Chapter 45

DUN RINGILL CASTLE - SEPTEMBER 28, 1385

I n silence, Léo stalked toward the garret, drawing his estoc and sticking to the shadows. The higher he climbed, the more damage he saw to the interior of the castle. Below he heard the battering ram colliding with the door. His heart began to sink, and fatigue rushed into his body. Niall was gone. Fingon was gone. Malvina was gone. They must have made their escape with the rest of the servants.

Grief weighed down every muscle in his body, and he made his way up the remaining flight of stairs to the garret room, not knowing what else to do with himself but head in the direction of his dreams.

As he pushed open the door to the room, he was surprised to find that the garret was mostly intact save one wide hole in the roof above. Something caught his eye. There on the table lay the Psalter. He picked it up. Tucked within its pages was the sketch of Gabriel and the sketch of the Cuillin Hills.

And the Lord who is your leader, He himself will be with thee: He will not leave thee, nor forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. - Moira

He tucked the Psalter into his doublet and brushed a tear away. Was God with her as she took her last breath and jumped into the ocean? Was God with her when she sank through the briny sea? Yes, and I'm with you now. You're not alone .

The familiar comfort of the Lord's voice penetrated his broken heart.

"What do I do now? What do I do without her?"

Keep watch. It's time to fight.

Fight, Léo.

Fight.

Fight!

A ripple shot from his heart through his arm, and he drew his weapon and turned, just as Niall's sword came down.

"So, you've come to take my clan?"

Léo was ready. Every ounce of fury raced back into his body, and he was suddenly moving with strength beyond his own. Gripping the pommel in one hand and the blade with the other, he blocked Niall's cut and moved with the might of heaven toward his brother, rushing him backward through the door of the garret and into the corridor. Niall staggered backward and jumped away. Leo's voice ground out, "It's not your clan. It never was."

Niall swung up from low guard, and the estoc swooped up and caught the strike, counter directing Niall's strength away from his body. As the blade swung away, Léo drove the estoc down, the dull edge colliding with Niall's shoulder. Niall cried out and backed away again. "It's not your clan either."

Niall charged forward and once again Léo blocked and pushed him away with the estoc. "You're right."

Charging forward, Léo channeled every bit of his love for Aileen into his muscles, swinging the blade into Niall's face. His head snapped to the side and blood and teeth flew from his mouth. "This clan belongs to Almighty God now."

Stunned, Niall staggered backward and then swung his sword weakly up. Léo raised his boot and kicked the blade away, then pummeled him again with the dull, heavy blade of his estoc hearing the crack of bone as it connected with his upper arm.

Niall howled and staggered away, running through the corridor from him and out the door onto the now-deserted parapet. Prowling like a lion, Léo gave chase, ready to corner and devour his prey. As he burst through the door, he saw his brother running for the battlements, screaming at something. He froze.

There, standing like a valorous eagle on the tallest of Dun Ringill's four round battlements, was his little bird. Alive. Eyes ringed with deep black bruises, nose swollen, a cut swiped across her forehead down the bridge of her nose, and her lips were swollen and cut, but she was alive. Tears sprang to his eyes and he began to run toward her.

She dipped out of sight and then emerged again, balancing on the edge of the battlement, jumping and flipping away from something.

He screamed to her. "AILEEN!"

She looked at him, her eyes full of apprehension. Run!

Trepidation filled him. The dream.

He's behind you!

It was then Léo noticed an inverted pyramid of cloud had formed directly above the castle, stormy with darkness. Wind began to whip around them in a blasting funnel.

Aileen's eyes grew wide, and she signed again. Run!

Never. He would never leave her side ever again. Realizing that something was wrong, he kept running toward her and spotted Malvina swinging an axe at her. And then from the corner of his eye, sword. He ducked out of the way but lost his estoc.

Niall charged toward him, and Léo scrambled backward, dodging away. From the top of the battlement, he saw Aileen's fist connect with Malvina's face and the axe being wrenched from her hands.

The sword cut through the air and Léo stumbled backward, landing on his back against the parapet. Niall raised his blade, and it plunged toward him in a blur of final judgment. And then he stopped.

Niall's face contorted, a scream emitting from his jowls as his body fell on top of Léo.

Above him, Léo saw Aileen perched on top of the battlement, her hands still open from the throw, and then the axe deep in Niall's back. Behind her, Malvina screamed and narrowed her focus on Aileen.

Snapping out of his stupor, Léo hefted Niall in his arms and threw him over the parapet onto the roof. Sprinting now, Léo came to the end of the parapet closest to Aileen as Malvina pursued her.

"Aileen!" Léo held up his arms to her. "FLY! "

Racing across the tops of the battlement, she launched off the tower turning through the air toward him. As if they were practicing beside the pond, he caught her, and he pulled her into his body as they hit the parapet. Behind her, Malvina scrambled after her not realizing where she was going, falling through the air and landing on the roof beside Niall with a heavy thud.

Aileen tightened herself around him, wrapping arms and legs over him and squeezing, the softness of her curls tickling his nose. He got to his feet, holding her against him, his words coming out in a rush of nonsensical French. "My little bird! I thought I had lost you forever. I will never leave you again. Never, do you hear me? I will never let you go. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you so much."

Aileen held on, squeezing tighter and tighter, and wouldn't let go.

Around them the sky turned dark like night and his skin prickled as the wind became like a cylinder, whipping around them in a mighty torrent. He placed her on her feet, and they broke apart.

Without warning, a wide streak of lightning blasted from the middle of the pyramid-shaped cloud and scorched into the center of Dun Ringill's roof, blinding him, and burning his skin. Flames shot up from the heart of the dry-rotted keep.

God's ultimate authority was on display. A smell of burning sulfur filled the air. Spinning fiery spheres of lightning, eight feet wide, in rainbows of vivid color began to hit the keep all around them like brimstone. Flash after flash lit around them in magnificent splendor, erupting in brilliant purple, blue, orange, green, and white. The balls raced across the roof and on the tops of the battlements, falling everywhere but on the parapet. Everything in their path was consumed in flame as they burst apart. Screams rent from the roof, and he saw Niall and Malvina drop into the flames leaping all around them.

Aileen's hand slipped inside his own as the balls of lightning continued to fall, illuminating her ocean eyes in brilliant flashes. He should feel terrified, but instead he felt protected and surrounded by love. The light around them became as stardust, and for the first time he heard her voice though she didn't speak.

Kind and musical, it lit up his insides like sunlight and filled him with immeasurable joy. We're not alone, Léo. It's you and me, forever. We have each other. I love you.

"I love you, too, Aileen. It's you and me—forever."

The seas of her eyes sparkled with recognition, realizing that he'd heard her thoughts.

Flashes of fire caught the heavy gold chain as he lifted it over his head and reverently replaced it around her neck. He dropped his mouth near her ear. "Give me your heart, forever. Be my wife."

Hauling him into her bruised lips, she kissed him, and he was once again the broken man in prison saved by the affection of the woman who filled the barren places of his heart.

Her mouth dropped kisses along his cheek and ear, and she rasped one faint word like heavy breath. "Yes."

His hands twined in her hair, and he kissed her over and over, loving her, needing her.

The door at the end of the parapet blew off its hinges and Hector loomed in the doorway, chest heaving, cheeks stained with soot, battle axes in his hands. "WINCHING!? ARE YE MAD? MOVE! The whole keep is going up!"

Léo took his estoc from the parapet, and Aileen's hand.