Page 97 of Dark Victory

And then, suddenly, he felt her weak grasp on his hand as he held her palm, and the shockingly brutal waves of her pain. She was becoming conscious. MacNeil should be on Iona. He needed the power to leap to him because he could not simply stay there and watch her die. He did not know if MacNeil had heard him. It crossed his frantic mind that MacNeil journeyed often and he might be in the past or the future. Macleod did not know if he was even in this time, or if he was able to hear him and come to them. But MacNeil was the only healer he knew of!

And then he recalled something Tabitha had said to him. Her best friend was a Healer, and she was at Carrick Castle with Ruari—but in the fifteenth century.

The gods had denied him the power to leap for his entire life. Damn it, he must have it now! But should he try to find that woman or find MacNeil?

“Help us,” he gritted, looking up. “Help her. Tabitha is good an’ she deserves to live!”

There was no answer. Not only that, he did not feel a single god or goddess anywhere close by. Damn them—they did not care!

If ye dinna take yer vows soon, the gods will turn against ye.

Continue to displease the gods an’ they will take from ye what ye cherish most…

Nay, he thought, trembling in fear. MacNeil could not have foreseen this moment. The gods could not be so angered with him that they would destroy Tabitha, who was kind and gentle and good.

He jerked. The fourteen-year-old boy knelt beside him, eyes wide and filled with tears. Why?

I dinna ken.

He had never felt so helpless.

Rob ran into the room. He took one look at her and said, “Her neck looks broken. Is she alive?”

He hadn’t wanted to think it. Was her neck broken? The angle did not look right. “She’s alive, but barely.” She could not die—he could not live without her.

He had done this to her.

“Can ye use yer power to summon MacNeil?” Rob asked. But now, he was looking wide-eyed at the utter destruction in the chamber.

She was in so much pain. “Ye will live, Tabitha. Ye have some broken bones an’ they will heal.” He meant to reassure her. “I ken ye can hear me. So fight, Tabitha, fight to get well.” Where was MacNeil?

He felt the slightest pressure on his hand and then he heard her.

Allie…

She wanted him to get the Healer.

I love you.

“Ye willna say goodbye!” he cried, aghast.

Take your vows…be my hero…

And the pressure on his hand disappeared.

“Nay!” He realized his tears were falling. “Tabitha, dinna give up, damn it!” But she was still now. Her life felt distant, as if it was getting farther and farther away by the second.

“MacNeil!” he shouted, and for the first time in his life, he felt powerless and lost. But MacNeil was not coming. Because if he’d heard Macleod, he would have already come to them.

He wanted to hold on to her tightly, forcing her to stay with him. “Ye will live. I will make certain,” he whispered to her. Getting to his feet and leaving her was one of the hardest moments of his life. “Rob, ye willna move from her side.”

Rob nodded. “An’ how will ye do what ye’ve never been able to do?”

Macleod stood, ignoring him. He pushed his fear aside. He was the grandson of a great god and the power of the leap was his right. He pushed his awareness of Tabitha aside. He could not think of her now. He had to find the power, before it was too late and she died.

Everything in the chamber faded, blurring. He closed his eyes. He strained. There was only the struggle to go inside himself and grasp the power that had eluded him his entire life.

And as he delved, the crux of his life became crystal clear. It was all meaningless without her. It was his need for vengeance which had done this to her. In the end, the vengeance he was sworn to was going to destroy her.