But how could he have traveled through time?
Faerie Magic was the only possibility. Abigail’s Magic? He’d had no earthly idea she had this ability. He’d never felt even a touch of something like this in her blood.
“Take me to your home. I need care.”
Wordlessly, she helped him to his feet and led him out behind the buildings, across a field, and into the nearby woods.
With a backward glance at the village behind him, any lingering doubts as towhenhe might be evaporated. No one who’d ever lived through this bedeviled time could possibly forget it.
Beyond the tiny village, the land rose. In the distance, a castle perched atop the highest point.
“Who lives up there?” he asked, pointing behind them.
The young woman paused to turn her head, her dull eyes following the direction he indicated.
“The MacKiernan. Our laird.” Question answered, she continued forward, still taking part of his weight as he leaned on her shoulder.
MacKiernan. He might have heard the name before, but as to what he’d heard, he had no memory. He’d traveled these lands, but it had been such a very long time ago.
How is this possible?
The question battered against his consciousness over and over like some heathen warrior’s drumbeat.
When he stopped suddenly, the woman stumbled but caught her balance before falling.
If Abigail’s Magic had sent him to this hellhole, it was Abigail’s Magic that could take him back. He’d researched her too carefully not to know she didn’t belong in this time any more than he did.
She didn’t, but perhaps that so-called boyfriend of hers might?
“Where can I find Colin MacAlister?”
Again the woman’s footsteps faltered and she paused to turn, lifting her arm to point up toward the castle in the distance.
If MacAlister was there, Flynn’s ticket home would be there, too. He’d survived this cesspool of history once. He had absolutely no intention of living through it a second time.
Twenty-three
Abby lay in the big bed just as she had so often in her dreams, her body throbbing with disappointment and need, her mind reeling with confusion.
When she’d first awakened, she’d been so sure it was simply the dream. So sure, until Colin’s lovemaking had moved far beyond anything she’d ever experienced in the dream. Only then had she realized it was actually happening.
Even then it had taken all her willpower to call a halt.
None of this made any sense. Simplywishingfor something couldn’t make it happen. It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t rational.
And yet. . .
Somethinghad definitely happened. One minute she was in a cave with a homicidal maniac hunting themand the next she was in Colin’s bed, with him making love to her.
“Explain that one if you can, Miss Faeries-Don’t-Exist,” she said aloud, sitting up as she did so.
She couldn’t explain it. The harder she tried to come up with something, the more Casey’s words echoed through her mind.
I’m telling you, it’s that wish we made. I don’t know how, but it has to be.
When she was little, her dad had spoken of magic often, attributing all sorts of things to the mysterious force. Like her ability to find things. But that was just a story meant to soothe a child, wasn’t it? Could any of this be true?
No, no, no. She pressed her knuckles against her eyes, rubbing as if her surroundings might be different when she opened them once again.