Even more surprising was her response. It was as if she melted into him, parting her lips when his tongue demanded entry. She tasted sweet, like honey and mint, and he had to force himself to break the kiss and step away.
“My thanks for yer kind hospitality, Abigail Porter, and for the loan of yer bed cover.”
Backing away from her, he opened the door and stepped outside to meet his cousins as they approached.
“Colin!” Mairi hurried forward and threw her arms around his neck. “Good Lord, what are you wearing? How did you get here? I want to hear everything.”
Ramos clapped a hand on his shoulder before the two of them hurried him off toward their odd transport.
Once seated inside, Colin looked back toward the dwelling to see Abigail standing in the open door, her fingers pressed to her lips.
He resisted the urge to lift his hand in farewell or to call out to her. It was not his right to do so. It was clear from the golden color he’d seen in her aura that she’d already met her Soulmate. Met, though they’d not yet joined. The ragged edges of her aura confirmed that.
And yet, in spite of this knowledge, he felt inexplicably drawn to her. Perhaps it was because whatever reason the Fae had for ripping him from his own time had something to do with her. At this moment, he simply had no clue as to what that reason might be.
One thing he was sure of, though. He knew in his bones that he would see her again. He would learn the reason for his being here and he would see Abigail Porter again.
Selfishly, foolishly, he hoped her aura’s edges would still be ragged when next he laid eyes on her.
Four
The past fortnight had been the longest of his life.
Colin stared out the window of the speeding automobile, watching the unfamiliar scenery whip by.
“If there’s any who can figure out a way for us to get you home, Pol is definitely the one.” Mairi reached back from her spot in the front passenger seat to pat his knee. “Try no to worry yerself so, Cousin.”
All that was important to him hung in the balance and his only hope was Pol? How could he not worry? Considering his inability to return to his own time, worry was all that was left to him. This Faerie ancestor they were to meet at the home of Mairi’s brother today was his last chance; this same Faerie ancestor who’d ignored him each and every time he’d gone to the Glen to plead for the ancient Prince’s assistance.
The lives of Alasdair Maxwell and Simeon MacDowell, the two men who had grown to be as much brothers as friends to him, would forever be on his head were he unable to return. Their lives and the lives of the four thousand men he’d left behind in that field at Methven.
Dead. So many of them would be dead.
Only days before as he’d tried to distract himself from his worries, he’d discovered the room his cousin called her research library, filled floor to ceiling with wondrous shelves of books, finer than any he’d seen in all his life. One tome in particular had caught his eye, a history of Scotland’s Wars of Independence. Scanning the index, one name in particular had stood out: Methven. He’d hurriedly flipped the pages to read about the Battle of Methven, named for the place where he’d last seen his friends and fellow warriors. What he’d found there in those pages had shaken him to the depths of his soul, haunting his dreams.
“Without my return, they’ll likely die. Sim and Dair both. I have to go back. I must warn them and alert the Bruce to move his men before they’re slaughtered as they sleep.”
“That’s something you canna do, Colin.” Mairi’s eyes brimmed with pity. “Even if Pol is able to send you back, you must not go to yer king with what you’ve learned. Believe me, I, of all people, understand how you feel. But you canna change what’s to happen. Yer no to ever tamper with the flow of what’s been. It’s Faerie law.”
So she’d explained when she’d found him reading through thathistorybook of hers.
“To hell with yer Faerie laws, Cousin. I’ve no a care for the Fae. They’ve done naught but make life difficult for all our kin. They’ve brought naught but misery as far as I can see, so I’ve no care for their foolish laws.”
“It’s not just about a Faerie law,” Ramos interrupted, his eyes fixed forward as he slowed the vehicle to a stop in front of a large house. “It’s about the reason for that law. You’ve no idea what adversity could result from your actions. Even the most well-intentioned change could have disastrous consequences down through the generations.”
Mairi nodded her agreement. “An all too real concern. But even more important, Cousin, you’ve no the right to tinker with what has already happened. It’s no yer history to be changing. History belongs to the world of Man.”
It would do no good to argue with his stubborn cousin. They’d been through this before when she’d slipped that amazing book from his hands and tucked it back into its place on the shelf.
Instead, he unfolded himself from the backseat of their car and straightened. Ahead of him, standing in the doorway, his cousin Connor waved. Though he’d heard stories of Connor from his mother for as long as he could remember, he’d first met the man only last week when Connor’s wife and daughter had attempted to assist Mairi in sending him home.
Attemptedbeing the key word.
“He’s waiting.” Connor spoke over his shoulder as he led them down the hall and through an archway.
The pain hit before Colin had both feet in the room. An all-encompassing, punch-to-the-gut, take-your-breath-away pain that doubled him over.
“Colin?”