"Why did you go, Emma? Was it because of what I said about Demestriu?"
"Had to go. Lachlain," she said, her voice faint, "he's my...he was my...father."
"I know. But that does no' explain why you would take that step."
She pulled back from him. "Nïx told me just before I left for Paris that I was on the verge of doing what I was born to do. I recognized it just as the vampire reached out his hand." She shivered. "I know it's hard to believe, but I-I killed Demestriu."
"I saw. I have the whole confrontation on tape. Lucia's going to get it from Bowe as we speak."
"How'd you get it?"
"Ivo had been taping Demestriu. And I took it from Ivo." At her frown, he added, "When you were in Demestriu's lair, I was already in the castle."
"You killed Ivo?" she asked in a hopeful tone.
"Oh, aye. With pleasure."
"Are you angry that you didn't get revenge on Demestriu?"
"I'm angry that you went alone. I understand it was your fate, but doona leave me like that again." He put his hand behind her head and pressed her to him. Her body had grown so warm and soft.
"How did you find Helvita?"
"I followed you. Emma, I'll always come for you."
"But how can you be right with me? Knowing who I am?"
He made her face him. "I know who you are. I saw everything that occurred, and we have no secrets between us now. And I want you so badly my mind canna comprehend it."
"But I can't understand this. I was his daughter."
"Seeing him with you eased some of my rage. I'd thought he gloated every day about what he'd done to me and for taking my father's life and his ring. He scarcely remembered these things, he was so twisted. And the kindness he showed you at the end...it meant much to me."
"But he took so much from you."
"Lass, he's given to me as well."
She gave him that shy look. "M-me?"
He nodded. "I dinna go mad after those years of hell, but I was just shy of it when I thought of losing you."
She whispered, "I saw it, Lachlain. That hell. I know what happened to you."
He dropped his forehead to hers. "I wish to God...I wish you had no'. That kills me inside, knowing I cursed you with that memory."
"No, I'm glad now that I have it."
"How can you say that?"
Her bottom lip trembled. "I would never want you to go through that alone."
He gripped her shoulders. Brows drawn, he rasped, "My God, I love you."
She gasped. "I love you, too. I wanted to tell you - "
"If you felt the same, then why did you no' come back to Kinevane? To me?"
"Because it was day in Russia."
Welcome realization hit him. "So it would be day in Scotland."
"Exactly. It was only my second time ever to trace - the first was just before I went with the vampire - and I didn't trust myself to land perfectly in the sunproofed rooms. I knew it was just after midnight here."
"I wondered when you'd learned to trace." His tone low, he admitted, "I thought you'd chosen your aunts over me."
"No, I was trying to be smart, cold, logical. And besides, I've decided no one's going to force me to choose anyone over anyone." She wagged her finger at him. "Including you, Lachlain. Not again."
His lips curled. "You're going to keep me on a short chain, are you no'? Especially now that I know what happens when you get displeased with someone."
She play-punched his arm, but when her hand met the wet fabric of his coat, her eyes went wide. "You're hurt. Worse than I thought." She shot to her feet, but he eased her back down.
"Give it time. I'll heal, just as you're doing. Your leg's already better."
"But let me get a bandage for you." She looked him over. "Your hands? Your chest? Oh, Lachlain."
He wasn't ready for her to leave this room, especially not without him. "Doona worry." He kept her hand in his. "Now that I ken that you love me, I'll hold this over you and make you take care of me."
She fought a grin and lost.
"So what else do you see?" He coughed into his fist. "In my memories." This could get tricky.
"They're mostly connected to me," she said, clearly hedging.
Still tricky. Could she see him when he handled himself while imagining his mouth between her legs? "And...?"
"I see things from the past. And I see you admiring my underwear." She blushed.
"Can you ken why this would make me uneasy?"
"It makes me so as well! I think I would die if I saw you with another woman."
"Are you jealous, lass?"
"Yes!" she cried, as if she couldn't believe the question. "While you've been running around growling 'mine,' I've been silently saying it right back at you."
This got better and better. "I think I like you jealous and possessive. But I doona like what's available to you in my mind. What more have you seen?"
So she detailed memories of him on a campaign, of him with her in the hotel room, of him admiring her arse, the necklace. Nothing to embarrass him so far. "Have you seen me kill?"
"No."
"Have you seen me release into my own hand?"
Her eyes went wide. "No, but..."
"But what?" When she wouldn't tell him, he nipped her ear. "Tell me."
With her face buried in his chest, he barely heard her whisper, "I want to." Her admission sent a spike of heat through him.