Forged in Dreams and Magick (Highland Legends #1)(73)

“What of this war with the Romans? How does that fit into your plans?” he asked.

I took a deep breath. He’d be fighting in the war. They all would. A dark menace would descend upon them, scouring the land, threatening them all.

“I don’t have a plan, Velloc. I’m living life one day at a time as any other does. You’re a valiant leader and remarkable warrior. The greatest battle recorded cites victory to the Romans, but without their hold on the land, it’s an empty claim.”

He shook his head again, “No. Isobel, I can’t protect you if you’re not here. Wars exist in every man’s time. I do not know this man, Iain.” He lifted my hands to his mouth, kissing my fingertips. “I trust only this—only you . . . here with me.”

He placed his hands on the metal lid. I put a hand over his, careful not to touch the metal. “Velloc, no one has a guarantee for tomorrow. We live for today. I’m here with you now, and I love you. My purpose beyond that is greater than you, me, or Iain. I need to find out what role I play in the adventure.”

“No. You live for today? Live for right now.” He twisted, tumbling us back onto our bed, lacing his fingers with mine. “I’m on the path with you, holding your hand . . . only me.”

I opened my mouth and his lips silenced my protest, his body calming the fight right out of me. I spread my hands across the lean muscles of his back, pulling his weight down until all I felt and thought about was him.

He was right about one thing. I would live for the now.

*

Shadowy tendrils of fear slithered into my mind. I shot upright. Trace light framed the doorway. I spun around, scanning the room. Our small home was empty.

Velloc . . . and the box . . . were gone.

I scrambled outside and searched the shoreline, the village, and the broch for any sign of him. Sea mist swirled everywhere, shrouding the land in eerie camouflage.

The snort of a horse snapped my head around. Fog curled around a figure wearing a black, hooded cloak. He was seated on a black beast larger than any we had in our herd. His horse reared, whinnying as its hooves clawed the air, and I froze. The stranger cradled the box in his arms.

His animal turned around and charged into the mist. I sprinted after them, only to watch the horse, rider, and box evaporate like a ghostly apparition. Stunned at what I’d just witnessed, I ran straight to the spot where he’d disappeared. Energy sparked through the space they’d occupied and filtered through my body.

I jumped at a shift in the air current to my left, my heart slamming into my chest. Velloc stepped out of the fog. His expression seemed grave but not distressed as he stared at me.

Panic welled up.

My pulse raced.

Nothing made sense.

Constants that I’d clung to in the masquerade of my life crumbled into illusion. My mind had already accepted as fact that the box remained present throughout time, facilitating my travel between my worlds. The greater forces at work transported me from place to place—not the box.

The parameters had suddenly changed with the box vanishing into thin air, my miniscule understanding of everything and everyone surrounding the box made glaringly obvious.

In anger, I shoved Velloc’s chest hard, knocking him back a step. The man I trusted most had betrayed me. The foundation I’d tried so hard to build, to have solid ground beneath me, had been rocked by a singular act.

“How could you? You threaten to take the box from me, and while I’m asleep, you give it to another? Who was he? Why?” I glared at his chest, clenching my jaw, feeling as if my entire being was about to detonate, exploding from my heart out.

His finger hooked my chin up, forcing me to look into his eyes. “I gave no one the box.” His terse words bounced off the ice dam in my mind.

“Riiight. You expect me to believe he just strolled in and stole it from you as we slept. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” As my acid words dripped out of my mouth, they floated into my ears. The impossible had become very plausible in past weeks. Even I had to take a step back and wonder how much more fantastic the journey could get.

He tilted his head to the side, his eyes never straying from mine. “Isobel, it is true. I startled awake to find the box gone. My first thought? The tribe I’d stolen it from had taken it back. I rushed out, alarmed for the safety of our village, armed for a fight, but saw only the one man. As for how he got past us, I have no explanation.”

My gaze drifted down his completely naked body. He gripped a spear in one hand and knife in the other. Velloc’s state of undress and weaponry supported his claim, and relief flooded in, displacing my anger.

I exhaled, crumpling into his chest, feeling defeated. “Velloc, I’m sorry for doubting you.”

He wrapped solid arms around me. “It’s already forgiven, Isobel. I understand why you panicked, but know that my love for you would never allow me to deceive you.”

Velloc was asking for my unwavering trust, and yet we both needed to have it in one another. A soft voice, a plea, left my lips. “Velloc, we have to go to the tribe you stole the box from.” If what he’d said was true, another woman like me would be there. With no other viable lead to follow, foraging along the same route the box had previously taken seemed my only option.

He sighed. “Yes. We do. If I’m to have a happy wife, we do. Drust, however, might have me killed for stealing his box and returning empty-handed, asking again for what I’d pirated. The Lugi don’t handle offenses brought to light very well. Given the risk, my agreement makes me worry that I’ve wandered into a realm of madness.”