Page 138 of Fall of a Kingdom

I closed the armoire’s hidden door and listened for a moment, but I couldn’t hear anything. Piper began to cry, and Julie tried to shush her. It only seemed to inflame Piper more.

The automatic lights didn’t switch on, but Hawk illuminated the way with his flashlight.

We arrived at the end of the tunnel and there was a wrought iron handle sticking out of the rock. Suze paused but a moment, and then grasped it.

If it weren’t for the handle, the door would’ve been undiscoverable. It had been painted to look like the stone walls of the tunnel.

The exit was shielded by boulders and rocks, so anyone walking along the beach would only see a craggy outcrop. We stepped out of the tunnel onto the sandy beach of the firth. I closed the door and it blended into the wall, completely hidden.

Another loud explosion echoed through the night and a moment later, the sky lit up with flames.

“Barrett,” Julie gasped. “The house—”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, forcing away crushing sadness as I watched the roof of the house catch fire.

A smidgeon of pain flashed through my skull. “You guys need to go. Now. Get the kids to safety.”

“Where do we go?” Julie asked as she bounced Piper, still trying to quiet her down.

“Doesn’t matter. Just get them safe.” I rubbed my forehead.

I felt it. Another seizure was coming.

I crouched down and opened my arms. My children rushed to me, and I embraced them quickly, my tears falling on their hair.

“I love you,” I said.

“Mam.” Hawk’s eyes were wide.

“Go,” I urged. “Go now.”

Betty tried to nudge in for affection and I gave her an absent pat before pushing her away. A wave of dizziness washed over me.

Suze grasped Hawk’s hand and Bella took the twins’.

“I’ll see you all soon,” I lied.

Julie met my gaze, and her eyes said it all.

I quickly brushed a kiss to my daughter’s cheek and then they took off, running across the beach. With fire in the sky behind me illuminating my family, I watched them grow smaller and smaller in the distance.

My world was burning.

I fell face first into the damp sand as the seizure gripped my body.

A veil of darkness slid over my eyes.

I breathed in the scent of the sea, the charred smell of ash on the wind. I heard the waves crash against stone.

And then I heard nothing.

Nothing at all.

Chapter48

BARRETT

He was singingto me in Gaelic, a lullaby he used to sing to our children in the middle of the night when they had trouble sleeping.