Page 1 of The Swan Syndicate
PROLOGUE
It all began when AJ Moore climbed a cliff along her home shores of Oregon. Only a small group of people, either in this time or two hundred years before, knew the story. A tale no one would believe if they hadn’t been a part of it.
AJ had watched a nineteenth-century sailing ship appear and disappear into the fog. A couple of days later, two men came into her life. Mysterious men who spoke little of themselves yet found ways to gather information from those around them. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the two men, Finn Murphy, a fiery, roguish Irishman, and Ethan Hughes, a reserved, handsome Englishman, had spent eighteen months traveling through time in search of an ancient stone necklace.
As it turned out, AJ had found that necklace at an estate sale a few months before the men came into her life. She was a reporter by trade, so it didn’t take her long to decide the old ship and the enigmatic ship’s captain would make a good story, but it was never written. Instead, she fell hard and fast for Finn.
Finn, who tried to ignore AJ’s appeal, was unable to douse the spark she ignited whenever she was close. Once Finn held the necklace in his hand, his mission complete, he couldn’t thinkof a life without AJ. So, he did the unthinkable. He called upon the fog, and they disappeared from this time and fell into the past—ship and all.
What came next was months of betrayal, heartache, loss, and eventually, a reunion that reignited the passion between AJ and Finn. Then, she learned the secrets of the ancient stone necklace.
Over two millennia before, during an eclipse, a sect of Druids performed a ritual. Lightning interrupted the rite and turned a silver chalice holding colorful beads into six stones that allowed a person to travel through time. The largest stone, referred to as the Heart Stone, had been lost in time, eventually turning up at an estate sale. The other five stones were smaller yet held a strong connection to the Heart Stone.
The Druids believed if the stones were kept closely together, the ability to time travel would be more powerful and predictable. They mounted the stones in a silver torc. Through trial and error, they discovered the mysteries of how the stones worked and wrote their findings inThe Book of Stones, otherwise known as theMórdha Stone Chronicles. While speaking the proper incantation as one held the stone or wore the torc, a dense fog appeared and transported the person to another time. But the timing and location were far from accurate—in the beginning.
The Druids were a suspicious lot, and while they wrote their secrets in Breton Celtic, they also encrypted the critical pieces of how the stones and incantations worked. Finn’s sister, Maire Murphy, being Irish, was able to read Breton Celtic, though the text took time to translate. She acquired the assistance of Sebastian, a member of the Brotherhood of Monks, who lived in a monastery on the northern coast of France. The monks were responsible for protecting rare and treasured artifacts and hidThe Book of Stonesand the accompanying six stones from themen who raided churches and monasteries during the Reign of Terror.
When the Duke of Dunsmore escaped to France to hide from the King of England’s wrath, he heard stories about the stones. And so began the long journey Finn and Ethan traveled in search of the Heart Stone. The power-hungry duke and, eventually, his son, Reginald, were killed, and everyone felt the stones were safe.
Until one fateful day when a man from the past found his way to the future, arriving at the inn along the Oregon Coast that AJ and Finn called home. The couple happened to be on vacation, and Stella Caldway, AJ’s best friend, who stopped by to water the plants, found a strange man standing in the kitchen. The man, who worked for their new enemy, Gemini, a woman in search of the stones, mistook Stella for AJ and stole her away through the fog.
Beckworth, a nineteenth-century viscount who had a long and complicated history with AJ, Finn, and the Duke of Dunsmore, was on a mission to locate the mysterious Gemini. When he caught up with her, he convinced Stella to escape with him. They were on the run for two weeks, evading Gemini’s men while trying to find safe haven. During that period, they became friends, and eventually much more. After a long and tiring journey, Stella and Beckworth reunited with AJ, Finn, and the rest of the team. The group decided to change the stakes, and Gemini became the prey.
The mission hadn’t been easy, and men had been lost, but once Gemini was dead, the stones andThe Book of Stoneswere safe once more. Everything was hidden within the secret passages of the monastery, with a few exceptions. The Heart Stone would return to the future with AJ and Finn. One of the small stones was retained by Ethan and Maire, who returned to the future along with Sebastian, the monk, who was always upfor an adventure.The Book of Stoneswas also sent to the future, keeping it out of the hands of anyone else seeking too much power.
Before leaving for the future, Sebastian gifted Stella and Beckworth with a stone of their own and an updated incantation.
Stella returned home to Oregon, leaving Beckworth behind. Each believed neither could be happy living in a time period not their own. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and Beckworth used his stone to travel to the future, where the two live happily together.
Everyone agreed the stones were only to be used for emergencies.
Beckworth had a different idea. And so begins the story of Stella and Beckworth. What they weren’t aware of, because no one could foresee the future, even with the stones, was that their first use of the stones would be the beginning of the Swan Syndicate.
And no one could have been prepared for what happened next.
1
Baywood, Oregon - Present Day
Stella Caldway sighed with pleasure as she pulled her red convertible, top currently up, into her driveway. Twinkling white lights wrapped around the small fir tree near the brick walkway leading to the front door. Another string ran along the roof line of her bungalow-style home.
She could have sworn she’d turned the Christmas lights off last night and must not have noticed when she raced out of the house that morning, already ten minutes late for her meeting with Alexis, another local Realtor.
Several months before, she’d returned to Baywood after a man from the past had kidnapped her and taken her through the fog to 1805 England. She’d known about time travel before it happened. Her best friend AJ had been taken to the past by her now husband, Finn Murphy, by way of ancient stones and a Celtic incantation.
Since then, she’d found little interest in her one-woman broker business. It was difficult for anything to hold her attention for long after being kidnapped twice and almost losingthe love of her life in a power struggle for the stones. She decided to maintain a few long-time clients and slowly turned over the rest to Alexis.
She stared at the miniature lights until they blurred, wondering why she’d never considered decorating the outside of the house. Christmas was one of her favorite holidays, and she always went a little over the top on the interior decor. She smirked. After the trip to France during the previous year’s holiday with AJ, Finn, and the entire family, the idea of outdoor lights had given her second thoughts.
Her gaze refocused, and she grinned as she tugged on a lock of her wavy auburn hair while viewing the yard. Beckworth, her significant other, lived with her. She wasn’t really sure what to call him—boyfriend didn’t quite fit. Lover?
He didn’t have electricity where he’d come from, and he’d been like a kid in a candy shop when they went shopping for decorations. The sparkling lights weren’t the only items that caught his interest. He fell hard and fast for the whole spirit of the holidays. He’d firmly secured three reindeer and a fat Santa on the lawn. She’d also caught him whispering to Finn, who was an inspiring furniture maker, about building a sled.
Oh, Teddy. What am I going to do with you?
Viscount Theodore Beckworth of Waverly Manor, aka Teddy to only a handful, was a man out of time. A man from two hundred years ago, who had left his hard-fought title and manor in England to be with her. He’d had a mercurial background, once considered an enemy when he’d kidnapped AJ and taken her and the stones to France. But, after helping AJ find Finn when he’d been near death, he slowly earned their trust.
It wasn’t like he was the only one. Finn was also from the past but had lived in Baywood for some time and was well-acclimated to the present day. Three others from Napoleon’s erahad traveled forward to spend the rest of their lives in present-day Oregon.
