Kat Bastion - Forged in Dreams and Magick

Iain remained silent. My only clue that he hadn’t fallen asleep behind me was his continued caresses up and down my arm.

“Iain, I have to know. The secrets stop now. I’m in too deep. What the hell is going on?”

His sigh feathered warm air across the shell of my ear, firing goose bumps down my spine. “We’re stewards of their magick. My clan has held the box and this castle for as long as I’ve pulled air into my lungs. Our lore is passed down from father to son and mother to daughter.

“They exist in a framework that holds time linear, even though the actual passage of it exists only for us, not for them. They step through dimensions where separate events happen all at once, each layered upon the other.”

I shook my head. “How? A person is born, ages, and dies. Time progresses.”

“Aye, Isa. A man, as he ages, sees the hands of time pass. He remembers what’s happened, experiences the present, and looks forward to a future. Everyone does. But to someone outside, each moment is crystallized. All are grains of sand in an hourglass, happenin’ when scheduled from each person’s vantage point, occurrin’ all at once in totality.”

Whoa. My head spun. I’d married a warrior and philosopher. My mind balked at his concepts, even with recent events. I sighed, wondering, yet again, how I fit into the game. But Iain continued, pulling me out of analysis.

“Our castle exists, and yet it doesn’t. Built eons before its time, key areas are constructed of an element from their dimension. Everythin’ there is light, white, and prismatic, but the box, the wall, the great hall ceilin’, and the cornerstones of our curtain wall are heavy, dark, and absorptive. The dark matter pulls you into the light, transportin’ you where you’re intended.”

“You knew this all along?” My voice faltered, raising an octave.

Iain had withheld vital information. He’d blatantly lied. I pushed away from him in anger, but he tightened his arms, pulling me against his chest. I struggled until his strength made any resistance I gave wasted effort. I growled in frustration. So many things would have been easier if I’d known the mechanics of how everything had worked from the beginning.

“Isa,” he whispered. “The secrets were not mine to tell. Only once they’d shown you, could we talk about the powers they hold and my responsibility with them.”

“What is your responsibility, Iain? What do they expect of you? Are they angels?” Maybe if he understood what they expected of him, I’d better grasp my role in the master plan.

“I doona know,” he said. “What they want of me does not matter. My responsibility is first to my people who depend on me. The castle provides me the ability to shield them. The secrecy was somethin’ ingrained in me by my da , who passed down the knowledge.”

Iain rested his head gently on mine, loosening the iron grip of his arms as my body eased. His intuitive nature must have sensed my interest in cooperating rather than fleeing. I cringed at the memory of how many times I’d fled, rapidly, and on foot, from paradigm shifts.

I should imagine the unimaginable as the norm.

“How do you protect your people with the castle? What power does it have besides the portal through the wall?” I asked.

“You went through the wall?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes.” I sighed. “How else did you think I got there? I don’t even know how many times I went through it. Damn thing has a serious kick I had to brace myself for. Have you been through the wall?”

“Nay. My place is here, with my clan.” He paused, placing a tender kiss on my shoulder blade. “The element I mentioned transports the entire grounds into a space between dimensions. Although we train and engage in battles outside our curtain walls, we go undetected from the outside world when a serious threat to the castle appears. An English army advancin’ across the countryside would never find our walls to breach.”

My jaw dropped. They intermingled with neighboring clans—I’d seen evidence of their filtered hospitality at the festival—but to vanish from the face of the Earth? It boggled my mind.

“What do they see? What does someone standing in the woods see when it disappears?”

“They see the land as it existed before. When we’re gone, a former reality takes our place.”

Of course. Breathe. Everything will all make sense . . . if you admit nothing has to.

I forced out a lungful of air. Iain lived his entire life with the facets of my new reality. He would help me adjust—help me accept things. No other constant existed that I trusted more than Iain.

His hand tugged gently at my shoulder, and I turned toward him. Kind, hazel eyes penetrated my fear. His calmness soothed me. I persisted, asking every question I had. I needed to continue the interrogation until the well ran dry.

“What if I watched from the woods as it disappeared? In the time it takes me to blink, does the entire landscape transform?” I asked.

“Aye, I imagine it does,” he replied.

“When do you do it? How do you make it happen? Why did you do it now, when you knew I’d be returning?” Questions tumbled out as thoughts flowed, before I forgot what I needed to ask, before I got lost in the enormity of his replies.

He laughed softly as he brushed locks of hair back from my face, tucking them behind my ear. “I transport us when the walls are threatened or when I’m instructed by our guardians—your angels—and, at the very least, about once a month. Transport replenishes the power within the stones.”

“Is that why the box has more power now? Because of all the jumps I’ve made?” I wondered.

He shook his head. “Nay, you’ve been gainin’ power. Somehow, it’s energizin’ you each time. Remember when I used the energy from the wall to boost your travel with the box?”

“Yes. The wall came alive at your touch.” I remembered the lights brightening.

“Weel, ’tis a similar thing when I transport the clan. To make the transfer complete, I leave my hand there ’til the wall becomes completely porous. Then, we’re truly a part of their world.”

“The entire clan knows, right? They’d obviously have to. No one can leave . . . and the sky is definitely not blue anymore.”

He laughed, nodding. “Aye, they know. They were all either born here, knowin’ no other way of life, or, on a rare occasion, they married into our clan. Outsiders that accept our way of life take a pledge of secrecy with the penalty of death for breakin’ their oath of allegiance to us.”

“Wow. How many have married in?” I asked.

“Not many. Only two men and one woman have joined the clan in my lifetime,” he replied. “As to the why of the matter, I had to conceal us from attack. I’d hoped you’d make it through even with us between worlds. Robert is leading the men now into battle against an uprisin’ from neighbor clans.” His voice grew somber. “Now that you’ve returned, I’m to join them.”

“You waited for me?” I asked, surprised.

He smiled, caressing my cheek. “Aye, my beauty. I waited for you. You strengthen me. Now I can go and defend my people secure in the knowledge that my woman is safe, she is here to protect my clan in my stead, and she loves me.”

Iain’s lips descended, feathering over my mouth before capturing my lips in a hungry kiss. I ran my hand through the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer. We made love again in the late afternoon, and again and again on through the night. The rest of Iain’s world fell away as I celebrated my entire world held in my arms.

The next day dawned with Iain preparing to join in the fight. I woke fully satisfied, yet enormously tired, from a night filled with passion. Iain crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed, watching me as I dressed in preparation to take my place as Lady of the Castle.