She lifted her head, expecting to see Jack awake, but he still lay on the bed unmoving.
“The Heavens always hear our cries, My Lady,” a voice said in the dark chamber. Isla’s gaze turned sharply to the angle it came from.
She gasped and jerked to her feet when she saw the gypsy sitting in a corner of the chamber. The flames from the fireplace lit the place suddenly, and Isla saw the woman’s smile.
“The Heavens will grant ye a wish, My Lady. All ye must do is make it. Do ye wish to return home, now is the time to make it.”
29
Why now of all times?She had hoped to spend some more time with Jack before leaving. Why did the gypsy have to appear to her now?
Isla blinked to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She remembered then that her friends Ada and Katherine always told her to differentiate a dream by trying to read numbers out loud.
“One, two, three—” Isla raised a brow and met the gypsy’s gaze again. “This is a dream isn’t it?”
“If ye wish to return to yer time then when the fair comes ye will find the way to return immediately.”
“Then why bring me here at all?’ Isla queried. “Why did you have to bring me here?”
The woman said nothing as she maintained her grin. Isla’s hands formed fists at her sides.
“The Laird will not die, will he?” she asked before glancing in Jack’s direction briefly. Her heart ached for him again and when she turned to the gypsy, she realized the woman was on her feet.
“His fate is yer choice now, My Lady. If ye chose him, he lives. If ye dinnae then he dies.”
“If I chose him then I must stay here forever. What happens to my life back in my time? My friends… my people?’
Isla swallowed. “A horrible fate,” the gypsy told her just like she did the night they first met.
“Is this the lesson you wished to teach me?” she asked in a cracked voice and tears in her eyes. “Your plan was to make me to choose between love and my life?”
“Do ye love the Laird? Do ye choose to save his life?”
Isla let the tears fall as she remained rooted to a spot.
A horrible fate indeed,she thought amid her pain. How could she choose to let Jack die? And if she stayed here, then what would happen to his Clan? Isla could avoid all the battles and bloodshed that was to come.
Even though in the history books he doesn’t live a long life, she could at least avert the battle that ends his life.
Change history.It was a chilling thought, but what other choice did she have? They were never meant to be.
The Master was clear, he needed Jack to make a choice. If she stayed, he could not marry the Master’s daughter. If she disappeared, he would die. In that second, a million thoughts flashed through her mind at once. They all left Isla in more pain than she could have imagined feeling.
What do I do?
Her heart was still torn. Isla remembered her friends Ada, and Katherine. Meeting Penelope in this time, and saving her life was Isla’s first time doing anything to help anyone else but herself.
She had also helped Jack. Coming to this time had helped her feel loved for the first time since she lost her parents. Even with her friends in England, she had never really been happy.
But I am here.
She closed her eyes and let another tear slip. “I cannot let him die,” she whispered before she opened her eyes again. “Please save him. I’ll stay here… I’ll do anything, just… I need him to live.”
The gypsy was quiet for a long time before she finally stood on her feet and walked over to Isla. Isla froze when the gypsy grabbed her hand and placed a small vial in it.
“A sacrifice for love, that’s what makes us human isn’t it?”
The gypsy’s smile seemed genuine for the first time since all of this started. Isla looked in the woman’s eyes and suddenly didn’t feel the usual terrifying chills that tormented her sleep.