“Just tell me how it works, Hamish. Please. If Elspeth’s worry is for naught, I willna leave Jerry here. If she has truly predicted her death, we shall go and leave Jerry in yer uncle’s care.”
Grier’s spell still held Jerry with a tight grip, and in the weeks since our arrival, he’d grown angry and cold. He hated me now. The way he looked at me sent shivers down my spine each and every time—his eyes were filled with malice.
“’Twill only show ye things that are unchangeable, which is precisely why it causes such pain. No matter what horrible things ye find inside, ye can do nothing to stop them.”
I was quickly losing my patience with him. “I doona care if I canna change them. At least I will know and can make my peace with whatever is inside.”
Hamish shook his head but turned to leave.
“Verra well. I’ll wait for ye outside.”
* * *
I don’t know how long I cried on the wet stones surrounding the shallow pool, but Hamish eventually gave up waiting and came inside to collect me. He picked me up in his long, broad arms and cradled me like a child.
“What did ye see, lass?”
“Elspeth will die, and then, so will I.”
Hamish’s arms seized uncomfortably at my words. He dropped me to my feet and held me out away from him.
“What?”
I repeated the words slowly, terror gripping at me even as I said them. I didn’t want to die. Not yet. There was still so much I wanted, so much I still needed to do.
“Elspeth…she was right. She dies giving birth to a beautiful baby boy. One month later, Alasdair will bury me, as well.”
The expression on Hamish’s face surprised me. He didn’t look devastated by the revelation, and I started to believe that every flattering comment, every sideways glance had been in jest. If anything, he just looked confused.
“Did ye see yerself die? What killed ye?”
Sniffling between sobs, I screamed at him. “What does it matter how I die? Does it not bother ye to know I’ll be dead in a few weeks?”
Hamish brushed the wet and matted hair from my face and bent forward to kiss my cheek. “Lass, ye dinna see yerself die, did ye?”
I shook my head. “No, I only saw my lifeless body being lowered into the ground.”
He smiled and rubbed his hands up and down my arms to warm me.
“If ye dinna see yerself die, if ye dinna see what killed ye, then ye willna die. Did no one ever tell ye that witches doona die like everyone else? Unless harmed by the magic of another, ’tis up to us when our life ends.”
I did remember Grier mentioning such a thing in regard to her aging, but I’d not remembered it at all while watching Alasdair cry over my body.
Taking a shaky breath, I relaxed just a little. “Do ye mean it?”
He nodded. “Aye, but that doesna explain the vision. I must cast deeper into yer future, and such spells are not easy. Go back to the village. I’ll find ye when I know the truth of what ye saw.”
Although relieved that I wasn’t near death, my heart was still broken as I walked back to the village.
My brother was days away from losing the love of his life.
Chapter 42
When Hamish stepped into my tent late that evening, he was trembling with exhaustion. I hurried to grab his arms to usher him to a seat.
“What happened? Ye doona look well.”
He half-heartedly smiled and motioned to the basin of water across from him.
