Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
“ G avin? Can you hear me?” Niall’s voice was insistent, barely penetrating through the fog in his head.
His entire body shook from the freezing temperatures and Gavin pried his eyes open to see his friend’s face looming over him. Sleet fell, most of it blocked by Niall’s cape as he used it to shelter them.
“The Icing is in full force now,” Niall told him, tucking his large cape around them, careful to keep from touching him.
Although he’d share a portion of what happened in his past, only Naill knew the entire story. The others had learned that when he was trapped in visions of his past, it was best not to be near, else chance being blindly attacked.
“If you cannot leap to the keep, we’ll have to try to wait this out.
“Where are the horses?” Gavin asked, somehow forming the words in spite of his chattering teeth.
“I do not know.” Niall replied, with a sharp shiver.
“I can leap. Go, now.” At least hoped he could. The likelihood of surviving outdoors was slim if they remained since the Icing could last for an entire night.
Closing his eyes, Gavin concentrated on their home until finally the sensation of being pulled through space took over.
Both men landed outside the keep moments later. Niall stood immediately. The man, either impervious to pain or too damn stubborn to care, helped Gavin stand, half-dragging him toward the keep.
Although it was almost dusk, the mild temperature where they lived was a vast improvement over where they’d just been. Still both Niall and Gavin were chilled to the bone and shivering uncontrollably.
How long had he lain outside in the ice? His legs refused to work, wobbling under him like a newborn calf’s. Niall’s strong arm around him was the only thing keeping him upright.
At the touch of another human, he began shaking uncontrollably, and he fought to keep from shoving his helper away.
Once they entered the keep, Padriag helped Niall carry him in.
“He was outside for quite a while before I found him,” Niall’s gruff voice stated.
“I’ll be fine,” Gavin told them, pushing them away. “I’ll warm up by the fire.” To his annoyance, he could barely walk, so Padriag helped him to sit in front of the fire and threw a thick blanket over his shoulders.
Gavin didn’t have to ask why the two rushed from the room. They went to see about Liam.
Staring at the flames, Gavin fought falling asleep, an after effect of prolonged exposure to the cold. His eyes fluttered close and immediately pictures of his capture assaulted him. He gasped for air, feeling like a fish out of water and forced his eyes to remain open.
A long while later, Padriag returned. “Dude, you don’t look too good,” Padriag studied him. “I’ll get you something hot to drink.”
He returned quickly with a goblet and Gavin took it. He drank greedily from the hot liquid only to realize it had some sort of harsh taste. Surely one of Naill’s tonics
Sputtering and choking as he tried to swallow, Gavin glared at the young knight. Padriag smiled. “To help you warm up.” He waved a hand and the blanket wrapped tightly around Gavin.
“Loosen this blanket,” Gavin gritted out.
“Nope.” Padriag sat on a chair, eyebrows raised. “Niall said you needed to get warmed up.”
Gavin struggled but realized it was useless. His arms pinned to his sides, he gave up. Admittedly, warmth was beginning to seep through. “How long since you returned with Liam?”
“About half a day.”
“How does he fare?”
Padriag shrugged. “Not too bad from what I can see, most of his punishment was lashings.”
Padriag’s nonchalance revealed that, like the others, he’d been subject to lashings himself.
“Liam probably told Meliot not to mess up his hair.” Laughing at his own joke, the young knight stood to refill the goblet. “I’m getting you a second drink. Your color’s coming back.”
“I don’t want a damn drink.” He wanted to be set free from the blanket so he could try to leap to Scotland. The sooner he could get out of this nightmare, the sooner he could help Tristan release them all from Meliot’s clutches. “Get this accursed blanket off me. I must leave.”
“Nope.” Padriag held the goblet aloft. “Open up.”
After struggling to get loose, he gave up as his arms and legs were tightly wrapped making it impossible to free himself. Finally, he did as the knight requested, needing to feel warmer and more drink was poured down his throat. When he choked, Padriag frowned. “Oops, sorry.”
Gavin didn’t bother glaring at him this time. “Can you at least get me clean clothing so that as soon as Niall returns, I can change and leave?”
“Nope.” Padriag remained, the smile on his face showing that he enjoyed Gavin’s frustration.
