Stone Guardian Page 24

  The beast threw back his head and roared with pain as the remainder of the appendage reeled back into its chest. Roiling black smoke shot from the flared nostrils, now foaming with blood-speckled slime.

  Torin dove toward Arach’s chest, his glowing sword held above his head. As he brought the blade crashing against the scales of Arach’s neck, the beast closed his jaws around Torin’s waist.

  “No!” Emma lunged forward and nearly flipped head over heels when she tried retrieving Torin’s heavy sword that Arach had knocked from his grasp. The blade had embedded deep in the ground and left the haft vibrating in the air.

  “Emma, get back!” Torin clamped his hands against Arach’s mouth, straining to pry open the monster’s jaws. His hands glowed, then burst into white hot flames engulfing Arach’s head.

  “Torin!” Emma wrenched the sword free of the earth and hauled the blade up against her side. She stumbled forward, struggling with the weight of the blade whose length was half her height. The muscles across her shoulders burned as she wrangled the sword higher against her body. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care if she tore every muscle in her body. She had to free Torin.

  Arach edged back toward the portal that had turned into a whirling eddy of sparkling clouds. Emma stared at the undulating gateway. What the hell was going on with that thing? That white hot mess couldn’t be good.

  Torin’s face darkened as the strength of the flames spewing from his hands increased and roiled around Arach’s head. As the inferno blazed into a hideous shade of greenish-blue, Arach thrashed Torin back and forth through the air while continuing to shove his multiple stubby legs deep into the muck at his feet. Little by little, he inched his massive body backwards through the gateway.

  “Emma,” Torin roared inside her head above the beast’s muffled bellow. “Once Arach clears the last stone, ye must seal the portal. Ye know what to do.”

  Emma went limp at this revelation and dropped the sword to her feet. Seal the portal? How? And what about Torin? Was he going to spring himself from Arach’s jaws at the last minute?

  “Emma.” Torin writhed in Arach’s unrelenting grasp. “Emma, ye must do as I say without question.”

  “What about you?” She forced the words through her fear. A sudden knowing of what his answer would be sank like a weight to the pit of her stomach and sickened her with dread.

  “I promise. I will return. Somehow, I will come back for ye, Emma. Trust me. I will find a way.” Torin’s arms bulged, his face contorted with the pain interrupting the words he projected into her mind. “Ye must do it, Emma. There is no other way.”

  Burning tears streamed down her face. There had to be another way. As she watched Arach digging his way backwards into the spinning chaos, the realization struck her, forced her to acknowledge the truth she’d known all along. She loved Torin. The ache of losing him ripped a wrenching sob from the depths of her heart. How could she do what he asked? She couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing him again.

  Shaking her head, she fired a useless energy blast against the monster’s scaly sides. The lightning of the hit ricocheted off the oily black tiles and dissipated into a harmless sizzling cloud floating into the air.

  “Emma. Do not waste your energy. Ye must use it to seal the gateway. Hold fast just a bit longer.” Torin’s deep voice echoed in her head, breaking her heart with his words.

  “I can’t do this. I can’t trap you in there.” Emma sobbed, firing another round of useless orbs against Arach’s glistening sides. “What if you can’t come back to me? I can’t bear never seeing you again.”

  “I will come for ye, Emma. Somehow, I will find a way. I swear it with every beat of my heart. Now do it. Seal the gateway.”

  Squinting her eyes against blinding tears, Emma slowly raised her hands and extended trembling fingers toward the pair of obelisks. She choked in a sobbing breath and screamed Torin’s name one last time as she forced the pain and sorrow wrenching through her body into an earth shuddering blast of fury.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Deafening silence weighed heavy on the air like an electrical storm about to explode. Lifting her head, Emma forced her eyes open only to squeeze them shut again and drop her face into her raw, bleeding hands. The fully restored stones towered over her, aloof and bleak as though passing judgment—and they obviously didn’t approve of anything she’d ever done. The bone-chilling sentries sprouted from the hard-packed earth, silent and mysterious as they had always been. The wide bases disappeared into a white swirling mist floating just above the ground. The cold slabs stood black and glistening with the dampness of the air. Everything had returned to its prior state. The ancient circle was whole and intact just as it had been for untold years. Torin was gone. The gateway sealed. It was over and once again, she’d lost someone she loved.

