by Ria Cantrell
Looking up through her tear-filled eyes, Kiera blinked as the sun added to her distress. Derek! He had come to help her after all. She saw Jackson flying to the ground as Derek tossed him like a rag doll in a heap on the grassy knoll. She felt Derek helping her up. She had never seen him look as angry as he did when he pulled her to her feet. She could not tell if that anger was meant for her or for Jax or both. One thing she knew was that it was a look of pure malice and fury. She might have been afraid, knowing what she knew about his past, but instead, Kiera felt suddenly protected and safe.
He still loves me!
Deep down, Kiera knew that Derek would never hurt her.
Jackson had scrambled to his feet and he was upon them like a rabid dog. Derek pulled Kiera behind him and he turned on Jackson with a vengeance. He was not going to let this animal hurt his woman, even if she had been disgusted by him. A fist like a hammer slammed into Jackson’s face. Derek was not a man to be trifled with. When Jackson spit blood out, Derek landed a severe punch to the man’s middle. Derek’s ire grew as the mad dog rose again.
This time, he had a knife. Kiera saw the glint of it as Jackson pulled it from the back of his pants. She shouted, “Derek, be careful. He has a knife.”
Derek laughed at the threat. He had done his fair share of knife wielding in his day. Surely this would be no match for him, but he underestimated the stealth of the man and before he could disarm him, Jackson took Kiera and held the knife to her throat.
Derek had not known fear his entire life, but as this bastard held his beautiful Kiera with a knife to her throat, Derek felt something he never had experienced before. He suddenly knew what it was like to be terrified.
“Put that down, man. Ye’ dunna’ mean to hurt her. Fight me and leave her be.”
“Ah, the rugged and charming lover of my fiancé.”
Derek did not understand. Kiera had not mentioned that she was to wed another man. At that moment, he realized they both had pasts that were hard to live down. His eyes searched hers for answers. She saw the look of confusion and hurt in his eyes and she wished she could explain. There was no time, now.
Derek moved his gaze to the man holding Kiera. Their eyes locked. Derek could not allow himself to worry about Kiera’s past right now. He had to pin the man with his stare to keep his attention from hurting Kiera further. Derek could see a slight trickle of blood form on Kiera’s perfect neck where the knife pricked dangerously close to a main artery. Derek did not want to make any sudden moves, lest he cause the man to knick her. When his eyes had searched hers, he saw regret and fear. Again he pleaded, “Leave her be. If ye’ loved her, you dunna’ want to do this. Let her go.”
“You have no right to tell me what I should do. She should have told you she was supposed to marry me.”
“Aye, she should have. I have no wish to steal another man’s woman.”
Derek said the words to placate Jackson, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kiera jerk against the hold of her ex-lover. Be still, my love. I am only trying to save yer’ life. Derek thought the words, trying to will her to understand his meaning. He hoped that she would play along so that he could disarm the rogue holding her.
“Women are faithless creatures.”
“Aye, that they are.”
Again, Derek saw her strain against Jackson. The knife’s edge scraped a little deeper and the blood fanned downward like the pattern of a lightning strike.
Dunna’ move, Sweeting…please dunna’ move.
Whether she understood his thoughts or not, or if the pain from the knife stilled her, Derek did not know, but he saw Kiera go rigid, barely moving a muscle. He did not even want her to flinch, lest the blackguard’s hand slip and cut her. He called out again, “Put down the knife, lad. Ye’ll gain nothing in harming her.”
Derek saw the man tense when he had said the word “lad”. Oh dear God, there was something terribly wrong with this man. He had the look of someone gone insane. Derek knew that look well. His own brother oft held that type of countenance. Roderick Campbell had been equally irrational and prone to violence. While Derek would many times follow his lead to placate him, Derek did not hold the meanness within himself that Roderick seemed to relish. This man looked as if he was the same type of man as his brother. Derek could see no goodness in the man’s visage. In fact, he had to shake himself not to see that it could have been Roderick standing there before him, goading him to do dishonorable things. Of course, it could not have been, for Rod had been dead well over six hundred years, but something about the cruel set of the man’s mouth and his stance, and the shake in the man’s hand reminded Derek all too well of the terrible man Roderick Campbell had become. The evil was the same even if the man was not his brother.
Derek did not know what to do. He had been trained as a warrior all of his life, but the tides had certainly turned when it involved saving the woman he loved. He knew that if he could get Kiera away from the crazed fiend, he could disarm the bloody bastard and that would be that. Never breaking the gaze of the man, Derek took a moment to ponder the stand-off. Kiera was pinned before the man, with one of his arms around her neck. His other held the knife at a crucial spot, to cause the most harm to her. Kiera’s arms hung straight at her side. Her fists were balled, her knuckles white with tension. Derek could see one fist flexing and he was not sure if it was nervousness or if she was trying to somehow break free of the man holding her.
As Derek saw that hand slowly begin to open, and her fingers curving into a claw-like position, Derek knew what she was going to do.
