Children of the Moon 04 - Dragon's Moon

gave his wife an approving look and nodded. “Perhaps it is.”
    “But the MacLeod has more recent information than old stories, does he not?” Guaire asked Mairi, his tone musing.
    “He does. My mother had the sight as well,” Mairi said,sounding apologetic, though Eirik could not understand why. “She dreamed of the stone when she was pregnant with me. I think because my father is distantly related to the family of the Faolchú Chridhe .”
    “You said last night that Ciara was the keeper of the stone,” Eirik said.
    “She is. Unlike my father, she is of direct descent from the original keepers of the stone. She is the princess of the Faol. If we lived in the days of our ancestors, she would be our queen.” Mairi looked at Ciara, her blue gaze shining with esteem and hope.
    Ciara shook her head, a sound of protest coming from her, her distress clear. Shock was in the air around them, and worry.
    Eirik ignored it all to drop to his haunches in front of the reluctant princess. He willed her to meet his gaze and she did so, her head coming up just enough that her emerald eyes locked with his.
    “To be a keeper of the stone is a great responsibility, but it is also a blessing.”
    She tried to shake her head, but his hold on her face stopped her. “I don’t want to be a princess.”
    “Would you deny your children their rightful place among the Faol because yours was denied you?”
    “No. Of course not. I’m not going to have any children!” she wailed.
    His dragon rumbled in denial of that statement, but Eirik did his best to ignore it. “There is nothing to fear in this.”
    “There is everything to fear.”
    “I will help you.”
    “You hate me.”
    “I don’t.”
    “But—”
    “Trust me.”
    “You are truly a prince…I am just a—”
    “There is no just. The stone has called to you, claimed you. You can do naught but answer that call.” He hadknown this since he was a small boy. To be born into the royal family of a Chrechte people dictated much about a man’s life from birth.
    He would help Ciara learn to deal with this truth.
    “I am also a seer and I have dreamed of the power for good she wields with the stone.” Mairi’s voice rang with conviction.
    “Ciara is a direct descendant of the original keepers of the stone, of Faol royalty?” the Sinclair asked as if still trying to take in the truth.
    There was no doubt in Mairi’s set expression. “Yes.”
    “I can’t be,” Ciara said, but her voice lacked any conviction. Her eyes beseeched Eirik. “Wouldn’t my parents have told me, my brother at the very least?”
    Eirik foolishly wished in that moment he could lie. “As you said, he had plans to wield the power of the stone on his own behalf.”
    “But we were family.”
    “And he saw the goodness in you, the inability to hate another race of our people simply because they were different in their beast nature.” And finally, Eirik knew that to be true.
    He still did not trust this woman entirely. She hid too many secrets, but he did not doubt that she had never intended the Éan harm.
    “He wanted to create conriocht ,” she admitted in a whisper.
    Lais gasped. Mairi moaned with worry, but Talorc and Eirik met one another’s gaze with purpose. The Faolchú Chridhe would be found and brought to safety before it could fall into the hands of Chrechte that would misuse its power to destroy other shifters.
    “All will be well,” he promised her, willing her to believe him.
    Finally, she nodded, worrying her lower lip.
    He groaned and before Eirik could give into an almost overwhelming need to kiss the Faol princess, he surged to his feet and moved back to his stance at her side.
    “There is an elder among the Balmoral that knowsall the ancient stories of the Faol,” the Sinclair said in a tone that showed more than anything how much he regretted there was no such elder among his own clan. “We need to speak to him.”
    “I will go to Balmoral Island,” Eirik announced, not even considering the laird might prefer to send a Faol for this mission.
    But Talorc nodded his approval. “You will lead this quest.”
    “What? Why?” Ciara asked, clearly uncomfortable with her adopted father’s edict.
    What did she think? That Eirik as an Éan would do something sinister with the wolves’ sacred stone? Little did she know, but the sacred stones of the Chrechte could not be destroyed and the Faolchú Chridhe would continue to call to Ciara until it was found and used