“I think it should reason any which way it wants if it heals you quickly,” I managed, stepping away before looking into his eyes again because he was far too close, and my awareness of him only grew with every breath I took.
“And what of my tattoos?” he wondered, catching my wrist before I got too far. “What do ye make of them, because only Elowyn ever truly knew what they meant.” He shook his head slowly, and his sky-blue dragon eyes flared, daring me to lie to him. “’Twas something she never shared with me, so ‘tis not something ye could glean through any connection.”
Although I wanted to look anywhere but at his tempting body again, because he drove me crazy with need, I forced myself to look at the tattoos wrapping over his chest and wound-free shoulder. Tattoos based on designs I had created for him in my last life.
Ones that could very well be the key to lending validity to my claim.
Chapter Ten
–Tavish–
THERE WERE NO words to describe the intense emotions overwhelming me as I followed Ellie from one of the MacLeod gardens down to an all too familiar cottage on a cliff overlooking the sea. She seemed to know the way, just like she knew where the gardens were while humming a song only Elowyn knew. More curious still, she hummed as she picked herbs for a poultice Elowyn had used over the years on my various injuries.
I didn’t miss the tears in Ellie's eyes as she took everything in, including the cottage that had once belonged to Elowyn, but was now mine, so in some small way, I could remain close to her. Nor did I miss how familiar she was with everything inside the cottage.
While it was impossible to believe, the longer I watched, the more I saw Elowyn in her. And I was well aware of who Malcolm Sutherland was and his link to all Ellie’s sisters, so the more I watched her, the more her claim of being my lost love began to ring true.
Whether her claim was valid or not, there was no ignoring my ceaseless attraction to her. How could I when it seemed to swell inside me like a building wave, only drawing me toward a warm, welcoming, familiar shore. And when she tended mywound and I felt her delicate, caring touch against my bare flesh, whatever this was between us only grew stronger and made me want her more.
Even so, and despite yet another untimely arousal, I was determined to get to the truth. To figure out if everything she told me about the Hereafter and the two of us sharing dreams across time could possibly be legitimate. If true, it was a long, hard truth to come to grips with. So, I asked her something I had always wondered about to see what she would say.
Something Ellie could not have gleaned through her connection to my brethren via her sisters, so I caught her delicate wrist before she stepped away.
“So what do you make of my tattoos?” I repeated when she hesitated to answer, remembering the night we sat by a small fire outside, chatting as we often did, and Elowyn used a stick to draw the designs in the dirt, claiming they were special to her. I slowly released her wrist despite how much I wanted to keep touching her. “They were your designs and meant a great deal to you, but you never said why.”
“Nevertheless, you had them tattooed on you after I passed, so you might keep something that meant so much to me with you always,” Ellie said softly, gazing out the door at the firepit.
Clearly fighting her emotions, she swallowed hard and traced the tattoo on my arm with her finger. Like before in the garden, she suddenly seemed like she was somewhere else entirely.
Not only that, but once again, she spoke with an accent, and there was no denying it was from this era. “’Tis a map of the route I took through the woodland to find ye those special mushrooms that eve.” She ran her finger along the intricate swirls as if, once again, drawing them, tracing the lines of my tattoo over my shoulder and down to the one over my heart, her eyes fixed and somewhere else. “Around trees and past variousplants and wildflowers to the verra location ye first shifted, and I saw the true heart of ye.”
Her gaze rose to mine, and her dragon eyes flared, reaching out to me in a way that made it difficult to breathe. “’Twas always a map, my love, lest yer wee dragon lose his way. He could go back to his heart and find his way home from there.” For a split second, as she cupped my cheek, I swore Elowyn gazed back at me with the same tender, whimsical smile she’d worn that night all those years ago. “So I might protect ye as ye protected me from that boar.”
Ensnared by the look she wore, the sound of her voice, and the gentle way she caressed my cheek, all I could do was gaze into her eyes. My heart pounded into my throat because this all felt so real, yet a blink later, she was gone.
Literally.
Just like when she mysteriously vanished from beside the fire the night before, only to end up sleeping toward the back of the cave.
Startled, I leapt to my feet only for my mother to appear at the door to the cottage.
“All is well, son,” she assured, gesturing at a basin of steaming water nearby that hadn’t been there moments before. “Ellie left that for ye so ye might bathe and cleanse the herbs from yer wound before joining us for dinner.”
“But she just applied her poultice,” I exclaimed, more and more confused. “’Twill take a few days to heal at the verra least.” I frowned at her. “Where is she?” I shook my head. “I dinnae ken when it comes to that lass.”
“And ‘tis understandable as she’s no average lass.” Mother gestured for me to join her outside. “Come and have a wee dram with me before ye bathe so ye might clear yer head.”
“I told ye I cannae bathe yet because—”
“Come,” she insisted, so I did, joining her on the ledge overlooking the sea, taking in the breathtaking sunset splashing brilliant shades of pink across the horizon. I wrapped a fur around her shoulders despite how well she generally weathered these colder months. She was getting older, and I worried about her.
“Ye’re a good son,” she said softly, smiling at me before her gaze returned to the sea, and she grew sad. “So whilst all this makes me so verra happy, I fear there is renewed grief in my heart yet again. For ye, and yer kin.” She shook her head, surprising me when she blinked back tears. “For all of us.”
Not liking the sinking sensation I felt the longer I was in my mother’s presence, I hardened my emotions against the truth in her eyes and shook my head. “Surely, ye dinnae believe Ellie is who she says she is. Surely ‘tis impossible.”
She best not be, given she wore the gem over her dragon’s heart.
“Yet even as ye voice it ye feel it,” she murmured. Her eyes turned my way, and she pressed her hand over my heart. “Ye feel it deep inside because, however difficult to believe, ‘tis the truth and a burden she has long carried. Not just into the Hereafter but her whole life because she is stronger than most, just as ye have had to be without her.”
