Page 81 of Desiring the Highland Laird
Evie tipped her head to one side. “Understand? Does that mean you believe in the prophecy? You believe I’m from the future?”
“I do,” he said.
She thought she would feel some relief over hearing that admission come from him but she didn’t. Now that he believed her, now that he knew, what did that mean for her? She fought the urge to look at the stone on the table beside the bed and instead focused on him. There was more he hadn’t shared with her.
“What else?” she heard herself ask. Though she had tried to remain strong, her words wobbled.
“She said war is coming.” His gaze flickered to the tapestries. As if on impulse, he rose and walked toward them. She turned and watched as he pointed to the one with the three women. “These are the three goddesses: Moira, Bridget, and Athea. They are the Triple Goddess.”
Ah, so this Moira was a time goddess.
“And this.” He pointed to the army moving toward Moira standing on the hilltop. “The MacDonald clan. They want the Chronos Stone.”
“The Chronos Stone?” She moved from the bed and joined him, soaking up the warmth from his body as she stood next to him. She folded her arms, clutching the edges of the blanket.
“Aye,” he said, his voice low and slow. “That’s what she said they called it. They broke it into three pieces—the night of theShattering—to keep it from the MacDonald.” He turned to her then. “She said the MacLeods and the Sinclairs were there that night. They pledged a vow to her—that the clans would forever protect the stone and keep it safe.”
She stared at him a long moment as her mouth went bone dry. She recalled something Hamish had said to her. “One divine destiny.”
“Aye.”
They stared at each other, the only sound that of the flickering fire. The truth pounded through her. Her destiny was forged in the promise of an ancient clan she had never known existed—until now.
“I was meant to come here,” she said then.
Nodding, he said, “I believe ye were.”
Her heart thumped a wild beat as she lifted her gaze and met his eyes. The truth flickered deep within those blue depths. The truth he had finally acknowledged.
“And I was meant to find you.” Her voice was but a whisper.
Again, he nodded.
It was a deep understanding that pounded through her, too. If she was meant to come here and meant to find Callum, then she was meant to stay here. The thought of returning home faded from her mind in that instant.
“Together we have to protect the stone.” She looked at the piece wrapped in the handkerchief on the bedside table. “But what about the other pieces?”
“I cannae say,” he said, “but it seems to me they’ll arrive here in the past.”
Her head snapped up. A wild spurt of hope shot through her. “Then that would mean my sisters…”
Her words drifted away. It was definitely too much to hope her sisters were meant to travel back in time, too. That meant at some point she would be reunited with them.
“Aye, and my brothers.”
She lifted a brow in question. “The six of us?” she asked, thinking of her and her two sisters.
“We are the ones destined to put the pieces back together and protect the stone.”
A coldness settled over her as she stood there watching the firelight flicker over the hard chiseled features of his face. If that were true, then her sisters—both Chloe and Brianna—would likely arrive in the past. She did not understand why she and her sisters had to travel back in time to help the MacLeod brothers. Where were the Sinclairs of this time? Why were they unable to help? It was a question she was burning to ask Moira. She wished she had been with Callum when he saw her.
If her sisters came into the past, then what? How would she explain it all to them? Would they believe? Callum was a tough customer. It had taken a visit from the goddess herself to make him believe in the prophecy.
Chloe would adapt with ease after the initial shock wore off. But Brianna? She wanted to laugh out loud to think of her beach bum sister in the rough and rugged Highlands. She would dislike the weather. She would dislike not having the comfort of modern conveniences. Most of all, she would dislike having to be with her and Chloe.
And then something else occurred to her. Bruce MacDonald had told her it had called to her. Was there some mystical silent echo the stone emitted to call them to their destiny?
“That’s why MacDonald came here, isn’t it? They think the stone is here.”
