“Youwould think that! Ye daena understand the subtleties of poison, ye are a brute.”
Lochinvar looked between our faces as we bickered.
I looked back in the direction of the castle. “So ye might hae poisoned a whole castle worth of people?”
She waved her hands, “A whole castle full ofevilpeople. Ye canna expect me tae consider their lives worth anything.”
Lochinvar said, “They were vile, except for Auld Arthuretta, the rest can ride deamhain straight tae hell.”
I asked, “Auld Arthuretta was yer mother, who was yer father?”
Lochinvar scowled. “Nae, Auld Arthuretta only cared for me when I was a bairn. I daena ken who m’father is, I was born a bastard, and then I was kidnapped. I hae lived at Dunscaith since.”
“Who kidnapped ye?”
“Domnall.”
Lady Mairead exhaled. “Ye are speaking, Magnus, tae one of yer brothers. He is yet another unclaimed son, I hae had my eye on him for years tae make sure he dinna cause us trouble.”
I groaned. “Och nae, ye areanotherson of Donnan? The man was an unbridled libertine. So what are we goin’ tae do with ye?”
Lochinvar said, “I was promised land and a title.”
Lady Mairead said, “We hae some difficult work tae do first, but aye, at some point in the future, I will make sure ye hae land. If there is any land left once we destroy all the timelines in the world.”
I looked over at James and Sophie, in an embrace and whisperin’ tae each other. “Speakin’ of, James inna time-looping anymore, tis time tae use the Bridge tae fix the timeline.”
James, his arms around Sophie, asked, “Wait… what… destroy all the timelines? What exactly are we doing?”
I said, “We are goin’ tae use an apparatus called the Bridge tae do something unknown and unprecedented — tae fix what has been broken.”
“And that is…?”
“Everythin’.” I pulled the chest from my bag.
Lochinvar took a step back. “Are ye talkin’ about witchcraft?”
Lady Mairead said, “Nae, daena be ludicrous, everything ye see that is new is nae witchcraft, and ye will need tae be quiet and let us speak, Lochinvar, we are saving the world.”
I said, “Savin’ the world? I daena ken if that is necessarily true, but we are saving our small part in it.”
“Says a king in two different times.” She added, “But what you said is true enough, we might break everything. Lochinvar ought tae be quiet and let us set about our work.”
James said, “So we are… what exactly are we doing?”
I said, “Saying goodbye tae the people we love.” I strapped on a holster and checked m’gun was loaded. “I am going tae the thirteenth century, I will be in the room near Kaitlyn—”
James said, “We really don’t know what’s going to happen?”
Sophie clung tae him.
“Nae, but we think twill be verra painful. There is a chance we winna see each other again. This could be the end.”
“Sounds fucking terrible.” He said, “Lady Mairead, do you want to leave? I will stay and push the button...”
Lady Mairead said, “Nae, because then ye would be able tae take all the credit. Magnus will go tae the thirteenth century tae be near Kaitlyn, ye will take Sophie tae Maine, and twill be down tae me and Lochinvar, a man I just met, tae push this world-altering button.” She held out the chest tae Lochinvar. “Place yer hand on there.”
He placed his hand on the chest and the top clicked open.
