Beyond A Highland Whisper Read Online Free PDF Page A

that hard-headed Highlander. She had figured for certain he would drop to his knees and beg to hear her terms. She would’ve wagered her finest athame Latharn would plead for his release within weeks of his imprisonment. She had watched the man his entire life. Latharn MacKay thrived best when surrounded by those he loved. The man needed the touch of his clan more then he needed the touch of his damnable Highland plaid. And yet even when he’d watched his mother jump to her death, the stubborn fool had just stood there within the bauble, silent as a stone cairn.
    “I shouldha’ just destroyed him rather than imprison him!”
    With an irritated hiss, Deardha traced her fingertips across varying sizes of globes as she worried about the darkened room. The shelves flickered with crystal orbs glimmering in every spectrum of the rainbow. Over the past six hundred years, she had collected souls much as a child collects fireflies on a summer’s eve. She smiled with pride at her varied collection. It wasn’t easy tending so many fools. A few scattered orbs along the shelves had gone dark. She’d allowed their lights to flicker away. Some of the occupants became such simpering bores. No matter. Bright, shining replacements abounded.
    Turning from her beloved collection of souls, she focused on the largest orb of her assortment. Her scrying globe rested upon a massive stone pedestal in the center of the room.
    “Show me the bitch,” she commanded with a wave of her hand as she stormed across her chambers.
    The center orb filled with a blue-white haze as though someone had just exhaled a puff of smoke and blown it inside the glass. Mist swirled inside the globe as Deardha tapped her nails upon the surface. “Focus now! I know she’s far but Latharn has succeeded in guiding her to our shores and we must prepare for her arrival.”
    Nessa’s laughing face appeared in the vision, chattering into her cell phone as she packed for her trip. A shiver of revulsion swept over her body as Deardha stroked the cool smooth glass between her hands. “I still do not understand what he sees in that bit of fluff. There’s not enough woman there for a good night’s ride!”
    Deardha dispersed the vision with a wave of disgust, spitting her disapproval on the floor. Smoothing her hands over the frigid glass, she inhaled a deep, cleansing breath, and lowered her voice to an evil purr. “Now, on to more pleasant things. Show me the weak one we found the other day, the one who shows such promise for destroying the scrawny bitch.”
    The crystal didn’t falter, but shifted to show the image of a surly, dark-haired man as he towered over a cringing young woman. Excitement surged through Deardha’s body. Oh, this was wondrous. Perfect timing. She watched the scene play out within the crystal: the man stormed in a fit of rage and the woman cowered before him, terrified. Deardha rubbed her hands together as she hissed into the glass. “Oh go on, you know you want to hit her. You know she really deserves it.”
    A resounding slap echoed from the depths of the globe, followed by the sound of the woman’s sobs. Deardha nodded with a satisfied chuckle. This one would serve her purpose well. She controlled his weak soul without even taking over his body. He was her puppet, his mind so open to her suggestions, she need but whisper to him across the mists.
    Of course, she should get out more. It had been centuries since she’d been out in the world. She could stir up so much more mischief if she possessed the man. It wouldn’t take much to take him over. After all, the simpleton had already forfeited his soul when he had read the ancient mantra backward during the dark of the moon.
    “Ye should figure out what those Latin words mean before ye start dabbling in my world, fool.”
    She idly tapped a fingernail on the glowing crystal before her. With a sigh, Deardha decided to wait and see how it all unwound. After all, she hadn’t survived over six