Chapter Twelve
Evie reached for the knife resting on the table, clutching it in her hand. Brianna unwound the bandage. The well of blood in the shallow cut had stopped. She held it out to Evie, who wrapped her fingers around her wrist.
“So, how does this work?” she asked.
“You’ll want to be holding the stone,” Evie said. “When I slice your hand and your hand starts to bleed, place the stone in it and clench your fist.”
“That’s it? Then what?”
“Then we see what happens,” Chloe said.
“Are you ready?” Evie asked, the tip of the knife hovering over her palm.
She took a deep breath, expelled it. “As I’ll ever be.”
Evie placed the tip against her skin, hesitating only a moment. Then she swiped it down her palm, slicing open her skin. The stinging pain lasted only a second. Brianna took her piece of the stone off the table and clenched it in her hand as Evie instructed.
Nothing happened.
Silence descended on the great hall for several heartbeats. Evie gave her an expectant look, but Brianna shook her head.
“Well, it was worth a try—”
“Wait,” Brianna said.
A sudden hum vibrated through her hand. It was low at first, then louder.
Evie’s eyes widened as she reached into the pocket of her gown and brought out her stone.
It was humming. The lines were glowing. Brianna looked up at Chloe to see she held hers, too.
It was also humming and the lines were glowing.
“What’s happening?” Brianna whispered.
The moment the words left her mouth, a piercing pain shot through her arm up to her shoulder. She staggered to her feet, wincing as she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Bri, are you—”
It was the last thing she heard when the world seemed to tip on its axis. It was as though she were shoved through a keyhole in time, then everything blurred around her as it zoomed by. As though she stood still but everything else was on fast forward.
Ahead of her, she saw the army marching toward her. The man in front held a glowing great axe. He was flanked by other men who rode alongside him. The massive army followed as though they had all the time in the world.
Evie stood to her right. Chloe, to her left. And in her hand, the glowing keystone. When she opened her fingers to look down at it, she saw that the stone was whole. All three pieces were fused together once again.
The power is within you.
The voice lilted through her mind. Soft and sweet.
Use the stone to stop the coming war, Brianna. If you do not, all will be lost.
She opened her mouth to ask who was speaking, but nothing came out. A cold piercing wind swept through her. She realized she wore a white gown as it billowed around her.
The army marched on. From her left another group of men approached.
It was another army coming from the north led by Callum, Malcolm, and Jamie.
On her right, from the south, more men heading in their direction led by two men she did not recognize.
The leader had a fierce look on his face and eyes the color of a winter morning.
A strange sense of familiarity flickered through her, almost as if she knew this man or had seen him before.
Before her, the leader with the glowing great axe glared at her with a fierceness that jangled her insides. She knew this was the MacDonald army.
The battle for Time had arrived.
With a flash of his great axe, MacDonald created a rift in time. The air before her pulled apart, light flickering from whatever was beyond.
Then she woke up.
Brianna opened her eyes and stared up at the concerned face of her sister. Her body ached from head to toe. She realized, dimly, she was on the floor and beyond Evie’s face was the wood-beam ceiling.
“Are you all right?” Evie asked.
“What happened?” she croaked, her voice weak and rough.
“You collapsed,” Chloe said. She sat on her knees opposite Evie.
She shoved to a sitting position, the nausea taking hold of her as her stomach cramped. A blinding pain pounded the backs of her eyes. She groaned as she put her head in her hand, squeezing her eyes closed.
“I feel sick to my stomach.”
“That’s the blood magic,” Evie said. “Chlo, help me get her up. She needs to rest.”
But Brianna shrugged them both off. “I’m fine.”
Though she wasn’t fine, she managed to get to her feet under her own power. On the floor, next to her feet, was her piece of the keystone smeared with blood. She bent to pick it up and then inspected her sliced hand. Her palm was smeared with blood.
“Let me bandage you.” Evie motioned toward a chair at the great hall table.
Brianna stumbled toward it, falling into it. She rested her cut hand on the table, palm up.
“Is that what is was like for both of you?” she asked.
“Yes,” Evie said.
