Authors: Elizabeth Rose
Tags: #Highlander, #Highlands, #Historical Romance, #Love Stories, #Medieval England, #Medieval Romance, #Romance, #Scotland Highlands, #Scottish Highlander, #Warriors
He looked at Lovelle, and then at his father and knew what she said was right. He did need to forgive, as love was truly all that mattered.
He held out his arm and his father pulled him into his embrace. It was such a damned good feeling that he wondered why he’d waited so long.
“
And the archbishop is here by request of Lady Lovelle,” said Clarista. “He is waiting to marry you two right now, Onyx.”
“Now?” he asked, and his emotions started to overtake him again.
“I couldn’t wait, and didn’t think you’d want to wait any longer either,” Lovelle told him. Then she put her arm around him. “Onyx, take a deep breath and just think of something that relaxes you. If we work on this together, we can overcome your little spells.”
He did as she instructed, and felt relaxed, until he’d started thinking of making love with her and his heartbeat picked up again.
“But where will we live?” he asked.
“You are welcome to live in Blackpool,” said the earl. “After all, the castle will be yours someday
, son.”
“Ye have a family here too,” said Storm.
“Ye are always welcome to stay with the MacKeefes,” said the chieftain, Storm’s father, walking up to them. “Now thet yer father and I have made amends as well, we’ll no longer have hatred between us.”
“And don’t forget about us,” said Amber.
“That’s right,” said Amethyst. “We all have plenty of room in our castles for you as well, brother.”
“Brother. Son. Husband.” Onyx tested the words on his tongue, liking the way they sounded.
“Friend,” he heard, and turned to see Aidan standing there with his squirrel on one shoulder and Tawpie on the other. He would hate to leave any of them and was confused what to do.
“What aboot yer mathair?” Onyx
asked Lovelle. “Willna she want us te live with her as well?”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” said Lovelle. “Or at least not until she gets over the fact I turned her plans around and she
’s now the one married to Lord Richard. But they were already getting along quite nicely since they’ve married and coupled, so hopefully she’ll accept us back there soon. The whole castle has heard their throes of passion, if you know what I mean. Actually, I think they’ll be good for each other. My mother has been alone so long that she needs a man to . . . make her change her ways.”
“Then I’ll let ye decide where we live, Love.”
“I’d like to take turns and stay with everyone so we can both get to know all of our family members.”
“I like thet idea,” he said with a n
od. “And we’ll start with livin’ in the Highlands.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to live in the Highlands in the summer instead, as I really can’t bear the harsh elements of nature like you can.”
“Whatever ye want,” he said, giving her a kiss. “But Love, I still feel bad thet we couldna find a way te cure ye o’ yer color blindness.”
“At least she’s not totally blind,” said Wren from her husband’s side. “Believe me, I know what that is like.”
“Well, I don’t mind,” said Lovelle. “As long as you are with me, nothing matters. But the healer did tell me about a few herbs I could possibly try that may help me in the long run. And I assure you, it has nothing to do with charms. Matter of fact, since my mother no longer wanted the Book of Hours, I decided to give it away. Storm told me about a monastery in Murthly, right here in Scotland that would love to have it.”
“Thet’s right,” said Storm. “And since the village is in Perth, ye can stop on the way te the Highlands if y
e e’er want te see it.”
“I dinna think I’ll e’er need te see thet crazy book again,” said Onyx. “But thank ye jest the same.”
“Here, Dagger,” said Charles coming up and handing something to him.
“Now you have your
lovers’ knot,” said Lovelle, putting it over his wrist. “I have one too.” She held up her wrist to show him. “We can use these in place of rings until we have the chance to get some, now let’s go get married already.”
The crowd cheered
, and as they headed over to the archbishop, he noticed the blind old hag standing in the shadows in the corner.
“Je
st give me one moment,” he told Lovelle, and walked over by himself to confront her.
“Ye seem to appear and disappear like magic,” he said as he walked up to the old woman.
“Ye deserve that dagger after all,” she told him in a crackly old voice. “And I think that out of all the siblings you will know love more than even any of your sisters, as you have come the longest way.”
“Who are ye anyway, au
ld woman? I dinna e’en ken yer name.”
“Names don’t matter, as none of you will ever see me a
gain after today, because my task here is finished.”
“What task
?” he asked. “And from where do ye come?”
“None of that
matters, Onyx. When we stop living in the past or the future and live in the present, life takes on a whole new meaning.”
“Ye sound like some kind o’ a witch or somethin’. Are ye?”
“I like to think of myself as a guardian. I’ve watched over all of Mirabelle’s children until they found their true loves in order to right the wrong I did to her the day I cursed her.”
“But I thoug
ht ye said she cursed herself, auld woman, ye make no sense.”
“We are all a part of each other
, Onyx. So when you hurt another, you also hurt yourself. You were my favorite among the siblings, I must admit. And if I’d had a son, I’d want him to be just like you.”
“Tell me what I can do fer ye, au
ld woman. I am so grateful, as ye were the one te save me life.”
“Was I?” She chuckled. “We make our own destinies as your friends Aidan and Ian are about to find out.”
