Page 40 of Darach

“This time you cannot escape, you stupit bitch,” the killer said, and smiled so broadly she could see his teeth gleaming in the darkness shadowing his face. “Once I have that blade, all time shall belong to me.”

Charlotte backed away, and then turned and ran. Her heart pounded in her chest so hard she wondered if it would burst. She had to step on a mechanical box to climb onto the ledge at the very end of the roof, and when she looked down she saw a bunch of white-faced tourists staring back up at her. They seemed strange, and so small, like dolls.

“You cannae face what you’re becoming, my precious.” The killer gazed up at her, but he had no face, just a mouth filled with sharp-looking teeth. He held out his hand. “I understand, for I did much the same. Come and permit me end your suffering.”

She turned away from him and looked up at the stars. She’d always wondered if people really meant it when they claimed they weren’t afraid to die. Now she knew.

Charlotte, dinnae move.

Why did she hear Darach’s voice even here, seven hundred years from his lifetime? Maybe it was wishful thinking, and she had only imagined him. Everything about him, the clan, Dun Lasair and even Emery were like stories from a book. Was it even real, any of it? Or had she somehow ended up in an afterlife made from her own illustrations?

“Charlotte, dinnae move.” This time Darach’s voice sounded very real, and much closer. “Stay still, lass. I’m coming for you.”

I’m not dreaming this.

Charlotte opened her eyes to see nothing but the night and the sprawl of the forest. Cold wind swirled around her, and she looked down to see her bare feet on a narrow stone ledge. Far below she could make out the pale faces of several men gazing up at her, and the cloak they held around the edges like they were preparing to spread it out on the ground.

Or trying to catch something. Like me.

She reached out with her hands on either side, but there was nothing around her she could hold onto. Above her she saw only the night sky. Her balance, the one thing that had probably kept her from falling off the ledge, started to become wobbly.

“Where am I?” she asked, centering her weight and holding as still as she could.

“You’re on the watch tower ledge, lass,” Darach said, his voice very soft and gentle. “I’m climbing up to you. Stay there, and dinnae move.”

It seemed to take forever, during which time Charlotte wondered if it might be better if she did fall. At least that way she wouldn’t take him with her. Then boots appeared on either side of her bare feet, and a cloak fluttered around her. The hard, solid heat of the chieftain’s body pressed against her back.

“I’m tying a rope around us both, Charlotte.” As Darach did that, his breath warmed her cheek. “Kyal and Muir hold the other end, and they shallnae drop us should we lose our footing.”

“We’ve got you, my lady,” one of the guards called from someplace below them.

“How high up are we?” she couldn’t help asking.

“Higher than you should stand in the night wind, lass.” Darach took hold of her arms. “I’ll step down now, and then turn you toward me. Put your arms about my neck, and your legs about my middle.”

Charlotte thought she would be too afraid to move, but as he dropped down a step his hands guided her, and then she was clinging to him as he made his way down a ladder. When she looked up she saw she had been perched on the top of a ten-foot wall, and shuddered.

“Good work, lads,” Darach said as he stepped off the ladder. When she did the same, he swung her up in his arms. “Tell the guards below we’re safe.”

He carried her inside and down the tower stairs, but instead of taking her to her chamber he went to the garrison hall.

“You don’t have to do this,” Charlotte told him. “I can walk. I’m not hurt.”

“’Tis good, for I’m scared witless.” He took her through a throng of clansmen who looked at her as if she were crazy before he strode into his bedchamber and kicked the door shut. He grabbed a tartan and brought her over to the fire, where he sat down with her, holding her on his lap just as he had the first night she’d spent in this room.

“Dinnae,” Darach told her when she tried to get up. “’Tis for me, no’ you.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” Charlotte told him as he wrapped her up in the plaid. “I had a nightmare where I was standing on the roof of the hotel. The stalker had chased me to the edge. I was trying to decide if I should fight or jump. I don’t know how I got there. It was all a dream.”

“You didnae dream yourself onto the ledge, my lady.” His mouth tightened. “A guard saw you walking the passage toward the tower. He called your name many times, but you wouldnae answer, so he came and fetched me.”

“I was sleep-walking?” That astonished her as much as finding herself about to jump off the tower, but then she remembered waking up in front of the windows and another time in the great hall. “All right. I think it’s happened before, but I never went outside. I’ll have to start locking myself in my room at night.”

“No. You’ll sleep here, with me,” he said, his tone almost savage.

Charlotte found it suddenly hard to breathe. “Is that an order, Chieftain? You seem to forget that I’m not yours to protect any longer.”

“You’re too important to the clan.” He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I’ll assure you’ll no’ escape again.”