Just outside the main entrance, Skylar anxiously played her lantern around in circles.
She prayed that her husband and Shawna would quickly emerge.
“What in God’sname can be taking her so long?” David demanded irritably. He had come to know the mine shafts very well. He was very familiar with the tunnels that led from the caves by the loch, bordering the cliffs where the miners dug.He’d been in them often enough, and still, with the lantern gone, the darkness was almost overpowering.
And he could hear the water as the tide filled the tunnels. Hear it rising.
As if reading his mind in the darkness, Hawk spoke from the void at his side.
“She didn’t lead me here. I was the one determined to get into the shafts before day broke.”
David leaned against the wall of the cave. “You said you saw her moving.”
“I thought I saw her moving.”
“If we both die, this property all reverts to the MacGinnises.”
“But you’re alive, and Shawna knows it.”
“Aye, but since no one else is aware that I do live, my death a second time around would not be much of a bother.”
“She’s innocent. I swear it.”
“Knowing full well that she duped me the night that I did ‘die?’”
“Ah, well, now, there’s the crux of the matter, eh? Lady MacGinnis duped you—so perhaps forgiveness is difficult? David, do you really believe that Shawna intended to lure me to injury or death now?” Hawk queried his brother.
“Sweet Jesus! I don’t want to believe such a thing. My god, every time I see her…” He paused, inhaling harshly. “She was involved, Hawk. She was involved in what happened. And until I know exactly who else was involved and how, I have to keep up a certain guard against her.”
“She is a part of you, David. You can’t deny it.”
“Aye, she is a part of me,” he said softly, but then added with angry passion, “Yet I will deny it if I discover that she is lying to me now in any way or keeping any secret from me whatsoever regarding her kin.” David frowned and leaned over the hole,ready to argue with his brother. But in the darkness, he could see shadows, and the shadow of the water rising was not pleasant.
“I’m going to reach down for you,” David told Hawk.
“Wait ’til it rises a bit more,” Hawk said quietly. “I’ll have a better chance of reaching you.”
“In a few minutes, the current may be too strong.”
“All right. One minute then.”
“One minute…”
David twisted around, bracing his legs around the rocky edge of the gap, then falling forward with his length, reaching out his arms like an acrobat. He could barely make out his brother’s form, but he trusted that Hawk could see shadow the same as he did himself. He could hear the water now, for the strength of the tide was causing it to rush by in bubbles and whispers. He heard movement as Hawk jumped within the water, using it to make himself as light and buoyant as possible, then jumping with all his strength and energy.
At his first attempt, their fingers met and slipped. He heard Hawk swearing as the force of the water carried him northward, and out of reach.
“Hawk!”
“Coming back, coming back…”
“Hawk!”
“Ready.”
Again, David heard the sloshing movement, saw the shadow of his brother beneath him. Again, Hawk leaped.
Their hands met, grasped. Their palms were slick from the water. He swore. Grasped harder.