Healer

Chapter 29

"I didn't know where it's located or if she has any left with her. I couldn't try to find it alone... Greer told me that my destiny lied alongside Lachlan's, in some type of way."

"In marriage."

I shake my head. "No, she had told me I'd never marry him... that I'd marry once in my life."

"How do ye ken that she's tellin' ye the truth? About the dust? About how ye got here?"

With a smile, I murmur, "It's honestly the only thing I have to go on. There is no other rational explanation."

"Aye, that is true."

"Why are you asking? Thinking about whisking me away to the glen to travel to my time?" I chuckle at the thought, although my heart is still beating wildly.

"Och, nay," he replies, incredulously. "I'd never understand your time. I'm not meant for it. I dinnae even ken how you're handling this so well."

My head bobs up and down, and I fail to hide my disappointment. Although the idea is far, out of reach, the hopeful part of me thought of it as an escape plan to our star-crossed paths at the moment.

If we took the dust together, our current problems would cease completely.

... But new ones would arise. I know he's not meant for my world.

He steps forward towards me, cupping my jaw gently. "Ye look greatly disappointed at my answer."

I smile softly. "I'm not."

"Aye, ye are." His thumb glides lightly over one of my ceased brows.

"I just imagined- a time where we could be together. It's appealing although I'm aware that it's beyond our reach."

He presses his lips to my forehead. "I wish I could take all your suffering... I wish I could marry ye, instead of forcing ye to sin day after day."

"You're not forcing me to do anything... And is it really a sin if my husband sins against his marriage vows too?"

He nods, slowly. "Aye, two sins don't cancel each other, Gillian. All three of us are living in it."

Feeling the weight of his gaze, I look down. "Does it bother you? That you have to sin to be with me?"

"I'd be lyin' to ye if I said no." He tilts my chin up. "I would prefer to live in peace with ye by my side... but if I had the choice between meeting ye or no, I'd not change what happened. I'd never take back lyin' with ye, lovin' ye."

I smile softly, pressing my lips to his. "I'm glad to hear it... I wish I were able to- tell you what you mean to me."

"Ye do- it's in your touch. In your worry. In your voice. When ye call out to the Lord as I spill my seed into ye." He lifts my hand to his mouth as I stare at him, my cheeks ablaze. "It's in everything ye do, mo ghràidh."

Suddenly, there is absolutely no space between our lips. His come to me with force, pushing my mouth apart roughly with his tongue. My fingers find their way into his hair, pulling him closer as a moan escapes my throat.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have quite a way with words?" I whisper, breaking away from his mouth. He smirks, pressing his lips together briefly.

"Have ye read my journal?"

I'm blushing again. I know it because his fingers brush against the flushed parts gently, his expression proud.

"I read most of it."

"The parts with ye?"

I nod, clutching onto his shirt. There's barely enough oxygen to breathe between us. "Everything about it was beautiful. Your childhood, your traveling... and meeting you impacted me just as much."