Oh dear God, no, Lass. No. He will kill ye’.
Derek could not will Kiera to stop. He saw her grasp behind her, digging her fingers into the bollocks of her captor. Derek heard himself shout, “No…..” But as Kiera’s fingers were prepared to emasculate her former lover, the knife began to slip. As Jackson howled in pain, he dropped the knife. It cut a small line near Kiera’s chin, just like Roderick had cut his sister so many years ago. As the man doubled over, he flung Kiera to the ground and Derek watched in horror as her head hit something with a loud thud. It was as if time was suspended and everything moved in slow motion. It was as it had been when his step-mother Arianne dashed her head after her fall from her horse. Would history repeat itself with him doing nothing? Nay, not this time. Nay, it would not end this way….
Derek raced to Kiera’s side. The man gripping his injured privates, was bent over before her. Derek did not think of his own safety. He had to tend to Kiera. He picked up the scrawny little shyte by the scruff of his collar and he wanted to choke the life from him. Instead, he tossed the man like a sack of bad barely to the hard packed earth a few paces away. Derek did not even give a second glance to the man as he landed hard and sprawled in the dirt.
He stooped beside Kiera and he helped her stand. She was conscious, but seemed dazed. Derek supposed it was because of the blow to her skull. He pulled her into his arms, and he kissed her. He did not feel her pull away from him in revulsion. She had forgiven him! It seemed they would have to learn to forgive each other for events of their past once and for all. Derek said, “Are ye’ alright, my love?”
She nodded dully and pleaded silently for him to forgive her. He smiled down at her and he said, “It’s going to be alright now. I willna’ let him hurt ye’. Brave lass, grabbing him like that when he could have carved your throat.”
As Derek hugged her, he saw her look past him. She screamed, “Derek, look out. Jax, Noooooo.”
It was a warning sounded too late. Derek turned, to pull Kiera behind him, shielding her from harm. He only thought to protect her and keep her safe. He did not have time to react as a warrior, only as a protector of the woman he loved.
Jackson’s blade slid deeply between Derek’s ribs.
Kiera cried out in disbelief as blood began to pour swiftly from Derek’s side. Kiera held onto him, but within minutes, the blood-flow caused Derek to falter. Jackson took off running and left the scene of his brutal
attack in a cowardly daze. Kiera sank down next to Derek. He pulled the knife out of his side and tossed it from him. It was the worst thing he could have done for it caused his life’s blood to pump out and soak the ground beneath him. Kiera tried to press her hand to the spot, hoping to staunch the blood flow until she could get help. The warm stickiness of it filled her with disgust and she fought to not vomit on the spot.
No, he is going to die unless I can help him. Help!
“HELP! Someone please help me,” she screamed. Her voice finally rose from beneath the fog in her mind. She cradled Derek’s head in her lap and pressed harder to the rent in his side. Tears cascaded down her face as she screamed for help over and over again. She scanned the horizon for the people who had been touring the grounds but suddenly they all had seemed to be gone. Her voice was carried upon the wind, but no one heard her. She looked down at the man she had grown to love beyond all reasoning.
No, she could not let him die. Not now; not like this. Not when there was so much they needed to say to each other. It was getting harder for him to breath. Perhaps, Jax had punctured a lung. Kiera crooned and said, “Shh, don’t try to talk. I am going to get help. You are going to be alright.” Only neither she nor Derek believed her words.
“Dunna’ go, beautiful one. Stay with me.”
“I am not going to leave you. I am here with you.”
Kiera stroked his hair with the free hand that was not trying to hold his life inside of him. He murmured words spoken in his ancient tongue. He could no longer process his thoughts in the modern tense. He loved her and he was happy to die for her. It was the greatest act of love he could do. “Mo Anam Cara”, he whispered. My soul mate.
Kiera sobbed, “No,” as she felt him slipping away. Her tears splashed onto him and then, Kiera saw something too strange that even she could not believe it. Even after all she had experienced, she could not wrap her mind at what befell her next. There, on the rise, as Derek’s life slipped away, were people; people not of this world. They were surrounded by what Kiera could only fathom as The Ancients. Four or five of them circled the body of Derek. She looked up as tear stains streaked through the dirt on her cheeks. She shook her head defiantly and said, “No, you are not taking him. Stay away from him.”
A young looking woman approached and though she did not speak out loud, Kiera heard her say, “He must come with us now.”
“No,” Kiera shouted, all the louder. She knew the woman. She was the one in the terrible vision of the morning…the one pinned to the tree. Then she felt the gentle hands of Gavin Campbell drawing her away and she wailed, “No…don’t touch him. Gavin, leave me alone…I am not leaving him.”
“It is done now, lass. Ye’ saved him.”
“Saved him? It’s my fault that he is dead.”
“Ye’ gave him a reason to live. Ye’ taught him how to love. He has redeemed his past and it is time for him to go.”
“Please Gavin. Take me instead. Take me with you…I can’t stay without him.”
