She had to smile a little then. “Of course you did.”
He took her hand in both of his and continued to look over the countryside in front of them. “And?”
“They wanted to put Deirdre to death,” she said with a sigh. “I couldn’t allow that to happen, so I showed them my mark to draw their attention away from her.”
“Your mark?”
She looked at him archly. “Am I to show it to you as well?”
“I don’t think I’ll ask where it is,” he said faintly.
She rolled her eyes, pulled her dress far enough off her shoulder to show him the mark she’d come with into her current life.
Her previous life, if luck were with her.
“It looks like a heart,” he said with a faint smile.
“Does it?” she asked, pulling the cloth back up. “They didn’t seem to think so.”
“That was very noble of you,” he said. “To sacrifice yourself for her.”
“It wasn’t for her,” she admitted. “My mother died when I was very young and I didn’t want Ambrose and the wee ones to suffer as I did.” She paused. “And you were gone, so…”
The look he gave her almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Mairead,” he said in a low voice. “In truth?”
She took a deep breath. “Well, you are braw enough, so aye. But now, I don’t think they’ll burn Deirdre or anyone else, not after that display you put on. What was that magic?”
He smiled. “We call them fireworks, though that’s just a fancy way of talking about gunpowder. It’s an English thing, if you want the truth, and the most famous practitioner in your day is a man named Guy who will in a few years try to blow up important bits of London where King James will be taking a stroll.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Does he succeed?”
“He doesn’t,” Oliver said, “and winds up in the Tower as a result. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination for now, though I’ll tell you later if you like.” He stared out over the countryside. “I wonder about Master James,” he said slowly. “It isn’t as if he can put the whole clan into the fire, is it? Perhaps he’ll look for riper pickings somewhere else.”
“At least he won’t find them at Cameron Hall,” she said, shivering in spite of the sunlight. “They were a suspicious lot in the past, but no longer.”
“Both Sunny and Cameron would have something to say about that,” he said. “And I forgot about food, sorry. Let me show you what I brought.”
She tried to eat, truly she did, but her hands were shaking too badly to manage it very well. Oliver only caught whatever she dropped—oatcakes, dried things he claimed were fruits from the Future, and equally cured meats in strips—and held it for her until she could take hold of it again. She gathered her strength to thank him, but when she turned to do so, she found him watching her as if he feared she might have some sort of fit.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Will you mind coming back with me?”
“To the keep?” she asked, surprised. “In this time?”
He shook his head quickly. “Forward, I should say. To the Future.”
She was very aware there was no future for her at her home, though she would miss Ambrose and his wee siblings. But to walk into a different time entirely… that was daunting.
“You could stay with Cameron and Sunny,” he said carefully.
She looked at him in surprise, but said nothing. That offer of sanctuary and shelter would be very kind, of course, but she had thought…
“Or Patrick and Madelyn,” he added. “Or even Jamie and Elizabeth, if that wouldn’t be too unnerving to be in the same keep yet a different year.”
She nodded, because she could do nothing else. “Lovely.”