“Will ye be there fer them as well?” he asked.
“Nay, but you will. Do not forget about your old family just because you’ve found a new one now.”
“I’ll ne’er ferget or abandon anyone. E’er, I swear.”
“Then my time
here has come to an end. And your mother says to tell you . . . she loves you . . . all.”
“Onyx? What’s taking so long?” he heard Lovelle as she came up behind him.
He knew if he turned his head the old woman would be gone, so instead he just kept staring directly at her. And right before his eyes, she dissipated into thin air. But before she did, he saw another woman come up to join her. A woman that smiled at him and reminded him of all his sisters rolled into one. Aye, he knew without a doubt he’d just gotten a glimpse of his true mother.
He smiled and nodded to his mother, then watched
her disappear from sight as well. He’d had an experience today that would change his life forever.
Lovelle walked up and slipped her arm around his waist.
“Onyx? Who are you talking to?” she asked, looking at him oddly, seeing him standing there staring at the empty corner.
“Jest an auld
, blind hag and me true mathair,” he answered.
“Sweetheart . . . there’s no one there,” she said, placing a kiss on his cheek.
“I swear I saw them, Love. Do ye think I’m mad?”
She just smiled and shook her head an
d kissed him again. “Nothing surprises me with you anymore, and I do believe you saw them. And, aye, I know you are mad. Now, let’s go get married already, my
MadMan MacKeefe – Onyx
.”
Well, the long awaited story of Onyx and Lovelle has been told. Through the ages, there were many Books of Hours usually created for the laity or the rich nobles. There was one in particular that inspired me to put it in my novel, that is the
Murthly Book of
Hours
which at one time was written for an English noblewoman and ended up in Scotland. It indeed had Gaelic charms in the back used for medicinal purposes and such things as warding off the plague.
Speaking of the plague, though England and Scotland were devas
tated by the first round of the Black Plague that ended in 1351, taking with it nearly half the population, there was also an outbreak in 1360 that continued off and on for the next sixty years.
I also found that there are little to no records of what the Scots were wearing back in the 14
th
century. And while the earliest records show that tartans being used to identify clans, and the use of the belted plaid happened in the 16
th
century, it was also said that weavers from all centuries usually had one design they used to make clothes for the entire clan. So, who really knows. Therefore, you will find tartans in my story, because I just could not picture a MadMan MacKeefe without one.
Please look for Onyx’s friends’ stories, as
Aidan – Book 2
,
is now available, and so is
Ian - Book 3.
And if you haven’t already read my
Daughters of the Dagger Series
, you may want to get caught up on all the stories of Onyx’s sisters.
Daughters of the Dagger Series:
And if you liked Storm MacKeefe and his wife, Wren, you ca
n read their story as well, that takes place nine years earlier in
Lady Renegade
, part of my
Legacy of the Blade Series.
The Legacy of the Blade Series:
Here are also a few other of my medieval series:
The Elemental Series:
The Dragon and the Dreamwalker
Book 1: Fire
The Duke and the Dryad
Book 2: Earth
The Sword and the Sylph
Book 3: Air
The Sheik and the Siren
Book 4: Water
Or my Greek Myth Fantasy Series:
Please visit my website at
Elizabethrosenovels.com
and subscribe to my blog in order to receive updates as I have new books being released nearly every month. You can also read excerpts from any of my novels on my website as well as get sneak peeks at covers of upcoming books. And remember that there are other authors by the same name, but my novels can be identified by the rose on every cover. Please also check out my latest endeavor, my
NEW book trailer videos
.
I have included some e
xcerpts for your enjoyment. Thanks for your support!
Elizabeth Rose
Excerpt from
Aidan – Book 2
(MadMan MacKeefe Series)
The Scot
tish Highlands. Late summer 1362.
Only a madman would use a stone for his pillow. The Stone of Destiny to be precise.
Aidan MacKeefe tossed restlessly in his sleep, having used the Stone of Destiny as his pillow for the last six months now, hoping to have prophetic dreams. Supposedly, the stone was used back in the days of the Bible, and Jacob had used this exact stone and had dreams of angels.
Aidan was in the middle of a dream. Mist surrounded him in his little stone cottage in the MacKeefe camp. He couldn’t see anything in the darkened room, but then the door opened, and in the bright light – he saw an angel. She walked toward him, covered with a long, white, hooded cloak, her fiery red tresses falling in ringlets down to her shoulders. She stopped in front of him, and peeked out from under the hood. While he couldn’t see her face well in the dark, he could still see her wide, green eyes that reminded him of the color of the moors on a warm summer’s day. She steadied her gaze upon him. Then she lit a candle in her hand, illuminating her face beneath the hood.
Her skin was fair, like alabaster, and a smattering of fine freckles trailed down her nose and spread to her rosy cheeks. She was a bonnie lass, and though he couldn’t see her body under the robe, he knew it matched her beauty. He wanted her badly. Then she smiled at him, and her laugh rang out across the room like the sweet song of a small meadow pipit, bringing with it a fragile innocence to its tone. She was a fine angel. A perfect Scottish angel. He wanted naught more than to reach out his hands and touch her, but something weighted him down and he could not move.