Page 20 of A Little Highland Magic

Chapter Seven

The sound of churring filled the night air. Graeme stared in horror at the common green grasshoppers that usually appeared around Dunvegan in the summer months, but never in this magnitude, as they covered the castle walls, the courtyard, and even the guards at the gate. Worried for his men, Graeme shouted for them to seek shelter in the gatehouse.

Alastair appeared at Graeme’s side. “What is happening?” Disbelief lay heavy in his voice as he stared at the ominous scene before him. As grasshoppers undulated and jumped towards them, both men ineffectively tried to shoo them away with their hands and feet.

“It is fairy magic. It must be,” Graeme said, shifting his gaze to Aria. Her face had turned ashen white.

“Oberon is punishing me and, by default, the MacLeods.” Her words were heavy, filled with angst.

“The MacLeods are strong. You need not worry,” Graeme assured her, even as a hint of resentment pushed its way forward in his thoughts. If Aria had not come to the MacLeods, none of this would be happening. And with the same thought, he remembered how she had been instrumental in saving the clan from the English.

“I must do something,” Aria said pushing past the two men and stepping into the courtyard. For a moment, the grasshoppers stopped moving and turned in Aria’s direction. She held out her hand to the creatures and they instantly hopped towards her. In the next heartbeat, grasshoppers began to crawl up her skirt.

“Nay!” Graeme took a step forward, but Alastair held him back.

“Give Aria a moment. Let us see what she can do. We will be right here if she needs our help,” Alastair said. “I have always wondered if she had some sort of fairy magic that she kept hidden.”

“She hid her magic so Oberon would not find her.”

“Looks like he found her anyway,” Alastair replied.

Because of him. A breathless moment passed and then another as Aria remained motionless in the courtyard. Graeme’s heart thundered in his chest as he watched grasshoppers swarm upward, nearly to her head, and even that would be covered in the next moment or two.

If she was going to do something, she had better do it soon. The thought reverberated through Graeme’s mind just as Aria closed her eyes and lifted her hands. A soft, melodic sound emanated from where she stood, growing stronger as the seconds passed. The grasshoppers ceased their hopping and writhing. As though paying attention to the sound, they angled their bodies towards Aria. A soft blue light seemed to glow from her, beneath the insects covering her. In the next moment, the light surged from her to reach across the entire courtyard, followed by a whoosh of sound. Right before Graeme’s eyes, all the grasshoppers changed into butterflies. He shifted his gaze to the ones at his feet, open-mouthed from the surprise at the sight of brown butterflies with orange, black, and white markings on their wings.

As suddenly as the grasshoppers had come, the butterflies flitted their wings and lifted into the night air, slowly dispersing in all directions until none remained either on Aria or in the castle’s vicinity.

Graeme stared at Aria in a mixture of appreciation and dismay. Who was this woman before him? Part alluring goddess, part fae, part sorceress? As the blue glow faded from her body, she collapsed upon the ground and the ashen white of her skin turned a mottled grey. He started. Was she dead? Had her efforts to save them drained the very life from her body?

Both Graeme and Alastair rushed towards her. Holding his breath, Graeme placed his hand on her neck, searching for proof of life. He released his breath in a rush when he felt a slight pulsing beneath his touch. “She lives.”

“Let’s get her inside,” Alastair said, standing. “You take her to her bedchamber, and I will awaken Lottie.”

Graeme nodded and scooped Aria into his arms, and for the second time that night, carried her up the stairs to her room. He set her on the bed, placing a pillow beneath her head, just as Lottie arrived. Alastair followed close behind.

“Aria fainted?” The healer entered the chamber and set her bag of herbs, ointments, and poultices on the bedside table.

Aria’s eyes were still closed, but her flesh had shifted from the deathly grey colour back to a pasty white, for which he was grateful. “I do not know what happened, other than that she used her magic and then collapsed.”

The older woman turned to the two men. “Magic?” She shook off her surprise. “Go find Gwendolyn and send her to assist me while you both wait belowstairs.”

“I am perfectly able to help you,” Graeme replied.

Lottie sent him a disapproving look. “I must undress her. You will wait downstairs.”

Graeme took a step back and nodded. This was Lottie’s domain now.

“Come along,” Alastair said, motioning towards the door. “Gwendolyn will be of more help than either you or I.”

Graeme followed Alastair, but at the door he glanced back at the bed and the woman looking lifeless upon it. Only a few minutes prior Aria had been glowing and had changed all the grasshoppers into butterflies. He should be terrified of her or repulsed by her powers—such abilities were not of this world. Instead, she had never been more interesting to him than in that moment. But that was it: she wasn’t wholly of this world. He had known it, and she had just proved it. And it was . . . marvellous. A bit unsettling perhaps, but he found himself drawn anyway. . .

If the two of them were going to delve into the depths of Fairyland, Graeme had to understand why she had accomplished such a magical feat when she’d admitted earlier that her fairy magic could only alter brooks and streams. What had changed? He had to know in order to come up with a successful plan of attack when they entered Fairyland together.

That was . . . if she ever regained consciousness.

*

“Aria.” A familiar voice drifted through her mind. Aria struggled to wake. Forcing the heaviness aside, she opened her eyes, then squinted against the yellow-white light that streaked across the chamber. Was it daylight already?