“Kim would not wish you to go on mourning him,” Caitrina whispered as she hugged Emily. “Do you want to go home, back to Anderson Creek, or do you wish to stay here in the past with Gregor?”
“Home I think. You can make that happen? Right?”
“Aye. I am a faerie with the ability to sift time.”
Gregor approached somewhat hesitantly. “Your home is with me, lass.”
“After all that has transpired?” Emily glanced to where the dead men had sprawled, but their bodies had been removed. She flicked her gaze back to Gregor “Everything between us was a lie.”
He flinched. “Please. Stay with me. I love you.”
Emily bit her lip. Isobell’s words from the morning of the wedding sliced through her thoughts. Isobell had regrettedallowing anger to blind her to Archie’s love. And here, Emily was about to do the same with Gregor.
Did he really love her?
“Pixie dust cannot make you do something you dinnae want to do. It cannot override free will,” Caitrina said. “The powder only makes a soul more open to possibilities.”
How did Emily feel toward Gregor? Did she love him?
While she searched her mind and heart, at the edge of the woods, trees shifted and moved. A path opened. Caitrina guided them along the way to where vines were trembling. They moved of their own accord, slithering like snakes over a wall, unwrapping ancient gray stone, revealing a round gateway.
“This entrance to the nether was built by ancientSithicheansand its magic will allow me to take you home. But you must hurry and decide, Emily, if you want to go back to Anderson Creek.”
“We were not given a fair chance,” Gregor said, his gaze imploring. “Please, find it in your heart to forgive me. Give us a second chance.”
“Would you be willing to come to the future with me?”
“He cannot travel to the future, Emily.” Caitrina shook her head. “His destiny is here in Scotland.”
“Where is my destiny?”
“That is for you to decide.”
Emily huffed out a long breath. Why was she the one required to leave behind the life she’d always known?
“If you decide to leave without me, I will find a way to come for you,” Gregor said. “She is not the only faerie in Scotland.”
“Dinnae be so disrespectful, lad,” Caitrina scolded.
“I will not let you or anyone else come between us.” Gregor glared at Caitrina.
Emily remembered Isobell’s claim that Archie had come for her in their darkest moment, and that Gregor would always come for Emily. Could that be true?
Would he risk everything, his future in Scotland andperhaps his life, to come for her? She didn’t want him to do that. He had a good life here. Her life in Anderson Creek was rather dull. Life would be an adventure, here in Scotland with Gregor. Could she handle staying in the past?
While she hemmed and hawed, the faerie—Emily still had a hard time thinking of Caitrina as such—tapped a satin-slippered foot with impatience.
“Time runs short.” Caitrina shoved Emily, and she hurled, face-first, through the stone gate.
“No,” Gregor barked and grabbed her forearm before she completely disappeared. He yanked her back through the gate and into his arms. “I cannot let you go.”
“I don’t want to go.” She twined her arms around his neck, and whisper kissed his lips. “I want to stay here with you. I love you.”
“So be it.” Caitrina didn’t smile, but her lips quivered as if she fought the urge.
Munn returned with Tevin.
Caitrina glared at the brownie. “Stop using spelled wine. You always mess up the magic.” She grasped the boy’s hand. “Come, Tevin.”
