The Highland Legacy: The Runes of Argyll, #3

By Jessica Savage

  **A Standalone Scottish Highlander Time Travel Novella Romance and the last in the Runes of Argyl Trilogy** 

Andrea is having a child. The trouble is that the father of the child is Alexhander MacDonald, a man she met back in 1625. As guardian of the powerful rune stones, Andrea now finds she has a powerful enemy - the beautiful and evil Helen who will do anything in her power to possess the stones. Andrea flees back to Scotland with the help of her old friend Geraldine to protect both herself and the unborn child. Back on the Island of Iona Andrea meets Alex, Geraldine's grandson and a direct descendant of Alexhander MacDonald and before long they fall in love. For a while they live happily, protected by the powers of the runes and with Geraldine's help they marry and find a small cottage on the island in which to live. Soon Andrea gives birth to a baby girl -Elizabeth and all seems well for a while. One day Geraldine appears at the cottage and warns Andrea that Helen's powers are gathering and that the Beginning and the End of Time will soon be upon them.
The only way to escape is to go back in time with the help of the runes. Will the evil Helen take possession of the rune stones or will love save the day, Find out in this thrilling and thought provoking conclusion to the Runes of Argyl Trilogy!

 Warning: This ebook contains mature themes and language and is meant for 18+ readers only. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Vanderhoek
• Release date: May 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393828976

Book preview

1.

AT THE BEGINNING OF all time the great Gods of the Universe sat in the Great Void of Space and looked down upon the world that had been created beneath them. They had already foretold the future of mankind and could see the recklessness and hostility of the centuries to come. Many of the Gods laughed and did not care about the creatures that were emerging from the slime of the waters to stand erect upon the cooling land, yet Odin and Thor and Ares were not too great to realize that their own destinies were aligned with this new and emerging species, and that the very existence of the Gods would come to depend upon them.

To this effect, three stones were cast by each of the great deities from out of the molten pit of the earth and upon each of these stones were placed great powers that only the Gods possessed.

A keeper for each of these stones was nominated from the faithful souls that roamed the earth and these runes were handed down through the centuries, generation to generation of guardians, until such time would come when their powers would be released.

Andrea read the leaflet that she kept in the back of her dressing table drawer. The pamphlet had been part of the display in the New York gallery - describing the ancient relics that Helen had discovered.

It was hard to think that all that had happened in the past was real and sometimes she didn’t even believe it herself, but Alex and the unborn child inside her were constant reminders.

Upon meeting Alex she had decided to remain on Iona; why not? She would be close to Geraldine, the only other person in the world she could confide in. Alex knew nothing, he was a descendant of Alexhander MacDonald but had no clues about the past. Geraldine, his grandmother, had told him nothing. The baby would be born soon, the girl Elizabeth; she would remember nothing of her time in the past. The present was enough for all of them.

Over the months the romance had easily blossomed between Andrea and Alex and it wasn’t long, with the help of Geraldine, before they had rented a small cottage together on the Island. She was two months pregnant but had lied to Alex that it was merely a month. It was, after all, only a small white lie; the child had in reality been conceived over 500 years in the past, and of course the child was technically his - or at least his great–great-great-great-grandfather’s.

She tried not to think about it too much.

Life was good in the main. The pace of life was much slower here on the Island; compared with New York it had stopped, but she preferred it that way. There were only two things that niggled away at her on the long winter nights and one was Steve - her ex. She had left him behind in New York to escape the clutches of her other worry; Helen. Her evil ancestor Helena had been killed way back in time but the present day incumbent still remained. No doubt she knew of her ancestor’s death and was now even keener to possess the three runes that were in Geraldine’s possession; to gain their power and return to the past to take her vengeance and wreak havoc once again.

At first her mobile had been full of missed calls and voicemails from Steve, but as the weeks passed the calls grew fewer. Now almost 9 months had elapsed since she last saw him and she doubted that she would see him again. His ego had been bothered by her leaving, but he was not bothered enough to follow her back to England, even though he believed it was his child she was bearing.

Geraldine had promised that Helen could no longer harm her; with her ancestor, Helena, now dead, she was weakened. There was only one way Helena could be restored and that would be by Helen retrieving one of the runes and travelling back in time to breathe life into her evil ancestor. Without possession of a rune, travelling back in time was impossible. Geraldine assured her that could never happen while ever the runes were kept safe.

Life was slow paced and peaceful on Iona and it was just what Andrea needed. She could run her  business from anywhere in the world as long as she had a laptop, mobile phone and a good internet connection, and even Iona managed to provide all of those.

The day was bright and she needed some fresh air. As she stepped outside of the doorway the view never failed to impress her. The cottage was located away from the main centre of the Island, overlooking the Bay at the Back of the Ocean. The title itself conjured up different worlds