Page 144 of The Empire and the Wolf King

“None of us remember this.”

“Why not?”

“Something terrible happened when we were back there in time. One of Magnus’s brothers, Sean, was murdered. Magnus was kidnapped. I was told that ye were kidnapped and we had tae rescue ye, and… twas all shite. That is what I am told, but it haena happened yet, so tis just a story for us. Lady Mairead intervened...” I looked at the watch on m’wrist, though it dinna really help. “...yesterday. She set us on another course and changed time.”

Ash picked up the page and looked at the writing.

“How did she change time?”

“The first time I came here, and met ye. This time we did things differently.”

“So this is an alternate timeline?”

“Aye, like Spider-Man.”

“This is such a crazy story, like you’re tricking me. This is a joke, but it’s too intellectual for my ex-boyfriend, Buck, to pull off, and why would he? So I can’t figure out who would. Did Don do this?” She looked back at the bar, where the bartender was watching our conversation with visible confusion. “But it’s clearly not him. And then oddly, there’s a weird part of me that is thinking inside my head, ‘thatexplains it.’”

I nodded. “The evil man who kidnapped ye is dead, Ash. And Magnus’s brother Sean is still living. Magnus wasna kidnapped, his bairns are safe. Everyone is safe. Setting the alternate timeline has been good for everyone… but us. We ended up lost tae each other.”

My hands were folded in front of me. She reached out and tentatively touched my hand and ran a finger along my finger. Her face had a look of concentration, she entwined our fingers and then brought my thumb up and pressed hers tae it. She held her thumb pressed and said, “I feel like this means something.”

“Aye, it does, tae press yer thumbs taegether and promise tae each other with the thumb oath is as good as getting married.”

“Oh.” She pulled her hand away and returned to looking down at the page.

“What is the oath?”

“Tae never beguile ye... or, ye ken, the person ye hae pressed yer thumb tae, I hae never done it. I daena truly ken how it works.”

I reached in my pocket and pulled out the other page. Then I ran my hand through my hair and opened it. My writing was on one side. I showed her the other. “Dost ye recognize the writing?”

“Yes, that’s mine. What is this, Lochie?”

“We were in the past and trapped and we knew there would be a reset of the timeline and we were rightly worried we might lose each other, we wrote a letter tae ourselves. Tae help us.”

“Where did you find this letter?”

“It was found under a tree in Scotland by a few people, but also the rock star Finch Mac.”

“Finch Mac?”

“Aye, he’s a brother as well.”

I passed her the page. “Would ye read yers?”

She looked down on it and ran her fingers along the writing. “In my dream I had a really cool pen, Lochie, it had a flashlight in it and a screwdriver, and I was writing a letter, but I didn’t know to whom.”

“Och, I would like tae see a good pen like that. If ye are time traveling and ye need tae be rescued, a pen with a flashlight would be verra handy tae hae in yer pocket.”

She looked at me, then shook her head. “I knew you would say that.”

“How did ye ken?”

She said, “I have no idea.” She lifted the page and began tae read.

Dearest Lochinvar,

My husband, I love you. I pray we don’t forget each other, it breaks my heart to think of it, but in case — I love you. Please understand when the time comes. Please.

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