Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
TORIN
If anyone ever asked me what terror smelled like, I’d say wet earth and loch water and the sharp tang of magick burning the air.
We didn’t celebrate on the shore.
There was no cheering, no relieved laughter. Just a stunned, shivery silence as the loch went still and the last ripples from that … thing faded into the dark.
Then Sophie dragged in a breath and clapped the flat of her dirk against her thigh.
“Right,” she said, voice steady. “Retreat. Now. We regroup at the castle. Faelan, how’s Zara?”
Faelan swayed on her feet but lifted her chin. “Bone’s knitted enough she can be moved. I’ll need more time to finish it.” Her voice was hoarse, like every word scraped her throat.
“I’ll take her.” I tightened my grip around Zara’s shoulders. She felt light in my arms, too light. My heart was still hammering so hard my hands shook.
Zara grimaced. “I can probably walk now.”
“You absolutely can’t,” Faelan snapped. “Unless you want it to heal crooked and I have to re-break it. Don’t test me, woman.”
Zara’s mouth flattened. “Fine.”
The wolf huffed at all of us, then trotted ahead. I gave it a wide berth. A squirrel familiar was one thing, but a wolf? I wasn’t about to interfere with that. Mitch stuck close to Zara’s dangling hand, nose bumping her fingers every few steps as if checking she was still in one piece.
And Liora—
My gaze snagged on her. Mud streaked her jeans and jumper. A smear of blood marred her forearm. There was a cut at her temple I hadn’t noticed in the chaos, and she was moving stiffly, favoring her left side.
Everything in my body ached to go to her, but first, I had to get Zara somewhere Faelan could work properly.
Archie frantically waved us towards his lorry. Hilda had the side door flung open. Archie grimaced as we neared the truck, his white hair wild, thick eyebrows drawn together in concern. Hilda hovered close to him, her hand on his shoulder.
“Put Zara in here,” Archie barked. “Faelan, in with us.”
I eased Zara into the back seat of the lorry, careful of her leg. Faelan climbed in after her with a soft groan, already reaching for her bag of supplies.
“We’ll be getting your healing tea on for you,” Hilda said sharply, pointing at Faelan. “You’ll not be taking this pain into yourself.”
Faelan managed a tired smile. “Aye, ma’am.”
I let my hand rest on Zara’s shoulder for a beat. “You all right, Zara?”
She gave me a crooked smile. “Feels like someone played knucklebones with my tibia, but other than that? Grand.” Mitch hopped in next to her and she threaded her hand into his fur.
I snorted, some of the tightness in my chest easing.
I stepped back and shut the door, banged twice on the side to let Archie know we were good, then spun around, already searching.
Liora stood a little apart from the others, arms wrapped around herself, staring at the loch.
My stomach twisted.
She looked like she was folded in on herself.
“Liora,” I said, softly.
She startled like she’d forgotten anyone else existed, then turned. Her eyes were too wide, lashes clumped with tears. My heart broke open.
I didn’t care that she’d asked me for space. For once, I was thinking about my needs. And what I needed was her close.
I strode over, closing the distance in half a dozen steps, and without really thinking about it, I scooped her up.
She let out a startled squeak, hands flying to my shoulders.
“Torin!”
“You’re coming with me,” I muttered, hoisting her against my chest like she weighed next to nothing, all soft curves and trembling muscles. “I’m not letting you walk one more bloody step after that.”
Her fingers fisted in my shirt. “I can walk,” she protested weakly. “You already carried one of us today.”
“I’ve got two arms, haven’t I? And if you think I’m letting you limp along behind like an afterthought after you just flung yourself down a ravine for your sister, you’re dafter than I thought.”
Her breath hitched. “I didn’t—I mean, of course I did. It’s Zara.”
“Aye, it is.” Emotion burned the back of my throat. I dipped my head, pressing my mouth to her damp hair for the briefest of moments. “You scared the absolute shite out of me, lass.”
She went very still.
“I’m fine,” she said after a beat, too quickly. “Really. You don’t need to—”
Something wet landed on my arm.
Blood.
I swore under my breath. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s nothing,” she mumbled.
“Nothing, my arse.”
Bracken appeared out of nowhere, chittering furiously at me like this was somehow my fault. I ignored him.
I followed the group as we all loped up the lane toward the castle, Gloam keeping pace at our side, while a crow flew over our heads.
“I’m fine,” Liora said again, quieter now.
I barely glanced down at her, just needing one of these magickal women to see to her injuries. “You’re bleeding on my jumper, lass. I wouldn’t call that fine. And I can feel you shaking.”
