Lost in Time (Knights Through Time #18)

Chapter 1

Boston

Present Day

If picking the right guy was as simple as finding the perfect dress with pockets, most women would be set for life.

Daisy Smith ran her hands down the flattering plum-colored maxi dress, with pockets, thank you very much, as she looked at Frankie, the mutt she’d rescued from the shelter, who was currently sprawled across the unmade bed.

Twirling around in a circle, watching the multi-colored tassels on the hem of the dress spin, she tilted her head at her fur baby.

“What do you think? Will Shawn like it?”

Frankie cocked his head to the side, then rolled over on the bed with a yawn.

With a frown at the reflection staring back at her from the full-length mirror, Daisy took off three rings, two necklaces, and five bangle bracelets, dumping them on the apple green desk.

Shawn was conservative and quiet, some of her outfits embarrassed him, especially when they were with his friends.

Tonight was the night he was going to ask her to move in together. They’d been dating for almost three months, everything had been picture perfect, and she was ready.

Stability.

Normalcy.

Security.

Shawn represented the things she’d always wanted in life, and if sometimes he made her feel like she wasn’t good enough for him, she knew that deep down, he didn’t really mean to make her feel that way.

Born and raised in Boston, Shawn exuded old money and respectability, and if sometimes she was bored when they were together or uninterested in listening to him talk about finance or his snooty friends, then that was just part of being in a relationship. All relationships required compromise.

He came from old money, whereas she’d grown up very differently. Not to mention he’d graduated from Harvard, while she’d dropped out of community college after a year, unable to take the pressure of deciding what to do with the rest of her life.

With a last glance in the mirror, Daisy went to the bed, kissed Frankie on the head, ruffling his silky ears, and nodded to herself.

“It will be fine. Everything will work out.”

1311

Blackford Castle, England

Samhain

Callan Graham took the stairs two at a time, heart pounding in his chest as he ran after William and Jason. The wee lad had come running, screaming for his father, telling William the bad lady had his mama.

Agnes. The blood-thirsty wench.

As they burst through the door and out onto the battlements, the raging storm assaulted his senses. The wind howled, rain lashed his face, and as William ran past him, Callan saw they were too late.

“You can be damn sure I won’t be planting any flowers on your grave,” Lucy snarled into the wind. “Let the fish feast on your rotten corpse.”

Agnes was no more. Let the sea take her. As Callan leaned over, hands on his knees to catch his breath, he saw William pull his wife into his arms, Jason holding onto his father’s leg.

He took a step forward, ready to offer whatever aid he could, when the air changed, sending a frisson of fear down his back.

“The bad lady is gone, gone.” Jason chortled.

“Aye, your mother is most fearsome.” Callan said.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, a prickling sensation that warned of an ancient, powerful presence.

The scent of the sea mingled with something far older, a power that made his blood run cold.

Once, when he was but a wee lad, he’d discovered an ancient battlefield and felt the same all-knowing presence.

Blinking against the rain, Lucy jumped when the lightning struck.

“You’re bleeding.”

Callan shrugged. “’Tis a mere scratch.”

“My brother saved my life.” William told Lucy as he hauled her into his arms, careful of the blade.

“Are you hurt?”

He had to pry her hands from the hilt of the dagger. With a grim look, William handed the blade to Callan.

Heedless of the rain, Jason promptly toddled off to retrieve the other dagger that had skittered across the stone during the stramash.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply, when she too felt the change in the air. William turned as white as snow, fear lacing his voice as he called out, “Jason, come to me.”

“We must go inside. There is danger here.” Callan called out, his guts roiling as he took a step towards them.

A massive bolt of lightning flashed, blinding in its intensity as Lucy screamed for her son, holding tight to her husband.

“Callan, take my hand, brother.” William roared over the storm.

Callan reached out for William as his brother held onto Lucy, desperate to shield her from the wrath of the gods. William stretched his hand towards Callan, panic and fear etched into his face.

Opening his mouth to shout, Callan felt the hair around his face floating in the air, somehow untouched by the rain.

The smell of stone and burning cloth filled his nostrils, a scent he knew all too well.

Pain, searing and intense, started at the crown of his head, traveling down his body, setting every nerve alight.

It lifted him off his feet, tearing at his very being.

Then there was nothing. Silence engulfed him, so complete and all-encompassing that he couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat. Time lost all meaning as he drifted in the void, minutes stretching into hours, or perhaps days.

Suddenly, colors burst to life around him, vibrant and otherworldly.

For a moment, Callan believed the storm was spiriting him away to the lands of faerie, a cursed fate he had no choice but to accept.

But as quickly as they appeared, the lights winked out, plunging him into a darkness so profound that even his keen eyes, accustomed to seeing in the dimmest of light, could not penetrate the veil.

He was lost, adrift in a sea of nothingness, torn from his family and the world he knew.

The gods, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humor to grant him a taste of belonging, only to rip it away in a flash of lightning and the clap of thunder.

All Callan could do was pray that wherever this strange journey led him, he would find his way back to his newfound brother, no matter the cost.

Boston

Present Day

“This isn’t working out.” Shawn’s words cut through the clink of silver on china and the murmured conversations all around them.

Her fingers stilled as she stared at the spot of red on the starched white linen tablecloth where she’d knocked her wine over earlier. Across the elegant candlelit table, Shawn’s expression was a polished mask of calm behind his stylish glasses.

She smoothed damp palms down the dress, trying to ignore the way her chunky beaded bracelets clashed with the upscale restaurant’s posh decor.

Her voice wavered. “What do you mean? I thought everything was going great between us.”

Shawn made a face, setting his wineglass down.

“That’s just it, Daisy. You always think everything’s great, but I can’t breathe around you, the way you hover.

How you have to be right next to me all the time.

The guys tease me that you’d follow me into the men’s room if you thought you could get away with it. ”

“But I bought tickets to the fall festival in October.” Her eyes stung.

“October?” He held up a hand.

“We talked about this. You said you’d stop being so clingy and needy all the time. I need my space.”

Heat flooded her cheeks, her throat closing up, as the harsh words sparked old familiar fears. Her eyes stung with unshed tears.

“I’m not trying to be clingy. I just... I really like you, and I don’t want to lose what we have.”

He shifted uncomfortably in the chair, looking around to see if they’d been overheard.

Part of Daisy wanted to make a scene, realizing now he’d brought her here to break up with her so she wouldn’t make a fuss and embarrass him in public.

Instead she sat on her hands, biting her lip, willing herself not to cry in front of him.

“I’m sorry. I’ve made up my mind.”

The waiter returned, eyeing Daisy with a frown as Shawn signed the check. After their server left, Shawn shrugged into his suit jacket, already looking past her.

“I want to be with someone who has ambition, someone who has the same goals and interests as I do, and isn’t so insecure. We want different things. You’ll understand that someday.”

He patted her hand like she was a child, then Shawn walked out, not once looking back.

As she rose to leave, the sting of abandonment and rejection sliced through Daisy. She was suddenly eight years old again, forgotten at school while her parents gallivanted around Tokyo. Utterly alone and overwhelmingly aware that she just wasn’t enough.