Chapter Nine

Alec emerged from the back room with a brown Army towel cradled against his chest. As he approached Evie, he unfolded it, revealing the baseball-sized silver apple wrapped inside. “Here.”

Evie lifted an eyebrow but extended her hand for the trinket as he held it out, towel still cupping it from the bottom. As her fingers grasped the delicate stem, he cupped the underside with his free hand.

When he opened his eyes, it was to the gray light of morning and the lapping of the loch over smoothed stones. The setting was familiar, one he came across more than a few times over the years. And though the pebbly beach was simple, it was one of his favorite destinations, the serene lull of the water and sparsely populated shores a comfort. When he could, he hoped to come to this spot, always feeling a bit of comfort with the vast wilderness surrounding it.

He let out a long breath, and, his legs like jelly beneath him, turned to scan for Evelyn.

She was curled up on her side, her head resting on her outstretched arm, her body cradled by long, green grasses.

As he approached, she stirred, stretching slightly before her eyes fluttered open and she took in her surroundings.

She shot up into a sitting position. “Where the hell are we?”

Alec offered his hand.

Surprisingly, she clapped her palm into his and allowed him to haul her up.

“We need to move. I’ll explain what I can along the way.”

She rubbed her temples, fingers distorting her smooth brow as she frowned at an invisible spot across the lake. “Yeah, sure, whatever,” she mumbled, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.

He pressed her toward the north shore of the loch where he knew they could skirt a small inlet and head into the mountains. He kept his attention on her from the corner of his eye so she wouldn’t notice he watched her. The limp in her gait was almost non-existent, but he wanted to be sure he was aware of how difficult moving was for her so he could slow down if needed. She wouldn’t appreciate him hovering and he suspected her pride would keep her from saying anything if she experienced any more discomfort.

He also knew he would have to wait for her to ask questions rather than supplying her with answers right away. If he had learned anything after her visit to the emergency room, it was that Evie was too stubborn to listen to anyone’s advice but her own. Otherwise, neither of them would be traipsing around the wilderness of that place.

As they approached the tree line, she broke the silence. “I thought you were going to explain.”

Exactly as he had expected. “What is it you’d like to know?”

Annoyance bubbled off her. “How about you start with where the hell are we and how did we get here?”

Eyebrow quirked, he turned to look down at her. She mimicked the expression satirically.

“You don’t remember, then?” At her blank expression he murmured, “Interesting.”

“Are you always this unbelievably obtuse?” she demanded through gritted teeth.

Most of the short hair at the nape of her neck had escaped the ponytail holder meant to keep it secure. It curled under, tickling just above the line of her shoulders, and wisps stuck out, framing her face like a dark halo.

“We’re in the Otherworld.”

Her expression didn’t change.

“On the other side of the veil. We crossed the hedge. Passed through the shade.”

She rolled her eyes. “Saying the same non-answer in a different way doesn’t make it any clearer.”

“Do you know nothing of ancient mythology?”

“Not a lick.”

He stopped and spun around to stare her down.

She almost kept walking past him up the shallow incline of the path but took two steps back to stand toe-to-toe with him.

“What do you know of plane geometry?”

She scrunched up her face. “What does geometry have to do with geography? Here I thought I should worry that you had drugged me. Clearly, you are the one who is on drugs.”

“What do you know of plane geometry?” he repeated.

She clenched her jaw for a moment, holding his gaze without blinking. “I don’t know. I majored in history. I was a history PhD candidate. I didn’t exactly spend a lot of time in the math lab.”

“But you do know what a plane is, don’t you?”

“You mean the thing that flies through the air?” When Alec didn’t even crack a smile, she let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, I know what a plane is.”

“And you know what a line is?”

“What do I look like, a first grader? Of course I know what a damn line is.”

“Imagine that the world that you know is a line. It travels infinitely from one direction to another, time its trajectory.”

Evie increased her frown.

“This, where we are, The Otherworld, is a plane. That line runs along that plane. We sort of passed through the invisible barrier that separates the line from the plane known as The Veil. And here we are.”

“Yeah, none of that makes a damn bit of sense. What about the universe? All of space? Does that somehow fit onto your imaginary line? Are you saying this whole place is bigger than the biggest thing in… well, ever?”

