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On the Island of Morar, the Queen sh with a tiny hand as strains of the new play drifted across the sea Ada for ly he had said to the King, and to anyone else ould listen, "He may have been pretty, but he was nococked athe fool "Stupid, is he? Defeated, was he? My, end of the fairy fool has just been rewritten For all eternity mortals shall reiant howl of rage and disappeared This time, Finnbheara went directly to his Queen’s side

"The fool goes to the Hawk," he told her Adam was in a dreadful temper, and the fool had nearly destroyed their race once before The Compact must not be broken

The Queen rolled onto her side andmoment Then she offered her lips for his kisses and Finnbheara kneas once again in the good graces of his love

"You did well to tell ht, Adrienne would dreaain The fresh tang of salt air scented with roses would lick through her hair and caress her skin

In her dreae; her kilt-clad, nificent Scottish laird He would smile and his eyes would crinkle, then turn dark with sently on her swelling abdomen, and his face would blaze with happiness and pride Then he would take her gently, there on the cliff’s edge, in te of the ocean He would make fierce and possessive love to her and she would hold on to hihtly as she could

But before dawn, he would ers

And she would wake up, her cheeks ith tears and her hands clutching nothing but a bit of quilt or pillow

CHAPTER 34

1 APRIL 1514

HE WAS NEAR THE HAWK COULD FEEL HIM AS HE SAT IN HIS study polishing a toy soldier to a srain while he watched the dawnawareness started at the base of his spine and worked its way up, heightening all his senses

The Hawk s wicked this way comes Aye And I am ready this time, you bastard!

The Hawk crossed his study to his desk and rolled the thick sheaf of parchirth of his sporran He was ready to use it, but only after he had the satisfaction of fighting the s more alive than he’d felt in months Hold fast and believe in me, love, he whispered across the centuries

Because love and belief were serious ic in and of the in the chill o, only sparse patches rerace Dalkeith-Upon-the-Sea once more As will my wife, he vowed fiercely For days now he’d been tense, knowing so it in his heart, as the Ro, he’d woken in the wee hours knowing the tied this day, and it was a battle he would win

"Coht anonymously It only tells me you’re too much a coward to declare yourself and face me," he taunted the misty air

He felt foolish for abrusquely aside Adam Black was near, he knew it clear to the oaded by the minstrel plays and a fool’s weakness

"Foe! Facewhelp I bet you used to hide behind your mama’s skirts as a wee lad, didn’t you? Quiver and taunt from behind a lass as you do now?" Hawk scoffed into the silent"You used a lass as your pawn Anyone could have played such a weak gautless worm"

The breeze kicked up, more puckish now, but still no one ca clouds with black underbellies Hawk laughed aloud, feeling exhilaration and strength course through his veins

"Mortal man knows the truth about you now, Adam--that you couldn’t win my wife, that she scorned you for me" Naturally, he omitted the truth that Adaly But the Hawk had regained his senses, along with his belief and trust in his wife "I know she rejected you, sainst her will She chose me over you and the whole country knows it now"