Page 54 of Dark Side of the Laird
“Ye were leaving?” he asked, sounding heart-broken. He swallowed again, and I couldn’t find the words to answer him, because he spoke the truth, and yet to admit that I’d been deserting him, seemed so cruel.
He pressed his lips together firmly. Nodded, then in a more sturdy voice, he said, “Good, ye must go. I should nay have…”
But his voice trailed off on a crack. My own heart lurched at the emotion in his voice.
“Don’t ever have regrets. I’m here, and there is nowhere else I’d rather be.” And then all that had happened, all I’d sworn to keep pent up inside, came out in a torrent of words that I wished I could have held in a little longer. “Isabella said you were dead. She has your ring. She’s nearly killed Ewan, I don’t know if he’ll make it. I was distraught, and then when I went to the circle…something magical happened.”
Just as I imagined, Logan looked stricken. “We are linked, ye and I.” He looked off into the distance. “Ewan was hurt?”
I nodded, unable to say all that I’d seen. “But the healer is looking after him.”
Logan nodded. “I’ve let my people down,” he murmured.
“No, no you haven’t. Don’t say that.”
“I should have known there was a trap when I first arrived.”
“How were you to know?”
“There were clues.”
I shook my head again. “Don’t beat yourself up, Logan. They’ve done that enough to you already. I’m here now. I can help you.”
I still couldn’t figure the whole transporting thing out. How was I here? Didhowmatter? Somehow, some higher power knew that we two should be together and tore the bounds of time to see it done. And now the bounds of space.
“But ye are nay really here,” he said, looking at me so despondently I nearly crumpled to my knees. To see a man as strong as Logan brought down so low was unimaginable, heart-wrenching.
“I am here. Can’t you feel me?” I pressed my hands to his face, kissed him hard and quick on the mouth. “I feel you.”
“Aye, but… I know this must be another vision. Just as real as the others. The stone circle must have made our telepathy all the more potent.” His eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “Are ye really here, or is this just a dream to keep me sane?”
“It’s real, Logan. You had them, too?” I asked, still in shock that we were able to communicate in such a way, if indeed this was but another vision.
He nodded, then cringed in pain.
I looked down the length of his beaten body. He looked almost as bad as Ewan. Skin ripped open from crudely welded instruments of torture. Ligature marks on his neck from being stretched, and his wrists and ankles were bloody where he was bound.
My lip quivered looking at the destruction. How could someone be so cruel? How could the king have done this to his own flesh and blood? Why torture him? What had Logan ever done to deserve such treatment? “I have to help you,” I whispered, enormous, hot tears rolling down my cheeks.
“Ye have to get help, for everyone at Gealach. If he’s done this to me. If Isabella has gotten to Ewan… There is no telling how long before my people are made to suffer.”
“What can I do? Isabella has taken over Gealach. Even when I was leaving the guards had been removed from the water gate.”
I expected Logan to cringe, to swear, but he merely nodded. “The king is dying. He wants to see me dead. Every trace of me gone. They’ll burn down the castle, kill everyone inside. Ye must go warn them. Allow them the chance to leave or fight back. Ye must wake now. Ye must open the secret door, Emma, and bring the treasure of Gealach to Falkland Palace. Ye must present it to the king in exchange for my life.” He gave a slight shake of his head. “’Twill likely not work, but ’tis worth a try.”
My body started to tremble with fear, great torrents. “No we have to go together. I won’t leave without you. I can’t do it without you. Can’t I help you get out of these bonds?”
“You can try.” But he didn’t sound very hopeful.
I was determined. Try I did. I tore at the bonds, breaking my nails back, bleeding, but I couldn’t get the damn leather straps to budge. “How is this possible?” I was frantic now, ripping and grappling. “I can feel you, see you, sense your breath on my cheek, and yet I can’t undo these straps.”
“Because, love, ye are only here in spirit.” Logan’s voice was calm, incredibly so. He stared up at me with pride, with love, passion, trust.
I shook my head, refusing to believe it. “No. That can’t be.” I yanked at the buckle again, but it was as though I didn’t touch it at all.
“Ye have to go back to Gealach. Ye’re the only chance this country has. But first… make love to me, Emma.”
“What?” I asked, my voice breathless. Shocked at his request.
