. But this was awfully real to be a delusion. It’s the ring . She may very well be crazy, but it was the ring that brought her here. Whether here was heaven or hell or somewhere in between remained to be seen. It seemed to her things could go either way from here on out.
    Dirc had soon led her to another cottage that to her looked nearly identical to the first. Only this one was closer to the village; she could see a few of the other houses just through the trees. She looked a second time. All of the other cottages seemed to be on cleared land, and only this one was set back into the woods, almost as if its owner had reason to hide. Another sudden twinge of panic shot through her, tightening her chest and making her slightly dizzy. She fought it back. Nothing you can do, Faith. Accept it. There’s nothing you can do right now. An adventure. What do you have to lose? Didn’t you always have a feeling there was more? Well, this is definitely the more you had that feeling about.
    Dirc spoke, startling her. “ This , lass, is my home.” He gestured toward the cottage. “It’s nay castle, but ye’re certainly welcome here. Come in.”
    “Then whose home were we at before?”
    He ignored her question yet again, which was beginning to annoy her a bit. She walked through the door he held open for her, again wondering vaguely if it was a good idea to be so trusting of a stranger, but then, she had little choice. She went into the cottage, and immediately the air felt different. She couldn’t say exactly what was different about it, only that it was. There was a very subtle vibration in