CHAPTER 31
Chloe lay on her side in the aftermath of her shoulder being stitched.
It throbbed with a deep pain that shifted through her entire body.
It was a horrible experience, one she hoped never to repeat.
She had known it was going to be and tried to brace herself for it.
Nothing could have prepared her, though.
Malcolm remained by her side, holding her hand, letting her squeeze it as tight as she wanted.
Her fingernails dug deep into his palm, but he didn’t seem to mind.
She clenched her jaw, refusing to cry out the entire time Dougal stitched.
Before he started, she ordered him to douse the open wound with the whiskey.
It was the only thing she could think of to sanitize the wound to keep it from getting infected.
When he finished, Malcolm snatched the bottle out of Dougal’s hand and gulped a long drink.
Now, he sat by the bed, his head on his chest as he dozed. Across the room, the fire blazed in the hearth.
It was a miracle, she thought, that he hadn’t been injured during his fight with Rory MacDonald.
She had caught a glimpse of him when he entered the bailey while she stood at the end of their enemy’s sword point. She had seen the rage cross his face before he emitted his fierce war cry and then charged.
She had never seen anything like that before. Her breath caught in her throat when he attacked the older man. It was in that moment she realized she would forever love Malcolm MacLeod.
Callum had skirted around their fighting as he headed right for them, his face creased with worry for his wife. He had pulled her into his arms and held her close, asking if she was all right. Then he had cut her a glance and asked after her.
“She’s hurt, Callum,” Evie had said. “She took an arrow in her shoulder. She needs a doctor.”
“I’m fine,” Chloe had said, her words terse as she kept her eyes on Malcolm. “We have to do something to help him.”
Evie’s gaze had followed hers to the two fighting men. “But what?”
And that’s when she had gotten the crazy idea to use the two pieces of the stone together.
A soft knock on the bedchamber door roused Malcolm from his dozing. He lifted his head and jumped to his feet as he hurried to the door, pulling it open to shoo away whoever was on the other side, no doubt.
“I came to check on her.” Though Evie tried to keep her voice low, it carried into the bedchamber.
Before Malcolm sent her away, she said, “Let her in, Malcolm.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her with question deep in his eyes. As if asking if she were sure. But Evie didn’t wait for him to grant her entrance. She slipped by him and headed right for the bed where she perched on the edge, reaching for her. Gently, she took her bandaged hand in hers.
Evie’s hand, too, was bandaged. Against his better judgment, Callum had allowed them to use the edge of his sharpened dagger.
The cuts were deep on each of their palms. After they arrived back in the Dundale bailey, they each had pocketed their own piece of the keystone.
Chloe’s now resided on the bedside table.
Evie, likely, carried hers on her person.
“I’ll give ye both a moment,” Malcolm said. He slipped out of the room and closed it behind him with a soft snick.
“How are you?” she asked, concern flickering through her deep brown eyes.
Chloe managed a weak smile. “I’m all right.”
“Dougal said you did well. He said you didn’t even scream.”
“That’s because I clenched my jaw shut and refused to scream,” Chloe said. She pushed that aside. “Evie, when we put the two pieces of the stone together, did you sense something?”
Contemplation slipped over her features as she kept her focus on their hands. “Yes.”
She swallowed hard, her mouth dry. “The Triple Goddess?”
“Yes.” The word slipped out on a quiet, icy breath.
“Did you sense anything else?” Though she tried to pretend it hadn’t happened, it had been bothering her since the moment they touched the pieces of the stone together, the moment they used their blood to enact the magic within.
“I saw…” Evie took a deep breath, expelled it. “I’m not sure what I saw.”
“I think I know,” she said. “It was as though I were Bridget and you were Moira in that moment. We spoke as two-thirds of the Triple Goddess. We invoked some kind of magic that allowed us to open time and step through it.”
“But how?” Evie’s voice shook.
“Because you have the power of the Present, maybe,” Chloe said. She thought about that for a while now, trying to work it out and understand how. “But it took the power from both of us to make it happen.”
