Page 110 of Dark Victory

And even though stone could not burn, chunks of the gray stone slabs were falling from the sky, and the rocks were ablaze, sizzling as they slammed down, only to burn holes into the bailey ground. Men, women and children were running for the castle’s front gates, screaming in terror and trying to escape the inferno. Macleod pushed himself to his feet, searching Melvaig with his senses for Tabitha. He felt her above him, where there was so much hatred and evil. She was in the central tower.

Tabitha screamed, the sound bloodcurdling.

Criosaidh roared in answering rage, the sound triumphant.

And the tower swayed in the fiery night and more blazing stone blocks sheared from it, crashing to the earth below.

He was afraid he was too late. Macleod ran for the tower and pounded up the narrow stairs. As he reached the uppermost landing, the heat from the fire inside the tower chamber intensified, but that was not why he faltered. A fire wall blazed, dividing the tower chamber in half. Tabitha was on one side, Criosaidh on the other. A man stood on the threshold, blocking him from entering the room.

Macleod breathed hard, shocked as the man shouted Tabitha’s name. He wanted to rush forward and help Tabitha, but he didn’t dare, for he recognized the man.

He had just encountered himself.

And suddenly he did not think he could breathe.

Suddenly his knees felt weak, as did his entire body.

Was this what happened to a person if he encountered himself in another time? Was this why it was forbidden?

He reached out to steady himself as his older self screamed Tabitha’s name, as Criosaidh taunted them. And Tabitha was trapped against the far wall by the fire, the flames dangerously close to her velvet skirts.

He was terrified for her and he knew without attempting to help her that he was suddenly powerless. No one had seen him and he had the sudden certainty that they could not see him, even though he was there. As he held the wall with one hand, he was determined to find his power, and he tried to blast Criosaidh. But he had been right, he had no power; in fact, he couldn’t even stand up. It became harder and harder to breathe, but not because of the smoke. And he could barely decipher their words as they fought.

But just before he collapsed, Tabitha looked right at him.

He didn’t know if she saw him or sensed him, but he thought he heard her whisper, “No.”

And as he finally crumbled to the floor, he saw the fire wall shifting from Tabitha to Criosaidh, and he felt his older self using his mind to help her with her magic. But Criosaidh was casting her spell and Tabitha was starting to helplessly cry, tears slipping down her face. He was terrified of what this signified.

But he felt the terror in the other man, too, shockingly—sickeningly. And as his fear grew, so did Macleod’s, and their feelings of horror became one. He felt himself slipping away, as if dying, the entire grotesque tragedy becoming more and more distant, yet he was in Macleod’s mind now, in his heart and his soul. He felt his every thought, all of his fear, and the power of his love.

Was he dying? Was he dead? Was he now disembodied, and a part of his future self?

“Fire be hungry, fire be quick, get the Macleod bitch,” Criosaidh said harshly.

Even as she spoke, he knew, and he roared “No!” while blasting the black witch again. This time, taken unawares, she gasped in pain and was driven back into the untouched wall, but it didn’t matter.

Tabitha went still, as the flames circled her.

He seized Criosaidh. “Stop the fire or die!”

She sneered at him and vanished.

Tabitha screamed.

In horror, he turned and saw her lavender velvet gown on fire. And then his wife was engulfed in the flames, only a portion of her pale, frightened face visible to him.

I love you…

He knew these were her last, dying words.

But she did not finish speaking. Instead, the fire erupted, reaching the tower roof, consuming her completely.

“Tabitha!” he screamed.

Then the fire was gone, and there was only the charred ruin of the tower room.

He could not breathe. He could not move. In shock, he stared.