Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Skye listened intently as the footsteps approached, praying it was only Keir returning with Taran and Finn for some unknown reason instead of meeting them at the stairs.
But there were too many. Four sets at least, maybe five, their rhythm purposeful and unhurried. The confident gait of men—too many men—who knew exactly where they were going.
And then a voice. Low and self-assured, giving a murmured command.
Austin!
She knew that voice too well. He sounded pleased. Almost eager. And that told her everything.
He had come to collect her.
Beside her, Noah shifted, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword as he moved to place himself between her and the approaching sounds. But Skye stepped forward first, positioning herself in front of him before he could finish.
She felt his shock in the sudden stillness behind her, heard his sharp intake of breath. His hand caught her arm and he pulled her back, gently but without hesitation, tucking her behind him. “Stay there.”
“No.” She moved to his side. “It’s me he’s come for. Let me speak first.”
The combined glow of several torches rounded the corner and filled the narrow opening, almost blinding after the dimness of their single torch. Skye shielded her eyes as shapes solidified within the glow. Austin, followed by four guards, quickly drew their swords as Noah did the same.
They stopped just inside the opening with Austin holding his torch high enough to illuminate the full scene before him.
Something unguarded crossed his face as his gaze moved from Skye to Noah to the limp body of the incapacitated guard.
Not just surprise. A cold and sudden fury that sharpened every angle of his features.
“Well,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet. “This is unexpected.”
Skye saw his eyes lock on Noah’s sword, on his protective stance, on the way his body shielded hers, and recognized the significance of the muscle pulling tight across his jaw.
“I came to see if my future bride had come to her senses.” He shifted his gaze to Skye. “Instead, I find her practically in the arms of the man her father expressly forbade her from seeing.” He clicked his tongue. “I’m disappointed, Skye. Though I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I am not your bride.” The words left her with a clarity that surprised even her. “And I never will be.”
Austin’s eyes hardened. He gestured to the guards, who fanned out to fill the width of the opening, steel gleaming in the unsteady light. “You seem to misunderstand your position. Both of you.”
Noah’s grip on his sword tightened. “Let her pass, Austin.”
“Or what?” Austin’s laugh bounced off the stone walls. “You’ll fight your way through five fully-armed men in a space hardly wide enough to swing your blade? Brave, I’ll grant you. Reckless and stupid, certainly. But brave.”
“I’ve fought worse odds.”
“Have you?” Austin took a measured step forward, studying Noah with open contempt.
“The Keeper wants his daughter returned. He wants you and your entire family removed from the Citadel by dawn, which, by the way, is almost upon us. Those are my orders. Stand down before you force me to do something that might upset Skye.”
Skye felt Noah tense beside her and quickly moved between them, turning her back on Austin to face Noah. The fear in her chest clawed at her ribs but she refused to let it show. “Don’t. Not like this.”
“I’m not handing you over to him.” Noah’s voice came low and fierce, his eyes burning into hers. “I told you. I won’t leave without you.”
“And I told you some things matter more than what we want.” She held Noah’s gaze, willing him not to react.
“Austin!” Taran’s sharp warning cut through the standoff. “I suggest ye rethink yer stance on this.”
Skye spun to face the familiar voice, her indrawn breath matching both Austin’s and Noah’s. In the intensity of the confrontation, no one had heard the three men approach.
In that split-second, she witnessed Austin’s composure crack before he quickly gathered himself, regained his haughty facade and turned to face Taran, Finn and Keir, standing at his guard’s backs, swords drawn, positioned to cut off any retreat.
He quickly shifted, angling his body to make sure his back wasn’t exposed to them, or Noah.
The guards shifted uneasily, their attention switching between Austin and the new arrivals.
Skye knew any show of force in this confined space would be disastrous. Not everyone would leave here alive. There had to be a way to stop this. She couldn’t allow anyone to die today. Not for her.
“Dinnae make another disastrously wrong decision,” Taran warned. “Take this chance tae make things right.”
“Taran,” Austin spat. “I should have guessed you’d be lurking somewhere.”
“’Tisnae lurking when ye’re rescuing family.” Taran took a step closer, his sword held with the casual ease of a man who’d spent a lifetime wielding one. “And that includes Skye.”