  Angry sobs tore from her body, bursting forth in short hysterical hiccups as she beat the ground with her bleeding hands. Dammit to hell and back! She’d never told Torin she loved him. Why hadn’t she told him? What the hell was wrong with her?

  Dragging herself across the ground to the base of the gateway, Emma leaned her cheek against the damp rough surface of the silent spire. Nothing. She bit her lip as she pressed her face harder against the scratching crystals embedded in the obelisk. She sensed nothing from the stone. The pulsing energy that had always greeted her before no longer hummed into her touch. The obelisk stood as mute and detached as any other rock scattered across the earth.

  She rolled to a sitting position and leaned back against the cold hard slab. She’d lost him. Propping her elbows on her knees, she covered her face with her throbbing hands. She swayed back and forth against the cold stone and released keening sobs into the swirling mists.

  “Emma?”

  Laynie’s faint call forced its way through her blanket of misery. Emma curled into a tighter ball against the base of the stone. If she could only melt into the unforgiving gneiss, become a part of the unfeeling rock, she’d never have to explain anything or ever face the truth. Swallowing back a sob, she squeezed her eyes shut so tight; her face ached in protest. She’d allowed a precious love to slip away. She had no one to blame but herself for this pain.

  “Emma. Oh my God, Emma. Are you all right?” Laynie knelt by her side, pushing Emma’s burnt, matted hair out of her face.

  “No.” Emma croaked the words through dry, cracked lips as she slowly opened her eyes. She’d never be all right again. Turning away from her sister’s concerned expression; she pressed her face harder against the jagged surface of the stone.

  “Where are you hurt? Talk to me, Emma. You’ve got to tell me where you’re hurt so I can help you.”

  “You can’t help me,” Emma whispered. How ironic. Baby sister coming to her rescue. My, how life had changed. Forcing her hand through her tangled hair, she flinched as the short brittle strands raked across her blistered palms. She’d have to shave the singed mess short. Torin wouldn’t like that. He’d always loved her curls. Desolate realization crushed her heart and knotted in her throat. What did it matter if she cut away what little remained of her hair? She’d never see Torin again.

  “Emma, where is Torin? What happened?” Laynie grabbed her shoulders and turned her from the obelisk, forcing Emma to face her.

  “Torin’s gone.” Emma flinched as though the words set fire to her tongue. Saying it out loud made it worse, made it impossible to escape the truth. Dragging a shaking hand across her face, she squeezed her burning eyes closed again. “Arach took him through the portal. I’ll never see him again.”

  “Who is Arach?” Laynie glanced at the space between the parallel stones. “What portal? I don’t see anything but the stones.”

  “I can’t do this, Laynie.” Emma covered her face with her hands. “I can’t talk about this now. Please just go away and leave me alone. I just…I just want to be alone.”

  “Bullshit. I’m taking you home and once you’ve rested, we’re going to figure this out.” Laynie
grabbed her arms, pulled her up from the ground and supported her body with her shoulder. “You’ve never been one to give up before, Emma. I’ll be damned if you start now.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  The sweet acrid scent of the burning peat compounded the ache in her heart. How many times had she lain in front of this very hearth safe and contented in Torin’s embrace? How many times had they sat together and stared into the glimmering coals?

  Emma closed her eyes against the remembered sensations sweeping over her body. Damn the sharpness of the memories. Damn the feel of him against her flesh. Every muscle in her body tensed. Covering her face with her hands, she bit back a sob as another vision hit. Emma longed to return to the snuggled hardness of Torin’s chest against her back and the sensual tickle of his calloused thumb stroking a mesmerizing rhythm back and forth across her skin. A rare sense of peace had seeped into her bones more comforting than the warmth from the fire.

  Without warning, a steaming cup of coffee appeared just inches from her nose, blocking the view of the orange-red glow undulating through the grating. “Here. Drink this. It’ll warm you up. I added a little something to it for medicinal purposes.”

