Chapter 13
“Aye.” Faelan smiled. “You’re going to be an uncle.”
Tavis was glad that his brother had found happiness, after all he had lost. “I guess it was impossible to marry your mate, under the circumstances.”
“Bree is my mate.”
“You’re not even from the same time.”
“I think it was meant to be this way. Perhaps it was meant for you to be here too.” Faelan laid a hand on Tavis’s shoulder, but Tavis was lost in thought.
“How did you know she was your mate?”
“I knew as soon as I looked at her. I recognized her. Well, first I tried to cut her head off. I thought she was a demon.”
“I’m surprised she married you.”
A wistful smile crossed his brother’s face. “Aye, it still surprises me too. To think that I would lose everything and find a wife from the future. It’s bloody strange.”
“It is, in other ways too.”
“How’s that?”
“Does your wife know that her family was watching over your time vault?”
“What?”
“Isabel and Frederick swore someone in their family would always protect you.”
“Damnation. I don’t think she knows. But Bree’s grandmother did ask if I was the one in the crypt—bloody hell. How could I know that? Bree’s grandmother died before I was released from the time vault. I guess I dreamed it. I think the vault messes with your mind. I feel like I know things I couldn’t know. Like Bree. I’m sure that I knew her before. But it’s impossible.”
Just like it was impossible that he could have known Anna. “We left letters for you explaining what happened.”
“I didn’t get them.”
“They were in the bottom of Father’s trunk in Isabel’s attic. She said she’d protect them.”
“I’ve seen the trunk. I heard something rattling inside, but there wasn’t a key.”
“We wanted you to know what happened, that I was coming, so you could wake me.”
“I was to wake you?” His face paled. “I didn’t even know. If Angus hadn’t found you…”
He could have been locked in there forever.
“Faelan,” his wife called again. “If you don’t answer me, I’m coming out there. I don’t care how many demons might be watching the place.”
Faelan scowled. “I’d better go before she comes out here and falls in a hole. She finds the bloody things like a midge finds dung. Here.” Faelan pulled a dagger from his belt. “This is yours.”
“Where’d you find it?”
“Bree found it under Quinn’s coffin.”
“She climbed in a grave?” Tavis asked. She must be brave. Or odd.
“She likes graves. I’m trying to keep her from being so rash and bold, but it’s slow going.”
“I wondered where I’d lost it. I must have dropped it when we buried Quinn.”
“I cleaned it up. It had a bit of rust. It didn’t hold up as good as you. Though you look a mess with your bruises and cuts. Your Marna wouldn’t think you’re so bonny now.” Faelan’s smile faded. “Sorry. It seems like just days since we were back there.”
But it had been over a century. “Is there any news of Anna?” He felt awkward mentioning her, now that Faelan knew what he’d done.
“No. Lachlan and Marcas are still searching the area where the fortress vanished. The Seeker should be here soon. We’ll find her.”
“She thought I was you at first,” Tavis said.
“We always did look alike.”
“She wouldn’t have gotten caught if she hadn’t tried to rescue you.”
Faelan snorted. “All these women keep trying to rescue me. It’s bloody embarrassing. No self-respecting woman would have done such a thing in our day. Women are different now. They don’t listen to a thing you say. It’s hard as the devil to protect them.”
“I know. Anna fought like a man. I thought she was a bit barmy when she said she was a warrior.”
“She’s one of the strongest female warriors the clan has. She’s good. They all are, but I don’t understand why they want to battle. Makes no sense.”
“I want to help look for her. She saved my life, and I’m afraid she’ll pay for it with her own.”
“You need to heal a bit more first,” Faelan said, still playing big brother. “Are you coming in?”
“Soon.”
Faelan clapped his shoulder and glanced at the woods. “Don’t be long.”
Tavis watched his brother leave the graveyard, following the same path that his brothers and father had taken when they carried him here to be buried one-hundred-fifty years ago. Bree was waiting. She wrapped her arms around Faelan and lifted her face. He kissed her softly and touched her still-flat stomach, then they walked inside. His brother had found his home here. And his mate.
Tavis thought how familiar Anna had looked to him. How familiar she’d smelled. And he wasn’t sure whether he was happy or afraid. He pulled himself to his feet, supported by the headstone on his father’s grave. Perhaps Faelan was right that it was intended to be. Still, Druan had torn their family apart.
