Chapter Nineteen
“I’m traveling to the Campbell holding in
the morn,” Lachlan announced, sitting on the bed to pull off his
boots. It had been three days and nights and still they hadn’t
heard from Victor. Veronica prayed the silence was just born of the
usual work-til-you-drop mentality of Victor. “Leastways,
Catriona has driven herself—and me—nigh unto daft fretting o’er
your brother.”
Veronica understood, but didn’t want him to
go. She feared Lachlan would take matters into his own hands if she
wasn’t there to stop him. “Take me with you,” she said, sitting up
in bed. Her voice sounded strained even to her own ears.
“Nay,” he harshly retorted. “You’ve had
naught but nightmares and fitful sleep since we returned from
there.” He slashed his hand through the air. “I willna allow for
more of this.”
It was difficult to argue with his logic.
She hadn’t been sleeping well at all. As a result, she kept nodding
off at inappropriate times. Truth be told, Veronica doubted she
could make it through an hours long ride on horseback in her
current sleep-deprived state. Yet still…“Fine,” she huffed. “But if
you’re not back by supper, I’m going after you.” She meant it. “God
help anyone who tries to stop me.”
He pulled off his shirt and threw it across
the room, surprising her. “’Tis a boon to ken you care,” he
muttered.
Veronica frowned at his back as he removed
his kilt. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means we have been wed for weeks now and
yet still you are not my wife in truth.” Naked, he held up the
covers and got into the bed. “What am I to think?”
He blew out the candle by his side of the
bed and flopped onto his back. Veronica laid next to him, something
akin to guilt consuming her. She fell quiet, trying to make sense
of everything. Lachlan had been more than patient with her
and she was attracted to him. It made no sense not to
consummate, yet the fear persisted. What if he found her lacking
somehow? Or, getting closer to the truth, what if having sex with
him bonded her even closer to him than she already was? She frowned
in the dark, knowing it was more of the latter than the former.
Getting emotionally close to someone in 2075 A.D. was simply not an
option. It was an experience that only led to heartbreak and grief.
Once the sick started turning in ‘71, she had quickly learned that
it was better to survive alone. Other than Victor, she hadn’t let
anyone else get close to her. It was better that way.
“When the virus first mutated and the dead
started coming back to life, I had a close companion named Jasmine.
We were the best of friends, did everything together.” Staring into
the dark, Veronica’s voice was a whisper. “I loved her like I love
Victor. She was a sister to me.”
Lachlan said nothing, but she could tell he
was listening. She plowed on.
“I wanted Jasmine to leave Los Angeles with
me and travel across the country to Ohio, to Victor. She agreed and
I drove her home so she could pack a bag or two. The cars were
still working at the time because the electrical grid hadn’t gone
down quite yet. We decided I’d wait in the car so nobody stole it
while she gathered her things. She promised she’d be back quickly,
ten minutes at most. I never saw Jasmine again. Well, I saw what
used to be her, but no longer was.”
“She was bitten?” His voice was hushed, but
audible.
“Yes. When I felt she’d been gone too long,
I chanced leaving my car and went up to her apartment to find out
what was going on. What used to be Jasmine attacked me as I walked
in the door. I’ll never forget her eyes, Lachlan. What had once
been a beautiful, almost golden brown pair of eyes had changed that
quickly to a hazy blue. Blood was dripping from her mouth. I saw a
dead body behind her, the carcass of a person she’d obviously
attacked while I’d been downstairs waiting in my car.”
“What happened next?”
“Jasmine lunged at me, trying with all her
might to bite me. As I did my best to fend her off—for some reason
I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her—I saw from the corner of my eye
that the ravished body behind her was rising. I knew it would
attack me too if I didn’t get the hell out.”
“What did you do?”
“I kicked Jasmine hard enough to send her
flying a few feet backwards and then ran like hell. I made it back
to the car, which had thankfully not been stolen—at least not
then—and drove off.” She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I
should have put her out of her misery, but I just couldn’t bring
myself to end her life, horrid as it had become. Anyway, Jasmine
was the last person I let myself get close to who wasn’t Victor. It
was easier that way. If I felt nothing for other people then their
deaths and reanimations didn’t leave me heartbroken.”
Lachlan’s hand found her hair and he stroked
it. “I ken your meaning, wife.”
“Do you?” She smiled sadly. “Because what
I’m trying to say is—”
“—You fear being close to me.”
