Page 63 of Leila’s Legacy

“Do it now,” Alban bellowed.

Niall put his arm around Leila, shielding her slender body from the wind with his body. It wouldn’t warm her, not with such freezing water now rising up to their knees. Already his feet had gone numb and Leila’s mouth held a tint of blue. As though she was already dead.

He shuddered.

They were mid-thigh and not even a stone’s throw away when Alban called to them. “Stop there.”

Nay. Not yet. Not now. Not ever.

Niall turned to Leila and took her face in his hands. An arrow whizzed past the narrow space between their chests.

“Do not risk yourself.” Leila lowered herself in the water, kneeling before Niall. She blinked and gasped, her breath huffing, no doubt in shock at the chill of the water.

He shook his head.

“End your bewitchment by killing her,” Alban said. “Or the girl dies as well.”

A sharp child’s scream came from farther up the bank. Bonnie had been dragged from the dais, along with Brodie. Lady Davina was at their side, her demeanor commanding. A ruse, of course. She would force them to the outskirts of the crowd with one of her loyal clansmen. At least Bonnie and Brodie would live.

“I am ready.” Leila looked up at him with wide blue eyes. The current dragged her long, dark hair forward along either side of her like a black cape and the thin linen shirt was nearly transparent in the water. A single tear ran down her cheek. “I love you.”

“I love ye.” He settled his hands at her slender shoulders and tears filled his eyes. “Mo chridhe.”

He wanted to tell her that she might be rescued yet, but the idea was laughable now. To bring her back from the dead. It was a myth and nothing more.

There would be no chance to save her. This was the last time he would see her, touch her.

His breath came in ragged gasps that fogged the frigid air around him. Bonnie’s cry broke through the roaring in his ears. He had to do this.

Damn him.

He had to.

Leila leaned back into the water under his hands, making it look as though he was pushing her down. Water rushed on either side of her head, the powerful current streaming her dark hair on either side of her face like ribbons. Bonnie’s sobs became louder, filled with a terror no child should have to endure.

He had to.

He set his face with a resolve he never wanted to feel, in a paltry effort to remove himself from what he did. His hands tightened on Leila’s shoulders, ones he had caressed and kissed, and he pushed her down beneath the water.

She gazed up at him through the water sweeping over her face, her blue eyes open, her face serene. He stared down at her, unwilling to break the connection between them, wanting to hold onto any part of her that he could.

She would be gone forever. Forever.

The word rang in his head and echoed in the vast space carved out of his chest. Bubbles rose from her mouth and nose as she released her breath. She tensed against his hold and he braced himself.

He longed to release her, to pull her from the watery depths and allow her to raggedly suck in air. Wet heat ran down his cheeks. Tears. His tears.

He wished it was him who was dying, for surely, death would be more welcome than what he was being forced to do. Nothing had ever been so difficult in his life as holding down the woman he loved and watching her life slip away.

Nothing, at least, until she began to struggle.

Water filled Leila’s mouth and nose. Impossibly cold, like a million needles stabbing into every part of her. Except her legs, which were blessedly numb.

Her lungs ached, desperate for air. She twitched beneath Niall’s firm hold.

Don’t struggle.

The thought was a shadowy whisper in the back of her mind. Her shoulders wrenched forward of their own volition, her body ignoring her command. Niall’s face above was locked with a hard stare, mouth thinned. She wanted to comfort him, to let him know she understood, that she realized he had no choice.