“No. Just that time is linear and this place… it is not. It just is, and it has been since it was created by the gods.” He held out his arms, as if to encompass their surroundings.

“The gods?” She harrumphed and started her ascent back up the path.

“Yes, the gods,” he snapped. He quickly closed the distance she put between them and matched his stride to hers. “Like the one you encountered in the middle of those woods.”

“I really have no idea what you mean,” she said loftily.

“Oh? The murder of crows that turned into a woman didn’t send off any internal alarms?”

Evie pursed her lips but didn’t say anything for a moment. “You seem to know an awful lot about this woman you know nothing about.”

Alec narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t say I didn’t know anything about her,” he grumbled.

Evie shrugged and pulled the elastic from her hair, ruffled the dark locks. She then gathered them back up and rewrapped the black tie so only a minimum would escape.

“So, what’s the story, then? Are you some sort of demi-god? Sent to the great Line known as Earth to protect us lowly mortals from the clutches of the almighty gods?” she mocked.

“No.”

A dozen steps later she badgered him again. “Well, then what are you?”

“I’m the same as you,” he answered simply.

“Then how did you know about this place? And all of this? I certainly know nothing about it, so I don’t see how that makes us the same.”

“Wrong. You remember nothing about it.”

She barked a single laugh. “Right. I take it you know this because we were what? Friends? Enemies? More?” Her lips curved wickedly at the last.

Alec briefly contemplated answering her but decided against it; the more she figured out on her own, the better. She wasn’t exactly taking to the information he had provided, anyway.

She sighed at his silence. “All right, let’s say I believe all of this”—she waved her hands around to include their surroundings—“What exactly is the game plan? What are we doing here? And you better not say camping, because after my last experience in the woods, I am over that.”

“We’re looking for a way out.”

“But didn’t we just get here?”

“Yes.”

“So, then why are we leaving?”

Alec looked down at her. “Throwing them off the scent.”

“I fail to see how that works.”

“Neither of them know that I have been using the Otherworld for quite some time to keep out of Mora’s—her—grasp. It’s possible they’ve figured it out now. Or at least Iain has, though it’s only a matter of time before he tells her. But even if they have, they’ll have to guess at best where I have you here or when I have taken you back.”

“What do you mean ‘when?’ Like time travel?”

“Exactly like it.”

She stopped dead in her tracks. “Right. Well. As nice as this has been, I’m just going to…” she pointed behind her with her thumb, the rest of her fingers curled into a fist.

Alec’s hand shot out, wrapping around her other forearm. “I’ll have you back soon,” he told her quickly before she could disappear into the forest. If she lost herself in the woods, he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to get her back out.

She stared up at him, her lips twisted to one side as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I don’t understand. You brought me here only so you could take me back? How does that keep me out of their ‘evil clutches?’” She made air quotes with her one free hand. “I’m not even sure why they… Wait. Why were you there?”

Alec let her arm drop from his hand and turned back to the path.

“Hey! Wait up!” She skipped a few steps to catch up. “You can’t just avoid me! You brought me here, the least you could do is tell me why.”

“It’s incredibly complicated.”

“You don’t say,” she muttered.

“Look, I’ll get you back with enough time that we can come up with a plan to keep you safe.”

“And why exactly is it your job to do that?” she asked, with more than a little condescension.

“Because I didn’t keep you safe the first time!” He whirled on her, the anger he felt at himself projecting itself on her.

****

A few beats of her heart passed in silence before he whispered, “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

She almost felt sorry for him, for the clear hurt written across his face. Perhaps she shouldn’t have pushed him. She’d always had a knack for being difficult, but was she not an unwilling participant in all of this? Shouldn’t he at least tell her what was going on?

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, pressing her thumbs to her forehead and shaking her head to clear it. “I just… None of this makes sense. Iain told me that he wanted to take me ‘back.’ Was that—whatever it is that I clearly can’t remember—was that what you think you needed to protect me from?”

His brow smoothed. “No.” Back up the path he went.

“Ugh.” She groaned. “This is the worst kind of nightmare.”

She pinched her arm, hoping it would help her wake up. All she managed to do was irritate the tender skin there. When it was obvious she wasn’t going to wake up, she hurried back to his side.

