Chapter 70
Mallory Plantation—Elliott
A few hours later, Elliott asked Braham and David to meet him in Braham’s office to discuss next steps. By the time he arrived, both men were waiting, mugs in hand, laptops open. The roasted aroma of coffee, interwoven with the sweet, woody notes of whisky, created a familiar welcome.
Elliott shut the door behind him, his body aching from too many sleepless nights. He eased down into a chair opposite them, rolling the stiffness out of his shoulders. “Do ye know what Archibald’s plans are?” Elliott asked before sipping from the mug waiting for him.
Braham didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he picked up a file folder and slid it across the table.
“He’s not dead,” he said finally. “Not even close. I called every funeral home within a hundred miles of Buffalo. Not one handled Archibald MacIntyre’s final arrangements.
He faked the whole thing. Clay’s urn is filled with ashes—probably from a fireplace.
And before ye ask, I don’t know why Archibald did it. ”
Elliott stared at the folder. A breath slipped out of him, long and unsteady. The edges of the room seemed to contract for half a second before he found his voice again. “Bloody hell.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth, the rasp of a day’s stubble grounding him.
David leaned back in his chair. “I’ll find out,” he said. “I want to know if Archibald is staying here with Clay or going off gallivanting through time again?”
“We assumed he was traveling with his moonstone brooch in 1928,” Braham said. “But Clay had that one—it’s locked away in the safe. If Archibald plans another jump, he’ll need a different brooch.”
“He might have found one we didn’t know about.” Elliott rubbed his chest, that old soreness lingering under his hand. “If Violet gave Sheena and Alistair her missing brooch, maybe she did the same for Archibald.”
“If he intends to stay here and has another brooch, he has to surrender it,” David said flatly.
Elliott nodded, his thumb tapping against his mug as he fought the need to pace. “Talk to him. Sooner rather than later.” He hesitated, the real matter turning heavier in his throat. “Another thing. We need to learn what Violet plans to do with James Cullen’s sperm.”
David’s hand clenched tight around his cup. “We demand its return.”
“I agree,” Elliott answered. “The best way is for James Cullen and me to go to the cave below the castle to see if we can reach the Elders.”
David’s head jerked up. “Ye can’t be serious. That light could kill ye. We don’t even know what it is.”
Elliott met his eyes—steady, measured—though his pulse beat hard enough to make his collar feel tight. “We’ve no other choice.” He pushed his mug aside and clasped his hands on the table to keep them from shaking. “I’ll go alone. If it’s safe, I’ll come back for him.”
David’s chair scraped on the hardwood floor as he sat forward. “Then I’m going, too. I’m yer vaengr. I won’t let ye go by yerself.”
“If something goes wrong,” Elliott said, keeping his tone calm though his stomach twisted, “ye’ll need to lead. Someone has to be here to keep the family together.”
“Ye’re not going without yer Council,” David shot back.
Elliott sighed, rubbed his temples. The motion did little to ease the throbbing that had begun behind his eyes. “Then send a message. See who’s free to make a lateral trip to the castle. Ensley is at Austin’s basketball game—leave her out. Rick, Clay, and Tavis can barely stand.”
“Charlotte and Kenzie are in Texas with Remy and Skye. Meredith and Emily left to meet the wedding planner,” Braham said.
“What about Mark?” Elliott asked.
“Colorado,” Braham said. “Mark and his family, along with Daniel and his family, are at Connor and Olivia’s ranch.”
Elliott leaned back, rubbing the bridge of his nose, the fatigue pressing in like a low fever. “Then it’s just us.”
David’s gaze narrowed. “Do ye even have a plan if the Elders answer?”
Elliott stared down at his hands. His fingers trembled—just enough to see.
He clenched them into fists until the shaking stopped.
“Aye. I want my son’s sperm destroyed. And one last conversation with Erik.
” His voice softened. “Meet me in the clean room in fifteen minutes. I’ll go change into warm clothes. ”
A few minutes later, Elliott opened the door to his suite. Amber light pooled across the floor, and the normalcy of it hit him like whiplash. Meredith sat curled up in the armchair, glasses low on her nose, a book open in her lap. She looked up at him over the lenses.
“What are ye doing here?” Elliott asked. “Braham said ye’d gone with Emily to meet the wedding planner.”
“She had to cancel,” Meredith said, setting the book aside. “We’ll meet next week in New York.” Her eyes swept him from boots to hairline, measuring. “What about you? Did you lose your chess game?”
He gave a breath of a smile, the kind that came and went fast. “Not this time. Something’s come up.” He paused, his voice gentling. “Braham, David, and I are going to the castle.”
Her expression changed—concern beneath composure. “What kind of something, and how long will you be gone?”
He tugged at the sleeve of his sweater, grounding himself in the small movement. “Not long, I hope. We’ll use a brooch to make a lateral trip.”
She gave him that look—the one that saw straight through him. “There’s more. Out with it.”
Elliott groaned softly and sat on the ottoman across from her, bracing his elbows on his knees. “We’re going to the cave to contact the Elders.”
Her eyes widened. “You don’t even know if the light is still there.”
“If it’s not, I believe they can reestablish the link.”
