Page 54 of Promises to Keep

“Och nae! Ye dinna stop her? Ye ought tae at least hae tried!”

Magnus said, “I did try, ye ken who tried first? Kaitlyn. She and Hayley, along with James and Colonel Quentin went tae intervene, then I went with Fraoch and Lochie.”

Her hand went tae her bodice. I noticed a tremble in her fingers. “And none of it worked? How could ye be so incompetent?” Her eyes traveled to the table where Lochie was ripping open an Oreo box and passing them out to Sean, Liam, Lizbeth, and some of the other men. “Kaitlyn, ye let him bring Oreos here?”

As ifIwas in charge of the food and Lochie. I hadn’t even bought those Oreos! I said, “He loves cookies too much, if we are going to force him to live here in the past when he has already had a taste of the present, we will need to give him some treats.”

“Tis the best way tae ruin a warrior — tae give him treats whenever he asks. Ye ought tae harden him with—”

Magnus said, “He is hardened enough.”

Lochinvar leaned over a chair where a lovely young woman sat and presented her a cookie with a flourish. I laughed.

“Howdid ye nae rescue me?”

“Agnie was destroyin’ the art in front of ye.”

“She would do that?”

“Aye, ye were powerless tae stop her. I was powerless tae keep ye safe.”

The color left her cheeks. “What was it, one of Pablo’s?”

Magnus looked at me.

“I believe she destroyed at least one Picasso, yes. I saw it with my own eyes, and one of those brightly colored ones with the splashes of paint, you know...”

“A Cezanne?”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

Magnus said, “The final time she destroyed most of the art.”

“Och nae,” she exhaled. “I told ye, dinna I tell ye? She is a horrible person. Anyone who would destroy historically important paintings is the lowest form of person. Imagine destroying a Picasso!”

She patted the back of Magnus’s hand. “I will keep all of this in mind. I will solve the issue without it becoming a problem.”

Magnus squinted. “I hope ye can but… It has already happened, and ye are dangerously loopin’ within yer life.”

“Daena be worried, Magnus, of course I can, tae be forewarned is tae be fore armed.”

Magnus chewed his lip. “I suppose it is — ye do look verra much younger than last I saw ye. This all seems a great deal like loopin’.”

“I told ye, I constrict m’travel tae many jumps within compressed times in order tae nae waste moments, I daena want tae—”

“I ken, ye daena want tae age.”

She said, “Ye ought tae heed my warnin’, Magnus, ye daena want tae grow auld.”

“Lady Mairead, tae not age is tae not truly live.”

She shook her head. “Magnus, we hae been given an important power, we ought tae make the most of it, because tis likely tae kill us — we canna live forever.”

Magnus joked, “Speak for yerself.”

Her brow raised and she took a sip of her wine. “If ye think on it, the best years of yer life would hae tae be the years between thirty and fifty, ye are nae too auld, capable of conquerin’ still, and once ye hae seized power, ye hae yer auld age tae rest.”

“How auld are ye?”

---