Ian turned to look at the spot Reik had occupied moments before.
“He’s gone. And I can’t screw around here. None of us knows how the rules work. If I don’t do this right now, who knows when, or where, I’ll end up. This way, at least I’ll have a good shot at finding Reik.”
“Are you prepared?”
Ian moved toward the duffle bag he’d prepared.
“More than Rhys and Grey, for sure,” he said, unzipping the bag. He hadn’t even changed from work yet. But unlike when he and Reik grabbed the cross earlier, as they’d done most days since Rhys had vanished in front of them, this time, he knew it would work.
He’d watched first Rhys, then Grey, then Reik succeed where he’d failed . . . He knew now which word had tripped him up and was confident he would be joining his brothers next.
“And you’re sure about this?”
Ian tried to ignore the censure in Jeremy’s voice. His cousin didn’t understand the choice he was facing: abandon his mother and brothers in the past or his father and the company he’d built in the present. In the end, nothing mattered more than his family, and the doctor had made it clear that his dad was all but screwed. His brain was still swollen, his prospects dim. So he would go back, find his brothers and mother, and use this silver cross to bring them all back.
Maybe, just maybe, hearing their mother’s voice again would bring their father back too.
He had to hope.
“I’m sure.” He began taking off his dress shoes. “Thank you, Jeremy.”
“Good luck, cuz. I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
Ian pulled off his socks next and then dumped the jeans, T-shirt, and hoodie out from his bag. What was one supposed to wear to time travel, anyway?
Certainly not a suit.
“Take care of him.” Ian would not get emotional again. He and Reik had already visited the hospital to say their goodbyes to a father who couldn’t hear them.
“Will do.”
This time, the silence wasn’t broken by his cousin’s voice. Jeremy had hung up.
Ian finished changing, and before his brother could get too far ahead of him—if that was even how this worked—he grabbed the cross and took a deep breath.
He’d only been this scared three times in his life.
The night they’d learned their mother was missing. The day they’d gotten the call that their dad was in the hospital. And the first time one of his brothers had disappeared before their eyes. And now he was about to follow in his older brothers’ footsteps, as he’d always done, for better or worse.
Ian’s hands refused to stop shaking. What a chickenshit he was.
Just say the words.
He didn’t need the slip of paper anymore, Ian knew them by heart. He’d listened to Reik’s recording of the words over and over again. His brother hadn’t thought he was listening—it wasn’t something he was known for in the family—but this time, he had been all ears.
Roll theghon the last word.
“Talamh, èadhar, teine, usige ga thilleadh dhachaigh.”
2
Kinross Castle,Scotland
March 1286
“Please?Just a wee moment alone with him? I will ask Cook to make burrebrede this eve.”
Màiri had her maid now. Everyone knew how much Alana loved burrebrede. She had to relent. She simply had to. Ambrose was here in the castle, and Màiri had not seen him for more than a fortnight. If she did not speak with him privately now, she wasn’t sure when she’d have a chance. She could ask her father for permission to walk to the loch, the only other way she’d have a chance to see him alone, but she doubted her father would agree to such a scheme given the snow.
