“Ahh, yes. ’Tis as I suspected then.” There was a gentle smile on his face, and as his dark eyes crinkled at the edges I could see why this man held a special place in the hearts of everyone in the kingdom. He reached out his hand for mine. I held his large, bony fingers, wondering what I’d just done.
“I’m sorry.” I wiped the tears from my eyes and stiffened my spine in determination. “I had no right.”
The king looked directly into my eyes, a shrewd expression on his face. “No right ta what?”
“No right to fall in love with your son.” Having said it—actually admitting it for the first time—a breath whooshed out from deep within my chest.
“Veronica, ye are here fer a reason. Our Protector does no’ make mistakes.” Coughs began to shake his body once more. I refilled his empty glass, and then helped him hold it as he took short sips between ragged breaths. When he spoke again, his voice sounded strained. “But there is something in your way …” His eyes watered in his effort to continue. “Someone.”
The king’s face turned crimson as he valiantly fought for breath. “You alone can save the kingdom.” He began coughing again. “When the time comes, ye must be willing ta sacrifice … for Jamie’s sake.”
“Sir, I don’t understand.” Someone? Was he talking about Sofia? Did he mean I should sacrifice my feelings so Jamie could be with Sofia? And how could I save the kingdom?
He swallowed, seeming to struggle for breath.
“I’m going to get Fergus.” I started to rise.
He shook his head, “Nay,” he croaked. “I need ta tell ye …”
“Yes, sir, I’m listening.” I leaned in close.
“Doon did no’ call ye here ta become its queen by marrying my son.” The king sunk back into his pillows then, a coughing fit consuming him.
I stood frozen and stared at him for several seconds, trying to comprehend his words. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? I wasn’t meant to be with Jamie?
I stood on weak legs to fetch Fergus. But before I could move away, the king sat up, his cold hand clutched my arm, and he gasped out one chilling word. “Witch.”
Suddenly, the room spun away from me in a vortex of sights, sounds, and emotions. The dizzying effect sent me to my knees as the whirl of images flashed before my eyes and then ground to a sudden stop on a single hazy figure.
Waves of asymmetric blonde hair shifted over the figure’s shoulder as she turned toward me—Adelaide Dell, the caretaker of Dunbrae Cottage. What the—?
The vision grew sharper, like the lens of a camera coming into focus. Addie’s flawless skin thinned, becoming lined with age, her mouth turning down slightly at the corners. Her pencil skirt and twin sweater set morphed into an old-fashioned black dress that covered her from neck to ankle. Her pale hair turned white, twisting into a tight bun as she clutched a small leather-bound book to her chest.
The vision fell away, leaving me in a crumpled, boneless heap on the floor. Addie Dell is the witch of Doon! Working to focus my eyes, I lifted my head and saw the king’s arm hanging limply over the edge of the bed above me. Gripping the mattress, I struggled to my feet and found him still and silent. His eyes half-closed, his head lolled listless on his shoulder. Oh no! Was he gone?
“Laird MacCrae?” I whispered into the dead silence of the room. Leaning forward, I placed my fingers on the side of his neck and counted to thirty before I found a pulse. It was weak, but steady. I turned to get help.
Raised voices greeted me as I neared the chamber door. “Father thinks you’ve misread the dreams. Tell her, Jamie, perhaps—”
“I can’t risk it.”
“If you care for her at all, give her a chance.”
“I care for this kingdom. As should you, brother!”
“If you dinna tell Veronica, I swear to you I will!”
My stomach did a sickening backflip, and I burst out of the room to find Jamie and Duncan nose to nose. “Your father passed out!”
The brothers turned to me, their faces twin masks of stone as I added, “I checked his pulse. It’s weak but steady.”
“I will attend him.” Duncan strode through the open door. “Veronica, Jamie has something to discuss with you.”
Jamie sighed heavily and shoved a hand into his disheveled hair. When he turned to me, his perfect lips twisted in a scowl. “You’ve wanted to know if I was dreaming about you?” he snapped.
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
His face softened. “I did dream of you … You were crying the first time I saw you. Then I couldn’t walk down the street without seeing your haunting face. And that day in the bedroom window …” He swallowed convulsively.
My pulse stuttered as I waited for him to continue.
“At first the dreams were … amazing. You were more than I could’ve dared hope for.” He glared at his feet, shoved his hands in his pants pockets, brows drawing together. When he looked up, his eyes were misty as if tears—no, it had to be a trick of the torchlight. “But then the dreams changed. I couldna get close … an evil surrounded you, moved with you, contaminating everything, until …” He paused, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he stared at the wall.
I desperately wished he would stop, but I couldn’t make a sound, couldn’t move.
His eyes sliced back to mine, his entire face drawn, almost haggard. When he spoke, his voice was thick with grief. “Until everythin’ was destroyed. The entire kingdom … gone forever … because of you.”
Like a blow to the chest, his words stopped my heart.
I stared at him and shook my head. My mouth moved for several seconds before I could whisper, “No. You’re wrong.”
His eyes burned into mine, begging me—to what? Believe him? Prove my innocence? There was nothing I could say.
I wanted to shout that even if he’d dreamt that I’d harmed the kingdom, it didn’t mean anything. It was just a nightmare. But that wasn’t true. A bubble of panic pushed against my ribs, and I pulled in a ragged breath. Dreams meant everything here.
Jamie took a step and reached for me. I stumbled out of his reach. Turning on my heel, I ran blindly down the opposite corridor. He called my name but I didn’t stop. Consumed by tears, I ran aimlessly through the maze- like castle until I found a dark, quite hallway and sank to the floor, my head in my hands.
The worst part was that I’d begun to let myself hope. As hard as I tried to deny it, there’d been a secret part of me that wished, prayed even, that the visions meant this amazing boy was my soul mate—the destiny that’d brought me here. But instead, I was his nightmare and my destiny his ultimate destruction.
Help me!
Every time I tried to surface, another hideous dream tugged me under. I was strapped to a chair, forced to watch Jamie and Sofia twirl across the dance floor while the benevolent king repeatedly told me I wasn’t meant to be with his son. Addie appeared, as real as if she were standing before me, her eyes glowing an unearthly purple. She handed me a small book and moments later Jamie walked toward me, tall and solid. I held the familiar leather volume out to him as warnings shrieked through my brain. He took what I offered and crumpled at my feet, gasping for breath. Abruptly, he stopped struggling, his beautiful face frozen in death. The witch cackled gleefully, “Thank you Veronica. You’ve done well!”
I jerked awake and swallowed a scream.
The journal!
I lay rigid under the covers, my heart pounding to the beat of my cascading thoughts. Aunt Gracie’s notes said an object cursed by the witch and brought into the kingdom could compromise Doon’s protection. I thought that Kenna and I had found the journal by accident. But it was entirely possible that Addie had planted it. Who knows what she’d done in the cottage before we arrived. She’d have had plenty of time to place a spell on the book. The more I thought about it, and how easily we’d found everything, the more it made sense.
No, no, no! I dug my fingernails into my palms, squeezing my eyes tightly closed. What had I done?
My first instinct was to tell someone. But who? If I told Jamie, I’d not only be confirming his worst fears about me, but likely put him in grave danger. The image of him falling dead at my feet, the book in his hands,
