Toren carried his unconscious sister into their deserted village, past the thatched longhouse and into a small cottage that Charity assumed belonged to Edeen. He placed her gently on the bed and stood back, scrubbing a palm down his face. Charity's heart wept for him. He'd endured Aldreth's tortures for months, not giving in solely to keep his clan and family safe.
Now it seemed his brothers and sister were lost to him regardless.
Toren stepped away from the quilted bed like a boy afraid his clumsiness might break something important. He turned glossy eyes to Charity. "Can ye…?"
"Of course." She crossed the room to him and squeezed his arm. She felt like she'd run a marathon, legs were rubber, back unbendable, but she wanted Edeen well and whole as much as Toren did. "I'll do what I can."
She sat on the side of the bed, taking in the girl's still features, the slow rise and fall of her chest and pushed her fear over what happened to Shaw and Col to the back of her heart so that she could concentrate solely on helping Edeen.
Placing a palm over Edeen's sternum, Charity pulled from her own essence and allowed the energy to heal flow outward.
The familiar light sparkled at her fingertips, comforting and warm and sank into the girl, seeking injury, something out of the ordinary.
She searched long and hard, exhaustion trying to pull her back, which only made her press harder to find something, any trace of magic that was neither Edeen's or her own, any hint to why she remained unconscious, to what had happened between Edeen and the witch on that damn hill.
As an empath, there should be myriad traces of magic to sift through…yet, there was none.
What had happened when Edeen had latched onto Aldreth's magic in full swing? It was as though the witch's force had backlashed into Edeen and shorted her out.
Charity felt herself drifting out of the girl’s essence. She fell into strong arms.
A handsome anxious face blurred into her vision. "Are ye unharmed? Charity, look at me."
Pressing a hand to her rioting head, she nodded. "I'm okay."
Toren held her up off the rush-covered floor where she must have sloshed over. Edeen remained still and unmoving on the bed.
Charity met Toren's pain-filled gaze. She could tell he was afraid to ask what she'd learned. She brought her hands up to cup his face. "She merely sleeps, Toren." She wanted so badly to comfort him. "She has not been harmed. Not in any way that I can tell. She's okay…just asleep."
"Then why will she not awaken?"
"I don't know." Charity shook her head. "She's deep." She wasn't sure exactly how to explain what she'd felt. "Edeen's personality, her essence, who she is, has sunk way down deep where—"
"Where ye cannot reach her." The Adam's apple in Toren's throat column bounced.
"No. I can't," she whispered. "But I will. I'll figure out a way. I won't stop trying. We'll get her back, Toren. I’m not going back home until we figure out how to help Edeen."
Toren stared at her for a long while until something indefinable about his expression changed. She couldn't quite place what, for his features were still etched with worry, yet hope had somehow seeped into his being. She felt it radiating off of him. “You’re willing to stay?”
She nodded, the weight of what she was doing falling like raindrops around her, soaking into the hardened ground. “Edeen is my friend. I won’t abandon her.”
“As ye would not abandon me.” The pads of his fingers traced along her cheek, trailing warmth. "You said ye would save me. And ye did. I believe you, Charity Healer Enchantress beyond Time. I believe you. Ye say we will save my sister, I believe you."
Several emotions spread through Charity's breast, too many to sort through. She stared into Toren's eyes, held captive by the full strength of his trust and hope and belief. Belief in her. That connection, that truly knowing and understand another, was back and streaming powerfully between them. Her heart pulled, thumping heavily against her ribs in rhythm with his. Goddess, she loved him.
His trust in her made her believe it herself. They could help Edeen. After all, they had already conquered time together. And they’d broken the witch’s bands. Together they could do anything.
Charity smiled, hope blossoming warmth throughout her essence. "We'll get her back, Toren. We'll get them all back."
Toren nodded, a tear spilled down his cheek. "I believe you. We will. Together. We’ll awaken Edeen and we will discover where time has swept Col. We will find him and bring him back to us." He kissed Charity's forehead. "Charity, I…" His face filled with wonder. "I remember. I do not how ‘tis possible, but I remember two events one upon the other."
She felt tears wet her cheeks. "I know. I felt it."
"Then ye know the depth of my feelings for you." His voice came out strong like the force of the tide that pulled Charity under with it. “I do not wish for you to get over me,” he repeated the words she had thrown at him.
Her heart swelled with love for the lug, her Highlander that she’d risk traveling through time to save. "I—" But she didn't get to answer, because Toren's mouth pressed over hers, showing exactly what he felt, leaving no room for doubt. Heat buzzed through her. Her senses exploded with it. Their magic flared, tangling together with an ebb and flow uniquely their own, together as though their very souls, their essences demanded to be forever entwined.
Toren pulled back, leaving her lungs pulling in shallow breaths. Her lips felt swollen, thoroughly kissed and yearning for more of the same.
He set her back, seeming unnerved as though to kiss her again just now would take away all reason and he needed to remain in control. They had work to do.
He shook his head and pushed back his hair, his face ruddy with need, his eyes darker somehow and Charity’s stomach took an oh-so-slow little somersault. Damn.
The throat muscles in Toren’s neck bounced. And bounced again. "We will find Col, get him back," he resumed. "And Shaw…"
Shaw was much more complicated. They'd seen the broken defeat in his expression. With the clan gone and the darkness inside him…Charity feared the young man may have already lost the will to resist Aldreth.
The fragile hope between them plummeted. Charity lowered her head, once again giving into fear and worry.
It was Toren who bolstered her courage this time. He lifted her chin to meet his gaze.
"I will not leave my brother to the witch." An unspoken question burned in his eyes. Was she with him in this also? Going against the witch again would not be easy. Especially not that she knew what power lay between them.
Charity smiled grimly and took his hand. "Nor will I, Toren. Nor will I."
~~~
Months later
Highland Sorcerer Page 26