She repeated the words. Before her, the portal began to stitch back together, the seam of light closing.
The battle continued to rage around her as indecision flashed through her. Ahead of her, she saw Malcolm andCallum fighting alongside another man she didn’t know. But when he turned just so, he had eyes the same color as hers. He had a shock of red hair, reminding her of Evie. His face was covered in a faded red beard. His tartan pattern was different from that of the MacLeods or the MacDonalds.
Was this, then, the laird of Clan Sinclair?
“It’s working, lass!” Jamie’s words were battered in the raging wind. Still, she heard him.
Now, shift the timeline, Brianna.
She glanced at Jamie, who was focused on the closing gap in front of them. She squeezed his hand to get his attention.
“Jamie, I—”
“What? I cannae hear ye, lass!”
Her hand tightened on his as she angled her body toward him. “Jamie, I love you. I will always love you no matter what happens.”
But the wind stole her words. He didn’t hear her. She didn’t have a chance to say it again, as she turned back to close the portal and watched as the last few dark creatures tried to squeeze through to wreak havoc on this world.
The words came to her mind in a flash and she knew this was it. This would forever alter Time.
“Threads of time I weave together as Past and Future stitch forever. Now shift this timeline to what once was; forever mended with no more flaws.”
Her hand never left Jamie’s but before her, the earth’s rotation spun faster and faster and faster, until there was nothing but a smear of light before her. The black, evil creatures that had come from the Realm of Chaos disappeared in a puff of onyx smoke. The sounds of the battle dimmed. The walls of the castle ruins changed and shifted.
What have I done?
It was the last and only thought she had before the earth cracked beneath her feet as though an earthquake rumbled. Jamie was ripped away from her. She no longer felt his hand in hers. The shimmering light of the Triple Goddess jerked out of her, the images of the threewomen hovering over her, and then Brianna tumbled to the ground. The last thing she saw were the spinning stars overhead and then nothing at all.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Darkness surrounded her.Her head throbbed with a massive headache between her eyes. It swept back over her scalp. It felt as though a hot poker was jabbed into the base of her skull. She was uncertain where she was, but she felt the soft cushion of a mattress beneath her body. A groan rumbled in her throat. Her eyes did not want to open even as soft light pressed against her closed eyelids.
“Oh, she’s coming around.” That was Evie’s voice tinged with hope.
There was a shuffle of feet, the rustle of fabric indicating movement in the room. Her arm rested against her side. There was a coolness to her surroundings and she sensed she was inside the castle. Dundale? Or somewhere else?
“Can ye hear me, lass?” The familiar voice was warm and encouraging near her ear.
Jamie.
He was still with her. A hand slipped into hers. A calloused hand that was all too familiar. She cracked her eyes open and looked up into his handsome, youthful face. The moment their eyes met, he grinned, showing off those deep dimples on either side of his kissable mouth.
On impulse, she shot upward from the bed and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close and burying her face in his neck. His familiar heather and leather scent was there, lingering on his skin. His arms slid around her waist, hugging her back, holding her close asthough he would never let her go.
But the movement cost her. The blinding pain relentlessly pounded her head. She squeezed her eyes shut again as she clung to him, reluctant to let go.
“I thought I lost you.” Her words were muffled against the warmth of his skin. She pressed a kiss against his neck and felt the fluttering of his pulse.
“Nay, lass. Ye dinnae.”
Relief flooded her. And though every part of her body screamed in pain, she refused to let him go. She turned her head, resting it against him, as she gazed out to see her sisters standing there with worried expressions on their faces.
“Is it over?” she asked, her voice cracking on a whisper.
“Is what over?” Evie asked.
“The battle.”