A glance at Chloe who nodded. “It left me so weak, I slept for hours.”
As Evie bandaged her hand with strips of linen, she asked, “What did you see?”
Brianna dragged her lower lip through her teeth. She wasn’t sure how to explain what she saw. “There was an army led by a man with a glowing great axe.”
“Rory MacDonald,” Evie said, nodding encouragement.
“And two other armies,” Brianna continued. “One led by Callum, Malcolm, and Jamie.”
Chloe sucked in a breath at hearing her husband’s name. Evie stilled, her face draining of color.
“The other army was led by someone I don’t know but he had eyes the same color as me.”
“Sinclair,” Chloe said, her voice but a whisper.
A strange feeling crept through Brianna. “As in…our ancestor?”
“We think so,” Evie said. She tied off the bandage. “There. That should stop the bleeding. You need to rest now.”
“No,” Brianna snapped. “There’s more. In the vision, the three of us stood on a hill. I held the keystone. It was one piece.”
They both stared at her in silent shock. Evie’s eyes were wide and round.
“What do you mean one piece?” she asked.
“It was put back together,” Brianna explained. “And the lines—the Celtic symbol on it—was glowing.”
Chloe sat down hard in the chair next to Evie, as though her knees buckled and gave out.
Brianna placed her piece on the table in front of her.
Evie and Chloe did the same. Evie nudged them together but kept them apart, just enough to see the connecting lines across the three stones. All three pieces were silent and unlit.
“Yes. It looked like that,” she said.
Brianna glanced between her sisters’ shocked faces.
“What does it mean?” she asked.
Evie shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. The only one who would know is Moira.”
“I heard a voice in my head, too,” Brianna said. “A woman’s. She said to use the power of the stone to stop the coming war or all would be lost.”
The silence hung thick in the air between them. None of them moved or said a word. Evie looked perplexed, trying to work out the meaning. Chloe looked terrified, her face ashen.
“We need to know more about this prophecy,” Chloe said. “There has to be more than what we’ve been told.”
“Maybe Jamie or Malcolm will know,” Evie said.
“Will ken what, lass?” Jamie’s voice lilted over them as he entered the great hall.
He stopped short when he saw Brianna with her bandaged hand still resting on the top of the table. His disapproving gaze flickered between all three of them.
“Och, lass, what did ye do?”
Evie jumped to her feet. “We needed to see if the blood magic would work for her, too.”
He scraped a hand over his face as the blood drained from his cheeks. His lips formed a thin line. Distress flickered through his eyes.
“And did it?” he asked.
“Yes,” Brianna replied, her voice quiet. It took a monumental effort to push to her feet. “And you’re right, Evie. I need to rest.”
“I’ve prepared a room—”
“I’ll see to her needs,” Jamie interrupted. He stepped closer and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. “The two of ye have done enough.”
Brianna sensed a bit of anger against them as he led her away.
Truthfully, she was grateful for his strength as she leaned on him.
Once they were at the curved stone staircase, though, he nudged her in the lead.
She took the steps slowly, her legs burning as she ascended.
At the top, she leaned on the wall, trying to catch her breath.
It was a testament to just how out of shape she was.
Without a word, Jamie was at her side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders once again. Then, before she realized what he was doing, he swept her into his arms and stomped the rest of the way down the hall.
“I don’t need you to carry me.” It was a weak protest.
He kept his gaze firmly ahead. “Aye, ye do, lass.”
He kicked open the door to a bedchamber.
When he was inside, he used the heel of his boot to shove it closed.
Then he walked to the oversized bed and lowered her down.
She expelled a sigh once her tired body hit the feather mattress.
He pulled the blanket up to cover her and then went to stoke the dying fire. Moments later, he had a blaze going.
“Why did you come back to the great hall after Evie shooed you away?” she asked, unable to squash her curiosity.
“I had a feeling she was up to no good. I was right.”
“She’s just determined,” she said around a yawn.
“Aye, at your expense. Rest, lass.”
Brianna, still fully dressed, snuggled under the warmth of the blankets. A dreamy sensation came over her and before too long, she was fast asleep.