Page 95 of The Empire and the Wolf King

“Aye, just days after we met.”

“And… so would that mean that we wouldn’t be married, we wouldn’t remember getting married?”

“Aye.”

“Then we would need to tell ourselves to do it?”

I nodded.

“Okay, we need to get a message to ourselves Lochie, how do we do it?” Her eyes went even wider. “What if they do-over even farther back? Do you think they would go so far back that they might start itbeforewe even met?”

I chewed my lip. “I daena think they could do that, twould be cruel — that weekend Junior was born. Would it be better tae do a do-over afore he is born or after?”

“This is too much to think about.”

“Aye, and that weekend ye and I pressed our spittle thumbs taegether, I winna give any of it up, yer pie… nae, they canna do-over that.” I held her hand. “Except they might. We ought tae prepare for the possibility.”

“What do we do?”

“I daena ken. Ye are the woman I hoped ye would ken how tae solve an issue of love.”

“I know next to nothing about time travel, you literally just told me about do-overs and I’m nodding in agreement but I don’t reallyunderstand.”

She dug in her pocket and pulled out a pen. “We need paper, got any paper?”

“Aye.” I pulled the piece of paper from my sporran and passed it tae her. “A couple of pens now, as well.”

“I absolutely see the importance of these things now. Next, we will write each other a love letter. I will write on one side to you, you write on the other to me. Then when someone finds it they will deliver it to us — that’s how it works, right? They will find it?”

“Usually.”

“Then we will read our letters and wherever we are on our timeline we will see how we felt about each other and then we will know. Everything will be alright, right? How will someone find it? We need an old book and a library!”

“After we write the letter, we can place it in the box under the boulder. We will cover it up and when someone from my family comes along tae replace the vessel and guns in that box they will find it.”

“Easy! Is it easy? Someone will replace the vessel?”

“We are ever hopeful.”

“Okay, we need to write our letters.”

She used the stiff back of a leather bag as the table and wrote a letter. “Don’t read it, this is for our future selves, but make it out to me.”

She passed me the paper. I said, “Ash, I want ye tae ken, I am new tae readin’ and not great at writin’. I am going tae write simply, ye winna think poorly of me?”

“No, of course not. Just write. I love you.”

“I love ye as well.”

I wrote.

Then I folded the letter and we carried it over tae the small boulder. I rolled it away, easier tae do after we had loosened the boulder’s seat earlier. Ash dug the loose dirt away from the top of the box. “Will we be able to get in it? Archie used his handprint.”

I crouched down beside the box and pressed m’hand and it flipped open. “Archibald is the son of a king, but so am I, even if Donnan wanted tae abandon me in the past.”

“Far better to be the brother of the current king. Magnus actually wants you around and needs your help.”

“Aye.”

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