“I nearly watched my sister get trampled by demon water horses and then a dragon or whatever that was tried to storm out of the loch,” she said, voice wobbling. “Of course I’m shaking.”
Fair point.
I cupped the side of her face, thumb brushing just under the cut at her temple. She flinched, then relaxed into it, eyes closing for a heartbeat.
“I’ve got you,” I said quietly. “All right? I know things are … difficult. Between you and Zara. Between you and me.” My chest tightened, but I forced myself to keep going. “But I’m not going anywhere. Not after tonight. Not ever, unless you kick me out yourself.”
Her lashes fluttered. For a second, something like longing flashed across her face, raw and bright.
Then she swallowed it back down.
“Let’s just get to the castle.”
I wanted to push. To demand she look at me properly. To tell me what was breaking her apart inside.
Instead, I pressed a kiss to her forehead, gentle, unable not to touch her.
“Soon,” I murmured. “We’re going to talk. You and me.”
She didn’t answer.
But her hand cupped my wrist, fingers tightening for half a second before she let go.
It was enough to keep me breathing. Because, this woman, this brave, beautiful lass, was my heart.
I love her.
Over the last few days, all I’d thought about was her and her pain.
I’d missed her laughter too, her light, but I’d also just missed being with her in silence as we walked the woods.
I just needed to figure out how to convince her that I wasn’t going anywhere.
Picking up my pace, I followed the beleaguered crowd up the hill.
MacAlpine Castle had seen its fair share of gatherings over the years, but I doubted it had ever hosted one quite like this. The castle loomed against the now-dark sky, its stone walls glowing warm with light. It should have felt comforting, but it didn’t.
It felt like we were limping back to a fortress between sieges.
Archie parked as close to the back entrance as he could manage. The moment the truck stopped, Hilda took charge.
“Right, all of you, inside,” she ordered. “Don’t track half the loch across my floors. Wipe your boots.”
We obeyed instinctually as we followed everyone down the hall and into a large lounge.
I carried Liora straight through to a couch and looked up.
“She’s hurt too. Can I lay her down? She’s bleeding.”
At that, the group turned, reanimating as they realized someone else was hurt, and Lia and Shona broke away, coming to hover by where I cradled Liora against my chest.
“Here,” Hilda murmured, directing me toward a worn leather settee near the hearth. “Lay her down there.”
I did, easing Liora onto the cushions. She grunted but didn’t complain.
Faelan looked up from where she hovered over Zara on another couch.
“Do you need me?”
“No, we’ve got this. We’ll let you know,” Lia said, and Shona nudged me gently aside, to murmur quietly with Liora. I grimaced as Liora tilted her head and revealed a sharp wound at the side of her head, just above her ear. Her hair was matted and thick with blood.
“May I?” I glanced over to see a man I hadn’t met yet, in hospital scrubs, come to stand by the chair.
“Where did you come from?” I asked, squinting at him.
“I’m Dr. Luch Carmichael,” the man said, bending over the settee.
“Wulver,” Liora whispered, her eyes going bright. “Thank you.”
I glanced in confusion between the two as they shared silent communication before it dawned on me just what I was seeing.
Luch had been with us down in the gully.
Just not in this form.
Before my mind could even process the wildness of it all, he pushed Liora’s hair gently aside and took a look.
“I’ll need to clean this up to get a better look,” Luch murmured. “Anywhere else?”
“I think just scrapes, a slice on my calf, and a really bruised backside,” Liora admitted.
Shona left and returned with a tin. Shona’s plaits were coming loose, her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes still a bit too wide from what we’d just seen on the loch.
“I’ve got a poultice that’ll help with the scrapes,” she said, already unscrewing a tin. “And a comfrey-and-calendula salve for the deeper cuts.”
“That’ll help.”
“And I’ve got a regular first aid kit if you want it,” Hilda said from behind her, brandishing a large plastic box.
Luch took the first aid kit while Shona crouched at Liora’s side, ordering her to roll up the sleeves of her jumper. I winced at the sight of the bruises already forming on her pale skin, and jagged pink scratches that looked painful.
Shona took one arm gently, rubbing it with a warm, damp cloth, then smoothed the cool green paste over the worst of the grazes. A fresh, earthy smell filled the air—crushed leaves and something floral.
“Oooh,” Liora breathed. “That’s nice.”
“It’ll sting less in a minute,” Shona said. “You’ll be scabbed now, but by morning, this should take a good bit of the ache out.”
“You did good, you know,” I said, leaning closer to her.
Liora’s gaze dropped. “Did I?” she whispered.
I wanted to shake her. Kiss her. Wrap her in blankets and never let anything sharp touch her again.