Page 39 of After Midnight (Skye Druids #7)

Chapter Thirty-Four

It wasn’t long before they were lying facing each other on the daybed. Kurt wanted her on his chest, but he didn’t want to ruin whatever was happening between them.

“ All right,” he said, giving her the pillow and curling his arm under his head. “ What did you leave out?”

“ What happened to me?”

He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “ What do you mean?”

“ How long was I out?”

“ Ten minutes, tops. Maybe more like eight.”

She pulled a face. “ It was…”

“ Lifetimes , you said.”

Her lips pressed together, and she nodded somberly. “ That’s what it felt like. I grieved, and they gave me hope, then I had to grieve again. It was an unbearable cycle. Nothing I did changed anything.”

“ How do you know it was Corann and the Ancients ?”

“ I recognized Corann from a picture Rhona showed me, but I still doubted him. I needed proof.”

It tore him up that she’d had to endure all that alone. “ What did he give you?”

“ The fact that they never harmed me.” She paused. “ And the lesson they gave. It was cruel and prolonged but needed.”

“ You didn’t mention a lesson before.”

She shrugged. “ I left that out.”

“ Why ?”

“ Because it involves you.”

He blinked, taken aback. “ Me ?”

“ In every scenario where we went after Parker , I did the same thing every time, all without knowing it.”

“ Which was?”

“ Not trusting or accepting you.”

Kurt touched one of the many earrings running up the curve of her ear. “ You have your reasons.”

“ Had .”

“ Excuse me?”

“ I had my reasons.”

Past tense. He searched her face, drowning in the deep, fathomless blue of her eyes, as dark as the ocean.

And just like those great bodies of water, there was so much more to Sabryn than most realized.

She hungered for love and a family but was slow to trust. Yet it was a wonderous, precious thing when she did because her special brand of joy, love, and loyalty was like no other. He should know since he had lost it.

Sabryn drew in a deep breath. “ It took those thousands of times, watching everyone die—including you—for it to finally hammer home.”

“ I don’t bl–”

“ I know,” she said over him, putting her fingers against his lips for a heartbeat. “ The boys were right, though. We accepted Saber and his secretive past without hesitation.”

Kurt adjusted the arm beneath his head. “ But there’s a history between us that can’t be overlooked.”

“ I’m not.”

He was more confused now than before. “ I don’t understand. Does this mean you still hate me?”

“ No ,” she said with a small laugh.

“ You should.”

She gave him a flat look. “ Lifetimes , remember? I had a lot of time to hold on to that anger, happily lay all the blame at your feet, and think about our conversation at the cottage that finally led me to a way to forgive you.”

Sabryn might have forgiven him, but Kurt wasn’t sure he could forgive himself. “ I should’ve done more.”

“ The past is done and over. It’s time we both move on. You need to let it go. We found our way back to each other.”

He laced his fingers with hers and brought her hand to his mouth so he could kiss her knuckles. “ I can’t let go completely with Parker and Diana out there.”

“ We’ll take care of them eventually. However , I think there’s something to Edie’s need to get us off Skye .”

“ I don’t suppose the Ancients told you what that might be, did they?”

She looked away, her brow furrowed. “ Not in so many words. But they need us both to stay.”

“ And they thought commandeering your mind was the way to go about that?”

“ Apparently ,” she replied with a shrug.

He sat up and leaned on a hand as he digested everything. “ So , we don’t go after Parker the same way. We knew tracking his mobile was a trap.”

“ It didn’t matter how we went after him if we weren’t a team.”

“ If we had gone, Edie , Parker , and the Edinburgh Druids would’ve killed us all,” she said when he parted his lips to speak.

Kurt scooted back to lean against the daybed arm. “ Bloody hell.”

“ The evil has grown very powerful.”

“ While others on Skye are losing their magic. Do you think the malevolence is taking it?”

She shrugged helplessly. “ The Ancients didn’t say anything about that, but I’d believe just about anything after what I went through.”

“ All of that just so you’d forgive me?”

“ Yes . Because they need us both on Skye , remember?”

He ran a hand down his face. “ They want us here, but Edie wants us gone. And neither gave you a reason?”

“ None .”

Kurt looked down at the rumpled blankets that smelled like sex and Sabryn . “ Have you forgiven me because you want to or because you feel as if you have no other choice?”

“ Look at me,” she told him.

He slid his gaze to her. He was beginning to wonder if the Ancients or the evil hadn’t taken over his mind. Because he wasn’t sure any of this was real.

“ You deceived me,” she stated in an even tone.

Kurt’s stomach clenched painfully. “ I did.”

“ You lied to me.”

He dipped his chin, icy fingers closing around his heart. “ I did.”

“ You didn’t tell me my family was in danger.”

“ No ,” he said around a lump of emotion.

She reached over and took his hand. “ But you tried to stop your brother. When that didn’t work, you made a deal with Diana to spare my life.”

“ Your father still lost his.”

“ I blame Parker and Diana for that.”

He rubbed his thumb over her fingers. “ How can you be sure I wasn’t part of it?”

“ I see it in your eyes. And then there’s the six years you’ve protected me and the boys. If you still sided with Diana , you wouldn’t have gone out of your way to help us as much as you did.”

“ Actually …” he began.

She put her finger on his lips and raised her brows. “ I believe you. And if I didn’t, I have a feeling the Ancients would’ve seen to that, as well. It’s important that we’re a true team like we have been. And that can only happen if there’s forgiveness.”

