Page 67 of Once a Villain
“Yes,” Jamie whispered. “Your family and ours are so bound that even our motto referenced yours.”
“I don’t know that language.”
Jamie swallowed. “You used to speak it. Tom, I swear to you, this world is not supposed to exist. This timeline is justwrong.”
Tom hesitated, and then said slowly, “I assume that the Queen will have three layers of security. The physical security of the building, then her own personal retinue of guards, and then her own powers.” Jamie gave him a grateful look, and Tom sighed. “This won’t be easy,” Tom said. “I’ve been to the colosseum before, but not during a jubilee. I don’t know what to expect either.”
Won’t be easywas an understatement. The physical security of the building was likely to be the least of their problems. If Eleanor had anything like the King’s power now, Joan could imagine her tearing open the timeline to throw them all into the void, or sending them back to the Paleolithic period with a wave of her hand. And even if they got past all her levels of security, they’d still have to actually stop her from locking the timeline. They’d need to somehow restore the timeline and fix what she’d done here.
“We have two weeks,” Ruth said. “We should get some rest.”
Tom nodded, but his gaze turned inexorably to Jamie. “Can I talk to you?” he murmured. “Alone?”
Jamie nodded, his eyes glistening in the low light.
Tom tilted his head. “Will you come for a walk with me?”
Joan scrubbed her hands tiredly over her face. When she looked up again, she realized that Ruth and Aaron had slipped away too. Only she and Nick were left in the room—still sitting at the table together.
“Hi,” he murmured.
“Hi,” Joan said. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she looked up at his handsome, square-jawed profile. She’d always felt the pull of him, and sitting right here, beside him, the space between them felt warmer suddenly. They’d almost kissed less than an hour ago....
He bit back a small smile. “I missed you.”
“We were sitting right next to each other,” Joan said, smiling a little herself. But she knew what he meant.You feel like there’s an absence in your life, she’d said to Tom.
She’d known that because she’d felt it too. Nick’s absence had been a hole inside her, even before they’d met. She’d loved him from the moment she first saw him. And afterward... when they’d been torn apart... she’d yearned for him still—never believing she could actually be with him.
But here he was. They’d somehow found their way back to each other.
Joan reached for him now, needing the physical proof of it, and Nick pulled her into his arms. She felt him draw a deep breath, arms tightening as if he needed the proof of her too.
She wasn’t sure how long they sat like that before Nick took another breath and said, a little reluctantly, “There’s something we should talk about.” His tone was so serious that Joan felt herself stiffening. “Nothing bad,” he said quickly. “Just...” Heshifted back a little so that he could look into her eyes. “We haven’t talked about what happens after we stop Eleanor.”
Joan’s heart stuttered strangely. Theyhadtalked about that. He’d told her that their paths would diverge. He’d fight for humans, and she’d still be half-monster.
His eyes were very soft. “Joan... if we kill Eleanor, we’ll be able to mold a new timeline. We’ll have an opportunity to make somethinggood. The kind of world our original selves dreamed of,where monsters and humans are at peace.”
Joan felt her mouth drop open. Some part of her had just assumed they’d revert the timeline to something as near to the previous one as they could manage. She hadn’t considered that they could actually mold it with intention.
He was right, though, she realized. Theycouldforge something better.
But... the thought of it creeped her out to the core. “Molding the timeline to your will means moldingpeople,” she whispered. “That’s what Eleanor did. It just seems wrong.”
“But we could make something so much better,” Nick said, still earnest. “I can see it so clearly. We’d save so many lives, help so many people.”
“I...” Her emotions were a whirlwind right now—she loved him so much. But she was so tired. It was hard to think through the implications of what he was saying. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?”
Nick’s eyes softened more. “Of course.” He pushed her hair from her face, and Joan turned into his touch, closing her eyes as exhaustion washed over her. “Let’s sleep on it.”
As tired as Joan was, though, she lingered in the library after even Nick had gone to bed.
The unbroken cipher was still nagging at her, even though she was sure Jamie and Tom were correct about Eleanor’s plans. She had a strong feeling that the message from Nick’s counterpart was critical somehow. That theyhadto crack it before they went up against Eleanor.
She worked through three more shelves of books before exhaustion truly overwhelmed her.Tomorrow, she told herself. They’d crack that code tomorrow.
Aaron had arranged separate rooms for them all. Joan had no idea when he’d done that, but she was grateful. Last night, she’d been glad to have everyone around her, but tonight she just needed some time to herself.
