Uneasiness suffused him. “Beth, love, please look at me and tell me what distresses you so.”
A deep voice spoke softly from the doorway. “I believe that would be me.”
Dillon spun around, raising his sword once more.
Robert tried to push Beth behind him, but could not pry her loose. He could not even draw his sword, because—when he loosened his hold—she shouted, “Don’t let go!”
He tightened his arms around her. “Who are you?” he demanded, glaring over her head at the stranger.
The man was so tall he had to duck to enter the room. When he straightened, even Dillon had to look up at him. “You may call me Seth.”
Dillon’s gaze went from murderous to watchful as he lowered his sword tip. “’Tis the giant.”
The dark knight’s full lips quirked. “I have been called worse.”
Robert addressed Dillon without shifting his gaze from the stranger. “You have never seen the giant’s face. Are you certain ’tis him?”
“Aye.”
Robert tightened his hold on Beth, felt her squeeze closer, as though she wanted to burrow beneath his skin, and understood now. While Seth would not harm them physically, he would tear them asunder emotionally when he returned Beth to her life in the future.
The panic Robert had read in her face now crystallized in his blood.
The moment he had dreaded had come. With this man’s help, Beth would walk out of his life forever. And with her, she would take his heart and all of his hopes for the future.
“I can’t do it,” she blurted, and his heart stopped. Beth turned her head to look at Seth. “I can’t do it. I thought I could, but I can’t. I know that makes me a terrible person, a terrible sister, but I can’t. I can’t leave Robert. I love him too much.”
Robert swallowed hard. “Beth,” he whispered.
“I know it’s selfish to choose my happiness over Josh’s, but—”
“Beth,” he repeated, stronger. Loosening his hold, he clasped her face in both hands and forced her to look up at him. “You do not have to choose.”
Her eyes glistened. “Yes, I do.”
“Nay, love, you do not.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I will go with you.”
Dillon made a sound of protest.
Beth’s face went blank with shock. “Robert, you can’t. Everything you’ve worked so hard for—everything you’ve ever wanted—is here. Your life is here.”
“My life is with you.” If he had to give up Fosterly, everyone and everything else he knew and loved, he would do so willingly if ’twould ensure he could spend the rest of his days with Beth and prevent her from suffering over her brother’s fate.
A long silence ensued.
Alyssa appeared in the doorway. “Dillon,” she said, her face and voice full of concern, “what is amiss? I sensed”—her gaze fell on Seth—“you.”
A smile full of affection lit Seth’s features as he bowed to Alyssa. “’Tis a pleasure to see you again, my lady.”
With a quick glance at Dillon, she hesitantly offered Seth her hand.
His hand was so large it made hers seem like that of a small child as he brought it to his lips.
Alyssa gave him a faint smile. “You are even better at guarding your thoughts than Dillon and Robert have become.”
He grinned. “I trust you see naught?”
“I see naught,” she confirmed.
He released her hand. “I am delighted to find both you and your daughter well. Her gifts will be nigh as great as your own.”
Robert slanted Dillon a glance to catch his reaction, but could not tell if his brother was alarmed at the thought or just surprised.
“If you will forgive me for saying so,” Alyssa parried, “you seem greatly concerned with our happiness and well-being. What are we to you?”
“You are a gifted one,” he replied, as if ’twas all the answer she needed.
“Dillon and Robert are not.”
“Ah, but Lord Dillon is essential to your happiness.”
“And Robert?”
“Has been kind to you.”
“What of Beth?” Robert posed.
Seth cocked his head to one side in a way that made Robert wonder if he were trying to decide whether or not he should respond. “She is the key to your own happiness, which I desire as a reward for your kindness to Lady Alyssa.”
Alyssa shook her head. “There is more.”
Seth’s brow furrowed as he turned to her. “Your powers have grown. Did you see that or merely sense it?”
“Sense it.”
He nodded slowly. “I shall have to be more careful. You are correct. There is more. Bethany is a gifted one.”
“What?” Beth blurted. “I can’t be. I don’t have any gifts or superpowers or whatever.”
Robert frowned. “She has demonstrated none of the abilities we have come to understand gifted ones may possess.”
Seth’s shoulders moved in a slight shrug. “The part of her bloodline that comes from gifted ones has weakened over time.”