Page 16 of Love Beyond Reach (Morna’s Legacy #11)

T wo Months Later

W ith both Jerry and Alasdair eager to find a place for me to learn and work, it didn’t take long for them to figure out a solution. It was much more perfect than I could’ve dreamed.

On the back side of the castle, hidden by years of foliage and dirt, was a door to a separate basement room in the castle.

Empty for years, it was dirty and dark, but I couldn’t have minded less.

For despite the frigid air and damp walls, there was no reason for any of us to suspect that Father would have reason to enter it. It was private, and it was mine.

In order to allow me even more time to read through Grier’s countless books, Alasdair hired a nurse for Eoin.

While I missed my days spent in the child’s company, I couldn’t bring myself to feel guilty over being away from him.

My enthusiasm allowed me to learn quickly.

Within the month, I mastered dozens of spells that had been entirely out of the realm of my abilities only weeks before.

My mornings were spent in the castle, flitting around, behaving as if I were the useless ornament piece my father believed me to be. I got into the habit of sleeping late so that the mornings wouldn’t seem so long.

Afternoons were my time. The moment Father left for his afternoon ride, I would slip away to my spell room and work until Alasdair came to inform me that Father had returned to the stables.

Everyone in my closest circle, save Father, knew of my work. Mary, Kip, Elspeth, Mae—each of them kept my secret.

Jerry’s new position with my father provided him lodging and food, but most days he had little work to do.

My father had little need of a messenger.

If he wished to speak to anyone, Father preferred to meet face-to-face.

So while Jerry’s title offered him more esteem than the role of Kip’s stable hand, most of his days were spent helping with the horses anyway.

Each afternoon, he would allow me some time to work alone.

Then later, he would stop in to check on my progress.

While my progress with magic was great, I’d found nothing in Grier’s journals or spell books that ever mentioned time travel. I only had a few more books to work through, and I feared they would prove to be as fruitless as all the others.

“Yer hair is different.”

Jerry’s voice from behind caused me to jump. Even with my back toward him, I could sense that he stood close to me. I always tried to keep my distance from him. I didn’t know how to handle the way my body stirred when near him.

Scooting to the side to clear him, I turned.

“Ye scared me. Aye, the wetness of the basement makes it grow to twice its normal width. Mary said if I continue to arrive to dinner appearing so disheveled, Father will begin to suspect that something is awry. I doona believe she’s right.

Father would have to look at me for more than the span of one breath to notice, but I suppose ’tis best to be safe.

” Stepping even further away, I continued, “Ye are earlier than usual. Does Kip not need ye?”

Grunting, Jerry rolled his eyes as he shook his head.

“I think I angered him. He’s no older than I, but he is as impatient as a crotchety, old man. He knows everything I told him was true, but he dinna wish to hear it.”

With both hands against my makeshift stone desk, I hoisted myself so that I sat upon it.

It wasn’t the most ladylike position, but none of that ever seemed to matter in front of Jerry.

I didn’t know if it was the time he came from or simply his open personality, but I suspected I could appear before him in my shift without him balking at the sight of it.

“What did ye tell him?”

He smiled and stepped closer. I immediately regretted sitting down—now there was nowhere for me to escape to.

Turning so that his back leaned against the table, he lifted himself and sat down so close that our fingers brushed.

I swallowed and hoped he couldn’t see my skin flush in the low light of the room.

“I canna tell ye. Not yet anyway. Once he calms down and sees the sense of what I suggested, I’ll share the news with ye. So.” He lifted a finger and pointed to the open book on my other side. “What have ye learned today?”

I dreaded disappointing him each and every day. Even though he always responded with patience and kindness, I knew his own fears that I might not be able to help him grew with each passing day.

Leaning over with my left hand, I closed the book.

“Nothing that will help ye, I’m afraid.”

Keeping his smile steady, he locked eyes with me as he leaned across me, grabbing the book beneath my hand. His nose was so close it could’ve brushed against my cheek had he wished it. I held my breath so it wouldn’t shake.

“’Tis not what I asked. Sometimes, I believe ye think all I care about is ye helping me.

’Tis untrue. I believe I want ye to learn everything ye can about magic just as much as yer brother does.

I would support anything that would give ye power over yer father’s grip on ye, Morna.

I’m genuinely interested. What did ye learn? ”

I reached over to thumb the book open to the page I’d been working on as Jerry braced the book with his hands.

“’Tis a truth potion. Mary is gathering the necessary herbs. Would ye like me to try it on ye?”

Jerry jumped off the table so quickly he created a breeze. Laughing, he backed away and held up his hands as if to block me.

“Please doona ever slip me a potion. While I know I must use magic to get home, I’ve truthfully a great fear of it.”

“Of magic?”

Such a confession surprised me. If he was afraid of magic, why did he come to my spell room each and every day and expose himself to it? Why had he lived with a witch far more powerful than me for over a year?

“Not of magic, per say, but of being controlled by it.”

“Do ye truly believe I would do that to ye?”

His features softened.

“No, I doona believe ye would.”

Slowly, he closed the distance between us, and I held my breath as his thighs bumped into my knees as he stood in front of me. Leaning in, he whispered, “Hold still, lass. Ye’ve a lash that is perilously close to falling into yer eye.”

If not for my hands steadying me against the table, I would’ve trembled at the touch of his fingers across my lashes. With a soft pinch, he grabbed at something but blew it away before I could see the lash in his palm.

He stepped away as quickly as he neared me, and I held his eyes until he turned away. I could only see the shape of his eyes—the corner of the room where I sat was far too dark for him to see any of my lashes.

He said nothing else as he left.

I sat smiling long after he’d gone.

He had no real reason to touch me at all.

J erry

F or over a year , getting back to my own time was my greatest obsession. Every minute of every day, it was all I thought about. Even in my dreams, all I could see was my home. How could I relinquish my obsession so easily? Was any lass that powerful?

She couldn’t see it yet—how much I cared for her.

Her innocence prevented her from seeing how desperately I wanted her.

I was thankful for it. For if Morna ever reciprocated my feelings, I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to make myself leave this time, even if she found a way for me to return home.

And I had to return home. Of course I did. If my destiny lay in this time, I would’ve been born here.

Regardless, each day when I snuck down into Morna’s basement, I hoped her news would be the same as the day before. Despite my better judgment, I hoped she found nothing.

It couldn’t last forever. Either she would have to find the spell soon, or my willpower would betray me completely.

One way or another, I had to return. And no matter how much I wished it, I couldn’t bring Morna with me.

It was torture to be near her, but it drove me mad to be away from her, even for the length of one morning.

Life at Conall Castle was miserable.

I was the happiest I’d ever been.