Page 26 of Draped in Plaid
“And your mother, Beverly, where is she from?”
“Norfolk!” Spittle and blood sprayed from his lips.
I tsked, ignoring the droplets on my shirt. “No need to shout, Steven.”
“Where is my mother?”
Logan shrugged. “Wherever she may be on any other day at this time.”
“What?” His voice softened in confusion and he glanced furtively from one to the next of us.
“Ah, aye,” I said with a chuckle. “Ye thought we had your mom captive, but we dinna.”
“My mother is all right?” Steven asked, desperate for the answer given his tone.
We ignored him.
“Who is your time keeper?” Rory demanded.
“Time keeper?” Steven looked genuinely bewildered. “The man who blows the horn for shift of the guards? I’ll never tell.”
I rolled my eyes. The man had no idea what we meant by time keeper. “Where have ye traveled?” I asked, changing tactics.
“I’ve traveled to your mother’s bedchamber and rutted her arse—”
Before he could finish, I punched him in the gut, all the air whooshing from his lungs. “I’ll ask ye again. Where have ye traveled?”
Steven shook away the pain, more blood oozing from his split lip. “Scotland and France, you bloody savage.”
I glanced down at Rory and Ewan. They shook their heads. Steven had not yet been introduced to time travel. That much was evident, as disappointing as it was.
That was all well and good, but we couldna simply let him go, and we couldna kill him either.
If we let him go, he’d simply sound the alarm, hunt us down and possibly ruin our chances of finding Moira. With the maid tied up in the tower, there were now two witnesses to us being here.
There was also the fact that if we let this whoreson go, we’d be running from two Stevens… The younger and the older. Not to mention there was a chance Steven could run into his older self who did know about time travel, and that could mess up a whole lot of things. Two of them time traveling was a recipe for disaster. I shuddered.
Leaving him wasna a choice.
But, if we killed him, then Steven would never travel to the future and marry Emma, which mean she wouldna even travel back in time. That I wouldna meet her, fall in love with her. That she’d not be my savior, and I hers. Our son Saor would never be born. But that also meant, Steven would never have the chance to abuse her. To destroy her.
I walked away from Steven, toward my wife. Desire and love burning in every pore. I loved her so hard it made every part of me swell with pride. And as much as it would destroy me to let her go, this was her choice.
“What should I do?” This man had tormented her and we had the chance to change that right now, with one swipe of my sword.
Emma licked her lips and looked behind me at the man on the floor who had wanted to shatter her forever.
“We have to let him go,” she whispered. “We cannot kill him. But that doesn’t mean we have to free him either. Keep him locked here until the guards find him.”
“Are ye certain?” I asked.
“As much as I want to erase him from this earth, from my life, there is no guarantee that doing that won’t also erase you and Saor. The past is the past, and I am in front of it now. I have you.” She slid her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. “I have our child. Our future. I’m not willing to risk those things to erase him.”
I tilted her chin, bent low and kissed her on the lips. “I will do as ye wish.”
“You make every moment of my life better,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“I love ye, too,mo chridhe.”
I marched back toward our prisoner and punched him hard in the face. Once. Twice. Three times. Until he fell unconscious on the sodden dungeon floor. His nose was broken and at least one tooth was missing.
Satisfied, I turned my attention to Rory. “Let’s go get your wife.”