****

Without the warmth of a sun high above, the air grew cold, prickling her skin into gooseflesh. It was only when her teeth began to chatter that Alec halted. He said nothing to her, just lifted his shirt, pulling his white undershirt down when it rode up against the planes of his stomach—something Evie did not look away from—and handed her the light gray Henley.

She didn’t resist his offering, instead quickly threading the neck over her head. She kept her arms hugged to her stomach, choosing not to thrust them through the short sleeves, even though they would have likely hung past her elbows. The cotton was soft and warm. And it smelled of him; a mix of tangy citrus and cloves, perhaps from his deodorant, the faintest hint of laundry detergent, and slightly of sweat. She breathed in deeply, catching her lower lip between her teeth and raising her gaze to meet his.

“It isn’t much further.” He turned, clearly not in the mood to prolong the venture.

Evie hugged herself tighter but followed. “I don’t think I can go for much longer,” she admitted softly.

The pain from her leg was killing her, shooting up into her hip and affecting the nerves of her lower back. She felt beaten and broken, all from an activity that should have been easy for anyone else. It would have been easier for her, too, only a year before. Bitterness crept in, but she didn’t want it. She preferred to stamp it out, but there it was, drawing unwanted tears from the backs of her eyes. She locked her jaw, fighting against them.

“I know.”

She almost didn’t see the small stone cottage until he was pushing open the door with his shoulder. Nestled among the ferns, a drooping thatched roof slumped over four uneven walls.

The hinges squeaked loudly, ominously, and something in the trees fluttered away through the swaying branches. He disappeared into the shadows, and Evie followed closely into the single, musty room. The air inside was earthy, but it didn’t smell stale as if it had been abandoned for some time. And by the relative tidiness she could see once he struck a match and lit the lamps told her she was wrong to have believed the place was abandoned.

“What is this place?” she asked.

A bed piled with woolen blankets and furs huddled in one corner. The opposite side held a sturdy table surrounded by several chairs, just beside a wide stone hearth. A heavy, black cauldron sat empty over charred stones, and dried herbs hung from the rafters.

“I’m sorry there isn’t much to eat.” He rummaged through some sacks as he said it, coming up with a pair of small apples, their flesh smooth and multicolored. He held one out to her, but she shook her head.

“I don’t think I can eat anything.”

He regarded her disbelievingly but set the apple down on the table before motioning her to take a seat as he did. His teeth crunched through the flesh of the one he still held. She glanced around the dark cottage, taking in the shuttered windows.

“How did you know about this place?” she asked as she gingerly sat, avoiding putting pressure on the side giving her so many pains.

“I live here,” he said matter-of-factly. “Or I did.” He bobbed his head from side to side. “Well, do,” he amended once more.

“I don’t… get it.”

He cracked an ironic smirk. “I know. It’s a lot to take in. When I’m on this side, this is where I come. I’ve done a lot of hiding out here, and we should be safe. Until morning light, anyway.”

His accent almost seemed to change. It was a slight dropping of syllables she almost wasn’t sure she had heard correctly, but she was fairly certain it was there. “And then?”

“And then I get you back to the other side.”

“You said that earlier. I go back like a good little time turner. But then what? It isn’t like they won’t know where to look for me, you know. My parents live in one of the big houses on post.” She drew a square in the air with her fingers. “With our last name plastered next to the door. You were there. Remember?”

“We’ll figure something out, Evelyn. I promise.”

She rolled her eyes. “Forgive me if I don’t feel overwhelmingly confident.”

“Neither of them is stupid enough to abduct you from your house.”

Evie very much doubted that, but he seemed so sure, she decided she didn’t want to argue with him. She had far too many questions buzzing around her brain to dwell on any one subject for too long.

“When I came into the hospital…” She trailed off. “When you examined my records and said there was something off about them…” She frowned, trying to collect her thoughts. “Did this place have something to do with it?”

“You’re very perceptive,” he answered dryly.

“I want to know what you meant.” She pressed her fingertips into her back, massaging her muscles.

“It was only a guess. A shot in the dark. I don’t really have any more answers than you do, just some educated guesses.”

“Then why don’t you share them with me?”

“Because I don’t want to give you partial truths, well-intentioned or otherwise.” His teeth cut into the apple, again.