“ I think I expected to grovel for a lot longer.”

“ I’m sure we can work something out,” she said with a grin.

He loved Sabryn’s teasing side. “ I have no doubt you’ll think of something.”

Her expression grew serious. “ I’d like nothing more than to spend the next few hours in bed with you, but…”

“ Does this mean we’re going after Parker ?”

“ It means we’re going for a drive.”

He cocked his head at her. “ Is that safe?”

“ No place on the isle is safe. Not even the manor anymore. The sooner we deal with our nemesis, the sooner things can return to the way they were.”

“ Which nemesis? We have several to choose from?”

She climbed off the bed and reached for her clothes. “ I don’t know the answer to that yet.” When he didn’t move to get up, she paused and looked at him. “ Are you coming?”

“ I was just admiring you,” he said, then got to his feet and pulled her against him for a quick kiss.

She pushed him away, but there was a smile on her lips. “ Meet me downstairs,” she called before walking out.

He stared at the doorway for a long moment. Once he was dressed, he grabbed his laptop and rucksack and made his way to the main floor.

“ Going somewhere?” Carlyle asked as he came out of the kitchen.

Kurt scanned the entryway for Sabryn . “ A drive.”

Carlyle’s eyes narrowed as he stared. “ You look…”

“ Like a man who’s just had sex,” Finn said as he came up behind Carlyle .

Kurt ran his fingers through his hair. He’d forgotten to check it before he came downstairs.

“ Ready ?” Sabryn asked, descending the steps.

Carlyle and Finn looked from her to Kurt .

“ Nice color you have in your cheeks,” Finn told her.

She barely looked his way as she said, “ Thanks . Are you coming?” she asked Kurt as she walked past.

Carlyle and Finn gave him wide smiles and a thumbs-up. Kurt waited until Sabryn was out the door before he returned the grin. She had already started the engine when Kurt climbed into the SUV and buckled his seatbelt.

“ I used the spell,” she said, backing up.

He hesitated, wondering if he had forgotten a conversation they were having. “ What spell?”

“ To ensure I don’t get pregnant.”

That had been the last thing on his mind.

He should be glad that one of them had thought of it.

He glanced at her and tried to imagine what she would look like with her belly rounded with his child.

He cleared his throat, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her being pregnant. “ Where are we going?”

“ I just had an urge for a drive. Since you’re a London Druid and forbidden from venturing to this beautiful isle, I thought I’d point out some landmarks. Maybe something will strike us as what we’re out here looking for.”

“ Or why Edie wants us gone.”

“ That , too,” she said and glanced at him.

“ Should we have brought the others?”

Her head swung to him before she looked back at the road. “ Do you want them here?”

“ What I meant to ask was, is this something the others should be involved in?”

“ We’re just driving right now. If we find something, we’ll give them a call.”

He stared out at the afternoon sky. “ If we brought them, you’d have had to tell them what you left out.”

“ I will eventually, but it was something the two of us needed to work out first. Can we talk about Parker ?”

“ Of course. Do you have a plan?”

“ Not even close. I was thinking we should forget about him.”

Kurt’s brows rose as he turned his head to her. “ Forget about him? Are you serious?”

“ I know you want revenge for his attempt on your life.”

“ My vengeance toward Parker is for your father’s death, not for my stabbing.”

Her face softened. “ I think he’s a diversion for the real issue.”

Kurt hadn’t considered that. “ You mean Edie .”

“ Possibly . We had a good plan to get Parker , and that almost ended in your death. We knew we were heading into a trap by tracing his phone. And if I hadn’t fainted and had my mind invaded by the Ancients , we’d all be dead.”

“ Hard to argue any of that. But even if we stop going after Parker until later, that doesn’t mean he’ll stop coming after us.”

Sabryn turned on the blinker and slowed before turning. “ He’s not made a move on us since the first encounter. We’re the ones who went after him.”

“ Because I didn’t want him coming for you. Where are we?” Kurt asked as he looked at the magnificent landscape.

Pictures couldn’t do the isle justice. No photo could ever capture the brilliance of the green, the vivid blue sky, the dark, gloomy clouds, the gray of the stone, or the essence of Skye itself. It was no wonder the Druids had been drawn here. Everywhere he looked left him spellbound.

He spotted the blue water through the steep hills and couldn’t take his eyes off the landscape. It wasn’t until Sabryn parked that he finally looked at her. She said nothing as she climbed out. He wordlessly followed, trailing behind her on the road.

“ If we take the path ahead, we’ll end up at an overlook above Glen Conon . You have to see the waterfalls. They are magnificent,” she said.

“ I’d like that.”

She nodded but walked past the path.

“ I thought we were going to the falls,” he said.

“ We will. Just not today.”

He fell into step beside her as they headed toward a steep mound that looked like the ruins of a castle. “ You’ve not said where we are.”

“ We’re at the Fairy Glen .”

Of course. He’d seen in it pictures, but it was different being there. He swept his gaze from side to side as they walked the path between the narrow hills. “ This has to rank high on your favorites of the isle.”

When she didn’t reply, he realized she had walked ahead.

Kurt caught up with her and tried to pull her to a stop, but she kept walking.

He finally moved in front of her and saw her gaze pinned past him—her unfocused gaze.

That’s when he felt the wind against his cheek.

She took his hand then and guided him toward the ancient rowan trees and the ruined, moss-covered foundation stones.