“T’is not for me to take ye’, lass. Ye’ have business here yet to do.”
“No, please. Just let me touch him once more.”
She broke free from Gavin’s hold and rushed back to Derek’s side. She kissed his lips, but felt they had already gone cold. He was gone. He really was gone. This could not be happening to her. Not now, when they had everything to live for. Not now that they had broken the bonds that had been so cautiously built to guard their hearts.
“Don’t leave me. I can’t do this without you.” Kiera cried in vain.
But as the silence spread around her, somewhere in Kiera’s mind, she knew this time, he was truly gone. She numbly felt the hands of Gavin drawing her away again and she watched with sightless eyes as the Ancient Ones bore Derek’s body away. It seemed they disappeared into the mist that had suddenly surrounded them on the rise. Kiera fell to her knees and let go a wail of torment that split the echoes of silence. She called out for Jackson, saying, “Come back and finish it, Jax. Kill me too…so I can be with him. Come back and finish me too.”
She keened until her throat was raw. It was a sound that would not soon be forgotten. It was a sound that reached the heavens.
Chapter 38
Kiera was not aware of how long she screamed on the rise before the Keep. She could not find the strength to move from the spot. Now as darkness and the cold of the night was covering her, she shivered. She was alone. Gavin had left her long ago and she knew not how many hours had passed. She was numb to the effect of it. How long had she been there? Had it all been a dream? As she looked down on her blood stained clothes, she realized it had not been a dream. She felt the prickling ache in her neck where Jackson had grazed her skin. It was not a dream. It really was not a dream. Kiera tried to process what had happened and it was so surreal that she was not even aware of walking through the woods toward the tower. If she could make it to the tower, she would be alright. Derek would be waiting for her in the tower. She was sure of it. She was not certain how she found her way through the blackness of the encroaching woods, but she let her heart lead her and she found her way to the tower. Pulling on the handle, Kiera let herself into the all-consuming gloom of the tower entry. As soon as the door closed behind her, Kiera felt her way up the stairs. As fresh tears fell, she sobbed and called, “Derek…I’m here…Please answer me.”
She heard nothing. She stumbled up the spiraling steps, hoping beyond hope that he was once again in the tower room waiting for her. She did not want to acknowledge that she could not sense his energy there any longer. She forced herself to continue up the steps blindly, even though she felt that each step was weighted with pounds of lead on her legs.
As she pushed her tired body against the heavy door leading into the tower room, there were no candles to light the darkness that not only enveloped the room, but now enveloped her heart as well.
She felt her way, on all fours, to the make-shift pallet she had shared with Derek and curling herself into a fetal position, she let go of the sobs that were just below the surface. Kiera knew then that Derek was truly gone. This time it was for good. Gavin had said she had saved him. Wasn’t that what she was supposed to do? Wasn’t she supposed to have helped him find his immortal path and move on? Only, she hadn’t been prepared to love him in the physical world only to lose him so soon after their joining. In the hours between the dark and dawn, so many thoughts raced through Kiera’s heart and soul. She had really not saved him at all. She had failed him as badly as a person could fail another person. She had been angry with him; even rejected him. It was nearly the last act before his life had ended. Now she could never tell him she was sorry for hurting him. Now she could never prove that she loved him beyond all reason. Did he know? Had he known her love was all she had to give him, even though it seemed she had rejected him? Did he know she would die without him?
Die…he had died protecting her. He had loved her despite all her doubts; despite her rejection of him. Kiera did not know how long she cried. She only knew that the tears did not seem to stop. It felt as if fat cold drops were ever leaking from her eyes. She knew she should get back to the keep and change out of the blood-soaked clothes, but she just could not bring herself to. Not yet. She knew she reeked of dried blood and was caked with dirt and grit, but she could not wash that from her just yet. It was all that was left of the only man she had ever truly felt mated to.
Kiera was surprised when a shaft of sunlight streaked into the tower. Somehow, she had fallen asleep, still curled in the position she had been in when she crawled into the first real bed she had shared with Derek. She hadn’t remembered sleeping at all. She knew she had not dreamed of anything. She had not dreamed of Derek. She could not even feel him in her dreams. She was also surprised that the sun still rose for it felt like it would never rise again. She felt like the darkness would never be banished from her heart. The sun seemed harsh on her tear-drained eyes. She wished it would just cloud over again. She did not want it
s warmth or light. She wanted the darkness and the cold. She cared not if the sun ever shone again. She resented it’s light now.
Numbness had taken hold of Kiera and she neither wanted to nor could move from the spot in which she laid. Her eyes took in the things that Derek had collected over time. Lying on her side, she did not have the strength to do more than blink back the tears that seemed ever present, but the soft filtering light and the dust particles in its beam created a kaleidoscope-like view of the room littered with treasures Derek sought to ease his time alone. If only she could feel his presence. If only he would “haunt” her again, this time she would welcome it. She did not want him to go to the light or whatever it was at the end of one’s life. She selfishly wanted him with her, and she did not care what the cost would be.
