The Highlander's Touch

He knew she loved him. Since he had to accept Adam’s lessons, if only to rescue her from the fairy isle, why not go all the way? Why not perfect her world and give her all her heart’s desires? What a gift, to be so powerful that he could ensure her wildest dreams. What else might he be able to give her?

Everything, Adam said wordlessly.

Circenn glanced at Adam.

Dare he brave her time? Dare he go forward and love her there?

He would love her anywhere.

Dare he give Adam what he wanted?

Circenn Brodie drew a deep breath and regarded the blackest elf. He saw before him the potential for corruption, unlimited power, terrifying freedom.

Perhaps he saw a bit of himself in those dark eyes.

“It’s so easy,” Adam assured him. “It won’t hurt a bit, once you’ve said it for the first time. You’ll find it feels quite natural after a while.”

Circenn nodded. “Then teach me. Teach me everything you know … Father.”

So sweet a kiss yestreen frae thee I reft,

In bowing doun thy body on the bed,

That even my life within thy lips I left.

Sensyne (since then) from thee my spirits

wald never shed.

—To His Mistress/Alexander Montgomerie

“DOONA THINK THIS MEANS I FORGIVE YOU FOR SEDUCING my mother,” Circenn said later.

“I didn’t ask you to,” Adam said with a chiding, paternal expression that made Circenn uncomfortable. “She was irresistible, you know. Rarely has one of our kind successfully bred with a mortal, and had the child survive to maturity. But you Brudes have such life force that it was possible, as I’d suspected when I seduced her.”

“You destroyed my father.”

“His own jealousy destroyed him. I did not raise a hand against him. And that man had nothing to do with siring you. You are my son, and mine only. No seed of his made you. When Morganna died, I refused to lose you, too.”

“So you made me immortal. I hated you for that.”

“I know that.”

The two men were silent for a time.

“Is it truly possible to alter her future and return her to a better one?” Circenn asked.

“Yes. We will go to her future and change it, twice. Actually,” he amended, “we will likely need many trips to her time to get it right. Then we will go to Morar, and we will send her on to the new future.”

“But won’t she have lived portions of it twice?”

“She will have the equivalent of five years of dual memory.”

“Will it damage her mind?”

“Lisa? Need you ask that? The woman is nearly Brude.”

Circenn felt a flash of pride. “Aye, that she is.” He was silent for a moment. “But I doona understand how to do it.”

“Patience. You’ve been a quick study on your own, you know. I’ve watched you. I know you use heightened speed, I know you scry, I know you’ve altered space around you without even being aware of it. We will proceed slowly.”

“Slowly is good,” Circenn said. “My head pounds with too many strange concepts.”

“We will move at a snail’s pace,” Adam assured him. “There is much to be learned about our kind, Circenn, but you must learn it in stages. The madness doesn’t result from immortality. It is an annoying and temporary side effect of our far-vision. We see how everything interconnects, and if you seek that knowledge too quickly, it can make you lose perspective, even cause madness.”

“Someday I will be able to see those things too?”

“Yes. I learned too quickly, arrogantly certain that nothing could ever harm me. When the understanding came, it overwhelmed me just as Aoibheal had warned it would. But I will bring you to the knowledge of our race slowly enough that you can absorb it while learning it.”

“Adam—the spear,” Circenn said hesitantly.

“What of it?” Adam replied, a hint of amusement curving his lip.

“The spear and the sword are the only weapons that can kill immortals. The spear was used to wound Christ.”

“You’re beginning to see connections. Keep looking.”

“But what—”

“You will find your own way. These are the things that must come slowly. You cannot expect to overthrow too quickly everything you’ve thought was true. You are still a ninth-century man in many ways. There will be plenty of time to talk of these things later. For now, let us concentrate on Lisa, and you discovering who and what you are. This is all I ever wanted from the beginning, Circenn—for you to accept that I am your father and be willing to learn about your heritage. I am the only Tuatha de Danaan who has a full-grown son,” he added smugly. “Some of them resent me for it.”