I free your souls. May they now leave their old lives behind them.”
With the last flash of lightning, she was gone. Without warning, reality descended again. Time shifted from slow motion back to normal speed. Only a lingering burning smell was proof of what had just happened.
Sean tackled Nathaira, and the two of them fell, grappling on the ground. Payton was still hanging on to my arm, his eyes locked on mine. But I was still slipping, bit by bit.
There was an honesty in his eyes that said he would never leave me, that he would hold me to the end. But I could see that his strength was dwindling. His own blood was puddling at his feet, and sweat covered his forehead. But what shook me the most was what else I could see: Payton was scared.
Payton couldn’t believe it when Nathaira attacked him.
Her terrible revelations had been truly shocking. Her treacherous murder of Kyle and her lack of remorse had taken his breath away. He’d felt as weak as a child, hardly able to keep his body under control. Cathal had seemed to feel the same way. He had watched as the hardened warrior sank weakly to the ground and cried in his hands. The words his beloved sister had said seemed to have broken him.
But Payton’s attention was abruptly turned back toward Nathaira when she raised her dagger and lunged at Sam. Using all his strength, he had grabbed Nathaira’s hair and yanked her back, away from the woman he loved.
What had happened next was literally his worst nightmare come true: Sam fell over the railing outside. At the last moment, he had managed to grab her, and he clung to her as if she were life itself. He would not let a woman fall into the depths, ever again. This repetition of events: the same desperate look in those beautiful Cameron eyes. He would not believe it was his destiny.
He was so caught up in the nightmare, so concentrated on it, that he had almost forgotten Nathaira. But when he saw her move out of the corner of his eye, he knew what he had to do. He would risk his own life, just to see love in Sam’s eyes one last time. He turned into Nathaira’s swing, prepared for death. And he was flooded with a mighty feeling of happiness.
He knew the curse had been lifted.
Payton had settled his guilt, followed his heart, and sacrificed himself selflessly for Sam. And just as was written in Vanora’s prophecy, the witch’s own daughter had been the one to make it possible. Yes, with her own selfish behavior, Nathaira had lifted the curse that her mother had inflicted hundreds of years before.
“When you understand the truth, darkness will devour you—but you will be happy.”
Beathas’s words of farewell rang in Payton’s ears, and for a moment, he didn’t feel the blood drenching his clothes, didn’t realize that Sam was slipping more and more. He was only glad that he had escaped living for eternity without love.
He already knew what was to come. He had seen enough men die on the battlefield to know what was a fatal wound and what was not. He had lost a huge amount of blood. He could feel the end coming closer with every breath he took. He coughed and tasted blood. Despite the certainty of having done the right thing, he began to feel scared.
With a powerful jerk, Blair grabbed me under my arms, reaching over Payton and pulling me back to solid ground. Together, the three of us sank to the floor. Only now did I notice the tears I was shedding, and the trembling that seized my entire body. My shoulder was sending shock waves of pain through my limbs, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Payton.
I didn’t realize at the time that Sean was still fighting Nathaira and Alasdair, and that he was on the verge of not being able to bear many more of Alasdair’s hard blows. I had no idea that the police were storming up the stairs with their guns drawn. I only half registered the sound of the shot that brought Nathaira down. I didn’t know that she had mumbled words in Gaelic as she lay dying, or that Sean, huddled next to her, had hastily made the sign of the cross while a final flash of lightning lit up the sky.
I was aware of none of it. I only had eyes for the man in front of me.
Payton. His love had saved me. How stupid I had been to doubt him. I realized how unfairly I had treated him, but it looked like it was too late. His eyelids fluttered. He coughed and gasped for air. I pressed my hand on his wound, but the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
His hand reached out for my face, stroked my cheek, and barely skimmed my lips. Again he drew a pressed breath.
“Please…” he barely managed to say.
Tears ran down my face uncontrollably. I told myself this couldn’t happen. But the certainty in his eyes destroyed my hopes.
“Please… Sam,” he repeated, desperately.
I knew what he wanted.
A kiss.
But I didn’t want to kiss him, not then. To kiss him and allow him to die. No, I wanted him to stay with me, to kiss me every day from now on, to hold me lovingly in his arms.