Page 66 of The Finest Scottish Fate

“And how exactly do ye propose to erase them from memory completely?”

Evie threw up her hands. “I don’t know that either. Did Callum have any other ideas besides tattling on the Fae to the gods?”

Still staring out the window, Morganna gave a deep sigh that made Evie feel even worse. “He fears the king ordered the Seelie to wound yer Drummond’s soul, so it will grow too weak to hold fast to yers.” She bowed her head. “If his soul releases yers, he’ll move on to the next life and wait to find ye there.”

Evie couldn’t allow herself to acknowledge what Morganna had just said. She couldn’t consider Drummond dying because of her. “You said you’d never known them to physically harm any of the mortals you’d matched. That they just messed with their heads and only openly attacked those under the Craig Durness curse. But look at him. Why are they going all out this time? Are we the last match you needed to break this curse?”

“No. However, we are a great deal closer than ever before. Close enough to make them worry, and our time is running out. Therefore, they feel they must make it even more difficult for us to accomplish what is required.”

“If you have to follow the curse’s rules, why don’t they? Do they not realize that every action has a reaction? That they’ll reap what they sow? Have they never heard of karma?”

Morganna gave her a sad smile. “I am certain they feel they are above all that. After all, their superior opinion of themselves is what set this curse in motion. Remember?”

Pacing the room, Evie massaged her temples, willing herself to think of something. She halted and turned to Morganna. “Can we rewind time? Just a little. Turn it back far enough to keep them from being able to trap us the way they did, and let me announce to everyone in the hall that I love Drummond and am happy to be his wife?”

“We canna do so because ye are already here. If ye were to meet yer past self, yer self of but a few days ago, it would foul the time slip and destroy both of ye. Two of ye within days of being the same age canna possibly survive in the same timeline. If ye were but a wee bairn or an extremely old woman in whatever timeline ye visited”—Morganna gave a doubtful shrug—“that might work, but even then it would be dangerous.” She held up a finger. “Ye have but one soul meant to exist in any given time, and time is verra unforgiving when it comes to allowing souls to tamper with it. Ye must never come face to face with yerself.”

Frustrated beyond belief, Evie growled and threw up her hands again. “How do you keep up with all these stupid rules that favor them and punish us?”

“I have had several hundred years of trying to dodge them and survive.”

Teeth clenched so tightly her jaws ached, Evie stopped her pacing and eyed Drummond. “Then help me get him to the future. To a hospital. At least they can keep him from getting dehydrated.” Before Morganna could argue, she threw up her hands to silence her. “Once he’s well, we’ll bring him back, and he and I’ll settle down and get on with our lives. I know I forfeited my timeline when I accepted the fated mate bond, but I’m not trying to go back to stay. I’m just going back to give him a fighting chance.”

“Ye canna return to the twenty-first century as long as ye are bound to Drummond. The curse will not allow it, and nothing I can say or do will change that. The only way ye could travel back is with the severing oath, and severing yer bond—the bond that’s currently holding him to this life—could verra well end him.”

Evie returned to Drummond, lowered herself into the chair beside him, then leaned forward and buried her head in her arms, propping them on the edge of the bed. There had to be a way to save him. He could not die because she’d been so stupid, so wishy-washy, so freaking cowardly. “He has to live, Morganna. He has to.”

“Pray that the Seven will have an attack of conscience.”

With her head still buried in her arms, Evie blew out a derisive huff. She’d heard enough platitudes to last a lifetime. Empty words didn’t bring Drummond back to her. “Why don’t you go find Jadrack? He’s worried about Epsily, since the attacks here have been so vicious.”

“I understand.” The bedroom door creaked, but Evie could somehow still feel Morganna’s presence. “Call out if ye need me, lass,” Morganna said softly. “I will always hear ye because I’ve come to think of ye as a sister.”

Evie closed her eyes tighter and swallowed the desperate sob trying to escape. That wasn’t a platitude. She lifted her head and managed a quivering smile. “Thank you, Morganna. I consider you a sister too.”

Morganna nodded, then quietly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Evie turned back to Drummond and gently removed the damp cloth she’d placed on his forehead. Settling down on the edge of the bed beside him, she combed her fingers through his hair and traced the powerfully chiseled angles of his handsome face.

“Your beard’s coming in, and I think I like it,” she whispered, then rested her head on his chest, just beneath his chin, and hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry, Drummond. So very sorry.”

Tired of fighting the tears, she let them fall as she lifted her head and tenderly ran a fingertip across the fullness of his bottom lip. “I think I have loved you since the first moment I saw you, but I was too afraid and too cynical to admit it. I’ll never forgive myself for what I’ve done to you.”

He didn’t respond, just lay there strong and silent—a living, breathing effigy.

She framed his face with her hands and gave him a lingering kiss, pouring every ounce of love and yearning into it. Then, with her tears still streaming, she barely lifted her head but kept her lips touching his. “I love you, Drummond MacMuirrow,” she whispered. “My husband. My heart. My soul. I love you more than you will ever comprehend.” She kissed him again, willing him to feel how much she loved him.

He shuddered beneath her, making her hold him tighter against what surely had to be a seizure. Then he jerked harder, sucking in great, deep breaths.

Please don’t let this be the end. She clutched him in desperation, closing her eyes and willing him to live. “No. You cannot leave me.”

“Evie?” he said in a raw, husky croak.

She eased upright, afraid she’d only imagined hearing him speak. “You’re awake,” she whispered, locked in place out of fear that she was hallucinating. “Are you really awake, or am I dreaming?”

“Evie.” His smile was faint, and a happy weariness crinkled the corners of his dark eyes. “My love. Ye stayed.”

“Of course I stayed.” She leaned closer until they were nearly nose to nose. “I love you with everything in me, and I can’t imagine life without you. I don’t care what century I’m in. As long as I’m with you, I’m home.”