“When I get loose, I will slam you against every wall,” he told the fool, his voice low. Padriag’s smile faded.
“Alright, jeez. I sure do miss Tristan. At least he had a sense of humor.”
In a chair by the large panoramic windows in the sitting room, book in her lap, the enchantress was reading. Sabrina’s fiery hair seemed to glow from the sun coming through the glass.
Glad to have landed quietly this time, just outside the room, Gavin had the rare opportunity to study her. Her heart-shaped face looked serious, her brows furrowed at what she read. With an elbow on the armrest and head bent, she cupped her chin in her right hand. She sat with one leg folded under the other, a pink-nailed foot tapping impatiently on the floor.
She must have felt his presence because her pleased expression when she looked up didn’t register surprise.
“Goldie, you’re back.” Her smile and sparkling hazel eyes caught him off guard and he couldn’t help but smile back.
“Aye, I apologize for the taking so long. There was a...delay.” He looked around the empty room. “Where are Tristan and Gwyneth?”
“They went to a meet someone in Edinburgh about estate business...er matters.” She motioned to a chair. “Would you like some tea?”
He shook his head and sat.
The way she studied him made him feel as if she could see what he’d been through, the reminders of a distant past that had scarred him to the point Gavin doubted he could ever enjoy the pleasure of intimacy again. He didn’t know her powers but hoped she could not read minds.
He looked past her to the window, spotting birds flying outside.
“You seem different,” Sabrina told him, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. “What happened?”
He didn’t reply, couldn’t reply, for a few moments collecting his thoughts. “Meliot took Liam, we had to fight to get him.”
“Is he okay?”
He nodded.
“Look,” Sabrina said, “Tristan and I had a long talk, about you.” His stomach plummeted at her words. How much did Tristan reveal? Raising an eyebrow, he gave her an indifferent look.
“What did you discuss?”
“The terms of breaking your enchantment, for one. He suggested you and I build trust, that you have past experiences that could cause you to react badly if I try to make love with you.”
She gave him a flirty smile, looking at him from under long lashes. “Maybe you are a man who needs to remain in control.”
When she bit her bottom lip, he could not drag his eyes away, mesmerized, waiting for her to release the plump morsel. When she did, it was moist, and something in him stirred. It was a foreign, but welcome feeling.
“So,” she continued getting his attention again. “I was reading this.” She picked up a book and showed it to him. “It’s the Kama Sutra, depicts all kinds of sexual positions. I’m thinking we can find one in here that will work.”
Not used to such boldness from a woman, he was unable to stop his mouth from falling open and the rush of heat from surging up to his face. Feeling like a maiden, he cleared his throat trying to control his discomfort. “Er…Aye.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting you’re from another time. Let me get you a drink of water…how can I be so stupid, sometimes I don’t know why I’m the one that’s here, not another woman. Although most women nowadays are just as open about sex as I am, to be fair.”
Sabrina rushed from the room, still rambling. The book slid from the chair, landing on the floor, open. When she walked back in, he’d cocked his head to the side, likely trying to figure out what the people on the pages were doing.
She rushed to the book and grabbed it, closed it, then placed it on a table.
“Here. Please drink this.” She held out a glass with amber-colored liquid in it. He took it and sniffed at it. “It’s called sweet tea. We drink it every day, all day long in Georgia.” Sitting down next to him on the couch, she tucked her foot under her bottom and waited for him to drink.
The combination of tea and lemon flavor was good. “It is very good, I like it. Thank you.” He found himself entranced by her bright smile.
“Okay, so let’s start over. How about this.” She reached and took his hand in hers.
He reversed the hold, taking hers in his. “I’m not a lad, Sabrina, to be careful with.” The dubious look she gave him angered him. “I’m a braw man, a head over six foot, five and thirty, when I left. No need to treat me as if I were a babe.”
“Right,” She snatched her hand out of his, rolling her eyes. “Well, help me here Goldie, what the hell are we supposed to do? We can try the spell, but if your big manly braw self is going to freak out when I try to fuck you, then it will be a waste of time— definitely a waste of mine.” Crossing her arms, her eyes flashed impatiently at him.
