He barked a humorless laugh. Her possessive aggravation warmed his heart. “Shall we just say that Eilean enjoyed the attention of others? She needed their fawning more than food to survive.”
“I see. So…” Emma rubbed her thumb across her bottom lip as she hummed her reasoning aloud. “You’re saying the baby wasn’t yours, and she needed to get rid of it to protect the marriage contract? Is that it? She was afraid you would boot her out into the cold because she had been unfaithful?”
“No, lass.” Torin shook his head. Sweet, innocent Emma. How could he make her understand? “Eilean never wanted a child to begin with. The woman didna want to risk marring her beauty. She feared if her body stretched with a growing babe, no man would ever turn her way again.”
“She tried to abort the baby because she was afraid she’d lose her looks?” Emma’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Are you serious?”
“Aye.” Torin shrugged. “And when she took the herbs the old witch provided, she mistakenly ended her own life along with the babe’s.”
Emma closed her mouth; a disgruntled scowl puckered her features. Eyes narrowed, jaw locked, she stood in front of him and stared.
Lore, he wished she would say something instead of boring holes through him with those damnable green eyes. Was she angry because he’d had a wife and hadn’t told her before now? “Speak your thoughts, Emma. I would know them, good or bad.” Torin held his breath as her silence scraped through him like the ragged shaft of a rusty spear.
Her eyes narrowed further. One booted foot tapped a cloud in the ashes scattered across the hard packed earth as though pounding out her thoughts. “I am trying to sort out how aconniving slut who killed herself forced you to leave the gateway unguarded so a monster like Arach could come through.”
Torin searched the expanse of pale blue sky. Where the hell was a lightning filled cloud when he needed it? He would rather be struck down where he stood than tell the rest of this tale to Emma. “When I couldna save Eilean’s life, I decided to take my own.”
“You did what?”
He retreated a step. Perhaps if he jumped off the cliff Emma might forget what he just said. Saving his life might distract her from releasing the impending tongue-lashing he sensed was about to explode. “I tried to end my own life when Eilean died.”
“Why in the hell would you do a dumb ass thing like that?” Emma stomped forward; one hand planted on her hip while she jabbed a finger into the middle of his chest. Her hair flipped wildly in the wind like flames dancing about a piece of wood.
Torin flinched, lifting his hands against her assault. “I know. I was a fool. But at the time, I thought I loved the woman.”
“You are an idiot.”
“Aye. I believe those were the exact words theCailleachused. She most definitely agreed with ye.” With a shrug, Torin grabbed her jabbing finger and pulled her to his chest to cut off the attack. “The old woman of the moors refused to allow me passage from this life. She punished my ignorance by banishing me to the dark reality and keeping me suspended there until ye called me out.”
Pulling free of his grasp, Emma motioned toward the wasteland spread with ash and carnage. “What about your clan? Couldn’t they protect the land in your absence? Choose another chieftain?”
Remorse burned like a glowing ember in the pit of his stomach. Torin closed his eyes and dropped his chin to his chest. Guilt forced his voice to a hoarse whisper filled with centuriesof pain. “My clan was lost without their chieftain, and I left no heir with the blessings of my blood. Only a blood chieftain…” He forced his eyes open and nodded toward Emma. “Or the chieftain’s true mate can focus the energies of the clan’s magic and control the powers of the dimensions.”
Emma turned away, glaring across the desolate land, the color rising on her cheeks. “What happened to them, Torin?”
He steeled himself against the memories he had buried long ago when he had heard their horrified screams echoing through his unnatural dream. “Arach breached the last lock of the portal. He destroyed their bodies and ripped their souls from the physical existence of this world.Cailleach na Mointeachgathered the most faithful ones to her breast. She banished their pain and led them safely to the next place…but not before they suffered sorely ’neath Arach’s torture.”
“The next place?”
Torin nodded. “Aye, Emma. The next place.” Sweeping a hand across the desolate scene before them, he forced his words through gritted teeth, “She left me here and took all I have ever known and loved to a much better reality. It was my punishment for testing her patience. My chosen people are gone to a place I canna go—until I satisfy theCailleach’sdemands.”
Emma’s silence weighed heavy in the air. He curled his fingers around the haft of his dirk, wishing he could slice through the silent doubts and accusations building a wall between them.
“You can stay here, Torin. With me. You could restart your life here.” She held her whipping hair out of her eyes, her trembling voice nearly lost in the wind.
His heart fell. She didn’t understand. He would have to find another way to make her see.
Chapter
Forty
“Arach toys with us, and he has sensed Emma.” Torin stood beside the center stone of the circle; his arms outspread to the wind. “Ye must end this now and send the beast back. Ye brought him here. Now make him go.”
“I cannot, Torin,” said the old one through the groaning of the wind.
“Cannot or will not?” Torin glared unblinking into the fading sun until his eyes stung for the want of tears.
“I told ye before, Torin. I never shouldha released the beast upon this world. He has grown too strong over the passage of time. Arach has evolved into the highest level of demon.” The wind picked up, stirring the dried grasses around the stone circle until the rustling sounded like frantic whispers. “I did not jest when I said it would take the two of ye to rid him from this world. Train Emma but be quick about it. The longer ye take, the more brazen Arach will become.”
