Drakkina shook her head briefly. “And you will meet again at the final battle,” she called. “Don’t forget that,” she said as if admonishing the women, but when she looked at Kat and Toren she gave a smile that reached her eyes.
She floated close to Kat. “You are a beauty no matter what’s on your face.” She winked a sparkling blue eye. “Stay out of the water, Katell.” She smiled and stepped back, fading away with Serena. “Call me if you need me.” Drakkina’s words whispered through Kat’s mind, stinging Kat’s eyes with tears again.
“Oh my God! Susie! It’s a miracle!” The girl’s mother called from the room next door and a nurse came running through the corridor.
“Another amazing day at Raleigh Memorial,” Kat whispered.
Toren stood in front of Kat. He ran his hand through her hair, cupping the right side of her face. Passion and happiness lurked in his eyes as he pulled her closer, a promise filled with love. “Och love, yer beauty shines out of yer eyes.” He touched her face. “Out of yer smile.” His gaze dropped down her body. “And along yer form.” He ran his hands down the sides of her body. Kat ached for his touch. He leaned in, his lips brushing her own. “And when I get ye home I’m going to taste every single inch of ye.”
“Home. You are my home, Toren. I love you,” Kat said as languid heat coursed with the feel of his hands against her near nakedness. Kat’s kiss sealed the pledge, hot and strong, a perfect reflection of the beauty of love.
Epilogue
Six months later
Raleigh Memorial Pediatric Burn Unit
“And the black knight lunged.” Toren huffed while lunging forward with his polished sword. The children in the burn unit leaned backwards in unison, their eyes wide. Some had bandages covering most of their faces. Some had burns on other parts of their young bodies. One boy lay on a gurney the nurse had rolled him in on, all but his face covered in sterile white bandages.
“But the white knight blocked the attack,” Toren continued.
“Don’t forget about the princess,” Chelsea, a little girl with dark hair, called from her position on the floor. She tried to stand but the bandages wrapped around her hands made it difficult.
Kat scooped her up, settling the light weight on her lap. “Don’t worry, Mr. Toren would never forget the princess.” Kat smiled behind the little head as she watched Toren perform the medieval tale he said his father had told him and Eadan when they were young boys.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kat spotted Lisa quietly swinging through the burn unit’s double doors. Lisa caught Kat’s eye and pointed to her watch. Kat nodded and mouthed back when he’s finished. Lisa rolled her eyes but leaned against the wall, waving at several kids on the front row who had seen her.
“And the white knight rode through the dark forest to the castle where Princess—” He paused. “Princess Chelsea waited.” Chelsea jumped in Kat’s lap with excitement and knocked Kat’s chin. “The white knight slew the terrible monster with his sword and took Princess Chelsea away.”
“To marry him,” one of the older girls piped up and several nodded and sighed. The boys groaned and everyone began to laugh and applaud.
Lisa clapped too then pointed at her watch. “Mr. Toren and Miss Kat have to catch a plane, now.”
“So they can go get married,” a preteen girl called out.
“That’s right,” Lisa said and smiled. “The twenty-three flower girls and ring bearers are already on their way to the airport.” Lisa huffed as if the exertion was just too much for her. “When I said a Scottish theme I had no idea you’d want it actually in Scotland. Luckily your family has a castle there. At least that part was easy.”
Kat caught Toren’s eyes across the room. “But we’ll be back, lads and lasses. In a couple weeks with more tales of Craignish,” Toren said.
Chelsea turned in Kat’s lap and touched the right side of her face with her bandaged hand. “You will be so beautiful as a bride.”
Another girl named Jenny stood close by. She looked to be about twelve, maybe thirteen, a critical age for self esteem. She had burns healing on her face. “I hope I can find someone who will want to marry me someday,” she said looking down. Her blond hair fell in front of her face, hiding the red angry skin. “It’s hard when you’re a monster,” she mumbled.
Kat’s breath caught and she noticed several other children looking down, having heard Jenny’s pain filled words. Kat let Chelsea slide off her lap.
Lisa apparently heard Jenny too because she sat back down. “It’s a chartered flight so they won’t leave without us, right?” she asked, glancing at Toren.
Kat made eye contact with one of the counselors sitting with them in the room. She nodded. Kat turned to the girl. “Jenny,” she said and bent a bit so she’d catch her eyes. “A very wise woman, a queen in fact, a real queen, once told me that it’s the scars on the inside that make a person a monster. That many, quote end quote”—she scrunched her fingers in the air—“beautiful people are the true monsters because they have scars on the inside that make them bitter and angry.”
Jenny looked up. “No one will love me because of the way I look.” Such despair glittered in Jenny’s eyes, mirroring Kat’s own despair all those years. Kat glanced to Toren. “When someone loves you, they don’t look on the outside, they look on the inside.”
