Free Land of Ice and Snow [Cairngorm Dragons 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Clair de Lune Page A

very important. What is your full name?”
    “Mairi NicMhàrtainn. Why do you want to know?”
    “Because you are my mate and I thought that I’d lost you. I thought you were dead, and I have lived under a bloody mountain and mourned you for one hundred years. That’s why, woman,” Hamish grumbled.
    Mairi went white then red. “Hamish? Hamish, is that really you? I thought you were lost to me. I have mourned you and remained faithful to only you.”
    Ness and Lachlann left the bookroom.
     
    * * * *
     
    Hamish took Mairi in his arms and held her close. Tears fell. They murmured their love and their loss.
    “Come and sit down by me and tell me what happened to you that day. I searched the sea, and there was no mind contact at all. How were you saved?”
    “I hit my head on something, and the next thing I knew I was in a house I didn’t recognise with people I didn’t know. It took a couple of weeks to get my memory back, and then I looked for you, and my mind searched for yours and always came up with silence. I was told that you had flown north, and we all assumed that you’d fallen in the sea or been frozen in the ice and were no more. I left Skye as I couldn’t bear to be there without you. The places we’d walked, talked, and loved were hurtful to me. It was just too painful to see them without you. I believed that I had survived because we weren’t dragon mated. Later I discovered that we were in fact mated and linked, and that you must have survived somehow, because I was still alive. The other dragons hadn’t told me the rest of the lore because they thought I might in time take another mate. They knew that if you hadn’t returned and I couldn’t contact you then something drastic must have happened. When I at last discovered the truth, I thought that you must perhaps have received a blow to the head or something like that, destroying your memories. I just knew you were lost to me and I couldn’t contact you at all. I had no interest in taking any other mate but you, so I have remained as I am all this time. I missed you so. Why couldn’t I find you with my mind?”
    “Because, fool that I was, I assumed you were dead. I didn’t know the lore until Lachlann told me about it. All these years I have believed that I had lost you and would never see you again. I wanted to see no-one. I found some caves under a mountain by Alesund and have lived there ever since, mourning your loss and feeling sorry for myself. No thoughts, especially from so far away, could possibly penetrate the rock. What a fool I have been, and how many years we have wasted. Well, we are going to waste no more now. You will pack your bags, and you will be coming with me today.”
    “I couldn’t leave my lady Muireall as she has but just given birth and needs all the help she can get.”
    “Well, it won’t be yours. You are my mate, and I need you now. I don’t want to waste another minute away from you.”
    A heated argument developed. Ness strode back into the bookroom, and the two stopped shouting at one another.
    “I couldn’t help but overhear what you said. I have a solution to offer you, Hamish, if you will listen to it.”
    “Yes indeed, if you have any thoughts on the matter, it will be a relief. This stubborn female will not listen to me, her mate.”
    “Why don’t you and Mairi live here in Darroch Keep? She could continue to oversee the maids that look after my mate. Her presence in the Keep will be enough to keep them in line. You can have a suite of guest rooms and live out your last years here. Neither of you are young. You need to be looked after now, and that can be arranged here.”
    Hamish looked at Mairi, and she nodded.
    “My lord of Ness, you are very kind. We accept your offer, gratefully.”

Chapter Ten
     
    Lachlann’s mind picked up the consternation that reigned in the coastal towns along the Moray Firth. A Viking longship had been seen again. It was only a single one, and it didn’t look as if