Evie shivered. “If that’s true, and that is the power it possesses, I hate to think what power it has when all three pieces are put together.”
She voiced what Chloe was thinking. Brianna would, eventually, arrive with her piece and they would put them all together to make the keystone whole again. What, then, would that do? What sort of magic would it bring forth?
“Let’s not worry about that now,” Chloe said at last.
That was a problem for when—if—Brianna showed. She tried on numerous occasions to imagine her free-spirited sister in the medieval Highlands. Nothing about it made sense. There was something else bothering her.
“Rory’s great axe, Evie. What’s to stop him from coming through a portal to us again?”
Evie thought about that for a long moment. “Perhaps he can’t use it more than once. He already did to kidnap us. Maybe, like the keystones, the magic needs to recharge.”
That made sense. She hoped Evie was right. She had other questions about that great axe. Where did he get it and what made it powerful? She started to ask this when she noticed her sister’s face was pale and fatigue lined her features.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Evie nodded. “Tired, but I’m all right.”
“The baby?”
“As far as I can tell, everything is fine.”
“That’s good. You should rest,” she said, releasing her hand.
“If you’re sure.”
Chloe grinned. “I have Malcolm to watch over me.”
“I know he’ll take good care of you.” Evie rose, standing by the bed. “He has questions, you know. Questions about what happened.”
“I’ll explain everything to him.”
As best as she could, anyway. She, herself, still wasn’t sure how that all happened. Evie leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“I’ll see you later.”
She headed for the door and pulled it open. Malcolm was on the other side, leaning on the door jamb. The second the door came open, he got to his feet. Evie told him goodnight as she slipped past him into the hallway.
Malcolm closed the door and returned to his seat next to the bed. Firelight flickered over his pensive features.
“Ye gave me a fright, ye ken,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that though she assumed he referred to the use of the keystone.
“When I saw ye there at the end of MacDonald’s great axe…” His gaze flickered to hers. “I wanted to murder him.”
“You scared me, too, you know,” she said. “Fighting him.”
“The man who helped take ye will face my wrath,” he said, referring to Bruce.
“When he wakes up, he’ll have a hell of a headache. Evie smashed him over the head with a rock.”
Surprise flashed over his face, then he laughed. “Did she now?”
Chloe told him the story then. Their time in the dungeon when Bruce stole Evie’s stone from her to their escape through the mysterious secret passageway to finding Jamie captured and held in one of the rooms.
“We knew we couldn’t go that way, so we continued down the passageway until we found another door.” She paused, the guilt washing through her as she recalled placing the torch in the bracket under the wooden rafters. “I’m afraid the fire was my fault.”
He blinked confusion as he gazed at her. She explained what happened then.
“We should have tried to get Jamie out,” she said.
“Och, lass, dinnae fash yerself. I told ye. He’s resourceful. He’ll find his way home.”
“Are you certain?”
“If I ken one thing about the laddie, it’s that he’ll find a way to talk his way out of the castle by chasing one of the chamber maids and gaining her confidence.” He chuckled at the thought.
He reached for her bandaged hand, then, taking it gently in his. She didn’t have to tell him they used the stone to get them away from MacDonald’s keep. He knew.
“I didn’t know how powerful the stones were until that moment when we used them,” she said.
“How did you use them?”
“Blood magic,” was all she said.
He seemed content enough with that answer and nodded.
“There’s one thing I realized, though, Malcolm,” she said.
“And what is that, lass?” His beautiful sea-green eyes met hers.
“When I first arrived, all I thought about was taking Evie and returning home. To our time. But Evie isn’t going home. She’s here to stay with Callum.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “And I’m here to stay with you. If you’ll have me.”
His expression softened as he leaned toward her. “I’m glad to hear that, lass. I willna let ye out of my sight until my dying breath.”
She grinned. “And how do you intend to do that?”
He leaned closer, his lips a breath away from hers. “I intend to marry ye.”
Before she answered, his lips brushed hers in a sweet, soft kiss.
“I love you, too,” she whispered. “Forever and always.”