I stand and pull up my pant leg again so he can see what I’m talking about. Lachlan squats down to stare at where the injury was, now a mere pink line running the length of my calf.
“Key,” he whispers, reaching out gently to trace the line. “It’sa miracle ye could even stand. Why dinna ye tell me?” He looks up from where he’s crouched, his face contorted somewhere between anger and worry.
“We didn’t have the time for another injury,” I whine. “We’ve got to take care of the stone and the one in Ishtar and get back. Tane could need us. The bridge could open. Or worse, our enemies could be attacking the humans at this very moment.”
In one fluid motion, Lachlan stands, towering over me. “Aye—but none of that matters if ye are nae here.” His brows lowers and I feel like a child being scolded.
I stare down at my healed leg. Lachlan grabs my chin and tilts it up so my eyes meet his.
“This realm needs ye—I need ye. We canna win this war without ye, Key. Ye ha’ to take better care of yourself. If you’re injured, say something. You’re worried? Say something. Need a minute to breathe and work through everything that’s being thrown at ye every second of every day? I think we can allow ye that. But ye ha’ got to stop being so reckless in the name of time.” He presses my hand against his chest, holding me to him. I feel the strong, steady beat of his heart. “I am here with ye. Right here beside ye, and ye dinna ha’ to do any of this alone.”
He’s right. And there’s nothing in what he said that I can argue about.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He shakes his head before pressing his forehead against mine. “Don’t be sorry. Just let me in. I am here for ye. Nothing in this world matters more to me than ye.”
I tilt my face up, pressing my lips against his. Warmth pools low in my belly and I pull away. “I know you said we hadn’t established things between us, but you should know—you are what I’m fighting for. You are my future.”
He places a lingering kiss on my forehead. “Ye are my past, present, and future, Key.”
His admission settles within me, calming my mind, andsoothing the longing I feel. A smile parts my lips as I gaze at him.
“A guard dropped this off while I was on the ship.” He holds out a piece of folded parchment. Taking the letter from him, I read Mathilda’s scrawled note:
Tane is awake and has already asked about his duties.
The rune is still flickering.
Luna is being annoying about the books and something about a table.
No word from Mina.
And I miss you.
All my love, Mathilda
I look up and smile, clutching the note to my chest. They’re just words scrawled on paper, but I desperately needed to read them, to feel some sense of normalcy.
“I told them ye would respond when we make it back to the ship. Do ye need a minute, or do ye want to figure out how to move that stone to the mountains?” Lachlan asks, after I tuck the note into my leathers.
We decided our best bet was to get the rope around the crystal and use the horses to pull it from the water. But the hard part came in finding our way from the water’s edge to the mountain cave.
We traveled most of the way by the light of the full moon. But as we reach the thick of the forest, the heavy canopy of leaves blocks most of the moonlight. Lachlan hopped off his horse to carry a torch.
“We should ha’ just waited until morning, woman,” he grumbles from his leading position.
“Why? You’re doing an excellent job, Captain.”
An owl hoots in the distance, and the crystal makes a sliding screeching sound when it scrapes against rocks that protrude from the otherwise smooth dirt path.
“We canna hardly see anything because it’s so dark andI’m hungry,” he grinds out.
I snicker. “Want me to ask the tiny eyes for another apple? Because I feel great.”
Lachlan freezes and the horses flick their ears. “They’re still out here?”
I glance around from my saddle, looking for the tiny pricks of light. I don’t see them, but I can still feel them somehow. “Yes.”
