The way his voice softened when he spoke of Emily. The desperation in his eyes when he pleaded for help for her.The gentleness of his touch on the tower, the honesty in his admission that he cared for her despite every reason not to.
I care about you, Skye. That’s God’s truth. I want very much to know everything about you. To see where this might lead.
She’d felt it too. Had been feeling it since the moment their eyes first met at the fortress gates. That pull, that recognition, as if some part of her had been waiting for him her entire life.
And now she’d lost him before she’d ever really had the chance to understand what that meant.
The torch guttered lower, and Skye realized with a spike of panic that when it burned out, she’d be left in complete darkness. How long until Austin returned? Hours? What if he didn’t return tomorrow? Would her father leave her here long enough to break her spirit entirely?
How long could she hold out?
She thought of her library and the books that had been both her teacher and her refuge for so long. All those stories of brave heroes and daring rescues, of love conquering impossible odds. She’d read those fantasies, never imagining she might need that kind of courage herself.
But the danger in fairy tales ended after the inevitable rescue when you closed the book, put it back on the shelf and returned to your own safe existence. Real life, she was learning, was not safe and offered no such easy escape.
She closed her eyes, breathing deeply despite the musty air, trying to calm the panic threatening to overwhelm her. She needed to think. To plan. There had to be a way out of this, some weakness in her father’s control she could exploit.
But all she could see was Emily’s pale face. Noah’s desperate hope. The family that had risked everything to get here, only to be turned away because Skye had been too blind, too loyal, toostubbornto see the truth when it was staring her in the face.
“I’m sorry,”she whispered, though there was no one to hear. “I’m so sorry.”
The torch flickered again, its light fading. Soon the darkness would be complete.
And she’d be alone with the ashes of everything she’d ever believed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
On his way back to Emily’s room, Noah prayed the medical book he’d sent back to Paige would reveal some treatments that could buy them the time they needed to locate a portal.
Despite all the evidence pointing toward it, he still couldn’t be sure if the unstable tunnel he’d been in was it. It would require more extensive examination. And he still had to devise a new way to slip past the guards to make that happen.
The panic building inside him tasted bitter on his tongue. The moonless night was only a day away, and they had to be ready. Emily couldn’t hold out for the next one. But she also needed the strength to withstand the rigors of traveling through time. Even if Paige could find something in the book to stabilize her, the truth remained, it was doubtful it could happen in time.
He and Emily had been strong and healthy when they’d been swept through time, and it had still taken a toll. He was in constant terror that it might be too much for her now. But he couldn’t allow himself to even consider the alternative.
And now he faced another constant, nearly consuming worry.
Skye.
She’d sent him away, back to Emily’s chamber to see if Paige had discovered anything yet or might need anything Skye could supply. But it had been too soon. She was still poring desperately over the text, so he’d gone back to the library to wait for Skye to finish the confrontation with her father.
Guilt ate at him, knowing he should have spent the time searching for the portal, but Skye’s world, her entire belief system, had just been destroyed. She’d need him. And he needed to be there for her, needed to make up for not insisting on accompanying her in the first place.
Maybe now, she’d agree to come with them. He loved her. Needed her. And he prayed she felt the same.
He’d waited, lingered at the library for what felt like forever, then paced the corridors, hoping to see her or perhaps run into Keir to learn if she was still with her father. But it had been hours. It was late evening already, and as each hour passed, the burning fear in his gut grew stronger.
How could he have been so selfish, so focused on finding answers that might somehow ease Emily’s suffering, that he’d abandoned Skye at her most vulnerable? They could have gone to see Paige together and then confronted her father—together, despite Skye’s objections to the contrary. At the very least, he could have waited for her outside The Keeper’s study.
His stomach twisted with guilt, remembering how he’d simply stood by in that library as Skye’s entire world shattered around her. Done nothing as she learned that everything she’d believed in was built on lies, and then he’d walked away and left her alone with all of it.
I should have stayed with her. Should have made sure she was safe.
But the reality was, he’d abandoned both Emily and Skye. He felt split apart, unable to be who he needed to be for either of the two people he loved most in the world.
“Please God,”he whispered, heading toward Emily’s chamber.“Don’t make me choose.”
He’d check on Paige’s progress one more time to see if she’d discovered anything that could help Emily before going in search of Keir. The man never strayed far from Skye. He, if anyone, would know where she was.
