“What do you mean?” Beth asked.
“Whenever a gifted one weds an ordinary man or woman,” Seth explained, “the children born of their union possess gifts that are a little weaker. If those children also wed ordinary spouses, they bear children whose gifts are weaker still. It may not be noticeable during a single life span. But hundreds of years of such can produce great change. Had Beth been born in this time, she would no doubt be able to scry the future and read truth and falsehood with a touch. Instead, those abilities have been dampened enough to seem more to her like…” He seemed to search for the correct word.
“Good instincts,” Beth murmured.
Seth nodded. “You knew before you were mortally wounded in that clearing that the men you hunted posed a greater danger than your brother believed. You knew almost as soon as you met him that Robert could be trusted, though your mind tried to instill doubts. And you knew before Robert left for Terrington that he would ride into danger.”
“How do you know all of this?” she asked him. “How do you know about me and about my brother? How do you know my family’s history? How did you even know Robert and I would fall in love? Are you from the future, too?”
His lips curved up in a small smile. “Such questions are best left unanswered.”
“Best for whom?” Beth retorted, voicing the same frustration Robert felt.
Seth remained silent.
When Beth scowled and opened her mouth, Robert spoke first to hold off whatever she intended to snap. “Thank you for saving her life and bringing her back to me.”
Seth inclined his head. “I regret that I must inform you that what you desire is not possible.”
Robert’s stomach sank. “I cannot accompany Beth to her time?”
Alyssa took a step forward. “What?” She looked to Dillon, who held his hand out to her and drew her to his side.
“When Beth returns to her time,” his brother murmured, “Robert wishes to go with her.”
The distress in Alyssa’s brown eyes pierced Robert deeply when she turned her gaze on him. “You cannot mean it,” she whispered, leaning into Dillon for support. “You would leave us?”
His throat thickened at the thought of never seeing his family again. “I want what you and Dillon have. And I have found it with Beth. If I must travel to her time and live the rest of my days there in order to hold on to it, I will do so.”
“You don’t have to do that, Robert,” Beth insisted again. “I told you. I won’t go. I’ll stay here and—”
“If I might continue?” Seth interrupted.
All eyes focused on the powerful man.
“As I stated earlier, Robert cannot live out his life in Bethany’s time.” When Robert opened his mouth to protest, Seth held up one large hand. “Bethany cannot do so either.”
Beth’s eyes began to burn as she stared up at Seth. She couldn’t go back. She couldn’t go home. Or to what used to be home.
This was home now. Robert was home.
But she would never see Josh again. Would never again nearly suffocate when he engulfed her in a bear hug. Would never tell him good-bye or how much he meant to her.
Grief assailed her. As did guilt, because a tiny part of her was relieved that this decision had been taken out of her hands.
Seth’s handsome face rippled like the surface of a pond as tears filled her eyes.
His voice gentled. “Your life in the twenty-first century was meant to end that day, Bethany, either in death or in your retreat to this time.”
“If such is true,” Robert said, a definite bite to his voice, “why did you not bring her back ere she was injured? Why did you let her suffer?”
Seth took no offense, continuing on in the same soft, deep voice he had used since entering the room. “There were others present. Their fate, too, hung in the balance. Of necessity, I had to allow actions to progress to their natural conclusion.”
Had that natural conclusion included Josh’s death?
Beth was too afraid to ask.
“What of her brother?” Robert asked for her. “Did Josh survive?”
“He did.”
Beth’s breath hitched. Tears spilled over her lashes as harsh sobs erupted from her chest.
Josh hadn’t died. The brother she loved so much hadn’t died alone in that clearing with only the corpses of Kingsley and Vergoma for company. Josh was alive.
Robert wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
“Did you heal him as you did Bethany?” Alyssa asked.
“Partially,” Seth divulged. “I could not heal him entirely without raising too many questions, so I numbed his pain, slowed his blood loss, and healed only that which would have impaired him permanently.”
He should have made a full recovery then. Had Beth been able to pry her arms from around Robert, she would have thrown them around Seth to thank him for saving her brother’s life.
“Does he know Beth lives?” Robert asked.
“Nay. He was unconscious when we left.”