“I do not hate you.”
“Then why are ye so determined to leave me?”
“I am not determined to leave you. I am determined to go back home.”
“And the difference in those two objectives?”
She dropped her head into her hands and rubbed her tired, gritty eyes. She was so weary. This had to be the longest day of her life. “You are the one who hates me, remember? I don’t look at you with revulsion the way you look at me.” She massaged her temples, trying to wish her ever-increasing headache away. When he didn’t respond, she dropped her hands, turned to look at him, and immediately wished she hadn’t.
“I am sorry,” he said quietly, his eyes shimmering with heartbreaking regret and sorrow. “But believe me when I say, the more I know ye, the longer I see the pure loving light of yer soul, the more I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I canna live without ye.” He lowered himself to one knee. “I beg yer forgiveness, my lady, and I seek yer mercy. Grant me the opportunity to redeem myself. Allow me to prove I am not the shallow bastard ye think I am.”
“I don’t think you’re a shallow bastard. I…” She couldn’t finish that because she didn’t know what she thought. She was so confused by everything that had hit her ever since she’d wandered away from her car. “I…am…” She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “I just met you, and yet I feel like I know you better than any man I have ever known before. I am so confused and…”
“And weary.” His warmth enveloped her as he pulled her into his arms and consoled her as if she were a toddler in need of a nap. “Return to Sevenrest for now and rest. The hour grows late, and yer spirit cries out for rest.” He kissed the top of her head with a tenderness that threatened to make her weep. “I feel yer confusion, lass. Yer exhaustion.” He stroked her hair. “’Tis a full day ye’ve had. Time travel. Crossing realms. Delivering unicorn foals. Taming Fae tigers. Yer weariness is understandable.”
The safety and warmth of his well-muscled arms gave her so much comfort, felt so…so…right. She nuzzled her cheek more comfortably against the strong, reassuring strength of his broad chest. A resigned sigh escaped her. If only he could get over her scars. Look past them. Seeherinstead ofthem.
“Give me a chance,” he whispered into her hair while tightening his embrace. “I beg ye, my own. Give me another chance.”
My own.No one had ever called her that before, and yet it felt so familiar. She held him tighter, never wishing to let him go. “We can rest tonight,” she said after the longest while, exhaling in relief as soon as she’d uttered the words. “Maybe I can find a way back tomorrow.”
He kissed the top of her head again, then ever so slowly, stepped away. She immediately missed his warmth, his touch, the unexplainable connection. “A fine idea,” he said with an unreadable expression. “Come. Back to Sevenrest. I feel certain Mrs. Shimmerhill will be thrilled to have a guest for supper. I’d even lay odds, she has already prepared ye a room in one of our finest suites.”
The insistent urge to find her way back home, find her way back to all her responsibilities, still gnawed at her, but the panicked gnashing of her conscience’s teeth had reduced to a manageable nibble. Tomorrow. There was always tomorrow. And besides, she’d planned on staying in Scotland at least for a month, anyway. She had plenty of time.
ChapterSix
“Ithought we were to be more open, more honest with this one,” Keeva said.
Mairwen held up a hand for silence as she studied the tarot spread. Lexi Vine may have passed into the Seventh Realm, but the mate bond remained incomplete. Mairwen indulged in a heavy sigh. She had hoped this one would be more of a battle to prevent a war between the Fifth Kingdom and the Seventh Realm rather than a struggle to reunite two halves of a soul. Apparently, her hopes were ill-fated. She should have known better. Reuniting fated mates torn asunder by eras and worlds would never be an effortless task.
“What would ye have me do, Keeva?” She gathered the cards, stacked them neatly, then reshuffled them. “Did ye truly think I meant to sit Miss Lexi down and tell her everything? Mayhap even have ye lay it all out in one of those fancy presentations ye create on yer tablet?”
Her assistant bowed her head. “Forgive me. ’Tis just…”
“’Tis just ye are always eager to move on to the next matching,” Mairwen said, finishing the young Weaver’s thought for her. “Slow yerself, child. I ken well enough there are many fated mates to match, but we must always do each of them with purpose and caution. Ye are as impetuous as Lilias when it comes to making sure her customers never have to wait for their orders at the pub. She serves them what she believes they want before they even ask for it. Sometimes it works. Yet, sometimes it does not. All must be allowed to happen in its own good time.”
“Will ye be warning Prince Jeros about the Fifth Kingdom sending out a call to arms?”
“Aye, but I worry about going to him just yet.”
“Why?”
Mairwen eyed her assistant, who could at times be as thick-headed as she was stunningly brilliant. “Our Miss Lexi and the prince have yet to meld their mate bond, which means she is still intent on returning to her time, to her world. If I go now, she will be unable to resist the opportunity to leave him. They must have time to grow closer. The prince must have time to learn that Lexi’s scars are nothing compared to the beauty of her soul.”
“The Seelie value flawless beauty above all else. Think ye the prince’s family and his people will accept her once he does?”
Mairwen flipped over the top card from the tarot deck and couldn’t hold back a frustrated groan. The tower card. A powerful symbol of disaster, upheaval, sudden change resulting in chaos and devastation. “Our two souls will not have an easy road of it. Not only must they overcome their own obstacles to accept one another, they must fight the conflict of outside forces as well.” She turned over the next card and smiled. The sun card. A symbol of joy, success, vitality, and illumination. “But if they persevere, if they dare to claim each other and hold fast, theirs will be a legendary love sure to strengthen the Highland Veil well into the next age.”
“Well into the next age?” Keeva repeated. “Does that mean we stop uniting fated mates once these two join?”
“Never, child. We never stop uniting fated mates and bolstering the weave of the Highland Veil.”
* * *
It was him all along,she thought before opening her eyes to the gentle rays of sunlight pouring in the tall bank of windows. The morning beams set the lavish bedchamber, decorated in creamy whites and golds, aglow. Lexi stared up at the bed’s soft silk canopy and counted the deepest breaths she could take, an exercise she’d learned long ago to keep herself focused and calm. Of course, she was already relaxed to the point of feeling boneless and floaty in the comfortable nest of pillows. They cradled her like a newborn. How much calmer and focused could she get? She had slept better than she’d slept in years, and the dream she had dreamed repeatedly over the past few months had come to her again—but this time, it had been clearer than ever before. And this time, it had finally made sense.
For the first time since the dream made itself known to her, she recognized Jeros as he swept her into his arms while the soft, sweet violin music played. Her heart thumped faster at the memory, and her deep breathing calmness disappeared. In the dream, they had always danced in the clearing where the unicorns had been, the area aglow with a soothing blue-white light. But this time, the unicorn family, Pegasus, Lunaria, and the twins were in the dream as well, standing at the forest’s edge, gently swaying their heads in time with the lovely song, a beautiful waltz Lexi had never heard during her waking hours until the other day when it had led her to Sevenrest Hall. She rubbed the heel of her hand against her breastbone. Ever since meeting Jeros, a persistent ache, a deep, almost painful longing, had her teetering on the edge of either an anxiety attack, sheer panic, or pure euphoria. It changed from moment to moment, and whenever he was near, it was harder to ignore.