“Fuck?”
“Oh shut up, I’m not going to translate. It’s an old word. You can always ask Padraig. Tristan says he speaks modern English.”
“I know what fuck is. I am merely curious why you wish to fuck and not make love.”
Her dainty huff made him smile. He drank the last of the cold tea and stood up, placing the glass down, he held his hand out to her.
“What are you doing?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
He didn’t reply just lifted an eyebrow, getting his point across.
She took his hand and stood. He pulled her closer and held her against him. Sabrina looked up at him puzzled, but then shrugged and lay her head on his chest. They remained like that for a long while, neither moving.
“Can I put my arms around you?” she asked.
Tensing, he nodded. She moved gently, not timidly, but more as if she enjoyed the sensation of him. When her arms were completely around him, she merely linked her fingers, holding her hands in the small of his back, not moving. Closing his eyes, he inhaled the flowery perfume of her hair and relaxed.
At the sound of her sigh, he sighed too.
Bright colors suddenly flashed in his mind. Red. Dark ruby red. An angry slash of gold cut through the red background, before the smell of incense assaulted him. Gavin jumped away from Sabrina, his heart beating so hard he wondered if he would die.
“What is it?” She seemed to know better than to come closer, as she stayed still, just her hands reaching out. “Gavin?”
The room began to spin. He couldn't fight the pull back. How was he supposed to get closer toward freedom when it was impossible to remain longer than a few minutes?
“Gavin.” Sabrina’s annoyed utterance was the last thing he heard.
“Damn it.” Sabrina stomped back to the couch. How were they going to work on the spell and curse, when the man kept disappearing?
She picked up the Kama Sutra and studied a picture, thinking of the look on Gavin’s face when she’d showed it to him.
What a contradiction he was. The huge, tall and muscular warrior who faced mortal enemies on the battlefield, frightened of being touched the wrong way by her. He’d looked away from the pages when she’d returned with his drink, pretending interest in a flower vase.
Stretching out on the couch, she stared up at the ceiling. This thing between her and Gavin was moving much too slow. She’d planned to summon him to the Campbell estate, but he’d appeared before she’d set things up.
He’d felt so good in her arms. The way he’d sighed, almost as if, for a moment, he moved past whatever it was that scared him.
In that moment, holding him, it was as if no one else existed. She was beginning to develop feelings for Gavin. That couldn’t be good.
Of course she felt for him. He was a good person. It wasn’t just attraction, she felt, but a longing to see him free. No one deserved the punishment the knights endured. Hundreds of years of imprisonment, constantly fighting for their lives, all because of a single act of heroism.
If she ever came face to face with the wizard, Meliot, she’d give him a piece of her mind. How a being could thrive on so much hatred was beyond her understanding. Probably a minion of the devil, because only someone influenced by darkness could hate so much.
The punishment was spurred when Gavin, Tristan and the other men had happened upon a village being attacked by Meliot’s soulless warriors and they’d saved women Meliot had planned to use as personal incubators. So, he’d been denied the chance to spawn a bunch of children. How egotistical of the wizard to want to raise mini-me’s to take over the world. It sounded like a plot for a very bad B-rated movie. She could see him being mad that his evil plans were dashed, but holding a grudge for almost four hundred years? That was just ridiculous.
Now the chance to break the curse was coming to an end. The four men in the alter-world didn’t have a lot of time. In two years the men remaining in the alter-world would be trapped forever.
According to Tristan, they’d made a pact that they’d kill themselves before staying there, trapped for eternity.
Gavin would be free, she vowed. She’d do whatever had to be done to free him.
She’d set things up at the Campbell estate and summon him there. Perhaps being there would be helpful.
Heading to the guestroom, she made up her mind. She’d go back to Campbell Castle, summon him and move things along. The sooner he trusted her, the faster she could help him escape the enchantment.
Once all was done, she’d return to Atlanta and put all this behind her.
The thought of leaving Scotland gave her pause. She peered out a hallway window. The sun filtered through tall trees, rays reaching down to the lavish plantings in the back garden. Scotland was a beautiful, magical place.
To her shock, Sabrina realized she was already in love. Scotland had won her heart.