“So, you’d just rather leave me in the dark?” Annoyance crept into her tone just as a muscle pulled in her back.

“I’d rather figure it out with you.”

She snorted. “That’s awfully presumptuous, don’t you think?”

The smile she received was tight-lipped and hinted at quiet amusement. Deciding she’d had enough of the circular conversation, she rose, gritting her teeth as the pain shot through her hip. The muscles pulled, keeping her from fully straightening at first, but once she was on her feet, it dissipated some. Alec must have seen the wince as it passed across her face.

“Why didn’t you say something?” he demanded, a hand under her elbow in an oddly supportive gesture.

“It’s fine. Nothing I don’t deal with every day.”

His jaw clenched. “Yes. And I pushed you further than I should have.” He cut his gaze away in a blink before turning it back to her. “I’m sorry, I should have known better. I wasn’t thinking.”

She blinked up at him, not expecting his apology, much less the ring of sincerity. She could have said something, she probably should have. But she hadn’t, and yet, rather than berating her for not speaking up, he was berating himself for not knowing. It was…

Unexpected.

Her sudden shift in emotion only served to remind her—for whatever reason, she didn’t know—he was going out of his way to help her.

She swallowed and stared back. The reflection of flickering flames danced in his eyes, the rest of his face cast in shadow.

His head bent just as she lifted hers up, and just a whisper from her lips, he asked, “May I—”

But she cut him off as she pressed her mouth to his. There was a momentary hesitation, but then his hand was in her hair, cradling the back of her head gently as his lips explored hers. Her arms curved around his neck, drawing him closer. His chest pressed against hers, warm, and solid, their hearts beating out of sync, his fighting to catch up with hers. Her whole body hummed, a jittery mixture of anticipation and fear. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to lose herself there, in that cottage, with him, perhaps forever.

Never had she felt so consumed by someone, before. Not with Calum. Not with Iain. Not with any number of boys or men, before.

It was scary. Or maybe it was intoxicating.

She lifted herself onto her toes, gasping a little when her hip and knee twinged.

He broke away. “May I see if I can relieve that a little?” he asked gruffly.

Evie stared at his mouth and nodded dumbly, her mind reeling and lips tingling from his kiss.

Before she could step away from him, he swept her legs out from under her, lifting her up as if she didn’t weigh anything at all, and cradled her to his chest gently. He carried her to the bed, gently lowering her to the feather-stuffed mattress, and settled on the edge next to her, his body turned to her. With gentle hands, he pressed his thumbs into the muscles of her thigh, massaging gently, watching her face for any sign of pain.

There was nothing sexual about the way he touched her, but it wasn’t in a completely professional fashion, either. She watched him, as well, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he was thinking. But as their gazes met and held, he revealed nothing.

“Tell me about yourself,” she murmured. She needed to break up the silence, to focus on anything but the lingering taste of him.

“What do you want to know?” His voice was low, not much more than a whisper. Gruff. He was concentrating on her aching limb, his thumbs pressing in, making small circles.

“I don’t know. Whatever comes to mind. Where you’re from. What you do. Siblings? Pets? I don’t know.”

“I never knew my father,” he said softly. “He died before I was born. I’m the youngest of eight.”

“Eight? Wow.”

She could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “I know.”

“I bet that made for fun holidays.”

Her joke was met with only a soft “Mmm.”

“What, no slinging potatoes over politics?”

“We were never tight knit. Not like—” he cut himself off.

“Not like what?”

“Not like my wife’s family.”

Her head jerked up. “You’re married?”

His eyes were unfocused, caught somewhere beyond the shadowed stone walls surrounding them. “Not anymore.”

Evie dropped her gaze away. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

His massaging momentarily ceased, but picked up once more. She winced as his thumb pressed into a tender spot.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “She died. It was… a long time ago. But her ghost is something I will always live with.”

She swallowed; it was something they had so very much in common, the loss of a partner. She cut her gaze away, concentrating on his hands, turning his words over in her mind, her heart aching. But it was more for him than for herself. “It-it gets better,” she murmured, not really sure if she was making a statement of asking a question.

“No,” he told her. “It doesn’t ever get better. You just learn to live with it.”

She sucked in a breath. “How?”

“You find someone else to live for.”

