Her forehead dropping against Luke’s chest, they both sort of half laughed. When Luke moved to step away from her, Ami tightened her arms around his waist. “Don’t go,” she whispered looking back up at him.
He sighed and kissed her forehead. “I don’t see any other way.” His smile was sad. He looked toward the opening of the alcove. “Damn. I sure wish Kiernan was here.”
Mairi covered her ears as one of the beasts screamed from somewhere above them. The shaking of the earth followed a loud thud and a triumphant roar.
“I think your wish has been granted,” Ami told him, stepping back and giving his biceps a squeeze.
“You stupid ass! You’re going to get killed if you go out there,” Mairi yelled when Luke moved toward the opening of the alcove.
“He’ll be okay.” Ami took hold of Mairi’s arm, the younger woman looking at her like she was mad. “I think there are some things I need to tell you…”
Three dead dark dragons, a few superficial wounds, and an hour and a half later, the four crawled into Luke’s old work truck and headed for Ruthven Manor—Tavish manor in Ami’s time, only she’d never seen it before. She wasn’t sure about the ugly carriage that pulled them along and kept asking how it worked without horses.
Later, he’d find her in front of the television, her mouth open as she watched the strange box with the oddly dressed people in it. He wasn’t sure how many times she got up to look behind the thin screen. The running water and the electric lights in the house amazed her as well, and Luke thought how much easier it had been to go back in time than it must be for someone to come forward.
He at least had history to go on. That had given him a mostly accurate accounting of what was happening in the past. Ami had learned via Kiernan that her family had all gone on to live long, productive lives inside the walls of the castle. He’d even taken her to see their graves at the family cemetery. She’d cried that night after walking among their headstones, running her fingers over the chiseled dates, though she’d assured him they were not tears of regret.
As for Somerled and how it fell into such disrepair, they’d found nothing on it in the archives. Kiernan knew, and Abra, though they both told them it was a story to leave for another day. Suspicious, Luke had thought, but he knew them both well enough to know neither of them would budge until they were perfectly ready.
He wondered those first few days, worried about the dragons beneath the ruins. He and Kiernan had shored up the metal door shortly after the last of the dark dragons had fallen the night they’d returned. Together, they’d gone back down to assure the passageway to the cámara da maldición de mil durmir remained blocked. It had, and the following day they’d gone into the caves, searching for a way into the chambers from inside. The only one that could have been it was so clogged with debris Luke guessed it would take a sonic blast to break through.
Or an earthquake of notable size.
He’d ignored that voice. Since they’d shored up the door, there’d been no sign of even the slightest of tremors.
When they’d emerged from the cave, Will was waiting for them. Luke smiled, clasping his brother on the back.
“The ladies have gone shopping,” he told them with an exaggerated eyeroll. “I overheard them chattering about Amileigh’s need for a trusseau, so I hope that card you handed her has plenty of money on it.”
Chuckling, Luke shrugged. “Providing she can even figure out how to use it.” They’d all laughed then.
Luke stretched, yawning as they walked toward the parking area. This had been one hell of a week. “Hey,” he said to Will as they approached the old truck, “did you walk out here? That’s quite a haul.”
Will shook his head, his dark hair swishing around his eyes. He pushed it back from his forehead. “Are you kidding me? I had the girls drop me on their way.” He huffed. “I’ve done more than enough walking to last me a lifetime.”
Luke had worried about Will the whole time he and Kiernan were barricading the dungeon door. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his brother was still out there, but he hadn’t said anything to his great grandfather until they were mortaring in the last rock.
Kiernan had looked up at the fading sun, his smile widening as his gaze veered off in the direction of the old training field. He shook his head and laughed. “Right on time,” he’d said pointing at the faint glimmer of a distant light. “Just like Will to show up once all the work is done.”
They’d waited, watching the light grow brighter and two figures materialize behind it. Luke felt sure his eyes were as wide as his mouth as he took in the woman beside his brother, her attire unmistakably Georgian. He remembered it from the festivals they’d attended in Creighton when he was just a kid.
Kiernan just smiled, leaning in to hug the girl before clapping his great grandson on the back. “Welcome to the twenty-first century, Brinna. Could have used you a little earlier, Will.”
When Luke asked him where he’d been, Will had laughed. “You’re never going to believe this…” he’d started.
There was a time Luke wouldn’t have.
Chapter 16
“It’s a lovely day for a wedding, isn’t it, my dear?”
Ami jumped, startled that Abra had managed to get so close without her knowing. Both women laughed—something Ami was surprised to find herself doing often during the three months she’d been in this different time. Perhaps she belonged here after all.
“Your mom would have been so proud.” Abra reached up and pushed a strand of blonde hair back behind Ami’s ear, much as her mother might have done.
Ami smiled, her lips trembling with her effort to hold back the unwanted tears.
“I think she would have wanted you to have these,” Abra told her, pulling the bouquet of ribbon tied flowers from behind her back.
Ami sucked in a deep breath, staring down at the flowers—a sweet mixture of roses and daisies with stems of sweet mountain cranberries strewn through the middle. Her eyes traveling upwards, she saw it then, the stone around Abra’s neck. It wasn’t quite like the lilac one she wore, but still similar with its deep purple, a hint of green and blue around one edge. Abra winked at her and turned to walk away.
“They smell like love,” Ami had called to her.
“Yes,” Abra had answered without turning back.
