Chapter Forty-Seven
“I told you I wanted some time alone with her.” Emma leaned closer, struggling to keep her voice to a low enraged hiss as she glanced at Laynie’s motionless body stretched across the couch. A soft snore filtered up from the pile of blankets. Thank goodness. Jet lag had knocked baby sister out. Maybe Emma could sort through things with Torin before little sister recharged and started demanding answers to her endless stream of questions. Turning back to Torin, she jabbed a finger into the center of his chest. “Why can’t you ever listen to me?”
“We have no time to ease your sister into the truth. The land cries out for its redemption and healing against Arach’s punishment. Once we best him and close the portal to his reality, your difficult choice must be made and your sister needs to be prepared.” Torin grabbed her hand and stroked her wrist with a mesmerizing circular motion of his thumb.
Emma yanked her hand away. She couldn’t think when he touched her. “There is no difficult choice for me, Torin. My life is here.” Stiffening farther away from Torin, she hugged her arms against her chest. “You’re the one with the decision to make. The choice is yours. You don’t have to leave this time. You could stay here with me and...and adapt.”
“Ye know I canna remain in this world. Can ye no’ see that I struggle more each day against the confusion…against the chaos of this time? The magic has grown too thin in the beliefs of this time.” The muscles along Torin’s jaw twitched. The scar running down the side of his throat darkened against his tanned flesh, reddened by the heat of his frustration.
“And you think I’ll adapt without any problem to your world? You think I’ll be just fine in some other realm, some reality so far removed from what I know that I might as well be on another planet? Maybe it is another planet. Is it?” Emma bit her lip and glanced at her sister. The ancient springs supporting the cushions of the couch creaked as Laynie shifted positions. Emma drew in a deep breath, struggling against the weight of annoyance crushing in all around her. If not for the storm raging against the thick, mudded walls of the cottage, she’d take this argument outside, out of baby sister’s slumbering earshot.
“I would see to it that your way was made easy. Together, we could build a satisfying life. Yer not even considering what I’ve set before ye as an option. We would be happy, Emma. I promise ye that. We belong together…in the next reality.” Torin eased closer; the reflection of the burning hearth flickered in the depths of his eyes.
“You can’t guarantee that.” Emma edged back a step. Did he think she was blind to his subtle shifting toward her? “I can’t leave Laynie. I’m all she’s got.”
Torin’s fingers curled into tensed fists then slowly opened as though relaxing with forced effort. “I know how much ye love your sister. I know ye believe that she canna live without ye. But look at her, Emma. Open your eyes and see her for what she truly is. She’s grown into a fine independent woman quite capable of caring for herself.”
“I can’t leave her.” The words choked her, catching in the emotions knotted in her throat. How could he expect her to leave Laynie behind—never see her baby sister again?
“What will ye do when Laynie leaves you? When she finds her own way into the world and embraces the pleasures of her own life?” Torin lifted his chin, entrapping her in his pain-filled gaze. “Do ye think she’ll allow ye to hang about her heels like a well-trained dog?”
Emma flinched. Torin’s words hit her like a physical blow. He’d voiced her worst fear. The older and more independent Laynie became, the more Emma wished she could turn back time. A desolate coldness shuddered through her, settling around her like a mournful cloud. “There’ll always be room in Laynie’s life for me. She’ll never shut me out.”
“And ye’ll be perfectly satisfied to stand aside and watch your sister enjoy her life while ye have no life of your own? Isn’t that what ye’ve done for the past ten years, Emma? Has it been pleasant? Have ye enjoyed turning your back on life? Denying your own right to happiness?”
“Shut up!” Emma exploded with a throaty hiss. “Just. Shut. Up. You’ve got no right—”
“Like hell I don’t.” Torin crossed the room in an effortless lunge and yanked her into his arms. Locking her body against his chest, he silenced her with a kiss.
Fury. Passion. A chaotic mix of raw emotions seared into her mouth. The stubbled growth of Torin’s day-old beard rasped against her chin. He opened her mouth, forced in deeper, branded her as his own.
Scooping her up into his arms, Torin stomped across the hardwood floors toward the bedroom.
A muffled voice growled from the pile of blankets balled up on the couch. “It’s about time you two moved it into the bedroom. Now, maybe I can finally get some sleep.”