He couldnae seem to reconcile his attachment to Tessa and Emily with the inescapable penance awaiting him.Why, Soni?Why did ye bring me here when ye must have kenned it could only end in more suffering? No’ only for him, but for the two he’d come to love.
For centuries he’d been anxious to get to Hell, pay his debt and know that, finally, his accounts would be settled. Now he couldnae bear the idea of parting from Tessa and Emily. They were the family he’d wanted but knew he’d never have. Yet here they were, his…if only he had a life to offer them.
He kenned well enough, he’d earned this pain. ’Twas ironic, really, that he should be taken from them, just like he’d stolen his two friends from their mither. Fitting, he conceded. But why did Emily, an innocent who’d already lost so much, have to suffer? She’d formed an attachment to him, real or imagined, just as Tess had feared and warned him against. And what of Tessa who, despite her own personal loss, remained determined to forge some happiness for the child?
Tess moaned and rolled over, distracting him from another round of unanswered questions. She muttered something he couldnae quite make out, then shifted again, thrashing restlessly on her pallet and pulling free of her coverings.
When she cried out, trying to reach for something, Darach moved close and grasped her hand. “There now, lass,” he soothed. “ ’Tis but a bad dream. Ease yerself, Tessa. All is well.”
She grasped his wrist. “Hold on!” she cried. “For the love of God, don’t let go!”
“Tessa,” Darach whispered, cautious of rousing Emily. “Wake, love. ’Tis only a dre—”
“Nooooo,” she wailed. “Come back. Please come back,” she sobbed, sounding completely broken.
He lifted her, shivering, onto his lap, wrapped her inside his plaid to warm her and pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Hush, sweeting. ’Tis over. Rest now.”
She whimpered and grasped the fabric of his longshirt like a lifeline. Slowly, her breathing became normal and she relaxed against him. Relieved she finally slept peacefully, he dropped his heavy eyelids and allowed himself to drift, wishing time could stand still and let him just sit here and hold her, forever.
“I was in a river.”
Her soft-spoken words startled him back to the dark room with the taunting, time-stealing moonbeams spilling through the window. Mistakenly, he’d thought she slept.
“Emily and I were both there,” she continued. “We were trying to reach something on the other side, but I can’t recall what it was.”
Her flat tone worried Darach. He’d never heard Tessa sound so…distant.
“The current was too strong,” she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. “We both tried to fight it, but no matter how hard I tried to hold on, the raging water ripped her from my grasp. I kept swimming, and swimming, calling, searching, but I couldn’t find her. She was lost. Gone.” She released a shuddering sigh. “I was alone, and the river turned to ice, all around me.”
“Ah, love,” Darach smoothed her hair, brushed his fingers down her cheek where hot tears seared her cold skin, and wished he could shed his own to relieve the terrible ache in his chest. Instead, he tightened his arms around her, unable to say more. The things she needed to hear, would only be a lie.