He brushed his damp eyes and heard someone behind him. Female, from the pretty smell.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
He righted himself and turned. It was Faelan’s wife. She wore a skirt that showed almost as much skin as Anna had. Times had certainly changed.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt. Faelan said you were still out here, and I was worried. You shouldn’t be alone. You’ve been through a lot.”
“No need to apologize. Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”
She waved her hand. “He went off to take a shower. He’ll never know.”
Tavis hid a smile. Faelan had his hands full with this one.
“I see you found something to wear,” she said.
“Aye. The clothes are strange.” He twitched a bit, feeling constricted.
“Faelan’s still trying to get used to them. He hasn’t been out of the time vault much longer than you have.” She looked down and her face softened. “This is my favorite grave.”
“You have a favorite grave?”
“I love old graveyards,” she said. “Most of my family is buried here. I’ve always been drawn to this grave. It’s his, isn’t it? Your father’s.”
“Aye. We couldn’t put his name on the headstone, in case someone came looking for Faelan.”
“You showed Faelan?” she asked.
“Just now.”
“That’s why he rushed to take a shower. He likes to think in there. How awful for you, having to bury your father so soon after finding Faelan.”
“Aye, it wasn’t easy. Ian took it hard.”
“Faelan has told me so much about his family that I feel like I already know you. He doesn’t like to talk about himself though.”
A smile stung the cut on Tavis’s lip. “You want to know what he was like?”
Her green eyes lit, and it was just like looking at Isabel. “Yes. Please.”
Tavis glanced at one of the cuts on his leg that was almost healed. “Faelan was carefree in the beginning, always joking around. But after Liam died, he changed. Trying to save everyone. Trying to save the world. He blamed himself for Liam’s death. But it wasn’t his fault.” If anything, it was Tavis’s fault. If he’d gotten there faster…
“It wasn’t yours either,” Bree said.
Tavis frowned. Had she read his mind? “If I’d gotten there quicker, Faelan and I could have kept him from falling.”
Bree put her hand over his, and he felt something run up his arm and settle in his chest. It was uncomfortable, like a bee sting. Then she reached out and touched his chest, right on his tingling battle marks, as if she could see them through his shirt. Maybe she had tended him and knew where they were, but it was a bold move on a woman’s part to touch a man’s battle marks. They were personal, almost like touching someone’s mouth or something even more private. He didn’t want to make her feel bad, so he didn’t move away. The sensation in his chest grew stronger. Bree frowned and closed her eyes. His battle marks got hotter. He was about to pull away when she opened her eyes. She looked like she was in pain.
“Are you all right?” he asked her.
“Yes. Yes,” she said, as if trying to convince herself.
“Did you do something to me?”
“What?”
“It felt like you were... reading my thoughts or something.”
“Bree can do all kinds of things other people can’t,” a male voice said.
Tavis turned and saw Ronan approach. He had a bow slung across his back. Was there no privacy in this place?
“She has... powers,” Ronan said.
“Are you a—?”
“A witch?” Ronan asked, grinning.
Bree scowled and smacked his thigh. Tavis was surprised to see his brother’s wife touch another man so intimately. “I’m definitely not a witch. I just get these... feelings.”
“Among other grand feats,” Ronan added, standing so close his legs were almost touching Bree’s.
“I was going to say Watcher,” Tavis said.
“Best we can figure, she’s a warrior and a Watcher.”
“That never happens.”
“Lots of things happen to Bree that never happen to anyone else. Did Faelan tell you she was locked in a time vault for four days, and he used his talisman to open it? She emerged unscathed.”
Tavis stared at his brother’s wife. “That’s not possible.”
“Like I said, she’s not normal.”
“Stop saying that.” Bree smacked Ronan’s thigh again. “You make me sound like a freak.”
“You’re not a freak, darlin’, you’re special.” The warrior was teasing, but there was a look in his eyes that made Tavis wonder if Faelan was certain it was his bairn that she was carrying.
“And don’t you forget it,” Bree said.
“Is this where the key to your time vault was hidden?” Ronan asked.
“Aye. How did you know?”
“Someone dug up the grave,” Bree said. “I thought it might have been Druan looking for Faelan’s key.”
“I think it was Angus looking for the key to my time vault,” Tavis said. “Ian was going to bury it there and leave clues so the clan would know where to find it. He thought it too risky to leave my key and Faelan’s together. Isabel and Frederick had Faelan’s.”
