“Ye met one that tried to become a permanent relationship. Were ye not impressed?” He would rather not get into how many couplings he’d had. He didn’t consider those relationships.
She grinned. “Yeah, she was an epic fail.” Ambling closer, her grin widened to a knowing smile. “You are a playboy. A love them and leave them type. Aren’t you?”
He found her accuracy unsettling. “Perhaps.” It was his turn to jut his chin at her, challenging her. “At least, up until now.”
She arched a brow. “Up until now?”
“I would never love and leave my fated mate.”
Now, she was the one who seemed unsettled. “This place, this fantasy realm, is unlike any place or dream I have ever known. Unicorns, fairies, fated mates.” She slowly shook her head. “I still have a hard time believing it’s real and not some sort of dream.” With a thoughtfulness, she patted her chest. “Why wouldn’t my fated mate be in my time? My world? If our souls were split by death the last time we loved, why weren’t we born within reach of each other the next time?”
“Dark forces fight the rejoining of fated mates. They scatter those with the strongest loves across time and realities to bring down the Highland Veil.”
“You have mentioned that before, but I don’t exactly understand it.”
“Mairwen said ye saw it when ye arrived at Seven Cairns. Remember the colors in the sky?”
Lips barely parted in wonderment, eyes gazing at something only she could see, she slowly nodded. “It was beautiful. But what has it to do with fated mates, eternal love, and dark forces?”
“Love strengthens the weave of the Highland Veil and enables it to keep the planes of time and worlds separated as they should be. If it falls, the darkest chaos would rule, destroying everything pure and good. Life as we know it would cease to exist.” He took her hands. “As I told ye before, we loved each other in our past lives, and with any luck, we will find each other and love again in the future. But until we love and meld the bond in this lifetime, the Highland Veil will not benefit from anything we do. In fact, it risks growing weaker.”
She frowned up at him. “You’re telling me that if I don’t choose to stay here with you, that all creation could collapse?”
“It could.”
She pulled her hands out of his and turned away. “Don’t do that to me.”
“Don’t do what, lass?”
“Put that kind of pressure on me.” She glanced back at him. “You’re telling the truth. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Truth and honesty, lass. The deal breakers. Remember?”
“That’s not fair.” Her voice had gone so soft, he strained to hear her.
“Whoever told ye life was fair lied to ye.”
Her smile turned sad. “Another hard truth.”
“Oftentimes, the truth is hard.” He turned her to face him and took her hands again, gently pulling her closer. “But together, we can bear it more easily. I swear to shoulder as much of the burden as I possibly can.”
She searched his gaze, her eyes filled with so many emotions. His heart soared at the longing he recognized, but plummeted at the shadows of indecision and hesitancy.
“I have a full life back home in Kentucky,” she said, her tone pleading for him to understand. “In 2025. Inmyworld.”
He barely shook his head. “Nay, love. Yehada life back there, but it was not full because it did not contain the indescribable connection of a fated mate that the Fae prophecy promised would be the most powerful bond in this age and the next.”
“You truly believe that?” She wasn’t being coy or bitter. He sensed only her honesty, her sincere desire to know.
He kissed the velvety softness of her hands and pressed them to his heart. “I do, lass. Can ye not feel it?”
She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it.
“Honesty, lass. Truth and honesty.” He kept her hands pressed to his chest, willing her to feel that his heart beat only for her.
“I feel…something. A lot of things.” Her look became pained. “I feel as though I’ve known you all my life, and yet I hardly know anything about you.”
“Our souls recognize one another. Our minds dinna ken each other in this life. At least, not yet. But our souls were once one and can be one again.” He tapped her hands against his chest again. “That is why ye feel as though ye know me.”
