Page 61 of An Enchanted Spring

“Aidan’s still with him,” she replied, her voice as shaky as her hands. “He had a gun.”

“I saw. And there were no other gunshots, so we can assume your Aidan is well on his way to us.”

“How does he know where we are, though?” she asked, her teeth chattering from nerves.

Ben had pointed agunin her face. He had fired it at her.

She began to shake in earnest.

“Aidan spent most of his youth tracking food for his clan. Hold it together, Emma. Aidan will find us, then all will be well.”

“Ben found me. He found me in a remote part of Ireland, where I’ve been for over a month, without any online presence or cell phone or general contact with the outside world.” She drew a shuddering breath. “How can you say all will be well?”

He patted her hand reassuringly. “Haven’t you ever believed in Fate?”

“Maybe when I was young and naïve,” she muttered. If Fate was a real thing, it was cruel, to be sure.

“Trust in it,” he advised. He cocked his head as if listening to something, and Emma stiffened, prepared to run again if Ben burst into the small clearing.

However, it was Aidan who appeared, looking for all the world as though he were out for a morning stroll in the forest. She immediately broke away from Reilly and launched herself at him.

“Easy,” he murmured, catching her. “Hey, there’s no need to panic. We’re both fine.”

“Dead?” Reilly asked gravely.

“Nay. I had only my sword. To fight him was a fool’s errand,” Aidan replied, just as seriously. “We’ll have to think about how he found us later. For now, we have to get Emma to safety.”

“We can’t go back to the house,” Reilly pointed out.

Emma extracted herself from Aidan’s arms as the reality fully sank in.

“He’ll always find me,” she whispered. “He won’t stop until I’m dead. I have nowhere to go.”

“Nay,” Aidan said slowly. He looked at Reilly meaningfully. “There isoneplace he can’t reach you.”

Reilly groaned. “I’ll be knee-deep in manure if I bring you both with me.”

“Her life is in the balance,” Aidan pointed out.

“Where do you want to go?” she asked. “Because if it saves my life, I’m in.”

Reilly’s gaze sharpened. “Are you absolutely certain about that?”

She nodded vigorously. She didn’t want to die. She wanted a safe place where she could regroup and think through her options for getting away from Ben.

Reilly and Aidan shared a look, then some sort of silent man-communication passed between them. Emma didn’t bother trying to read into it; man-speak was beyond her under the best of circumstances. Trying to decipher it while on the run from a man with a gun who wanted to use it on her? She had bigger things to worry about.

“All right,” Reilly finally muttered. Aidan grinned, and Emma just tugged on both their hands.

“Well then, let’s get going! Come on!”

Aidan and Emmabroke from Reilly, who managed to get back to the house. He met them about a mile out from his side of the forest, then drove them the half hour to the site of Dowth. As each minute dragged on, Aidan’s anticipation and anxiety grew.

Aidan slid his final dirk inside his boot, steeling himselffor what lay ahead. Aside from the dangers of the travel itself, he was concerned about ambush attacks, finding food, and getting to safety.

But most of all, he was concerned he wouldn’t be able to get Emma back to the twenty-first century.

Cian sat in the front seat, his own posture vigilant. Aidan knew that beneath his léine, like his own, all sorts of weaponry lay strapped against Cian.

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