My purpose had clouded. Uncovering truths lying hidden in time had been my singular goal for so long. But well along that path, I’d begun to struggle for a reason to reveal history’s secrets. To what end would it serve?
Velloc’s scent hit me seconds before disturbed air changed the echoing sounds of the ocean. His warm arms wrapped around me.
Emblazoned brightly, my path lit up like a spotlight-lined landing strip in the darkest night. The lost traveler’s way stood behind her.
I’d gone from an historical interpreter to a vibrant thread woven into the tapestry of time. I had two guides who held integral pieces of the puzzle as to how and why I’d been chosen. Velloc didn’t hold all the answers, but since I knew he’d stolen the box from another tribe, I had an idea of where I could find them. And Iain knew a hell of a lot more than he’d been willing to share.
One question remained: would both men cooperate in my task? I had to find out. I had to know one thing more than anything. Why me?
“How do you feel about my having to go back?” I asked.
He bent down and touched his lips to my ear, murmuring, “I don’t like it at all. What if I don’t let you go?”
I laughed. “You act as if that’s an option. None of us have total control of what we want in life, but when I travel in time—and where I’m destined to go—is governed by that box.”
“Without the box, you’d have no way back.” The edge in his tone loaded his threat.
“You would do that? Take away the box?” I asked.
His pause dragged heavy between us. “Yes. You’re everything, Isobel. It doesn’t matter that someone else waits for you. What matters is that you seek to be with him rather than stay with me. You are mine. I won’t let you go.”
“Velloc, please. This is bigger than my wants or yours. I know what happens in history. Maybe my travel through time has already happened and charted the historical record that I’ve read. I don’t know. What I do know, to my very core, is that my next step is to learn about the box: from where it derives its power, who controls it, and why I was chosen. You’ve no right to deny me, just as I have no right to deny my fate.”
The sudden release of his hold knocked me off-balance. I spun around, but he’d disappeared. I darted out of the broch just as he entered our home. I marched after him.
My eyes adjusted as I searched the darkness of the room, and I spotted his bent form kneeling at the head of our pallet before the box.
He spoke softly. “This box brought me you.” He stared down at the artifact.
“Yes. Without it, I wouldn’t be here,” I replied.
“The thing that brought peace and joy back into my life will take it away . . . take you away . . .” His quiet voice drifted.
I went to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I will be back, Velloc. Often. Iain’s agreed to a certain amount of time spent with him. Can’t you do the same? I will give you all of my heart when I’m here. Know and trust in that.”
Velloc shook his head. He struggled with the same fears Iain had. They each risked losing me forever. Velloc had already lost his first wife. He’d also had less time to adjust to the concept of my traveling between two men than Iain, and Iain had demanded that time.
Between Velloc’s calves, I knelt behind him. I wrapped my arms around his waist, sliding my hands up his chest, kissing his bare shoulder. “We have a saying in my time: ‘If you love something, set it free.’ A bird is meant to take wing, not be caged. Let me fly, Velloc. I love you. My love for you alone will bring me back.”
“What of this war with the Romans? How does that fit into your plans?” he asked.
I took a deep breath. He’d be fighting in the war. They all would. A dark menace would descend upon them, scouring the land, threatening them all.
“I don’t have a plan, Velloc. I’m living life one day at a time as any other does. You’re a valiant leader and remarkable warrior. The greatest battle recorded cites victory to the Romans, but without their hold on the land, it’s an empty claim.”
He shook his head again, “No. Isobel, I can’t protect you if you’re not here. Wars exist in every man’s time. I do not know this man, Iain.” He lifted my hands to his mouth, kissing my fingertips. “I trust only this—only you . . . here with me.”
He placed his hands on the metal lid. I put a hand over his, careful not to touch the metal. “Velloc, no one has a guarantee for tomorrow. We live for today. I’m here with you now, and I love you. My purpose beyond that is greater than you, me, or Iain. I need to find out what role I play in the adventure.”
“No. You live for today? Live for right now.” He twisted, tumbling us back onto our bed, lacing his fingers with mine. “I’m on the path with you, holding your hand . . . only me.”
I opened my mouth and his lips silenced my protest, his body calming the fight right out of me. I spread my hands across the lean muscles of his back, pulling his weight down until all I felt and thought about was him.
He was right about one thing. I would live for the now.
Shadowy tendrils of fear slithered into my mind. I shot upright. Trace light framed the doorway. I spun around, scanning the room. Our small home was empty.
Velloc . . . and the box . . . were gone.
I scrambled outside and searched the shoreline, the village, and the broch for any sign of him. Sea mist swirled everywhere, shrouding the land in eerie camouflage.
The snort of a horse snapped my head around. Fog curled around a figure wearing a black, hooded cloak. He was seated on a black beast larger than any we had in our herd. His horse reared, whinnying as its hooves clawed the air, and I froze. The stranger cradled the box in his arms.
His animal turned around and charged into the mist. I sprinted after them, only to watch the horse, rider, and box evaporate like a ghostly apparition. Stunned at what I’d just witnessed, I ran straight to the spot where he’d disappeared. Energy sparked through the space they’d occupied and filtered through my body.
I jumped at a shift in the air current to my left, my heart slamming into my chest. Velloc stepped out of the fog. His expression seemed grave but not distressed as he stared at me.
Panic welled up.
My pulse raced.
Nothing made sense.
Constants that I’d clung to in the masquerade of my life crumbled into illusion. My mind had already accepted as fact that the box remained present throughout time, facilitating my travel between my worlds. The greater forces at work transported me from place to place—not the box.
The parameters had suddenly changed with the box vanishing into thin air, my miniscule understanding of everything and everyone surrounding the box made glaringly obvious.
In anger, I shoved Velloc’s chest hard, knocking him back a step. The man I trusted most had betrayed me. The foundation I’d tried so hard to build, to have solid ground beneath me, had been rocked by a singular act.
“How could you? You threaten to take the box from me, and while I’m asleep, you give it to another? Who was he? Why?” I glared at his chest, clenching my jaw, feeling as if my entire being was about to detonate, exploding from my heart out.
His finger hooked my chin up, forcing me to look into his eyes. “I gave no one the box.” His terse words bounced off the ice dam in my mind.
“Riiight. You expect me to believe he just strolled in and stole it from you as we slept. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” As my acid words dripped out of my mouth, they floated into my ears. The impossible had become very plausible in past weeks. Even I had to take a step back and wonder how much more fantastic the journey could get.