Read Online Even In Darkness (Between) by Cyndi Tefft - Free Book Online

There was no recognition there at all. He had no idea who I was. Panic congealed in my veins.
    Aiden, please. I reached out to him in my mind, but nothing indicated that he’d heard.
    Spots started appearing before my eyes. My lungs burned with the desperate need to breathe. This is it, I thought. This is the end. How many times can I die? And where will I wake up next time?
    “I love you,” I mouthed to him, wanting it to be the last thing I said to him.
    He instantly released me and I dropped to the floor, gasping for air like I was breathing through a straw. Tremors racked my body as I struggled to get enough oxygen. Tears streamed down my face and mingled with the blood on my neck.
    “Who are y e?” Aiden stood with his blade pointed toward me, still poised for attack. His blond hair was caked with blood and matted against his cheeks. Dirt and grime covered his clothing so that I could hardly make out the pattern of his kilt. Shackles bit into his ankles, restricting his movement. He’d busted the cuffs binding his wrists, leaving the chains dangling below. He held the knife in his right hand; his left was tucked up close against his body. Thick, dark liquid oozed from the wound in his shoulder. My heart squeezed in pain at the sight of him like that. I wanted to run into his arms, to kiss him and tell him I was sorry for getting us into this mess, but it was clear that wouldn’t be welcome. I didn’t know what to say, so I settled on the truth. Part of it, anyway.
    “I’m your wife. ”
    “You lie,” he spat , his face twisted with the effort to stay upright. His kilt was torn on his right thigh where an English soldier had stabbed him with a bayonet in the fighting prior to our capture. Instinctively, I started to move toward him, but his primal growl stopped me in my tracks. “What have ye to gain from pretending to be my wife? What do you want with me?”
    “I am your wife,” I repeated. “You... you just don’t remember.” I could tell he wasn’t going to buy the story about him being a transporter for three hundred years, falling in love with me in Between, getting married and gaining new life only to have me screw it all up by getting us killed again. Heck, even I was having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
    “You hit your head against the boulder when the castle...” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word ‘exploded’, visualizing his mother inside, but the shadow of agony that moved across his face told me he knew what I meant. “Maybe that’s why you don’t remember me. You must have a head injury.” I knew it sounded lame, but it was the best I could do.
    “No wife of mine would wear a coat belonging to one of the bloody lobsterbacks.” Apparently having decided that I wasn’t a threat, Aiden lowered his weapon and slid down the wall. A groan sounded pulled from deep within him as his eyes rolled back for a moment.
    A magnetic force pulled me to him, an ache in my soul that demanded I help him. I couldn’t stay away. I didn’t care if he stabbed me through the heart. Seeing him in pain was worse than anything else he could do to me. I shrugged off the coat and dropped it to the floor. A black bug the size of a matchbox car skittered across my shoe and into the safety of a dark corner.
    Knee ling in front of Aiden, I tentatively reached my hand toward the injury on his shoulder. He watched me through slitted eyes but made no move to stop me. Gingerly, I peeled the sticky shirt from his skin. His breath hissed in as he stiffened against the wall.
    “Aiden, oh God...” Hot tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I have to get you some help. There has to be a doctor on board, right? They can’t just leave you like this!” I started to stand up, but his hand closed around my wrist.
    “Prove it.” His sentences were short and pushed through clenched teeth. “Prove we’re married.”
    “What?” For a second, my brain thought he wanted me to have sex with him