Austin’s laugh held no humor. “Family? Since when did she become family to you?”
“Since she risked everything tae save our daughter. Since she stood up tae her father for the truth when it would have been easier tae look away. Since she chose what was right over what was easy.” Taran’s voice dropped, all traces of lightness gone. “Something ye’ve never had the courage tae do.”
Skye saw something crack behind Austin’s careful mask, barely perceptible, as if Taran’s words had found a wound Austin had thought long healed.
“Don’t speak to me of courage,” Austin bit back, his voice rough. “You have no idea what I’ve survived to get here.”
“I ken well enough. Paige told me. She told me everything. The foster homes. The broken promises. The system that failed ye both.”
Taran lowered his sword a fraction, not as a concession but as a sign he was willing to talk before fighting.
“But she also told me about the brother who used tae hold her hand during thunderstorms. The brother who swore tae come back for her, nae matter what. The boy she waited years for, that she crossed time itself tae find. ’Tis she who has shown courage.
Nae ye, who doesnae care for any beyond yerself. ”
Austin’s jaw tightened as something flickered across his face. Pain, perhaps. Or the ghost of it.
“That boy is dead.”
“I dinnae believe that. Neither does Paige. Even now, after everything ye’ve done, she hasnae given up on ye. She never will. She loves unconditionally. ’Tis who she is.”
The guards shifted, exchanging uncertain glances. Skye noted their discomfort, the way their grips seemed unsure on their weapons as the conversation turned personal. They’d obviously come for a simple retrieval, not a family reckoning.
“Take this chance while ’tis open tae ye,” Taran pressed, his voice rough with emotion he rarely showed. “No’ tae undo the past. Ye cannae do that. But tae prove the man Paige believes ye are still exists somewhere inside the one ye’ve become.”
Austin’s sneer came as his entire demeanor hardened.
“You’re asking me to throw away a lifetime of work.
Everything that’s now within my reach. Wealth, power, influence.
For what? Another life of scraping by? No, thank you.
In the world I came from I was a cockroach.
Here,” he straightened his spine, “I’ll be a king.
” His gaze slid to Skye with a possessive edge that made her skin crawl.
“And you will be my queen. The Keeper has made promises to me. Very attractive promises I have no intention of turning my back on.”
Skye’s fists clenched at her sides. “I can never belong to you.” Determination underscored every word.
“Never love you. Never accept you.” She held his gaze, refusing to let him see how much his casual claim over her life revolted her.
“Please, Austin. Let us go. You can still have everything else. Just show us the portal so we can get Emily the help she needs. Give Paige that much.”
The coldness in his eyes when he looked at her made her stomach clench. “My bargain with your father has already been struck, and you’re part of it. You’re not going anywhere.”
“If this world is truly what ye want, what ye choose, fine.” Taran spoke again, quieter now.
“I willnae pretend tae understand it. But ye can still give Paige something. She loves Emily. She willnae survive losing her. Let them go through the portal. If ye cannae give her the brother she adores, help her keep the daughter she loves. Give her this one gift tae make up for all the lost hopes and broken promises.”
“And risk The Keeper’s wrath?” Austin scoffed. “Everything I’ve built, just to help the people he’s expressly forbidden me to help? You think any of you are worth sacrificing everything I’ve worked for?” His laugh told them exactly where he stood.
Skye stared at him, the cold reality of his ambition hitting her with full force. Emily’s death, Noah’s, or any of his family would only serve Austin’s purpose. Taran had obviously hoped Austin’s feelings for Paige might be a bargaining chip, but that illusion had been destroyed.
If any feelings Austin might still have for his sister weren’t enough, what was?
Skye could see Noah’s frustration building. Recognized the belligerence in Austin’s face and the inevitability in Taran’s. Talk wouldn’t last much longer. If she didn’t stop this right now, before all restraint was gone, someone she loved would die right here in this cold dungeon.
But how?
The answer landed in Skye’s mind with such terrible clarity it stole her breath.
The rightness of it was as true and strong as if it had been waiting there all along, patient and inevitable.
She realized all those cherished stories in the pages of her beloved books had somehow helped her prepare for this moment.
She hadn’t known then that she could love anyone the way she loved Noah.
The way she loved his family as her own.
And now she knew without the slightest doubt what she must do.