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

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    I yanked the pistol of out of his grasp and buried it in the waistband of my skirts. Aiden swore and tried to focus bleary eyes on me. There was no recognition there, but his face was riddled with pain and he seemed to be going in and out of consciousness.
    Now what?
    A bullet whizzed past us and, for the first time, it occurred to me that the English soldiers could see me, too. Holy crap! I had to get us out of there. Only, I had no idea where to go, since Aiden’s memory had abruptly ceased the last time I’d seen this. A small white building stood down the hill a bit, and I decided to carry him there, out of the path of the soldiers, until I could figure out what to do next. My heart hammered against the corset squeezing my ribs. With my fingernails biting into my palms, I made another attempt at casting, praying that this craziness would end and that Aiden would come back to me.
    It didn’t work .
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a thin, red-haired boy in a kilt darting across the field to hide behind a tree. I recognized him instantly: Willie, Aiden’s younger brother.
    Only, it couldn’t be him! Willie is dead, I told myself. I saw him die. I… well, I didn’t see it, exactly. But he was the only one guarding the cellar door when Aiden came out to chase the Spaniard who had betrayed them all. Aiden had given Willie a dagger and showed him how to use it to kill an enemy. Two Englishmen had crossed the lake and made it to the castle, but only one had come out. I thought for sure that meant Willie had taken one out and been killed in the process. But maybe not. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Willie had escaped. My heart leapt with joy at the thought, and I started to call out to him. A hard yank on my skirt distracted me.
    “ Give me back my pistol, ye thief!” Aiden’s voice was loud enough to be heard by the soldiers. Another bullet flew past us.
    Shit, I ha d to get him out of there. Grabbing Aiden underneath the arms, I tried to drag him, but he weighed a ton. I could hardly move him an inch by myself.
    “ Willie!” I called out as loudly as I dared, hoping he would hear.
    His astonished face peer ed around the tree at me. “Who are you?” he asked.
    “Never mind that right now. Come help me get your brother to safety.” He hesitated and my patience completely snapped. “Now, dammit! Or I’m going to come over there and beat your scrawny ass!”
    Apparently recognizing a woman at her limit, he scrambled across the ground to my side and took Aiden’s other arm. The two of us dragged him to the outbuilding, which I now recognized as the church we ’d once run toward, laughing and chasing one another. My heart squeezed painfully at the memory, but I shoved the emotion aside. I couldn’t think about that now. For whatever reason, I was in Between again, but it was not the realm I knew. And though I was relieved to be able to save Aiden from shooting himself, I had absolutely no idea what to do next. Part of me wanted to believe it was all just some terrible hallucination, that none of this was happening, but the pain in my shoulder was all too real, as was the blood streaming over my wrists from where I supported Aiden.
    Willie swung open the door to the church and we carried Aiden inside. Sweat snaked a path between my breasts and it was all I could do to keep from ripping off the infernal corset so I could breathe. Propping Aiden against the closest pew, I dropped down beside him and rubbed my aching shoulder.
    Willie pointed his dagger in my face and waved it around like a wand. The exertion of moving Aiden had brought some color back to his cheeks, but his eyes were wild with fear.
    “How do ye know my name?” he demanded. “Are ye a spy? But then, why would ye help my brother?”
    I felt a rush of sympathy for him. He was just a kid—twelve years old, if I remembered correctly—and his home was nothing more than a smoking cavern of ruins, his brother was bleeding and unconscious, the rest of