  Nostril-stinging vapors of alcohol wafted up from the black liquid. Emma curled her nose and pushed the cup away. “You know I don’t like whiskey. Take it away.” The last thing she needed was alcohol making her confusion even worse.

  Laynie pushed the cup back between Emma’s hands and folded her swollen fingers around the hot ceramic. “You’re going to drink it. You need to get warm and put some color back in your cheeks.”

  Tightening her hands around the smoothness of the heated mug, Emma stared at her reflection in the inky brew. How in the world had she come to this? How in the world was she going to go on?

  “There’s something I think you need to know, Emma.” Laynie eased down beside her on the over-stuffed couch, hugging a bright red throw pillow to her chest. “Torin told me everything. And I was going to help him convince you to go with him.”

  Emma slid the untouched coffee onto the table beside the couch and wilted back into the cushions. “I guess it really doesn’t matter now, does it? It doesn’t look like I’ll have to make that choice.”

  “You can’t just sit there and tell me you’re going to give up.” Laynie repositioned herself on the couch, curling one leg underneath her body. “Torin wouldn’t give up on you. Why are you giving up on him? There’s got to be away to find him. What about all that hocus-pocus crap he showed you? Surely, there’s something there you can use.”

  “Torin is gone and there’s nothing I can do about it.” Emma closed her eyes as she rested her head on the back of the couch. She didn’t know how to make Laynie understand. The sight of Torin clenched between Arach’s jaws seared across the darkness of her mind and scarred her memories forever. How could she tell Laynie about the horror reflected in his face? The finality. The sorrow shining in his eyes as he’d disappeared into the exploding debris. Torin had known she’d never see him again. She’d seen the truth of it in his eyes. She couldn’t remember hurting like this since she’d spotted her parents’ lifeless bodies dangling from the snag in the stream.

  “Snap out of it, Emma!” Laynie bounced her hand off the back of the couch. “You’re going to figure out a way to find him and then you’re going to go get him.”

  Emma forced her eyes open. Poor Laynie. Such a dreamer. When had she grown up into such a stubborn young woman? Emma hitched in a jerking breath. Baby sister had no idea about the forces at work. Emma closed her eyes as she released a shuddering sigh, sinking even deeper into the blanket-covered cushions. It was useless but apparently, the only way she was going to get any peace was if she humored Laynie. “I’ll make you a deal, Laynie. You tell me how to find Torin and when I do, I’ll never leave his side again.”

  “Swear?”

  Emma forced a trembling smile to her lips, raised her hand, and extended her little finger toward her sister. “I’ll even pinky swear. Help me find Torin and I’ll build a life with him in any reality he chooses.” What could it hurt to say the words aloud? She’d never have to pay up because Torin was gone forever.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  He stared at the rubble piled about the threshold, ignoring the bite of the bitter cold sleet stinging against his wounded flesh. Adjusting the strips of bloody cloth wrapped around his torso, Torin winced as he knotted the ragged plaid a bit tighter. As his fingers brushed against the empty scabbard hanging at his side, Torin kicked loose stones from his path. Damnaigh. He hated that he’d lost his sword. It was like losing one of his arms. He patted the blood-soaked leather laced tight against the inside of his bruised calf. Good. At least he still had his dagger.

  A high-pitched howl ripped through the darkness, rising above the sound of the wind rattling through the leafless trees. Torin ignored the warning cry of the hidden beast, lifted his head and sniffed the icy air. The freezing rain burned in his nostrils. His senses told him he needed to head north into the mountains, directly into the heart of the storm. Perhaps there he’d find shelter from the aching cold and be able to build a fire to chase the dampness from his bones.

  He cast one last glance back at the annihilated portal and Arach’s ash-covered corpse. His heart wrenched as his gaze settled on the glistening black pile of ice-covered ruins. She’d done well, destroyed the portal and permanently closed the passage to Arach’s world. Torin ground his teeth as the wind whipped icy strands of soaked hair into his eyes. He wished he’d had more time with her. Time to teach her all her strengths. Torin swallowed hard, choking back his pain. He wished he’d told her how to find him.