Jenny nodded but sadness still weighed down her shoulders. Kat gave her a hug though the girl remained stiff. She sighed and looked over to Toren. An older boy across the room with bandages on his back and shoulders, shuffled his feet as he stared at the squares of white and gray linoleum.
“Hold this,” Toren said and pulled his sheathed sword off his back and handed it to the surprised boy. In one tug, Toren yanked his shirt out of his kilt and pulled it off over his head. Kat stared wide-eyed like the rest of the room. Toren turned around displaying the deep scars across his back from the beatings he’d endured at Maxwell’s hands. Kat’s heart clenched every time she thought of him as a boy, suffering alone.
“What do you see?” Toren asked the boy holding his sword.
“One hell of a scarred up back,” the kid replied.
“That’s not from a burn,” another boy called out. “It looks more like...sword slashes.”
Toren turned around and threw his shirt back on. “Doesn’t matter what caused it or what caused your scars. What matters is what it means.”
Toren had the kids’ rapt attention. Kat held her breath with them. “It means,” Toren said, standing tall, “that I survived.” He pointed at the boy holding his sword. “Yer scars mean that ye survived. Ye are stronger than the flames.” He pointed at Jenny. “It means ye faced death and won.” He pointed to the other boy. “It means ye are a warrior.”
Kat watched as the kids in the room seemed to swell with Toren’s words. Their little bodies stood taller, their heads lifted, their shoulders straightened. Sadness and despair changed into strength and determination.
Toren’s finger moved about the room, pointing to each child. “Ye are all strong of heart and body because ye faced something terrible and lived. Ye won.”
Coming from her, Kat mused, it wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful. But coming from Toren, a seasoned warrior who exuded a mountain of strength, courage, and power, sent chills along Kat’s arms. She smiled and blinked back tears. Toren looked to her and nodded. Hadn’t he said such words to her before, words that he meant with true conviction.
“Okay kids,” the counselor said, as she stood with a smile and glassy eyes. “It’s time to let Mr. Toren, Miss Kat, and Miss Lisa leave so they can make their plane.”
The kids smiled and yelled goodbye. Even Jenny looked happier, at least for the moment. It was a start. The scars inside these kids, just like the ones inside Kat, would take time to heal.
“We’ll be back in three weeks,” Kat called and took Toren’s arm. “And I’ll bring cake!” The kids cheered as they walked out.
As they walked through the automatic sliding glass doors of th
e hospital, Kat pulled back on Toren’s arm. Lisa ran ahead to get Toren’s SUV. Kat smiled up into Toren’s blue eyes. “Thank you,” she said. “You are…” She floundered for words.
“Amazing, without equal, sexy as hell,” he said using Lisa’s favorite expression. Kat pretended to punch his arm.
He pulled her into his warm, strong arms and leaned down to kiss her gently. “Ye do good things here, Kat. In this century.” He nodded. “It is where we belong.”
Kat’s smile widened, letting the joy inside her emerge. “We…together.”
Toren nodded. “Bound forever,” he said and tilted Kat’s head to accept his warm lips in a kiss that literally curled Kat’s toes in her leather boots.
Lisa honked as she pulled up to the curb and rolled down the window. “Save it for Scotland, you two.” Toren pulled back reluctantly.
“Craignish awaits,” Kat said. “I can’t wait to see it again.”
“Aye,” Toren said as they slid into the back of the SUV.
“It’s amazing that your ancestral castle is still standing,” Lisa said as she pulled away from the curb. “I looked it up on line. They say it was built in the fourteenth-century. Amazing.” She shook her head from the driver’s seat.
Toren squeezed Kat’s hand and pulled her up against him in the cushioned leather seat. He smiled, his own elation evident. The MacCallums hadn’t died out leaving nothing but ruins. They had prospered while Fergus Campbell had disappeared from the pages of history. Kat kissed Toren softly and smiled back. “‘Tis truly amazing.”
A word about the author...
Heather McCollum is an award-winning historical paranormal romance writer. She earned her B.A. in Biology from the University of Maine at Machias, much to her English professor’s dismay. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, and The Golden Network as a 2009 Golden Heart Finalist.
The ancient magic and lush beauty of Great Britain entranced Ms. McCollum’s heart and imagination when she visited there years ago. The country’s history and landscape have been a backdrop for her writing ever since. She currently resides with her very own Highland hero and three spirited children in the wilds of suburbia on the mid-Atlantic coast.
More information about Ms. McCollum and her projects can be found at:
www.HeatherMcCollum.com
Masquerade (The Dragonfly Chronicles Book 3) Page 30