She hadn’t fought for Jack, hadn’t even tried to hold on to what they’d shared, and her chance at true love had sifted through her fingers like grains of sand in an hourglass. She could see it now so clearly. Somehow, some force in the universe had connected Em and Jen and herself with Iris and Marco. Emily and Jenee had traveled back to the past and found their true loves. And she’d been given the same chance. Fate had brought her to Jack, but she’d been too scared to see it. She’d thrown her chance away! And now she would be forever separated from the man she loved and the friends she cherished.
Oh God, what a fool I’ve been!
The sound of footsteps came from behind her. She whirled around, fearing the worst. Instead, walking toward her, out of the mist, came Jack.
Am I dreaming?
But there was something different. This was Jack, but not the one she knew. Although he looked like just like Jack, his clothing was different. He was dressed in an ancient style of costume, a short white linen tunic and a red woolen mantle with gold embroidery and trim, clasped at the shoulder by a jeweled brooch. His golden hair fell well below his shoulders, and he carried a spear with a bronze arrowhead tip, using it as a walking stick.
Dear Lord, where am I?
“Velia, you left the temple with such haste before the sacrifice and without taking the auspices,” he said.
He even sounded like Jack.
“You set tongues wagging, and the elders are not pleased,” he went on. “Whatever can be the matter? It is dangerous to invoke their displeasure.”
Gaby looked about her, expecting to see someone else standing near her.Who is Velia, and what is he talking about?The man spoke in a language unlike any she’d ever heard. Yet she understood his every word.
Before she could contemplate this strange turn of events, Jack, or whoever he was, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his broad chest. He dipped his head and swept his lips over hers, hungrily kissing her with such passion that without his strong arms supporting her, she would have fallen to the ground. This Jack kissed her just like her Jack. Her body responded the same way as whenever he kissed her—she utterly melted into him. As with Jack’s kisses, she wanted it to never end, and when he finally pulled away, she was tempted to wrap her arms around him and pull him back for more.
His deep baritone descended into a husky thickness as he stared into her eyes. “There is not a woman in our city-state that I cannot have, but I desire only you. The one woman I cannot have. A priestess who is forbidden to me. You and only you are my one true love, now and forever more.
“Tell me, Velia, why have the deities denied me? You have bewitched me, and I would not have it any other way.” He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers. “You, who reads the future from the entrails of sacrificed beasts—can you not see a future for us?”
This man was pleading for her love. She almost laughed at the irony. And then it came to her, and she realized she was in the throes of a vision. Whether it was time travel or a dream, her past life was being revealed to her. How crazy was it to believe in time travel, yet it had happened, and now she was in the middle of another unexplainable event.
Perhaps this was fate righting a past wrong.
She cupped his face, lost in his loving gaze, and the words of her past life came to her. “They will never allow it, and I cannot live without you. It would be better for me to die than to live without your love. We have wasted too much time already. I am yours already in spirit; make me yours in body.”
It suddenly didn’t matter what the future held or what obstacles impeded their love. She was determined not to let this moment pass without being one with the man she loved.
“You cannot mean this,” he said. “The punishment will be severe.”
“I do mean it. Will you deny me my one and only wish?”
“I can deny you nothing. Since we were children, I have always loved you. They did their best to separate us, but I won’t let them. I, Aranthur, pledge myself to you, Velia, now and for eternity. Let the gods decide our fate. I will be one with you even if it costs me my life, for life is meaningless without you.”
She caressed his cheek, his lips curved into a smile, and then they were kissing again. That spark surged through her, the same spark she’d felt from the first moment she saw Jack galloping through the fog. Only she didn’t realize it then. But she realized it now—Jack was her destiny. Past, present, and future.
A foreboding crawled up her spine and interrupted her bliss. It seemed a whisper at first but grew louder with each passing second. Men were shouting, their voices filled with anger. “What is happening?” she asked.
Aranthur lifted his head and listened. “You must leave. Now!”
“Why?”
“They are coming for us, my love. They seek to destroy us.”
“But—”
“You must get away from here. I will distract them and hold them off.”
“But you are one man. And they are many.”
“Do you doubt my skill as a warrior?”
She gazed into his eyes and saw Jack, the man she loved. The man she would always love. “Never.”
