Oh, what she wouldn’t give to be able to go back in time and live it all over again! She’d settle for any one of those days. And if she had it to do all over again, she’d never resist his seduction. She’d drink greedily of each moment.

But such a wish was futile. Neither she nor anyone else was ever going back in time again.

Drustan had told her that the night Dageus had disappeared, he’d felt the bridge in the circle of stones go dead. He’d said it was as if an energy he’d sensed all his life was simply gone. The next day, he and Christopher had discovered that the tablets that held the sacred formulas were also gone, as was their recall of the ones they’d committed to memory as part of their training.

Whatever Dageus had done that night, he’d accomplished one thing he’d wanted. The Keltar no longer bore the duty of guarding the secret of time travel. They were finally free of the immense responsibility and the temptation. Able, at last, to live simpler lives.

How Dageus would have loved that, she thought with a sad smile. He’d wanted nothing more than to be a simple man. To wear his clan colors again. And though he’d never said it, she known he’d wanted children. Wanted his own family as much as she had.

How could life have cheated me like this? she wanted to scream.

Steeling herself for the onslaught of yet more painful memories, she unlocked the door (wonder of wonders, he’d actually locked it when they’d left) and pushed it open. She went straight to the fireplace and ran her fingers over the cool metal of the claymore.

She had no idea how long she stood there in the dark, bathed only by the faint light of the full moon spilling in the wall of windows, but eventually, she tossed her purse to the floor, and dropped down on the sofa.

Later, she would brave the rest of his penthouse. Later, she would drag herself up to his magnificent bed and fall asleep, wrapped up in the scent of him.

Chloe-lass: If I’m not here with you now, I’m beyond this life, for ’tis the only way I’ll ever let you go.

And there it was. He’d said it himself in the letter he’d left her.

Chloe made a small, helpless choking sound.

And finally the tears came in a hot rush. He was dead. He was really, truly gone.

She curled into a tight knot on the sofa and wept.

Chapter 28

28

Chloe was awakened some time later by an unfamiliar, persistent noise. It took her several moments to pinpoint the source, to understand that the scrabbling sound was coming from the door of the penthouse.