“By Amergin’s beard, Caelan!” Emrys shouted as he hurried up behind them. “Dinna let the lass fall! Now ye see why ye should have listened to Florie and meself. Now ye see that old Emrys was nay the fool ye thought.” He angled closer, his arms spread wide as though to catch them should they fall. “Come here, lass. Let an old druid show ye a spell ye’ll want to learn as soon as ye’re able to rise from your birthing bed.”
He tapped his ancient, twisted staff on the step, then waved it over their heads in a counterclockwise circle. On the third rotation of the gnarled rod, they stood beside the enormous bed in the laird’s chambers.
“Bless him and every druid before him who had anything to do with his training,” Rachel breathed as Caelan helped her ease down onto the bed.
As he straightened, she caught hold of his hand. “Now, why do you look like you’re ready for the grave? What have you done to yourself? What was Emrys talking about?” She pulled him closer and placed her hands on his cheeks, her thumbs smoothing away the streaks of his tears.
Caelan covered her hands with his. “When ye left, I had no reason to live. I canna believe ye thought I would just move on as though nothing happened.” He leaned closer, his clenched jaw aching with his anger. “Damn it, woman! Do ye think I would travel across the planes of time to find the one soul I could truly love, just to forget her, as soon as she tossed me aside? As soon as she decided my love was nay worth the effort? Was nay worth fighting for? That I’d just say,ah..well, then. Better luck next time? Is that not what those of your time say?”
Dizziness took hold of him, making him grab the bedpost to keep from tumbling to the floor.
“I never said that, and you know that is not why I left!” Rachel rubbed the sides of her stomach and shoved herself higher among the pillows.
“All I know is that ye left me!” he growled as he sagged down onto the bed beside her. “Ye left me lost and alone.” He bit back another growl as he reached out and touched her face. “If ye leave again, run me through with my sword first. I beg ye. Find the kindness to spare me such misery again.” He cupped her cheek, then slid his fingers into her hair. “I am nothing without ye, my love. I need ye more than I need the breath in my chest.”
Not bothering to knock, Florie charged in with a steaming kettle in one hand and an armload of linens. “The midwives are coming, as are the maids to help with the welcoming of the bairns.”
Emrys turned and started toward the door.
“No! Don’t you dare leave, Emrys.” With her hand knotted in Caelan’s léine, Rachel pushed herself even higher in the bedand leaned forward as Florie added to the mountain of pillows behind her. “The only people I want present at the birth of my sons are in this room right now, and Emrys that includes you. Caelan, you’re staying whether you want to or not. Florie, I’ll need your help.” She doubled over and groaned while rocking and huffing.
“Take my hand, lass,” Caelan said. “Hold tight. Give me your pain.” He sat on the bed beside her, wishing he could endure the agony in her stead.
“Emrys,” she said, breathless as Caelan wiped the sweat from her face, “the boys are going to need your help and guidance. I was graced with a vision of what my three young warriors are going to be capable of. They are not only going to be warriors but also quite talented in the mystical arts and at a very young age. Prepare yourself, Emrys. Schooling them is going to keep you and me both busy.”
The old druid stared at her, his face filled with shock and indignation. “I canna be present at a birth!”
“The Goddess has ordained it.” She stared right back at him, baring her teeth as she panted. “Dare you defy her?” She drew her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. After panting hard and groaning for what, to Caelan, seemed like forever, she sagged back into the pillows and appeared to be struggling to gather her strength.
“Now,” she said as she turned her head and fixed Caelan with an angry glare. “There were many reasons I left you, but you know that none of them were because I didn’t love you or didn’t think your love was worthy.” She wet her trembling lips as her eyes filled with tears, then they overflowed and trickled down her cheeks. “Please forgive me for hurting you, for causing you so much pain. I’m the one who has never been worthy of you, and I’m just waiting for you to wake up out of your fantasy and figure it out. Then I know you’ll be the one to leave me.”
Caelan buried his face in the warm, sweet crook of her neck and held her. “Promise me ye will stay,” he said in a rasping whisper. “I beg ye say the words.”
“I’ll do you one better to ease your mind.” She squinted at Emrys and bit her lip while bending double. “Emrys,” she groaned as she reached out. “Bring me the ebony crystal from around your neck. Please?”
Touching the jagged black crystal hanging from the leather cord around his neck, Emrys approached the bed slowly, his whiskers twitching upward with a faint smile. He lifted the necklace off over his head and placed it in her hand.
“Give me your hand,” she told Caelan, while baring her teeth and groaning again.
Unsure of what she was about to do but praying it was what he thought it was, he held out his left hand, smiling as his wedding band glimmered in the torchlight.
Rachel took the pointed crystal, slashed across the palm of her left hand, then cut Caelan’s left hand as well. Grabbing his hand and pressing their wounds together, she locked eyes with him. “As we blend our blood, we bind our souls, never to part, no matter how old. This binding spell cannot be undone, so let it be spoken, so let it be done.”
A searing burn started in his left hand, ran up his arm, and surged through his body as though he’d been consumed by a raging inferno, as though he were being doused in flame. He looked to Emrys, narrowing his eyes at the old man’s smug look. “Speak, old man. I ken ye are about to burst in the wanting to tell me of your great wisdom.”
“Your lovely wife has melded herself to ye with a magick that canna be broken. ’Tis even stronger than your marriage binding. She can no longer leave this plane of existence. She has made her choice, my laird. Ye have a wife forever now. Through alleternity. Most definitely for better or for worse.” He stroked his beard, his clear blue eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Why did ye not speak this spell when we exchanged our wedding bands?” Caelan softly asked her.
She closed her eyes and turned her head away from him, once more panting and gasping. Speaking through her pain, she groaned out the words. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t.” She curled over her belly and growled louder, panting so hard that Caelan felt himself getting out of breath. “I knew once I said those words, the only thing that could ever separate us was death, and even that will only keep us apart until we find our way back to each other again in the next incarnation.” She fell back into the pillows again, her eyes still closed as she struggled to catch her breath. “I wasn’t sure I deserved to even hope for your love. I was afraid of so many things.”
She reared up, nearly ripping the bedsheets in her fists. “It’s time. Florie, get the men over to the window and help me get these babies out.” Rachel released Caelan’s hand and growled like a cornered beast, her face red with her efforts.
“Nay, lass. I’m here with ye now and here I shall stay.” He held her hand with renewed strength, climbing up to kneel beside her and wrap an arm around her shoulders to support her.
“Help me, Caelan! Help me push Faolan out. I swear his head must be the size of a basketball!” She screamed as she bore down, her face reddening even more.
“Faolan? The wolf? Ye’ve already named our first son, have ye?” Pride coursed through him at the fine name. He held her upright. “Push, love. I want to meet Faolan.”