Their gazes pulled together, again, and in his eyes she found a longing so raw she had to break away, again. But his hands continued, the ache beginning to leave her muscles. Who had his wife been? What was she like? What happened to her? She decided not to pry.

“I always thought my family was close,” she murmured, wanting to give him something in return. “But I never realized how close we were until I saw how strained Calum’s relationship was with his mother.”

“Was he your…?” He trailed off but his question remained

She nodded. “Fiancé? Yes. Though I think we were engaged less than half an hour when… when he died. So, it probably doesn’t count, right?”

He didn’t say anything. But his massaging ceased, and he gently squeezed the muscle just above her knee in something akin to sympathy.

“His father died when he was young, too. So, it was just the two of them, him and his mother. He had been accepted to universities all over the world, but I think he was afraid to leave her. Or maybe he was just afraid of her, period. End stop. Not that St Andrews was a bad decision, but Harvard, Oxford, some university in Tokyo, I can’t remember which, they had all offered him acceptance. I didn’t meet him until years after that, but knowing him, he had no intention of ever leaving St A’s. He applied just to show that he could. Or so he told me.” Evie snorted a quick little laugh, her lips curling into a smile as she remembered the way Calum’s cheeks pulled his mouth into a grin.

She shook herself back. “It was different when I was around, though. She seemed to… really like me, even if he didn’t get along with her. And she was-is-possibly the sweetest person I know. We had tea several times at her insistence. She would make us extra cakes and bannocks and send them home with me. My family was always as functional as you can be with deployment after deployment after deployment and move after move after move. There were years where our whole lives revolved around a countdown. A countdown until the next move, a countdown until deployment. A countdown for R&R, a countdown until R&R was over. And then there was always the readjustment. My mother was always trying to keep us together for everything. She didn’t want us to go out on Friday night because my dad was home. She didn’t want us to go out on Friday night because our dad wasn’t at home. She—”

Evie broke off, her forehead creasing.

Alec’s warm hands still cupped her bare calf, but he made no move to remove them. And she made no move to pull away. Instead, she relaxed deeper into him and sighed.

“She was always just trying to keep us together,” she murmured to herself, her mother’s behaviors and intentions suddenly clear. Their relationship became strained when Evie announced she would be going to Scotland, and she’d never understood why. “She didn’t want me to leave because someone was always gone. She just wanted her family to be close.” She looked up to meet Alec’s confused stare.

“Sorry. I’ve been… angry with her for awhile. She kept pushing me, keeps pushing me to stay close. She never supported me studying overseas, and I always resented her for it. I guess I still do. I just didn’t realize until now why that was,” she mused.

“You never realize how much it hurts those you leave behind.”

A prickling of shame swept over her. She had never thought of it that way. Perhaps she had selfishly held a grudge, not seeing things from her mother’s prospective. She wouldn’t have changed anything, but maybe… It’s possible she wouldn’t have been quite so angry the last couple of years. “Know a little something of this, do you?”

“Mm. I do. I was often away from my wife. I was all about duty and country and advancement. She would beg me for time and I wouldn’t give it to her. And then… Well, it was too late. I didn’t realize what I had lost until there was no way to get it—her—back.”

His hands hadn’t moved in awhile, and he abruptly pulled them away.

Evie considered pushing herself back up into the sitting position, but she felt so relaxed, she couldn’t make herself. The mattress enveloped her in its goose down softness, and she melted into it, instead, watching him from beneath heavy lids. “You must have loved her a lot.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think I loved her enough.”

“What do you mean?” She nestled onto her side, drawing her hands up between her cheek and the feather pillow.

“She loved me. She loved me so much, and with more ferocity than I deserved. I didn’t realize… I didn’t realize how much I meant to her or she to me until it was too late. And when she was gone and I felt like my soul had been ripped apart, that’s when I knew. It was a painful lesson.”

“What do you mean? What lesson?”

“To cherish every moment.”

“Is losing her what made you decide to become a doctor?” she murmured, her lashes sinking toward her cheeks.

“I don’t think you’ll like my answer.”

She couldn’t control them anymore. Her eye drifted shut. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

The seconds ticked by, the welcome darkness closing in over her, tempting her into dreams.

“I became a doctor to protect you.”