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Highlands and I assure ye I’ve never been te Blackpool in me life.”
    “It’s him, I tell you,” said the old man peeking out from behind the guard. “Just find the woman named Fenella and you’ll see I’m telling the truth.”
    “I’ve had enough o’ this,” said Onyx, replacing his dagger and stepping around the woman. “I’ve told ye there is no one here by that name, now leave afore I curse ye.” He walked past the old man just then, and opened his eyes wide and glared at him. The man hid his face with his hand.
    Onyx hurried forward, hoping to find his mother and warn her. He wasn’t sure what all this was about, but it obviously was all a lie. He’d never been to Blackpool in his life, and his mother told him he was born in the Highlands. This old man was obviously mistaken.
    He pushed past the entourage and bu rst into the pub, searching the crowded room for his mother. He had to protect her from the English. They meant her harm, he could feel it in his bones.
    He spied her at the drink board talking to old Callum MacKeefe. He made his way across the room, and sidled up to the counter, not looking at his mother but rather just at Callum.
    “Pour me a dram o’ whisky,” he said in a cool, controlled tone, then glanced over his shoulder, noticing the Englishwoman and her guards standing at the door. Callum was pouring the whisky and looked up to see what took Onyx’s attention.
    “Friends o’ yers?” he asked in a low voice, putting the whisky down on the counter.
    “They’re lookin’ fe r mathair,” he said, picking up the glass and downing it in one shot. “More mountain magic if ye please.” He quickly pushed the glass forward.
    “Onyx,” warned his mother, “ye’d better stop fer the nigh t. Seeing ye blue again is no’ goin’ te be a bonnie sight. Twice in one night could likely kill ye.”
    “More,” he just said, but Callum h esitated. Onyx grabbed the bottle and poured it for himself. “Tell me why they’re looking for ye, Mathair.”
    She glanced over her shoulder and then back to him. “I dinna even ken who they are, but they look te be English.”
    “There’s an old man with th em that swears he saw ye years ago on the docks of Blackpool.”
    “I travelled a lot wit’ ye r faither. Anything is possible. Why does it matter?”
    “I ken he’s lyin’ becooz he also swears I was there too, yet I’ve never been on the docks o’ Blackpool.”
    Fenella froze, then played with the drink in her hand. “Aye. I’m sure he’s lyin’.”
    “Is there somethin’ ye ’re no’ tellin’ me?” he asked.
    When she didn’t an swer, he placed his hand atop hers. “Are ye keepin’ somethin’ from me?” he asked again.
    “Twenty years is a long time,” she said . “People can be mistaken.”
    Onyx pulled his hand away from her with a jolt. “How did ye ken ’twas twenty years ago? I ne’er said how long ago the man said he saw ye.”
    When she didn’t answer, and instead got up and walked away, Onyx knew for certain there was something his mother was keeping from him. But before he could ask her about it, the little English entourage entered the pub, getting the attention of everyone there. The music stopped, and people spoke in hushed voices. Tension filled the air.
    Onyx got that aching sensation in his bones again, and it was never a good thing, as it always happened just before there was trouble. Aye, he had the feeling this was going to be a birthday he’d never forget, one way or another.

    Chapter 2
     
     
    Lady Loveday de Lacy entered the pub and looked around, seeing the Highlander she’d been talking to outside, now sitting across the room.
    “That’s him, I tell you,” said the dockman who called himself Twine. “Most of England knows the tales of the earl’s demon baby whose birth was responsible for the death of the man’s wife. Rumor on the docks is that the baby was buried at sea in a chest. But now I can see the devil has come back to