“Did Isabel know about Faelan?” Bree asked.
“Aye. We had to make sure someone would keep the crypt safe. Isabel and Frederick said they would make sure it stayed in the family and that someone would know to protect it.”
Bree looked surprised. “I think my grandma knew. She was trying to tell me something before she died. I bet she was going to tell me about Faelan.”
“Bree,” Faelan called from the back door.
“You should get inside before he starts yelling,” Ronan said to Bree, brushing his hand over her stomach.
Was this normal behavior for this time? He wouldn’t want Ronan touching Anna like that. Not that he had any rights where she was concerned.
“He’s so protective, sometimes I want to hit him,” Bree said.
“He is that,” Tavis said, smiling. It was good to know some things hadn’t changed.
Bree surprised him by giving him a hug. He was just as surprised at how quickly he returned it. Maybe she reminded him of Anna.
“Don’t worry,” Bree said. “We’re going to find her.”
Blimey. Was she reading his mind again?
“I’m going to help them later,” Ronan said. He touched Bree’s stomach again, clapped Tavis on the shoulder, and took off.
“You coming in?” Bree asked.
“In a bit.” It was nice having people concerned about him. It was almost a miracle. But he needed more time alone. When Bree left, he looked at the grave again for several minutes, trying to picture his father’s face as it had been in life, not the last time he’d seen it. “I didn’t get to tell you that Liam’s death wasn’t your fault,” Tavis said, looking at the ground where his father lay. “The demon came to kill Liam. He must have found out that Liam would be assigned to him.”
Tavis saw someone else approaching through the trees behind the graveyard. Would he not have a moment alone?
“Would you like to know the demon’s name?” the voice called.
It was that arsehole Lance—the skinny guard. Despite his weakness, Tavis ran and leapt the fence. He had his hands around Lance’s throat before he could run. He could have used his talisman, but he wanted to feel the life drain from the worm’s skinny body.
“Stop, please,” Lance squeaked. “I want to help you.”
“Help me? You tortured me.” Tavis looked at Lance’s reddening face and loosened his grip enough for him to speak.
“It was the other guard,” Lance said. “Tristol told us to test you, but it wasn’t me who tortured you.”
“You were there, helping.”
“I had no choice. Voltar sent me to spy on Tristol. If I had refused, he would have killed me.”
Tavis kept his hands around Lance’s throat, but he stopped choking him. There was some truth to what Lance was saying. It was the fat guard who had done all the torturing. “You’re working with Voltar?”
“Yes.”
“Why was Voltar spying on Tristol?”
“He found out Tristol had taken you. Voltar’s been waiting for you for over a century. He knew you were in the time vault, but he didn’t know where it was hidden.”
Tavis dropped his hands but kept a close eye on Lance. “Why was he waiting for me?”
“He said you’re supposed to destroy him. He read it in a book. Some old prophecy.”
The Book of Battles. So Voltar knew Tavis was assigned to destroy him. Or had been at one time. There went the element of surprise. Did he also know Tavis had the book? If the demons got their hands on it, found out which warriors were assigned, they could destroy the clan.
“Voltar is working against Tristol?”
“Yes. They hate each other,” Lance said.
“I thought the League worked together.”
“When it suits them. But Voltar and Tristol want each other dead, and I’m trapped in the middle.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I’ve been with Voltar for over two hundred years, but I’ve outlived my usefulness. If Voltar is right and you’re the one who was prophesied to destroy him, then it would be in my best interest to help you achieve that.”
“Why don’t you kill him yourself?”
“Do you know how powerful and unstable he is? He’s been the force behind some of the worst tragedies humankind has seen. Just name the major world battles, and Voltar was behind it. This century alone he’s killed millions.”
Tavis felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. “This century?” While Tavis was safe in a time vault.
“I forgot. You slept through it. World Wars I and II. Hitler—now there was a lunatic.”
Lance’s words stirred cloudy memories of a battle and a man filled with hatred. Tavis thought he might retch. He breathed deep and focused on the problem at hand. “You want me to kill Voltar for you?” Arrogant little worm. Who did he think he was?
“If you kill him, I’ll disappear. Never bother you again.”
“What’s to stop me from killing you and Voltar?”
“I know something else you don’t... besides who killed Liam. I know where Anna is.”