“What? Why?” I couldn’t think clearly.
“Sam, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you, but I haven’t been happy for hundreds of years. So please forgive me. I am obviously not of sound mind. Now go to him. Go! He’s in the ICU.”
Overjoyed, I ran through the corridors, almost knocking over a nurse, as I laughed and cried with relief. I fumbled into a sterile mask and gown before they’d let me go in. The seconds felt like hours. I stepped through the door.
There he was! I would have loved to run to him, squeeze his body next to me, reassure myself that his heart really was beating, but the tangle of cables and monitors held me back.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
“Sam, mo luaidh! I’ve been waiting almost three hundred years for you, almost let myself be killed for you, and now this? Lying here was almost the worst torture of all because I couldn’t bear to be away from you. Come here!”
Payton pulled me down into his strong arms.
“You still owe me an answer,” Payton whispered into my hair. “My third question…”
I groaned. “Not this again.”
He continued. “The third question that I want an honest answer to is: Do you love me the way I love you? Can you not take a breath because your love is taking your breath away? Does your heart skip a beat like mine when we are near each other? And the most important thing: Don’t you want to kiss me, really kiss me, at last?”
I wanted to laugh and cry. I couldn’t swallow and could hardly speak. “I love you!” was all that I could say. My heart was beating far too quickly, and I knew that we wouldn’t allow anything to come between us again. We lost ourselves in our emotions, sinking tenderly into a deep kiss. A kiss full of forgiveness for the past, full of promise for the future, and full of immortal love.
Sean was still sitting in Sam’s hospital room when Ashley came in and sat beside him. She put her hand on his and smiled. The events of the past few days had brought them close to each other. Sean was entranced with Ashley’s beauty, and she in turn seemed smitten with him. They had talked for hours, consoling each other. They’d also given their statements to the police, leading to the arrest of Cathal and Alasdair.
“I think we can take off. Sam and Payton are in good hands here,” Ashley said.
“I’ll be there in a moment. Go on down and try to get a taxi. I presume we’ll have quite a lot of explaining to Sam’s parents to do.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure I want to let you out of my sight,” Ashley said.
Sean got up, pulled Ashley into his arms, and kissed her tenderly.
“Ashley, you don’t have to worry, I am not intending to let you get away. But now go, sweetheart. I’ll be right with you.”
Ashley seemed to float out of the hospital, looking like a girl who had finally found true love. She had no way of knowing what dark thoughts were occupying her boyfriend’s mind.
Sean paced up and down the room like a tiger. He tried to gather his thoughts. Could what he know destroy the young happiness the two of them had found?
Maybe he didn’t have to tell anyone. He wasn’t even sure that he had completely understood. He would keep it to himself for the time being.
Only he would know of Nathaira’s final words.
And of her curse.