CHAPTER 17
She didn’t know why she had told him she didn’t like kissing men with beards. It was a total lie.
Well, not exactly a lie. More like a reason to shove away those feelings that bubbled up within her when she kissed him. She had never kissed a man with a beard, so she had no reason to say she didn’t like it.
She liked kissing Malcolm.
She liked kissing Malcolm a lot.
She suspected he liked kissing her back. A lot.
Her steps were hurried as she bolted from his room, slamming the door behind her.
As she rounded a corner, she halted, pressing her back against the cold stone wall and closing her eyes.
Her breath seesawed in and out of her. Her heart raced.
Her hands shook. How did she allow herself to get caught up in the moment?
The way his hand had swept over her cheek sent a dizzying feeling through her, making her stomach quiver.
It sent her senses soaring in a way she had never experienced before.
She had been powerless to resist. Then he had placed his hand on the side of her neck, igniting a flame within her she thought was long dead.
Oh, she had been attracted to Bruce. She had even slept with him. And while their lovemaking had been nice, it was not exactly earth shattering. She decided that was because he was trying to get something out of her. Deep down, he hadn’t had feelings for her. Knowing that cut her deeply.
She had no one else to blame but herself.
What had been her excuse for allowing herself to fall for him?
It was time to get real about that. She had wanted him in her life because she was lonely as she navigated the city in a foreign country, a new job, a new life.
She hadn’t expected leaving Evie, her best friend and sister, would leave such a gaping hole in her life.
She missed her sister with a fierceness she hadn’t expected.
Bruce showed up at the right time as though he knew she needed someone in her life. She wanted to believe it was all a coincidence, but now that she’d heard the prophecy, she wasn’t sure.
She wasn’t sure about anything anymore.
She didn’t want to like Malcolm. She didn’t want to like kissing him either. But it was hard to deny how he affected her. He swore to her he would protect her with his sword and his body. He said it with such conviction, his eyes blazing, and she believed it.
“Chloe?”
She jumped at the sound of her sister’s voice. Her eyes flew open. Evie stood across from her, question on her face.
“Where have you been all day?”
“I, uh…” She blew out a breath. “What time is it?”
“Late. You missed the evening meal. You and Malcolm.” She lifted a brow and smirked.
Upon hearing that, her stomach rumbled again. She was starving. She pressed her hand against it hoping to silence it.
“If you’ll feed me, I’ll tell you everything.” She hooked her arm in hers.
“We can grab some leftovers from the kitchen. Roslyn won’t mind.”
They walked through the hallway, down the curved stairs, and into the great hall, which was empty. She continued on until they made it to the kitchen, which was a bustle of activity. There was so much action, Chloe wasn’t sure where to look first.
Maids were busy washing pots and other utensils.
Another was busy preparing fish to be smoked or dried.
A tall man she didn’t know stoked the fire in the massive hearth to keep it going.
Roslyn had her hands in a ball of dough as she kneaded it.
She paused her kneading, reaching for a kitchen towel to wipe her hands when she saw Evie enter.
“My lady, did ye need something?”
It was hard for Chloe to get used to hearing her sister called my lady.
“Any leftover pottage? My sister was indisposed and missed the evening meal,” she said.
Roslyn gave her a grin as she bustled around the kitchen. She ladled a large portion of stew into a bread bowl, stuck a spoon in it, then carried it over to her.
“Here ye are, lass,” she said as she handed it to her.
The bread was still warm from the stew as she took it from her with a nod. “Thanks.”
Evie waved her to follow. “Come on.”
Back in the great hall, Evie perched on one of the seats at the long table.
Thankfully, they were alone. No one else was about.
Chloe sat next to her. Smelling the delicious stew made her mouth water.
She dug in, taking her first bite of the steaming stew.
It was thick and hearty and delicious. Evie waited with her hands folded in her lap.
“Well?” she prompted when she her patience ran out.
Chloe took another bite, thankful her stomach was no longer rumbling. “I had a strange experience in the tapestry room.”
“What happened? Did they change again?” Excitement mixed with a hint of fear was in her voice.
“No. Well, sort of. The keystone—”
She sucked in a breath and dropped her spoon as the realization pounded through her.
She’d left the stone in Malcolm’s room. In her haste to flee, she had forgotten it.
Well, she would be damned if she was going back to get it now.
