Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
"Please tell me you are not serious about going back in time." She could accept Zerek being a dragon shifter, even accept the stories about Craignamore being a living, breathing castle. But going back to the eighteenth century could very well kill her if what she'd read in fiction was true about time travel.
"It is the only viable option to save Craignamore. And save you." Zerek slowly turned to face Rylie.
"And how exactly are we supposed to go back?"
"When the quartz eagle is placed in the Draco Slab, while a slayer holds the slab and a shifter holds the eagle, a portal will open and propel the two through time. The portal can also open by a slayer's hand only, but not always. The slab can be fickle in some instances."
She had so many questions about this, it wasn't funny. But first she needed one answer from Zerek about the eagle. "You didn't list the quartz eagle by mistake, did you?"
He shook his head. "No. I sometimes use it to reach out to Staegyl. He's a dragon shifter whose human-side died off years ago. That specific version of the catalogue was only meant to go to him. But accidentally it went up online to the public site and one additional printed copy went to you. Though I don't know how it happened and when I realized it, I needed to fix it."
The floor shook.
"Is that Dragoncross, again?"
Zerek cursed. "Yes. And he says…well, you won't believe what he's saying."
"I think I can handle it."
"I believe he might have been the source behind the catalogue mix-up."
"He can do that?"
Zerek rubbed the back of his neck like someone who was trying to wipe away tension but wasn't being very successful at it. "Oh, you'd be amazed at what he can do."
"He wanted me here, didn't he?"
"Yes, but he's not saying why. Though he does know about our history."
Knowing a house could like you was a strange feeling. But at least the structure wasn't crumbling itself around her, so that had to be a plus. "Maybe he just likes me."
"He doesn't like many people, so I'm guessing you're right on that account. Count yourself lucky."
Magic, apparently, existed everywhere in Dundaire. "Getting back to the Draco Slab, how will it know where to take us?"
"We will have to be specific in asking it."
It sounded too simplistic. "What about the dangers of time-travel. In fiction it always says disturbing time has consequences and I think that is very realistic. What damage will we do to the future by going back and changing the past?" Surely Zerek would see this was not a sensible thing to do.
"Altering the past must be limited. We can't do anything that will change history to the point it will create a ripple through future eras."
"And how do you suggest, specifically, we save Craignamore?"
He paced, the treads of his rubber boot heels squeaking against the tile. "Magnus St. George died of a broken heart because he never got the chance to say his goodbyes to the love of his life. I was with Catriona when she passed away. Magnus was only seconds from reaching the sitting room where Cat lay dying. If we can move her to the front hall, there is a very good chance Magnus can say his farewell."
The notion was plausible, she supposed. "And you believe that will be enough to spare Craignamore from the agony of its broken heart?"
"I do. Cat's blood was spilled within Craignamore that day and the castle's foundation would have most definitely absorbed it. If we can get her and Magnus to be together during her last moments, I believe it will have a great impact on the castle."
"And if Craignamore no longer pines for the lost love of Magnus and Catriona, it will heal. Thus, sparing my own life."
"Correct." Taking a deep breath, Zerek, reached for Rylie's hand. "I know all of this must sound so farfetched, Rye, but it's real. It's how Dundaire works. The magic that veins through this part of the Highlands is unlike anything anywhere else in the world."
She was starting to realize that unexplainable fact. "I wish my father would have been more forthcoming. But he made excuses for the environment we lived in. Why would he do that? I can understand when we were children, maybe. But as my sisters and I grew up, he should have told us the truth. My mother tried. She at least read us the tales of Dundaire. And she was adamant about me reuniting the quartz eagle with the Draco Slab."
"Perhaps after your mum died and your father realized he wasn't capable, for whatever reasons, to restore the slab, thus leaving him to die at an early age, he thought if he kept the truth from you, you'd escape its magic."
Her father had loved her, of that Rylie was certain. "I guess that's what he did as I highly doubt, he'd leave me knowing outright I'd succumb to the Craignamore's broken heart. He did shelter me and my sisters. But we just thought he was being an old fashioned, strict dad."
"Ultimately, the choice is yours, Rylie," Zerek said. "I'll stand by you no matter what you decide. But know this, I will also do anything and everything in my power to save you. Even if that means asking Bane to find me another slayer who will go back in time with me. I won't let you go down with Craignamore."
