“Theo? Is it… Could ye have…?”
Hope swelled in Lavina’s breast. With each step she took, the figure grew clearer.
Hope ballooned to joy and joy to utter astonishment as she noticed it was Theo climbing over the rocks and beams of wood that once were the council chambers.
“Theo!” she screamed and darted toward him.
She didn’t care that the rough rocks cut her skin as she climbed over. She didn’t care that every inch of her was covered in soot and dirt.
“Oh, me word, what did he do to ye?” she gasped when Theo dropped to his knees.
The man looked as if he’d been dragged through the mires and bogs of the seven rings of Hades. There wasn’t an inch that wasn’t covered in blood or dirt.
“Vina…” Theo managed to say, before collapsing from exhaustion.
She was at his side in a flash, cradling his head. Oh, how she wanted to take his pain away and see him smiling. But she didn’t know how much of the blood was his and how much was someone else’s.
“Dinnae talk,” she urged, trying her best to wipe the grime from his face with her shift.
But all it did was smear the dirt around, masking his scars.
“It’s done,” he muttered. He seemed to strain to get even a single syllable out.
“What’s done?”
“He’ll never harm ye again,” he murmured, lifting a weary hand to her face.
His touch was colder than she had expected. It was as if he were slipping into the grave, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“I made good on me promise.”
“Aye,” Lavina said, her tears spilling over. She swallowed hard as his chest wheezed before he went limp on her lap. “Nay! Theo! Ye cannae leave me here. Aaron! I need the healer. Please! Theo. Ye cannae die on me. Lord Almighty, please, dinnae let him die.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Nay…” Theo gasped as he bolted upright.
Heat seared through his left side as if he’d been stabbed all over again. He winced and instantly leaned back, recoiling from the pain.
With each beat of his heart, more pain ricocheted between his ribs. There was no escaping it, no matter which way he shifted.
“Mmm.”
He froze as he glanced down at his feet. A lump lay on the edge of the bed, and for a moment, he couldn’t tell if it was Lavina or Amber.
The darkness was playing tricks on his eyes. If it weren’t for the pain lancing through him every chance it got, he would have thought he was still asleep.
Running his fingers through his hair, he tried to figure out how he had made it back to the keep. The last thing he remembered was driving his blade into Laird Lewis’s chest, snuffing out the last flicker of evil in the man’s eyes.
“Theo… nay, come back to me. Ye cannae leave me here. Dinnae leave me here,” Lavina whimpered.
Theo’s heart ached as he tried to reach for her to comfort her. But he couldn’t touch her. His body refused to move any further, as if in a bid to avoid any more pain.
“Theo…” Lavina breathed.
He loved the fact that she was dreaming of him; he just wished he could change her dream for the better.
“Aye, me love,” he answered, wishing he could stroke her head. He wanted her next to him, not only to comfort her, but so she could also do the same for him. “I’m here.”