  Closing his eyes, he threw back his head and bellowed her name with the fury of his pain. “Emma!” The sound echoed through the dimensions, only increasing the hopeless loneliness already burning in his chest.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Emma fumbled for the key in the bottom of her purse. Why had Laynie locked the door? It wasn’t as if anyone could even find the small croft isolated on the beach. “Laynie! It’s me. Open up.” Dammit. Where the hell was she? Better yet, where the hell were those damn keys?

  Freezing rain pelted against her body, ran down the back of her neck and soaked through the wool of her coat. Clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering, Emma kicked the bottom of the door. She hated this place and its god-forsaken weather. She wished she’d never come here. “Laynie! Open the damn door. I can’t find my key and I’m freezing to death out here.”

  Emma drew back to jab another good kick in the center of the solid oak door just as the rain-soaked portal opened inward. “It’s about time you opened the freaking door. Why in the hell did you have it locked?”

  “Your sister didna wish for us to be disturbed and she thought to spare your feelings.” Alex stood with one hand resting on the brass door latch and the other gripping an over-sized bath towel wrapped around his waist.

  Alex’s nothing-on-but-a-towel body standing in the middle of her cottage wasn’t a sight she’d expected to see. Emma stared at a droplet making its way down the center of his chest into the dark nest of water-slicked hair surrounding his belly button. How ironic. Alex’s wet hair seemed to point downward toward the bulge hidden beneath the towel. Her irritation fanned into disbelief. This could not be happening. Not Laynie and Alex. “Please tell me the shower’s broken at your place and you decided to borrow mine.”

  “Emma.” Laynie padded into the room, her wet hair slicked back, tucking the end of the towel wrapped around her body into the V just above her breasts. “Emma, I was going to talk to you about Alex but I wanted to wait for the right time. I didn’t want to spring it on you while you were still in such bad shape.”

  Ignoring Laynie, Emma locked on Alex’s watchful gaze as she dropped her bags to the floor. “You know I’m going to kill you for touching my sister. This is pretty low. Even for you, Alex.”

  “I love her, Emma. It’s no’ as wicked as ye’d like
to believe. We didna want to tell ye until ye’d recovered a bit from your loss. Or at least figured out what you’re meant to do. Your sister cares for ye verra much and I intend to do my best to make her happy.” Alex crossed the room and pulled Laynie against his side, planting a kiss against the top of her wet head.

  Make Laynie happy? Emma didn’t miss Alex’s unspoken finish to the sentence. He intended to make Laynie happy even if it meant putting up with Emma. “You two just met! Do you honestly think I’m that stupid? You haven’t had time to fall in love. You’ve just fallen into lust.” Emma wanted to shove her way between them but she clamped her hands to her sides instead. How could they do this? Have some kind of forbidden sex fling and right under her nose.

  “Emma, please.” Laynie unwound from Alex’s embrace and padded across the room with her arms outspread. “You know damn good and well there’s no time clock on falling in love. Either it’s meant to be or it’s not. Alex and I felt it the first time we met. We clicked, Emma. Alex and I belong together.”

  “I can’t believe you’d do this to me, Laynie. At least, not right now.” Tears stung the backs of her eyelids, burning just below the surface. Emma wanted to scream against the betrayal pounding through her veins. “Why, Laynie? Why would you do this? Especially now.”

  “I love him, Emma. Just like you love Torin.” Laynie’s mouth tightened into a determined line. “And when you find the way back to Torin, at least I’ll have Alex and I won’t be left alone.”

  A dull weight grew heavier in Emma’s chest, right where her heart should’ve been. Laynie was such a dreamer. She actually thought Emma was going to see Torin again. “I loved Torin. Past tense, Laynie. That chapter closed when I sealed the portal.” Emma dropped her gaze to the floor. A hopeless sense of weariness wrapped around her body, sapping her strength until it took everything she had just to find the energy to speak. “I’m never going to leave you, Laynie. You’re stuck with me. You know Torin’s lost.”