Luke had never seen anything as lovely as the woman who walked toward him, her arm laced through his great grandfather’s. He smiled at her as if the moon had just hung the most beautiful star in the sky. He was glad she had asked that they be married in what remained of her family home. It almost had the feel to him that her family was actually there, and Luke liked that. He sensed their approval, had every time he’d seen the ripples and spoke into the silence that he was doing his best to take good care of their Ami.
Their Ami. His Ami.
Luke thought about the day they’d taken her to see her old room. She’d wandered around, picking up her belongings, quickly replacing them all until she opened the wardrobe. She’d sucked in, a drawn out oh whispered on a sniffle. She’d stroked the yellowed dress, rubbing it against her cheek before reaching up to pull it free.
“My mother’s wedding dress,” she’d told him. “My great grandmother’s as well.” She laid it across the discolored coverlet on her bed. “I want to wear it.”
Luke had looked over his shoulder, questioning Kiernan with his eyes. Since the ruins had been deemed a historical site, he wasn’t sure if they could legally take anything away. He’d smiled when the old man had nodded, thinking how it was as difficult for Kiernan to refuse her anything as it was for him to do so. They both loved her, in very different ways.
He noticed the beads in her hair that she’d pulled from a box hidden beneath the fake bottom of the wardrobe chest. If he had to wager a guess, they weren’t beads at all, but rare jewels, maybe even chips of dragon scales.
“What else do you have in there?” he’d asked when she’d reached back in for the third time.
She’d needed two hands to pull out her last find. It was the book—the tome that had gone missing from her mother’s room. He’d reached for it and she’d pulled it away.
“It’s for Abra.”
Both he and Kiernan had stared at her, their mouths gaping. “But… why?” he’d finally asked.
“Because we were meant to live the future, creating it as we go, not follow a script. There are things in there none of us need to know. And, if I had to wager, I’d say it’s subject to change. It’s written in ink, not stone, you know.”
She’d laughed when he’d scrunched his face and he’d looked over his shoulder to see the exact same expression mirrored by Kiernan.
She hadn’t let them see the tome either, giving it directly to Abra herself. She’d refused to let it go until it was placed with the others behind the locked doors. Luke didn’t know when Abra had gained possession of the others, but now she had them all.
“Let’s get this show on the road!” They all turned around to see Luke’s oldest brother Seth walking up from the manmade drive. “Damn!” He shook his head, rubbing a hand over an ear exposed by his close-cropped hair. “What’s with that humming?”
Luke looked at Ami and then at Mairi who stood with her hands pressed to the sides of her head, her gaze leveled on the ground at her feet. He waited, his heart speeding up as he willed her to look at his brother. They were the last ones. With their union, the circle would be complete.
Standing in the midst of Somerled ruins they all swayed as a tremor rolled the ground beneath their feet for the first time since the night Luke and Amileigh had returned.
An Deireadh
The End
Next in the Series:
On Wings of Fire
Book 2 in the Lochlainn Guardian Series
What happened to Will Tavish? Where was he all those days, and who was the oddly dressed woman who was with him when he returned to the Somerled ruins?
Find out in On Wings of Fire, Will and Brinna’s Saga, coming soon
Stay informed at LindaBoulangerBooks.com
Or Follow Linda on her Amazon Author Page
http://www.amazon.com/LindaBoulanger/e/B002NPYDC6
Author Note: While each book in this series is a complete story about the main couple, they are all a part of something bigger: The Lochlainn Guardians Series. For maximum enjoyment, I recommend reading them in this order as they become available:
On Wings of Time: Luke and Amileigh’s story
On Wings of Fire: Will and Brinna’s story
On Wings of Courage: Seth and Mairi’s story
On Wings of Love: Kiernan and Abra’s story
On Wings of Forever: The final story
The Gift of Eternity: Nicholas and Helaina’s story (this is a companion novelette)
On Wings of Love and The Gift of Eternity could easily be read at any time, though I recommend it after the first book—On Wings of Time.
About the Author
Linda Boulanger is a happily-ever-after author, wife, and mother of four human children and two fur babies. She has an eclectic mix of published books, numerous story singles, and short stories, novels, and novellas in a few group anthologies, as well as a slew of always evolving works in progress.
Along with being an author, she designs book covers for herself and others through Tell~Tale Book Covers and TreasureLine Designs, all from her desk just north of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Other places to find Linda:
Website
http://www.LindaBoulangerBooks.com
Blog
http://writersshelflife.blogspot.com/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/TheShelfLifeOfLindaBoulanger
Email
[email protected]
BookBub
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lindaboulanger
Amazon Author Page
http://www.amazon.com/LindaBoulanger/e/B002NPYDC6
Works by Linda Boulanger:
Novels/Novellas
Dance with the Enemy
Beyond the Shadows
On Wings of Time
Arms of an Angel
Novelettes
A Warrior’s Christmas Gift
Makinna’s Secret
Anthologies
The Fountain
Stoking the Flames (currently unavailable)
Echoed Heartbeats
Time Out on a Roller Coaster
Becoming…
Whispered Beginnings
Color Illustrated Children’s Book
When Sadie Learned to S.M.I.L.E.
Short Story Trios and Singles
Up To Bat Center Stage Best Friend Rules
Face of an Angel Life Changes Talk With Me
Secret Shame
Works in Progress
Ladies Always Came with Strings
On Wings of Fire
Temptation’s Whisper
Dark Warrior: A Maiden’s Revenge
On Wings of Time (Lochlainn Guardians Book 1) Page 17