“And what then?” she demanded. “Throw a note into it and hope they’re getting their mail?”
“That’s the plan,” he said, lips twitching despite himself.
She pushed off the chair abruptly, and it rocked back a few inches. The crisp crack of movement betrayed her fear. “And if that doesn’t work, you’ll go in, won’t you?”
“I don’t think it will come to that.”
“But you’re ready for it.” Her voice wavered, brittle and brave at once. “Absolutely not. I won’t let you go.”
He took her wrist, gently but firmly. “I have to, Mere. Violet has James Cullen’s sperm.”
Shock flickered across her face. “What?” It came out on a breath, barely a sound.
“They harvested it while he was in the future being healed.”
She went pale. “How do you know?”
“Erik hinted to Clay back in New York.”
“And you waited until now to tell me?”
“Ye’d have asked what I planned to do about it,” he said softly, gaze dropping to the floor, “and I didn’t have an answer till now.”
Meredith turned away and paced a few steps, arms folding tight across her chest as if to hold herself together. “Have you told James Cullen?”
“No.” Elliott didn’t look up.
She stopped, shoulders stiffening. “That’s a mistake.”
“Probably.” He exhaled, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “But I’m only a man doing the best I can.”
She stopped, her expression softening. “You’re a good man, Elliott,” she said gently, voice unsteady. “But this brooch world—it’s tearing everyone in too many directions. Sometimes I miss when it was just Kevin, David, Kenzie, Charlotte, and Jack.”
He smiled faintly. “Think of all the joy we’ve found since. I wouldn’t trade one of them.”
“No,” she said quietly. “Neither would I, but that light… It’s not clan business. It’s madness. And you know David won’t let you go alone. What does Kenzie say?”
“She’s in Houston, and Remy’s got enough on his mind. I don’t want to worry them.”
She didn’t reply, only turned on her heel toward the closet. The faint sounds of hangers and fabric filled the silence. When she emerged, she was in thick trousers, a cable-knit sweater, and boots lined with wool.
Elliott arched a brow. “Ye’re coming, I take it.”
“Of course,” she said. “If anyone asks, we’ll say we’re working on wedding plans at the castle.”
As they descended the stairs toward the clean room, Meredith’s hand tightened on the banister. “What if you go into the light,” she asked softly, “and it kills you—or they won’t let you come back?”
Elliott’s step faltered. The ache that had sat dormant at the base of his skull flared. He forced a steady tone. “Get a brooch, come back to this moment, and stop me before I go,” he said softly.
Her reply, clipped and cutting through emotion, came without hesitation. “I won’t dignify that with an answer.”
He glanced at her face—pale, tight, eyes too bright.
She wasn’t angry. She was terrified. It lodged in his throat like a stone.
For a woman who could face down a thousand-pound horse mid-jump, fear was rare.
And that realization stripped away the last of his composure.
He wished he could promise her he’d return, but couldn’t force the lie past his throat.
They entered the clean room and found David and Braham sitting on barstools, their eyes tracing a line of code on the laptop screen.
Meredith lifted her chin as they entered. “You two ready for this?” she asked.
David looked up. “Ye’re a surprise. Thought ye were with Emily.”
“Change of plans.” Her calmness was surface tension. Elliott could see the pulse beating fast at the hollow of her throat.
David rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m going on the record. This is a terrible idea. But if Elliott’s going, I’m going.”
Elliott’s jaw flexed hard. He folded his arms across his chest, the motion controlled, practiced—the only thing keeping the shake in his hands from showing.
“I’ve never been able to stop ye when ye’ve made up yer mind, but this time’s different.
Ye can come to the cave—but the light’s mine.
Alone.” He hesitated, looking between them—friends, family, more than that.
“If anything happens to me, I need to know ye’re here.
Ready to lead and protect them, like ye once protected Mere. ”
David’s reply was soft but fierce. “That’s a hard ask.”
“But it’s the right one,” Elliott said, though his voice dipped, barely holding.
A beat passed. David exhaled—slow acceptance in his posture.
Across the room, Braham opened the safe and withdrew the brooches and torc, handing the diamond to Elliott before tucking the others into a small leather crossbody pouch slung across his shoulder.
“Did Archibald mention the future at all? The air, the light?” Braham asked.
David nodded. “Aye. Said the air was clean—like bottled nature. Woods, flowers, the sun—warm but soft, a perfect seventy-two degrees. Felt too perfect, he said.”
Elliott studied the diamond in his palm. Something in that perfection unsettled him, but he pushed it aside. He lifted his arm. “Let’s link up.”
Meredith’s fingers slipped into his left hand—cold, small, trembling—then tightened. David gripped his other arm, steady and warm. Braham stepped in last, closing the circle.
Elliott drew a breath through his teeth and rubbed his thumb across the engraving. The stone warmed under his skin, pulsing like a slow heartbeat. His chest filled with that familiar pressure—hope mixed with the taste of dread. There was no going back now.
“Here we go,” he said.
The world tilted. The air compacted around them. Elliott’s pulse thundered like surf in his ears. He caught one last flash of Meredith’s face—pale, determined—before everything folded inward.
And then, the world changed.