Page 10 of Only a Breath Away

They weren’t planning to rape and torture me, I was a part of their trap… I did not like that one bit. I returned to the bed, shivering, and pulled the blanket up to my chin.

I was a lure for Magnus.

I stared at the underside of the canopy, considering every scenario I could think of — none of this situation was good. And the worst part was, I couldn’t think of any reason for them to keep James alive.

It was so freaking cold. I wrapped the coarse, stiff, smelly blanket tighter around me. But then I felt it, or heard it, though it wasn’t actually there — a warm breath beside my ear.

CHAPTER 10 - HAYLEY

Finally, I was done with my rehab and released to the wider world. I walked out the doors to the parking lot, lugging my bag, and there, leaning on a signpost outside, was my husband. “Hey babe.”

“Hello, m’bhean ghlan, how are ye on this fine day?”

“I am awesome, glad to be going home. I have to continue to ‘work the program’ though, I promised.”

“Aye, ye will hae naethin’ but water and soda and juice from now on, ye ken? If ye think on it they are all the best drinks anyway.”

“That’s kind of you to say.”

We bumped fists, shook, thumbwar, bumped our elbows, ran a hand through our hair, did a chicken flap, wiggled our hips, hooked our fingers around each other’s, waved them up and down, bird-fly-away, and said, “Och aye,” with jazz hands. I had taught him the handshake during visiting hours one day when we were bored. He thought it was hilarious.

“Where are we headed to…?”

“The thirteenth century unless Emma answers her phone.”

I made a call.

Emma picked up.

“Hey! Are you here in Florida—?”

Emma said, “No, listen, we’re at the northern safe house, come, we’ll talk about it.”

Fraoch and I found a clearing in the woods by the rehab center and jumped to a small field in the woods by Katie’s grandparents’ lake house in Maine.

CHAPTER 11 - MAGNUS

The feeling of the apparition left, the space beside me had gone quiet and uncharged, so I climbed intae bed, pulled the covers up, and adjusted the thin pillow. But then I felt the presence once more; twas on the side of the bed where Kaitlyn would normally lie.

I concentrated on that spot, listenin’, tryin’ tae understand what was happenin’. There was a slight shimmer, a barely perceptible coolness. I wondered at it — what was happening here? Was Kaitlyn beside me in the room? Had I lost my mind?

Was she dead and her ghost in bed beside me tae torment me?

But it dinna feel frightenin’. It felt as if the presence needed tae be comforted. It seemed alone and lost and cold, much like myself. I was overwhelmed by the need tae protect it.

I was reminded of Barb sayin’ that Kaitlyn and I were entangled and that our strands had become woven taegether. I worried that I had unwoven our strands.

Because I would never ken how tae re-weave them again.

I had a vessel, but I dinna want tae leave without Kaitlyn. I was expectin’ her here. What if… Och, I dinna want tae be stuck here in the thirteenth century, a king in a land that I dinna want tae rule. I had gained the throne tae send a message tae m’family: bring me home.

They had come, Quentin, m’bairns, Kaitlyn, but I had sent them home again, promisin’ tae join them later, and now I wondered at this… how had I become left behind?

Nae one had returned. We dinna hae a contingency for this.

Och, I was a tragedy.

I rolled ontae m’side and placed my hands intae the space beside me. I held ontae nothingness, and tae keep myself calm and strong, I concentrated on m’breaths.

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