CursedLaird by Tara Nina

love you?” For some reason she couldn’t explain,
Caledonia wanted to know.
    “That is an answer I cannot give.” Mary shook her head. “The
words were never spoken. Struan was a respectable man. We honored an unspoken
decision between us not to act upon the feelings we both sensed grew. It is the
reason mi heart aches.”
    Wow. Caledonia was floored. Here sat a woman of pure
conviction and dedication. She obviously loved this Struan. If what she said
was true, then she’d been protecting his hiding place for centuries and for
what? Unrequited love? Words tumbled from her lips. “You did all this without
knowing if he truly felt the same way? You never acted on your feelings. Why?”
    “In mi time, much was expected o’ a woman. We held no power,
yet we were traded ‘n’ bartered between clans for better stations in society. A
woman o’ mi position chose no husband. He was chosen for ye.” Sadness tainted
her tone and Caledonia swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. She had
no choice. That was unfair. But that was how it was. Caledonia gritted her
teeth at the injustice of the era.
    “ Gaol is a powerful ruler of the soul. When ye find
it, peace will follow. I let the pressures o’ mi family rule mi decision and
did not follow mi heart. It was a wrong that cost mi life. That is why the
angels let mi linger to protect Struan.” Mary touched Caledonia in the center
of her chest. Ice cold shot through her but she didn’t flinch. Something in
Mary’s eyes made her sit still and listen as she continued. “Ye must learn the
anti-curse. Ye must speak it clearly. It is up to ye to set him free.”
    * * * * *
    Bright light shone through the window. Caledonia woke with a
start. She sat upright, rubbing her eyes. When the clock came into view, she
stopped mid-stretch. Nine o’clock. Oh god, she’d overslept. Never had she slept
this late. Not since she was a teen. Caledonia flipped the covers off.
Something went flying across the room. Her notebook hit the wall with a thud
then slid to the floor.
    When she picked it up, she froze. Written in her handwriting
were words in Gaelic. Some she recognized. Others she didn’t. As she straightened,
she read the verse.
     
    Ceum saor de clach
    Be Ye Biast air duine
    Tis Gaol dara slighe
    Ge Ye be mèinne
    Dh’oidche mur dh’là
     
    What the… Caledonia’s knees gave way and she sank onto the
foot of her bed. It wasn’t a dream. Mary truly visited and spoke with her. Here
on this page sat the proof. She could have sworn it was a bizarre, complicated
dream brought on by sheer exhaustion.
    Maybe she walked in her sleep and wrote this then. After
all, she was overly tired when she went to bed last night. Anything was possible.
She desperately tried to convince herself, but knew the truth. Mary Campbell of
Breadalbane visited her from the spirit world and gave her a mission.
    Save Struan MacKinnon from the curse.
    Was there really a curse? Was any of this real? Caledonia
sighed heavily as she stared at the words in her hand. She shook her head. What
if this was a curse? What if a man was entombed in a statue by said curse? What
if he would come to life if she simply stated these words as Mary claimed?
    What if? That’s what her life had boiled down to… A
bunch of what-ifs .
    Caledonia stood, grabbed the robe off the back of her door
and slipped it on. She sat at her desk with the notepad and her laptop. After
logging on, she located a Gaelic–English dictionary. It didn’t take her long to
translate the verse.
     
    Step free of stone
    Be you beast or man
    It is love either way
    Though you be mine
    By night if not by day
     
    Cute. It translated into a nonsensical verse. If she spoke
these words would he be free? From the first line, it seemed that was the case.
The second line confused her. Beast or man? What did that mean? After all these
years, could he have turned into some sort of beast? Nah, it didn’t compute. If
he was cursed as a man it led one to