She knew she shouldn't be second guessing everything Zerek had told her but taking it all in at once was a bit much. "You're being very protective of me, and I'm not sure I understand why. I broke up with you without giving an explanation as to why, and still, you want to rescue me. Why?"
"I trust you."
Zerek's revelation shocked her. "After all I've done?"
"You held back that you sensed dragon fire when Val asked you about my scent."
She had. "I didn't know if I could trust him at that point, and my instincts said to keep that fact to myself."
"Because you are my soulmate and I'm yours." He pushed up the sleeve of his black turtleneck and held his arm out, palm side up. Ripples of dragon scale slithered under his skin. "This is what I am, Rylie. I have dragon blood in me. And you knew it. You saw the scales when we dated, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't lash out at me. You didn't run to anyone telling them what you saw. And before you say your reaction was due to stress or a bad dream or whatever, I know differently. In your heart you knew the truth about what you saw. What I am. And you didn't betray me."
"But I did walk away."
"I can't blame you for that. You were never told the truth about dragons, even if in someway you might have believed the tales your mother read you, without having been raised to outright believe in dragons and the like, it isn't easy to fully accept."
She reached out and ran her fingers over Zerek's skin. His flesh felt cold yet hot, the temperature fluctuating across his skin. She stilled her touch near his wrist.
Scales scurried through Zerek's arm, their rounded, hard edges protruding the highest around Rylie's fingers.
She caressed the slinking projectiles.
Fanning through her hand, sparks crept up her arm, veining out across her entire body.
Rylie gasped. She pulled away. "Dragon fire."
Zerek dropped his arm but remained silent.
"Is that what you always feel inside?"
"Yes." He appeared to hold his breath, his stare intense and darkening.
"It's amazing."
With a smile, he threw back his head. "I am glad to hear you say that because I wasn't sure how you'd react to actually seeing proof of my dragon side."
A gust of wind rattled the balcony's glass door.
Rylie swayed.
Zerek lunged and grabbed her, catching her before she fell.
"I feel sick." She clutched her stomach. "Like something just tore me in two." Her world was suddenly falling apart.
A buzz emitted from Rylie's satchel. "That's my mobile. I need to answer it as that text can't be from anyone other than Addy or Tar this time of night."
Zerek helped her to the sofa, then handed her the satchel.
Scrambling, she retrieved the phone and swiped it. "Oh, no."
"What's wrong?" A tone of fear laced Zerek's words.
"A tree crashed into Craignamore's sitting room window, taking out half the wall. Bane is there now. He's bringing my sisters to his place for the night as the castle's electricity went out due to the tree taking down a power line."
"Text your sisters back and tell them you'll be staying here for the night. You can't go back to Craignamore in its current state."
"Thank you, I appreciate the offer to stay here as I don't really care to go home just yet." She texted her reply, then looked back to Zerek. "Craignamore caused that tree to fall, didn't it? It had nothing to do with the wind."
"I believe so," Zerek said, softly. "I think Craignamore's grounds are dying with her."
Rylie dropped her phone on the sofa cushion beside her. "And I felt it, didn't I? That's why I lost my balance."
A veil of pain blanketed Zerek's features. "I won't lie to you, Rye. This is not good."
"I'll go back to Culloden." She stared up at him. "I'll do it."
"It will be risky, and nothing is guaranteed, but it's your best chance."
It wasn't her own life she was thinking about. "I'm doing this for my sisters. If I die, they'll face the same fate of an early death. But if I can help ease Craignamore's grief, then my sisters will be spared from suffering. Tar and Addy will live long lives or at least have the chance to do so."
"I won't let you die, Rylie."
The sincerity in Zerek's voice was overwhelming. "I know you'll do your best. But even if I don't make it back to our time, please make sure my sisters are taken care of."
Zerek nodded but refrained from saying anything.
The unsettling feeling that had swarmed her stomach, subsided. "You said earlier you needed to explain the loss of your ability to meld with your dragon. Why can't you fully bring him forth?"
"I need the sigil I was born with, to meld with my dragon side."
She knew sigils from researching arcane markings as part of her studies at university. "Sigils are magical power symbols."
"Correct." Zerek crossed the room and pulled a large, leather-bound volume from one of the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. He brought it over to the coffee table and opened it flat. "These are drawings of our sigils" He pointed to the five emblems drawn over the two pages. "This one is mine."
The engraving of a large, white dragon with blue eyes holding a claymore, stared back at her. A ring of glyphs, in a design she couldn't decipher, encircled him. "He's magnificent."