In the morning, she’d find her way to his room and retrieve it.
Hopefully while he was out so she didn’t have to face him again.
“What about it?” Evie asked.
She held up her bandaged hand. “When you cut my hand, we thought nothing happened. We thought wrong. After you bandaged me up, I noticed the stone started to hum and I felt this incredible pull to go to the tapestry room.”
She told her about Bridget speaking to her in her mind, warning her to guard the stone with her life, that there were those who wanted it for themselves and they would stop at nothing to get it.
“I think it was the magic in the stone,” she said.
Evie stared at her with wide, round eyes. “You heard her voice in your head?”
She nodded. “And that’s not all. Malcolm found me in there. The stone was humming still. I was holding it. I noticed there was a bloodstain on it. He took my hand and when he touched me…” She paused, wondering if her sister would believe the weirdness of what she was about to say.
But she had a knowing look on her face. “You saw something, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I saw his past. When he burned the village.”
Evie’s face drained of color as she stared at her, unblinking. “You saw this?”
“He made everyone leave their houses. He told them to tell their laird the MacLeods send their regards. Then he and his brother torched it.”
Evie said nothing as she leaned back into the chair, her face devoid of color. “No one died?”
“No.”
A breath shuddered out between her lips. “All this time, he led us to believe he had killed innocents. Why? Why would he do that?”
“He wanted to send a message to MacDonald.”
“But why would he never tell Callum the truth?”
“Pride. And he wanted to seem as though he were a fierce warrior,” Chloe said. It was what she sensed from him when she saw the memory. “It was strange, watching that happen. As though I were standing there with him. As if it were in real time.”
“You have the power of the Past,” Evie said on a breath. “That means, Bri—”
“Has the power of the Future.”
“What does this mean?” Evie asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what purpose it serves for me to see the past,” she said.
“Perhaps there is something more you have to learn yet. Something you have to see about the stone,” Evie suggested. “Maybe something in the past.”
Chloe was shaking her head as she said it. “I don’t want to learn anything else about the past or the keystone.”
“Why not?”
Chloe took another bite and eyed her over the near empty bread bowl. “The power of the stone is all-consuming, Eve. Didn’t you feel it when you used it? And that reminds me. Malcolm told me about your power. Why didn’t you? You left that part out.”
She flushed. “Oh, well. I was throwing a lot at you at the time. I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“I’m overwhelmed,” she said tersely. “The prophecy, the keystone, being here. You.”
“Me? Why do I overwhelm you?” She sounded utterly shocked.
“You’re married. No, correction, you’re handfasted. A year and a day. I wasn’t there for you. I thought we agreed we would be in each other’s weddings?”
Chloe hadn’t realized how much it hurt to learn her sister had married the man of her dreams without her.
They were thirteen when they had made that pact and Chloe had experienced her first heartbreak.
Evie, in an effort to console her sister, promised her she would marry one day, and she could be her maid of honor.
“I-I don’t know what to say, Chlo. I’m sorry. Everything happened so fast and, well, you were in the future. I didn’t know if I would ever see you again and I—” She paused as she choked on a sob.
It killed Chloe to see her eyes fill with tears. Guilt swarmed through her. She hadn’t meant to upset her. She heaved a sigh and reached for her hand, squeezing it in hers.
“It’s all right. And don’t be sorry. You’re right. I was in the future, hundreds of years away from you.”
She released her hand and sat back, peering down into the empty bread bowl. She broke off a piece of the rich, dense bread and popped it in her mouth.
“After that happened with the stone,” Chloe said, picking up her story again, “I felt odd. Lightheaded. Weak. My hand started to bleed through the bandage.”
“That’s the power in you. It drains you,” she said.
“If Malcolm hadn’t been there, I’d probably still be passed out on the floor. He caught me. I woke up in his bed with a fresh bandage on my hand.” She held it up so her sister could see.
“I should have done a better job of bandaging you.”
Chloe said nothing at that as she placed her hand back into her lap. She stared at the half-eaten bread bowl. The words erupted from her before she could stop them.
“He kissed me.”
Evie sucked in a breath of surprise. “He did?”
She cut her a glance. “Don’t get excited. That’s all that happened.”
But Evie’s grin was so bright, her face glowed. Chloe frowned.
“Why does that make you happy?”