Chapter 45
The sunshine is gone from my life...in more ways than one.
––––––––
Fiona cried out as she heard the shots. They seemed to sing a sickening refrain through the canopied oaks, pealing like a death toll. The thunder of hoof beats faded away, and even the wind stilled as if to hear the ghastly melody.
Again and again they rang out until the leaves hanging over them were atremble, but they might have been steady as a rock compared to her heart. Horror-struck with dread, she clung to Connor’s arm as she yelled to her brother. “Hurry, Colin! For God’s sake, hurry!”
Colin’s jaw was set determinedly as he whipped up the horses, and then he was pulling the bellowing animals to a halt behind the phaeton she and Harry had stolen from the streets of Aylesbury a lifetime before.
One last shot rang out. Echoing.
Connor was out of the carriage and running toward the gatehouse before the reverberation faded. Fiona rushed to follow. “Nay,” he yelled back. “Stay back!” But he must have known such a command would be useless. “Colin, hold her!”
Then he was gone into the gatehouse as Colin caught her around the waist and lifted her off her feet.
They watched the door, but no one came out.
No sound emerged.
With renewed energy, she kicked nothing but air and clawed at her brother’s hands, crying for Colin to let her go, but he held fast. “Let me go!”
“Blossom, shush,” he whispered in her ear.
Seconds...no! An eternity later, Connor appeared at the door, and she stilled.
Alone.
Come on, Harry, she inwardly begged, staring at the empty portal. Come out. Come out. Please.
Colin’s hold eased, but she clung to his hands as Connor met her eyes somberly. God, her brother was never so solemn! But there was genuine regret in his eyes. “Blossom...”
She shook her head in denial and looked back at the door.
But it remained dark.
No, it couldn’t be.
It couldn’t be.
Harry was too strong. Too alive. He was...hers.
Pain engulfed her, stealing her breath away. Pain like nothing she had ever experienced. Every fiber of her being burned, seared with the agony that radiated out from her heart. How could this be? How could she lose him when she had just found him again?
Tears began to run unbidden down her cheeks as she stared at that empty door. Oh God, she prayed, begged silently. Please. Please.
It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be.
She began to struggle in earnest for her release, and Colin let her go. She ran toward the building, stumbling along the way.
“Fiona! Dinnae,” Connor shouted and started to run after her, but this time Colin held him back.
“Let her go.”
“But...”
“God, mon,” Colin said, choking up. “Can ye even imagine?”
Connor shook his head. “Nay.”
Colin swallowed painfully, picturing the utter devastation on his sister’s face. “I can.”
Together, they watched their sister tripping up the front steps before disappearing through the darkened portal.
Silence reigned.
Then, an awful keening of absolute despair that was enough to tear at the heart of even the most hardened of men filled the air. Colin’s eyes burned with tears.
“No-o-o-o!”