"He's also deadly, Rylie. Please don't look at the fantasy side of dragons depicted in romantic novels. I'm a killer when it comes down to it. When I'm in dragon form, my humanity doesn't exist."
She didn't believe that. There had to be modicum of good that remained when man and dragon came together. "What does this have to do with us going back in time?"
"My sigil remains somewhere hidden. If I go back to Culloden, I can either find where Dabraxas took the sigils or perhaps I can keep him from taking them in the first place."
"Won't that change the future too much?"
"I don't believe so. We exist in the present and our dragons are still with us, they just can't emerge. We can't transform into full dragon form. As long as we don't fight at Culloden as dragons, we won't change history. Keeping or retrieving our sigils should have minimal if any effect on time. Especially if we don't use them until the present."
It all sounded surreal, but if they didn't go back, she'd die soon, for sure. As will her sisters, since they would inherit Craignamore after her. No St. George lived past the age of forty. Some died even younger, and she didn't care to test the theory at twenty-three. "How long do you think we'll be gone for?"
"I can't say. The slab dictates how long it will keep us in the past. We won't have a choice when to come back once we're on the other side. It also won't travel with us, so it's not like we can do what needs to be done, then reach for it and make our return. Once we're in the eighteenth century, we'll be dependent on time's choices."
"Has it ever not sent someone back?"
Zerek lowered his head. "Not that I'm aware of. But Staegyl's human-side went through time and was mortally wounded while in the past. He didn't pass away there, but he was immediately propelled back to his current time and died within minutes of returning home."
The odds definitely were not in their favor, but what choice did they have? "Zerek?"
He pulled back from looking over the book. "Yes?"
"Kiss me."
"What?"
"I don't know what tomorrow will bring. With the new damage at Craignamore, our upcoming trip to the past, and the uncertainty it all presents, I don't want our breakup to be how things end between us."
Zerek smirked. "So you do still care for me."
She slapped him gently on the chest. "You know I do. In truth, I cared for you even when you annoyed the shit out of me when I used to shoot my slingshot at Balon when I was a teen."
"About that." A sheepish look crossed Zerek's face. "I had good reason to be upset over you damaging that statue."
"And what might that be?"
"Balon is my dragon-side."
She choked. "Wh…what?"
"Don't panic. That statue is only the shell that represents him. It ended up at Craignamore because as a non wolf-shifter with Dundaire ancestry, which in my case is only half as my father was a Roman, Bane requires a magical casing to be made so that our shifter side can be contained if necessary. He felt it best that mine be housed at Craignamore since its an ancestral home of the St. George slayers. He knew your father would guard me well, if something went haywire with my dragon-side. Of course such guarding was never needed, since my dragon side hasn't been able to run loose since Culloden. But still, I am connected to the sculpture."
She knew her face turned red because her cheeks had grown warm. "Oh, God, that means I shot your balls off." She winced.
"You did a lot worse that just that."
"Thank God it didn't have an impact on you when we were dating."
He leaned in and brought his mouth close to hers. "Thank God, indeed."
The scent of bergamot and worn leather filled her nose. As did a faint trace of dragon fire. "Kiss me."
In a flash, Zerek's lips were on hers, the heat of his mouth warming her entire body.
He deepened the kiss.
Sparks flared across her every nerve. She bucked against Zerek's hips. "I need you, Zee."
Wrapping his arms around Rylie, Zerek lifted her and headed out of the library.
"Bed, nest, or cave, lass?" Zerek asked between kisses. "As dragon I have all three."
"Let's start with the bed." A myriad of thoughts fluttered through Rylie's mind as Zerek ran her through the hallway and up the abbey's grand staircase. "Stop."
He froze at the second-floor landing. "What?"
"Why did we only sleep at my flat while we dated? You never offered me any of what you're offering tonight."
"Because I never claimed you as my soulmate before. I couldn't. Not without you knowing exactly what I am. And it never seemed right for me to tell you when we dated."
"Did you know I was your soulmate back then?"
"I sensed it, yes, but I never knew for sure. I didn't smell your unique scent until tonight. I'm thinking the reason for that was I fought myself because I couldn't meld fully with Balon. And I didn't want my burdens to become yours. But you're everything to me, Rye. And I'm done with holding back. Regardless of what the future…or the past…holds for us, I'm all yours."
She wrapped her arms tighter around Zerek's neck and pulled him back to her mouth. If going back to the past wasn't successful, at least they'd have tonight.