“Yes.” She briefly closed her eyes, grateful
he understood. “I’ve been avoiding being with you because I fear
I’ll then lose you.”
An emotional, prolonged silence filled the
air. He continued stroking her hair, then her face, wiping away the
tears that had gathered in her eyes. Odd, but she didn’t mind that
he knew she’d been crying.
“I canna vow I will live forever, but I
willna be dying anytime the soonest.”
“You promise?”
“Aye. ‘Tis why I canna let you come with me
on the morrow. I must do what needs done, whatever road that leads
me down, so Victor and I may return to you.”
“I know,” Veronica admitted on a sniffle. “I
mean, deep down I know that if the Campbells need eliminated then
that’s what has to happen. We can’t let the virus spread. That
said, I don’t want you going into Campbell land blind either. I
prefer going with you. I have a lot of good weapons you don’t know
how to use.”
“Then teach me.”
“That takes time we might not have.”
“You are exhausted, lass.”
“I’ve been exhausted before.” She shrugged.
“I still manage to do what needs to be done.”
“And if Victor has been bitten?”
She stilled. That thought had not occurred
to her. “That is the one person I can’t kill. It would be Jasmine
all over again.”
He resumed stroking her hair. “’Twould not
be easy for me either, yet he is your brother. Leastways, I dinna
ken if I could end Catriona’s life even to free her soul.”
“Free the soul. Huh. That’s a constructive
way of looking at it.”
“I will not ask you to consummate again,
wife,” Lachlan promised. He kissed her on the forehead. “The time
and place will be up to you, as always it has been.”
She drew herself in closer to him and gave
him a hug. She laid her head on his chest. “It will be very soon,”
she whispered. “Preferably after a good night’s sleep.”
“Fair enough.” He squeezed her tighter
against him. “I pray to the saints you slumber well this eve.”
Veronica half-chuckled and half-yawned. She
raised her head to give him a quick kiss then plopped her head back
down on Lachlan’s chest. She fell asleep almost instantly.
She was an idiot.
Veronica cursed under her breath as she
scrambled out of bed and onto the floor. She was well rested all
right, but Lachlan was also long gone. She had hoped to see him
this morning. Actually she had hoped to do more than that. She
hadn’t wanted him to leave for the Campbells without being, as he’d
named it, his wife in truth.
Padding over to the large window between her
chest of drawers and the room’s small table for two, she moved the
animal skin drapes to have a look outside. Black and blue kilted
warriors were practicing their sword fighting skills, but little
else was going on. The sun was shining brightly overhead. She
guessed the time to be slightly past noon. She sighed. Apparently
she’d slept like the dead. And speaking of the dead…
Now that she was wide awake she cursed
herself for letting her husband go to the Campbells without her.
What had she been thinking? Apparently she hadn’t been. Lachlan was
highly trained and very strong, but the infected would be a new
breed to him. It only took one misstep; there were no do-overs.
Veronica closed the drapes and fumbled
inside her chest of drawers until she found one of the
Matrix suits she kept hidden. She’d brought three pairs of
them to the past with her, one of which had been torched upon her
arrival while she’d been unconscious. That left two pairs. They
were both the same skintight, black, faux leather so it didn’t
matter which one she chose. They were normal clothes in 2075 A.D.,
especially for those who trained in the martial arts, but she
realized the suit would turn heads in 1155 A.D. Veronica didn’t
care anymore. Her husband and brother were at Ground Zero and she
was taking no more chances. Lachlan would likely want to wring her
neck, but she was going to the Campbells’ land regardless.
She found her satchel next and pawed through
it to make certain all her weapons were inside it. They were.
Satisfied she was well prepared, she slung the satchel over one
shoulder and determinedly made her way downstairs to the great
hall. Hero greeted her first, looking up from his meal by the
fireplace and wagging his tail in hello. If she hadn’t been in such
a hurry, she would have stopped to pet him. Instead, she mumbled
out a “good boy” and kept going.
Moira and Catriona gasped in unison upon
seeing her, causing the soldiers still partaking of lunch to look
up and over at her. Even the maids stopped serving mead to gape at
her. Veronica came to a halt. She must have looked even more out of
place than she’d assumed she would. Well, she decided, frowning,
too bad. Her gaze sought out and landed on Ramsay. “You will take
me to the Campbells or I’ll go by myself. Either way, I’m
going.”
Ramsay shot up from his seat at the head
table and all but ran to confront her. “You canna do that, milady,”
he forcefully said under his breath upon reaching her. “Lachlan