Chapter Thirty-One
Lia
Hagen spun around as Lia stepped closer. “Do something, Lia. He is dying.”
Lia strolled over to stand behind Brynja, who was now kneeling opposite him on the other side of his sire. She set her hand on Brynja’s shoulder. “I cannot fix him. I don’t have the ability to do that.”
That was too much for him. He shouted, “You always fix people. You save them. You tell us where to go. You make sure no one dies. Do something. I cannot lose my father. Help me, Lia.”
Hagen stared up at the sky, his hands slippery with his sire’s blood. “Help us, please, God. Someone help him. He cannot die here!”
His father had always been one of the clan’s leaders, he and Uncle Jamie, the two everyone looked up to. Now it was Alasdair, Alick, and Els leading. He thought of his aunts, Kyla, Maeve, and Elizabeth, who all adored their baby brother.
Hagen swiped angrily at the tears on his cheeks. His father’s eyes were closed, his color pale. He looked defeated. Weak. Growing weaker by the moment.
His father loved to lead Clan Grant into battle, riding one of the Midnights, carrying a banner, bellowing the Grant war whoop when they came home after a win.
This was not a win. One of the worst losses ever.
“Lia, help me, please.” His voice came out in a whisper.
Lia said, “You can save him, Hagen. You don’t need me.”
“How? Tell me. I’ll move all of this isle if I must, just tell me what to do. I’d do anything for my father. Please.”
Lia leaned over and said, “Set both hands on his wound.”
“What? I did this before. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it’s too large a wound.”
“Do it, Hagen,” Brynja whispered, locking her gaze on his. “Do what Lia said. Trust her. I do.”
He did what she said, trusting the faery lass with all of his being. He didn’t know what else to do.
“You must believe in each other for this to work,” Lia said, her gaze going from his face to hers.
“What?” Brynja looked over her shoulder at the lass as confused as he was. “I don’t understand.”
“You two are a special power together. Alone, neither of you can fix him. Together you can.” Lia squeezed Brynja’s shoulder. “Put your hands on Hagen’s and look into his eyes.”
She did as Lia said, tears now rolling down her cheeks. “Hagen, I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either, just do what she says, Bry.”
Lia continued, “You must be calm and believe in your power together. If you do, your hands together will heal him.”
Brynja placed her hands on top of Hagen’s and gazed into his eyes.
Something intense happened.
A surge of power moved through her hands into his and into his father’s belly, a force so strong that both of their hands shook.
“Keep your hands locked. Don’t let go,” Lia shouted.
Alaric came up behind them and whispered, “Holy Heavens.”
Lia barked, “Do not interrupt them, Alaric.”
Still locked on Brynja’s gaze, he saw something there he hadn’t seen before.
A calmness, a confidence he didn’t have, but she did.
She smiled at him, sending him a more powerful message than words could ever do, and dark clouds filled the sky just before a lightning bolt shot down and struck behind his father, shaking the ground underneath them, thunder rolling all around them.
Lia yelled over the din of the storm, “That is a sign of how powerful your father’s spirit is. Keep going. It’s working. You’re doing it.”
Hagen kept his hands on his father, Brynja’s hands still locking onto his, praying this would work. His hands tingled and shook, and he let out a large roar from something happening that he didn’t understand, but then he looked down at his father, and his eyes were open.
“You can let go now, both of you,” Lia said. “Well done.” She hugged Brynja from behind. “Remember this, you two together have a power unlike any other. Never forget it.”
His father asked, “What the hell did you two do to me? I saw that lightning, and your hands. The roar of thunder. Something coursed through me from your hands, something as potent and intense as that bolt that landed behind me.” He looked down at his wound, blood still everywhere, but the skin, while not completely healed, was bound together.
Alaric asked, “What the hell was that? That lightning looked like it hit you. And it came out of nowhere. No rain, no nothing. Just one bolt and the thunder. And you two. What you did. What she said…”
Hagen said, “Hush. We cannot deal with that right now. Forget it until we get my father home. I don’t want everyone else to know. Just say Lia helped for now.”
Alaric nodded. “Agreed. We get him home. Let’s go. The men are all dead except Dugan and that other one.”
Brynja cursed. “Sholto. I’ll take care of him later.”
Lia pointed toward the boat. “You cannot wait. Get Connor home. Chief Grant, your work is not done yet. You have much time left.”
Artan approached with two other men. “We can lift him. He’s a big man.” Then he looked at Connor and said, “What the hell? What happened? That thunder was the largest I’ve ever heard.”
“I don’t know what it was, but it healed Da.
Lia. It was Lia.” Hagen didn’t dare mention his hands and Brynja’s, that together they’d healed his father.
It sounded as daft as anything he had ever heard.
He’d talk about it later. Now he wished to get his father the hell out of there.
“We need to get him to Brenna. Lia said to hurry.”
Merryn and Broc followed. “We’ll help carry him.”
His father sat up. “No need. I can walk. Slowly, but I can walk if you’ll help me up.”
Hagen and Alaric got his father to his feet, and his father said, “Do not be upset, Alaric, but I’d like to have Brynja on one side and Hagen on the other.”
“Understood, Uncle.” Alaric stepped aside and Brynja took his place.
They made their way back to the boat, all quiet.
Hagen looked back over his shoulder. “Where did she go?”
Broc asked, “Who?”
“Lia. She was here with us.”
Broc said, “I never saw her.”
“She’s gone,” Brynja whispered. “She went down the beach.”
“Da? Do you feel healed on the inside?”
“I do. I feel verra weak, but the pain is nearly gone. I can’t manage a horse on my own, but I can ride. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Artan said, “You bled worse than anyone I’ve ever seen. That will weaken anyone. How did you heal so quickly?”
Alaric said, “I can’t believe it myself, but I saw it with my own eyes. That surely was a death blow. You should be dead, Uncle Connor.”
His father looked at him and said, “It was the lightning. Lia and the lightning.”
It was as if his father had overheard all she’d said, but he was telling them to keep it quiet. He nodded at Hagen and squeezed his shoulder.
Hagen was more confused than ever, but he had his beloved father walking next to him. He and Brynja had healed his father, with Lia’s help.
But no one would believe them.
And what kind of power did he and Brynja really have? He peeked over at her and winked.
Brynja smiled.
Hagen was in love. There was no doubt in his mind now. They were meant for each other.