Read The Highlander's Vow (Loch Moigh #4) for Free Online

and the burr he’d worked so hard to eliminate. “We were in a bog whilst the English held the high ground. My da had already fallen with a mortal wound, and I was injured as well. I saw the wavering lights—soft greens and pinks.”
    A choked sound escaped from deep in his throat. “Young fool that I was, I believed ’twas the doorway to heaven. I thought I’d already died, so I dragged myself through, expecting paradise, or at the very least, purgatory.”
    “How old were you, Struan?” Sky asked, her tone filled with compassion.
    “Ten and four.”
    “Nay!” She gasped. “’Tis far too young. You would still have been but a squire. Were you forced to fight alongside your father in that ill-fated battle?”
    He shook his head. “I wanted to fight.” A bastard aspiring to knighthood, trying to prove himself worthy of the father he adored. How impossible that dream had been for him. Still, his da had trained him alongside his half brothers, and his brothers’ hatred toward him had become an advantage. He’d had to train harder, become better skilled in order to survive. “Naïve as I was, I believed I could protect my da.”
    “Who was he?” Her expression sharpened. “Who was your father to the Sutherland clan?”
    “No one of import.” He had no intentions of exposing himself once again to the kind of ridicule he’d suffered as a youth. He turned away, but not before he glimpsed the look of disappointment she couldn’t hide. What exactly had disappointed her? Was it that he claimed no rank and refused to admit his link to the earl of Sutherland from her time, or was it because he hadn’t really answered her question?
    “I think it only fair to tell you of my kin, odd though they may be.” She bit her lip. “And to reveal things about myself I’d rather no’. Once you hear my tale, you may wish to send me away.” Sky shrugged. “If that be the case, I’ll understand.”
    What could possibly be so bad that they would turn her loose in a world she knew nothing about? “Wait. I need to get a folding chair. I have a feeling I’m going to need to sit.”
    “Aye, ’twould be best.” Her gaze met his.
    The disappointment he’d caught a minute ago still lingered in her expression, and the thought that he’d somehow let her down caused a slight wrench to his heart. He strode to the storage area, grabbed a folding chair from the closet and set it beside the table. “Anyone want anything before I sit?”
    “Here,” his ma said, handing him a stack of dirty dishes. “Take these to the sink, and bring back a couple of beers for me and Gene.”
    “One for me too,” Michael said, turning to Sky. “I’m not legal, but my folks let me have a beer now and then, so long as I’m with them.”
    “Legal?” Her brow creased.
    Michael nodded. “I suspect the proverbial plot is about to thicken. Do you want a beer, Sky?”
    “Och, aye.”
    Struan set cold longnecks in front of everyone before taking his seat. “All right. Tell us what is so terrible that you think we’d vote you off the island.”
    She blinked. “Vote me off . . . Are we on an island then?”
    “It’s an expression.” Michael twisted the cap off her Blue Moon for her. “We’re not going to send you away. Relax.”
    “You canna say for certain without first hearing my tale.” Her lips thinned, and doubt clouded her expression. “Have you heard of the Tuatha Dé Danann ?”
    “Sure. Mythical beings, faeries.” Gene nodded. “What about them?”
    “They are no’ a myth. Madame Giselle, the fortune-teller I mentioned earlier, is the daughter of their high king. Her true name is Áine, and she loves to meddle in the affairs of her mortal progeny. Many years ago, Giselle sent my mother from her century to the past to save the life of my foster brother. A few years later, my cousin Robley made a bargain with Giselle to visit the future in exchange for stealing an item from the fae realm that she coveted. He came to