Hew left right at sunrise just as he’d planned. It was not a far journey to Mae’s resting place. In fair weather he could have made the trip there and back in a day, but with the snow still so deep, he knew it would take him at least two.
Just two days away from Adelle seemed too many. He wondered if she’d been disappointed that he hadn’t asked her to marry him. He hoped she was not, for he intended to do so as soon as he made it back from bidding Mae one final farewell.
He wished to marry Adelle with all his heart, but some small piece of him would not allow himself to ask it of her when Mae still lingered in the back of his mind. He knew she would have been pleased for him. He’d come to that realization soon after he arrived at Conall Castle, but he wished to spend a few moments alone with Mae so that he could truly put the past behind him.
The day trickled by slowly as he lost himself in a sea of past memories. Memories of loneliness and the choices he’d made that had caused him to be so. A new future lay ahead of him. He couldn’t wait to embrace it with all that he had.
He stopped often to allow his aging horse to rest and to clean the icy chunks from the horse’s hooves and coat. He asked much of his beloved beast to accompany him on this trip. His horse was old. Hew knew the animal would not make it another year. It seemed appropriate that Greggory’s last journey be the last time he would journey to Mae’s grave, as well.
Slowly, dark descended over Hew and the great beast. He knew he should stop for the night, but no good place offered shelter from the snow. He knew there to be a small village just outside of the Conalls’ territory. So against his better judgment, he nudged the horse on, praying with each soft kick of his heels that his companion could make it into the village.
It happened quickly. The horse stepped upon a rock buried out of sight, deep within the snow. He heard the creature’s leg snap and did his best to throw his own leg over the side so that he could dismount before the animal fell, but Hew was not quick enough.
Just as he threw his leg over the side, Greggory fell in the direction he dismounted, pinning him beneath. As his own elbows sunk into the wet snow, they crashed roughly into the same rocks that had felled his horse. His left shoulder dislocated on impact.
Pain coursed through him. The weight of his horse on top of him knocked all the breath from his lungs. The stars in the sky melted together, turning into darkness as he lost consciousness.
*
Present Day
“Morna…Morna, wake up, lass!” Jerry shook his wife’s shoulder with as much force as his thin arms could afford. He watched terrified as she tossed in her sleep, making noises as if she were injured. He could see her eyes darting back and forth beneath her closed eyelids, and he held his breath in fear until she opened her eyes to look at him.
“I must gather me spells. They are in need of us once more.”
Jerry sighed in relief, his whole body trembling from the remnants of his worry. He’d seen his wife often stir during fits of her dreams, but never so much as he’d just witnessed. For a brief moment, he’d worried that it hadn’t been magic that caused her to do so but perhaps old age.
He had every intention of passing from this life before his beloved. He knew he would not be able to live a day without her. “Ye scared me to death, Morna. I was afraid…well, I doona wish to speak of what I thought.”
He smiled against her hand as she lay her palm against his cheek, knowing what he meant well enough. “’Tis not a worry ye should have. I shall no leave this world until I am good and ready to, and that willna be for a long time. Come.”
She stood and waved at him to follow her. He did so without question. His wife carried a great burden, one he was eternally grateful he didn’t possess. “What is it, lass?”
“A lad I knew as a child has taken a fancy to Adelle, and he finds himself in need of help. I must warn them, send Adelle the dreams that were just shown to me so they may have a chance of reaching him in time.”
She didn’t stop to explain more to him, and he didn’t ask any further questions. This was an urgent matter, but he didn’t worry over such things as his wife did. He’d yet to see one of her spells go awry.
Chapter 20
I’d slept so little the night before Hew departed that I would have been on edge the next day even if the pups had not chosen the exact moment of his departure to whine as if wounded. I spent the entire next day sick with worry, and it exhausted me. My only relief was that my face no longer ached, and the swelling had diminished greatly throughout the day.
As I travelled upstairs to my bedchamber, a pup under each arm, I was sure I would spend another sleepless night worried over Hew. Much to my surprise, a sense of drowsiness so strong that I felt halfway asleep by the time I reached my bedchamber door overcame me.
It seemed a great effort to change into my nightgown. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep.
*