Read A Kind of Magic for Free Online

really? Rowan wondered as his bride voiced her skepticism. She would learn that he never lied but he saw no reason to point this out to her before she was ready to believe it. Who are you other than mine? And what is espresso?
    The guards on the gate stepped aside to let them through. The crowd followed them into the courtyard. Rowan did not voice either assertions or his own questions about the stranger in his arms as he brought the horse to a halt before the chapel door.
    After he helped her to the ground, he looked around at his watching people.
    No, she was not his, he realized as he met many a curious look. Wanting her for his bed was just an illusion left imprinted on all his senses by the fairy magic. She’d been sent to him, yes, but for his people. He was to marry her to save his clan. His connection to her was only one of duty. He must be on guard to keep any selfish impulses to have the woman only for himself at bay. It was a mistake to care too much. That was another lesson his fairy stepmother had taught him.
    26

    A Kind of Magic
    Magic had clearly brought this woman here—some magic to do with last night’s lights in the sky. The fair folk had hunted her, of that he was sure. She was clearly lost and had thought him to be someone she knew. Her odd clothing and confusing questions showed her to be from some strange land very different than his own.
    Perhaps she was some mortal woman stolen from her own kind by fairy magic. It could well be that she had escaped from the kingdom under the hills in a different time and place than her own, and took him for some ancestor or descendant of his own. She might not even remember the time spent among the fair folk, those who were taken often didn’t. Or she might be one of them playing some joke on mortal kind.
    They might want her back, she might want to return to them, but she was here now.
    His. Given to him to use as he needed. His to protect, not to cherish—to command, not to coddle. To breed with, if that would help his people, but not to love. For fairy love was as fleeting, as false, as fairy gold. His father had learned that to the cost of all the clan.
    Rowan would not make the mistake of loving the savior of his people.
    “Can you go into the church?” he asked as they stood before the door.
    They were outside a low stone building. Maddie looked around for anything resembling a church. “I beg your pardon?” She decided to forget about the odd pronouncements of the grim Highlander beside her and looked at the equally forbidding group gathered nearby. “Excuse me,” she said, “but could I use a phone? Or call the police?” No one moved or said a word. “I’ve been kidnapped,” she went on.
    “Abducted by this man. I’ve been in a plane crash—I think. I’m not sure about that part.
    Would one of you please call the police? Or a doctor, ’cause I might have a concussion.
    At least, I seem to be hallucinating.” She waved her hand in front of her. “Hello? Is anyone home?”
    People continued to stare at her. Rowan Murray pulled her around to face him. He loomed and glowered down at her. She was just under six feet tall, she estimated that he was maybe an inch over six feet, so his having the ability to loom over her was more a psychological than physical. She also began to suspect he had an infinite variety of indiscernible dour expressions.
    “You are a very uncooperative hallucination,” she told him.
    “Can you go into the church?” he repeated.
    “Sure. Where is it?”
    His glower became thunderous. He opened his mouth but before he could snarl anything rude, two women pushed their way through the crowd to them. Aidan followed the women. Rowan turned his attention on them. So did Maddie, though she remained aware that Rowan’s hand was firmly wrapped around her upper arm. There was no escaping the man apparently.
    One of the women was tall with a willowy figure and young, in her late teens, Maddie guessed. She had masses of