Not an hour ago he’d given the big guy a wooden goat that made them officially family, and considering his decided lack of family in this world, he didn’t like the idea of anything that risked what he had.
“I canna say.” Her fingers curled into the muscle of his arm, sending little tingles through his thoughts. “I’ve seen naught of yer brother in any of my Vision travels, no even when I ventured back to watch yer arrival in—”
Her words cut off in a sharp gasp, her fingers darting from his arm to cover her lips.
“But that would be looking into the past, wouldn’t it? Not the future.” And if she looked far enough back, she wouldn’t be finding him there, either. Andthatparticular mystery was something he wasn’t sure he was completely ready to try to explain to her.
“Aye,” she answered, her voice back to a whisper. “I selfishly wasted the better part of my time in the Norns’ world traveling the pathways of the past.”
“When you say you didn’t see Hall there when I arrived...” He paused, searching for a way to ask what he needed to know without saying something stupid enough to spark her curiosity. “Let me ask this....How is that possible? We both know he was at my side when we knocked on your door that first day.”
She let out a long, shaky breath as she claspedher hands together in her lap. “I was no talking about yer arrival at my door. I followed you only to the gates of Tordenet.”
“Followed me from where?”
The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach seemed to be telling him he just might be facing an explanation, whether or not he was ready to give it.
Another long, shaky exhale.
“From yer arrival in this world,” she answered, her eyes darting to his and away again. “In this time.”
She knew!
“Let me try to explain,” he started, knowing it would be worse than silence if he were to attempt to lie his way out of this. She was too important to him to tell her anything but the truth.
“You’ve no a need for explanation, Chase. Certainly no to me, seeing as it’s me what did this to you.”
“You? I don’t think so.” He’d been wishing to be where he belonged since he was just a boy.
“I am responsible for bringing you here and placing yer life in danger. I saw you in my Visions. I saw that you were the only chance I had at freedom and, selfishly, I valued my own freedom more highly than yers. It’s me what bade the Elf to rip you from yer own life and bring you through time.”
“What Elf?”
“Malcolm’s mother-in-law, the one who accompanied his wife when she came to ransom hisfreedom from Torquil. I insisted she give her word to bring you to this world, for me.”
“Malcolm’s mother-in-law is an Elf,” he said slowly. And Christiana was descended from Odin, and the Tinklers were tools of the Fae, and he himself was...
“Elesyria is her name. Though in truth, she calls herself a Faerie, no an Elf, and she dinna take at all kindly to my using the wrong appellation.” Christiana shrugged, wiping her hands at the corners of both eyes. “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you. So very sorry.”
As if the final piece of a puzzle he’d struggled with his entire life fell into place, Chase began to laugh. A small release of air at first, bubbling up from deep inside his chest until it formed great, silent heaving bursts of laughter that left him weak.
All this time, Christiana had struggled with the guilt of forcing him here against his will. All this time, and neither of them had been brave enough or just plain smart enough to open up to the other.
“Oh, Christy, don’t cry.” He enfolded her in his arms, holding her close to his heart. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. This Elesyria of yours was only the tool that brought me here. I’ve been waiting for her, or someone just like her, my whole life to do exactly what you asked her to do.”
She pushed away from his chest, looking up into his face, her big wet eyes filled with suspicion. “How can it be the truth you speak? What sort of a manwould wait for the Fae to rip them from the tapestry of their lives and toss them through time to a place they dinna belong?”
“An unhappy man,” he answered honestly, stroking his thumbs down the sides of her cheeks in a vain attempt to dry the still flowing tears. “A man who’s spent his life searching for the purpose he was to fulfill, waiting for one particular Faerie to send him where he belongs.”
“You believe this is where you belong? In truth?”
Looking down at her face, so filled with trust and hope, he’d never been more sure of anything before. Being here in this time, with her, it was as if he’d been reborn into the place he was always meant to be.
He pulled her to him, covering her mouth with his.
She molded herself to him as he played his tongue across her soft lips, dipping inside to trace the contours of her mouth when those lips parted. She tasted of herbs, of mint and balm and a thousand other flavors, like an exotic dish, fresh and steaming from the oven, prepared to his exact specifications.
Her hands skated over his chest and up to his neck, her fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer as if they might melt into one another.
