Page 37 of Sadie's Highlander (Highland Protector 1)

The tunnel was wide enough that they could walk side by side. He wasn’t particularly fond of close places, so when the engineers were planning the passage, he’d had them make it as wide as they could. They’d also used reflective material for the walls to give as much a feeling of open space as possible and seen to it that plenty of lighting was installed as well.

“I feel air moving. Fresh air. How can that be?” Sadie trailed her fingers along the wall to her side, glancing all around as they walked deeper into the maze.

“Generators. Fans. Things I’m no’ smart enough to explain.” Alec took in a deep breath and blew it out. Somehow, having Sadie at his side made the closeness of the tunnel more bearable.

“What are those symbols?” Sadie pointed to large white glyphs stenciled on squares of copper, bronze, and pewter and mounted close to the ceiling. The strange signs were spaced at unexplainable intervals down the long hallway.

“Blessings, guidance…” Alec turned them down an adjoining tunnel to the left of the main passage. “And protection. We’re nearly to the vault.”

Sadie looked back, then glanced up at the ceiling. “How deep are we?”

Alec leaned in close as they stopped in front of a wide steel door. “ ’Tis probably best that ye dinna know.” He always tried not to think about how far under the mountain they actually were. If he dwelt on it too much, he could hardly breathe. He flattened his left hand on the black glass panel set into the wall beside the door. Stretching as far as he could reach, he placed his right hand on an identical panel on the other side.

Facing the speaker above the door, Alec said, “Spero,” loud and clear as though it were a command.

“Sparrow?” Sadie asked.

Red lines of laser beams zipped down the panels and scanned both of his hands. Alec relaxed and dropped his arms down to his sides as a series of clicks and metallic thuds signaled that the locks on the door were opening. He turned to Sadie and shook his head. “Not ‘sparrow’ like the bird. Butspero.’Tis Latin for ‘hope.’ ”

“Hope,” Sadie repeated, her eyes shimmering dark and wide.

White-knuckling the steel bar of the door, Alec forced the handle down and slowly heaved the thick barrier of metal open. He secured the latches at the top and sides of the beams framing the door, securely clamping it to the wall to keep the stout hydraulic cylinders at the hinges from pulling the door shut.

He turned and extended his hand to Sadie. “All I ask is that ye keep an open mind and trust that I would ne’er tell ye anythin’ other than the truth.”

“Okay,” Sadie whispered as she barely touched her fingertips to his, then stopped. She hitched in an audible shaking breath, staring down at his hand as though she knew if she moved forward, she could never go back.

Alec’s heart ached with the need for her to trust him—to accept him.Say it. Say the words ye’ve ne’er said to anyone before.“I love ye, Sadie.” The words spilled out before he could stop them. “I truly love ye. I swear it on all I hold sacred.”

Sadie wet her lips, looking up at him as though she didn’t dare believe he’d just said what she’d heard. “You loveme?”

“Aye, lass.” Alec pulled her into his arms, closing his eyes as he cradled her to his chest. “I think I loved ye from the first moment I read yer wee emails.” He kissed the top of her head, then pressed his cheek to her silky locks, inhaling her sweetness like a man starving for air. “I love ye,” he whispered again. “And I hope and pray ye’ll find it in yer heart to love me too—especially after ye see what I have to show ye.”

Sadie shuddered with a hiccupping sigh, then her arms tightened around him. She lifted her face to his and smiled. “Surely, it can’t be all that bad.” Then her smile faded into a sober line and her gaze fell to the fingertip she was trailing along the edge of his jaw. “I can’t remember anyone ever telling me they loved me,” she whispered. “Not ever. Not even my parents.”

“If it weren’t for the fact that we’re beneath several miles of mountain, I’d roar it so loud all the world would hear.” Alec kissed her long and deep, then finally raised his head. “Now. Come and see,” he said.

As they made their way into the chamber, panels of floor-to-ceiling blue-white lights set into the walls of highly polished stone came to life in response to Alec and Sadie’s progress across the room. Alec forced himself not to cringe when he heard Sadie’s sharp intake of breath.

“What is this place?” Sadie’s voice was hushed, her tone soft and reverent. She crept carefully about the room as though she feared she’d disturb whatever lived there. “Are these real? Authentic?” She stood with hands clasped to her chest, staring at the Heartstone. It was flanked by the ancient weapons the goddesses had given to the MacDara druids so long ago. The sword and the hammer stood guard to the left. The shield and the spear stood to the right. All the weapons waited, ready for battle, in the racks that Alec’s ancestors had crafted long before he and his brothers were born.

“Aye. All are quite real and from a time so old they canna be labeled with any of humanity’s numbers.” Alec remained in the center of the room, praying this would go well, especially when he told her he was not of this time. “The MacDara druids are the keepers. The protectors. We have been so since the Heartstone was first sent to dwell among us.”

Sadie inched forward, leaning closer to examine the surface of the large three-sided rock without actually touching it. “Why have I never heard of any of this? This is amazing.”

“The safety of the stone demands a code of secrecy. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, all humankind would suffer.” Alec shifted uncomfortably in place. At any moment, the beloved Heartstone could decide to make its feelings known. He needed Sadie to hear the truth from him before that happened. “Long ago, many races vied for the stone and its power. But now…since its existence is all but unknown in this time…the stone is much safer.”

Sadie straightened, turned, and stared at Alec. “What do you mean by ‘its power’?”

How could he sum up in but a few sentences what it had taken him years to learn from their oral tradition regarding the stone and all its wonders? Alec joined Sadie in front of the stone, studying the rough-hewn boulder shaped into a crude pyramid and carved with the goddesses’ knot on each of its three sides. Flecks of crystals, a myriad of colors, dappled the surface of the stone, winking in the bright lights of the chamber.

He folded his arms across his chest and slowly shook his head. “The Heartstone is much like an advisor—a being of sorts—filled with uplifting wisdom and aware of man’s need for hope, love, and creativity in order to flourish here and survive. It constantly gathers these energies and sends them back out, ensuring they’re ne’er gone from the world.”

Turning to Sadie, Alec silently willed her to understand. “Imagine how ye would feel if there were nothing to look forward to. No hopes to fulfill. No dreams to strive for. Nothing to stir the beating of yer heart and leave ye thrilled and breathless. Just a bland existence. Time would slowly pass until ye died.”

“That wouldn’t be a life,” Sadie said, easing even closer to the Heartstone as though drawn forward by a will other than her own. “I’d rather be dead than live like that.” Still clutching her hands to her chest, she slowly inched around the artifact, a thoughtful frown creasing her brow. “But if it does what you say it does, how could it be misused?”

She doesna believe. She thinks it merely an artifact, a bit of history.A sad heaviness filled him. How could he make her see? “According to legend, the beloved Heartstone could be purged of its benevolent goodness and filled with the negativity of avarice, hatred, and the hunger to control all.” Alec frowned at the stone. “Whate’er resides and thrives in the stone…resides in the world.” He blew out a weary breath, stepped forward, and rested his hand on the side of the stone. “Or it could just be destroyed and plunge us all into bleakness.”

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