“I second that,” his mom said, to which his aunt Grace snorted.
Reikart wanted to be irritated with his mom, but he couldn’t be. Instead, he drew her toward him, gave her a fierce hug, and said in her ear, “I’m glad you didn’t abandon us.”
“Oh, Reik,” she replied, her emotions making her voice tremble. “Never. Never. I can’t even believe that you guys could have thought I could.”
“Well, given the only other choice was time travel, according to Dad…” Reikart shrugged, hugging her tight once more. She was here. He was here. They were in the wrong time, but they were together. He’d found her. Part of the mission was complete.
“Yes,” she replied, “I suppose I see your point.”
“Your accent is slipping,” he teased her, aware their exchange was being watched by Dermot, Grace, and Deirdre.
Mom elbowed him. “Shush. My poor mind can hardly remember who I’m supposed to be. My accent has been all over the place!”
“Aye,” Grace piped up. “I can attest to that.”
“Nae to be the one to interrupt the happy reunion,” Dermot said, his tone reminding Reikart of a no-nonsense businessman, “but what the devil are ye two doing so far from home and in the woods by yerselves?Areye by yerselves?”
“Maybe we should speak in private,” his mom said, cutting her gaze toward Deirdre.
“I’ll just step away,” Deirdre offered, but Reikart slipped out of his mom’s embrace to catch Deirdre by the elbow once more.
“No, you don’t,” he said, trying to keep his tone gentle. He could well imagine that she was shocked. Hell, he felt like he was reeling. He’d just killed a man. Involuntarily, he glanced toward the dead body at their feet. He’d had to, he knew, but still. Deirdre had to be in turmoil, as well. She’d seen him kill a man, and now she was faced with the unbelievable, incredible, irrefutable truth that time travel was real.
She tried to pull her arm free, but this time, he increased his grip. “Youaremy responsibility,” he said, feeling the weight of the words burrow into his bones and settle there. He had not wanted to ever feel responsible for another human being again, but here he was. What you wanted and what you got were sometimes two vastly different things.
“I am nae. I—”
“You are,” he growled, feeling his mom’s gaze on him, but he kept his eyes locked on Deirdre. Damn, but she was lovely. “I promised your sister, and McCaim men do not break promises. And as my responsibility,” he continued, feeling as if something strange was coming over him, “I need to know you are safe. That means, you’ll stay here by my side in these dark woods.”
“It seems someone is not having any trouble becoming a bossy thirteenth-century man,” his mom observed.
“Mom,” Reikart warned, to which she chuckled.
“What year did ye say ye are from?” Deirdre bit out the question.
“2020,” Reikart responded.
“And men have nae advanced in all these years? Is that what I’m hearing? Ye are all still pigheaded and think ye know best?”
“That about sums it up,” he drawled, earning him glares from not only Deirdre but his mom and aunt, who, it occurred to him, he had not met yet. He caught his aunt’s curious gaze. “Aunt Grace, I would say it is a pleasure, but—”
She waved a dismissive hand. “I understand.” Then as if by mutual consensus, they all stared down at Nigel’s dead body for a long moment. “Shall we all tell our tale quickly from the beginning?” Grace gave Deirdre a pointed look. “Withthat onein our midst?”
“I vow I did nae know what Yearger was doing,” Deirdre said. “All I ask is that ye will but listen for a moment.” And then she told them how her brother had brought her the note that day and asked her to choose a lady-in-waiting to carry the note to the king. “I chose you,” she said to Reikart’s mom, “because of all the ladies-in-waiting, I trusted ye. Ye had always been kind to me, so ’tis my fault, and mine alone, that yer family has been dragged into this mess.”
“It was yer brother’s fault,” Mom said immediately and in such a soothing tone that Reikart felt a rush of emotion toward her. He’d missed her so much. “If ye had not chosen me, ye would have chosen someone else.”
“When Yearger returned from Kinghorn that night, he roused me, and well, he made it seem as if ye had accidentally killed the king, Shona. I went to Grace’s healing room to help ye.”
Mom nodded. “I believe ye. That’s when Grace sent me through time.”
“I do nae understand how it’s even possible,” Deirdre muttered, bringing a visibly trembling hand to her hair to tuck a lock behind an ear.
Grace quickly told Deirdre of the fae and how she had gotten the first cross. Grace shrugged as she paused in the telling. “I got one of the words wrong in the chant,” she said, looking apologetically at Reikart’s mom, who patted her sister’s arm. “When I realized what had happened, I brought her back through time. It had been but a short spell in our time, but for Shona…”
“It had been years,” his mom said, then spoke rapidly of meeting Reikart’s dad, having Reikart and his brothers, and then one day standing in the kitchen doing dishes when suddenly she was sucked back through time and found herself once more in 1286 Scotland, but no longer a young woman.
“I do nae see how I can believe all of this,” Deirdre said, sweeping her gaze around them, “but I do nae see how I can refute it when ye are standing before me years older. And ye are right, if ye were in league with the Devil, ye could have simply used yer powers to stop Yearger from trying to kill ye.”
