“Well, ye all may trust her,” Dermot said, motioning toward Deirdre, “but I’m nae so quick to do so.”
“Aye,” Grace said, giving Reikart and his mom an apologetic look, “I’m nae, either. How do we know for certain ye are nae conspiring with King Edward and Algien Bellecote? Ye were to wed him!”
Reikart felt himself grow angry on Deirdre’s behalf. “She’s offered to help us get the other cross back,” he said, which captured his mom’s and Grace’s attention.
“Ye know where it is?” his mom asked.
“Algien had it this morning,” Deirdre replied. “I imagine he is making his way to the English court now. I can go there when we get confirmation that he’s arrived there. Once I obtain the cross, I’ll bring it to ye, and then I’ll go to the Guardians and tell them what I know.”
“No,” Reikart said as his mom, aunt, and uncle all echoed his sentiment with anay. “Some of the Guardians can’t be trusted,” he went on, recalling immediately what he could remember of the history of this time.
“What do ye mean? They are for Scotland.”
His mom shook her head. “Not all of them. This will be hard for ye to believe right now, but in the not too distant future, Scotland will become divided and at war not only with King Edward but with itself. The Bruces, Balliols, and Comyns,” his mom said, naming all the most important families in the war, “will fight for control of the Scottish throne.”
“What?” Deirdre gasped, “I do nae understand.”
“’Tis a long story, but briefly, the Maid of Norway will never take the throne. She’ll die along the way to her betrothal with King Edward’s son.”
“Ye can nae know such a thing!” Deirdre exclaimed.
“I can,” his mother assured Deirdre. “I lived in the future, and I made knowing what happened to my family and my people, my life’s work.”
“All those hours in the library and then online,” Reikart said, surprised he’d not put it together sooner.
“Yes,” his mom confirmed. “I poured over history books every day for years, appalled and saddened at what will come to pass. King Edward will make a bid for the Scottish throne eventually, Deirdre. He will first put Balliol on the throne, but only because King Edward is canny and knows he can control Balliol. He will use him like a puppet and then discard him when he has no use for him anymore. And then the king of England will destroy our land in order to gain control. He’ll kill our people, rape the women, murder children. He’ll make proud Scots bend the knee to him to save their families, and some of the Guardians are already loyal to him. But Bruce…Bruce will fight against him. Not always, but in the end, when it matters most, Bruce’s grandson will rise up and become king, and he will lead our people out of the darkest times of our history.”
“His grandson?” Deirdre whispered. “The boy?”
“Yes,” Reikart’s mom replied. “The boy will become the man who becomes the king. He will lead a rebellion that starts a fire of indignation that blazes across our land and saves our people.”
“We must change this history!” Deirdre cried out.
In that moment, Reikart was struck by her bravery.
“We thought so at first, too,” his mom said, “but the more we have mulled it over, the more dangerous it seems to go about trying to completely change history. What we have decided upon is to work together to try to make Bruce understand who he is truly dealing with in King Edward. That the king’s motives are not, and never will be, pure. What ye tell him eventually will go a long way to convince him.” His mom exchanged a meaningful look with Grace. “Our father has been whispering warnings in Bruce’s ear, so eventually, when ye go to Bruce and tell him what ye know, he will be somewhat prepared.”
Deirdre frowned. “Why have ye nae gone?”
“And say what?” his mom asked. “That I time-traveled? They’d hang me for being a witch or a hand of the Devil, just as ye had first accused me. I can’t tell Bruce what I know, but ye can tell him what ye know, which he can use to advise the other Guardians on his side.”
“But ye told me about the time travel. Ye are trusting me.”
“Well, yes, Deirdre,” his mom said smoothly—too smoothly. “If ye were to betray me, I’d simply name ye as one of my minions.”
“I would nae do such a thing.”
“I hope not,” his mom said.
“Enough back-and-forth,” his uncle Dermot snapped. “Why are ye two alone in the woods and nae at Hightower anyway? And how the devil did ye come to be in the clutches of Nigel and Donald?”
Grace and his mom exchanged another look that reeked of conspiracy. His mom and aunt were like him and his brothers, or like they used to be before Reikart stopped letting people close to him. He and his brothers had been a united front against the world, there for each other. He missed that suddenly.
“Greyson came to Hightower, and I simply could nae wait to tell Rhys. Plus, I was worried about him, Maggie, and ye. So,” his mom shrugged, “we left after Ross and Greyson did.”
“Without a guard!” Dermot roared.
Reikart winced at that, knowing how independent his mom had been in their time, but this was not the twenty-first century, and his uncle was right, they should not have traveled without a guard. Like it or not, and he knew his mom wouldn’t, she was simply not as strong as a man, and numbers bred safety.
