“Mayhap I provided the satchel.” She shook her head. “But the blade, such as it was when it found her, was of its own design.”
I had no chance to inquire about that further before I was back alongside Aspen’s inner beast again, seeing through her eyes as she exited the castle, and I was astounded by the path before her.
“I have been here,” I exclaimed, seeing her ahead of me now in a flowing white gown that appeared red when cast in the dying sun alongside thick red autumn foliage. “’Tis her as she was then...”
“What is she doing?” Lucas prompted when I struggled to speak.
“Running away from him and coming back to me,” I managed, battling with my emotions as the vision I’d had moments before Aspen arrived at my castle flashed in my mind, and I saw myself flying after her on horseback and then scooping her up. “We were racing toward each other no matter what it cost us.”
I no sooner said it before the memory snapped shut, and I saw through her eyes again as she traveled down the path toward a towering aspen that appeared aglow in the setting sun.
“The verra tree she was named for,” I murmured, sure of it.
“And ‘tis still there,” my mother said softly. “As if it waited all this time for her.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant until Flame shot out ahead and sniffed around the base of the tree before abruptly sitting beside it rather than continuing after what he’d been looking for. Instead, a single harmless flame rolled over him, sizzled over the ground beside him, then wisped away at a particular spot on the trunk, hinting that whatever he had found wasn't meant for him but someone else.
“How intriguing,” Lilias murmured, not sounding all that shocked as Aspen headed that way, making me wonder just howmuch Dugal's wife knew. If that portrait had been Aspen’s father, and he somehow traveled to the future, that meant they were half-sisters. Just because he was dragon didn’t mean all his daughters would have been.
“Oh my God,” Aspen whispered, crouching at the location Flame had pointed out. “That’s it!”
“Och,” I exclaimed when I saw what she was looking at. “’Tis her spiral carved in the wood at the base of the tree.” Shaking my head, I looked from Lucas to my parents, dumbfounded. “The verra same one I carved into my bed years ago, and that brought her to my doorstep now.”
I narrowed my eyes as Aspen peered closer, spying something before brushing away the leaves. A wave of intense emotion rolled over me when I read the simple words carved beneath it.
For our Yesteryear.
“My love,” she whispered, her vision blurring with tears. She pulled out the Viking Sword Turned Rustic Knife that undoubtedly mimicked a blade stolen from the Sutherland kitchens and held its tip to the words. There could be no question it was the same blade she had carved those words with in another life.
“She carved this whenever she found a few moments alone because she missed me so much,” I said, knowing everyone followed me now, thanks to the blade and our connection. “When we were but wee bairns, she began calling our time together our yesteryear. A whimsical place made up first of our friendship and then our eventual love. A nickname of sorts that only we understood.”
“And the symbol?” my mother wondered.
“She drew it in my palm before she went to the Sutherlands in that life, having decided it was best for our clan if it meant lendingstrength to our people and keeping the peace,” I said softly, fighting another wave of emotion because I could almost feel her tracing the pattern on my skin as her luminous eyes met mine. Could almost hear her voice as she said, “Whatever happens, this symbol will always keep me strong and lead me back to ye and our Yesteryear. To the memories we made together.”
I felt a tear roll down Aspen’s cheek as she remembered that moment as vividly as I did. As she felt the immense love we had shared and tried our hardest to give up, but in the end, there was no hope for it. Fate had brought us back together, and she felt it as profoundly as I did, the tear rolling over her chin until it landed on the blade and connected us once more despite the distance and enemy territory.
“Broderick?”she said tentatively into my mind, her dragon brushing against mine.
“Aye,”I replied, never so happy and relieved to feel our connection again. One I knew was protected by the Viking blade this time.“I’m here and love ye as fiercely now as I did then. No matter what happens, I’m right here, lass, by yer side, whether there in person or not.”
“Thank you,”she whispered telepathically, her relief overwhelming. She was about to say more, but Lilias spoke first, letting her know they should return to the castle and prepare for dinner.
Like Aspen, I sensed Dugal’s wife knew far more than she let on but kept quiet for fear of being overheard, either aloud or telepathically. One thing seemed apparent, though.
She was on our side.
“Yet I would tread carefully,” my father warned, shaking his head when I caught a good look at the portrait of Aspen's father as she and Lilias headed back to her chamber. Better still, my fathersaw it and narrowed his eyes. “I’m surprised that still hangs in Sutherland Castle because ‘tis none other than Malcolm Sutherland. He should have been laird instead of Dugal’s father.” He shook his head. “’Twas said he was driven out by his wee daughter’s magic, which is saying something, given he was a truly powerful dragon.”
“Driven out byLilias?” I exclaimed, trying to make sense of that. If anything, she was known as a timid lass who cowered to her husband and Elspet, her mother-by-marriage. “And where did such a mighty dragon go?”
“Nobody knows,” my mother said, referring to Aspen and her sisters inthe twenty-first century, all supposedly sired by the same man. “But it seems mayhap we’re beginning to get a better idea.”
As it happened, the plot only thickened from there when my attention was drawn back to Aspen and what she learned as the night wore on.
Astounding things that would truly test all my noble intentions.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
