“Do ye truly not understand yet? The Unseelie and Seelie,” he said, cocking his head at her. “Forever at odds, forever striving for control of the Balance. Here, in my time, that Balance is strong, meaning my kin, the Unseelie, canna gain dominion. But in yer time— “ He grinned suddenly and the sight of it made her shiver. “In yer time, in the twenty-first century, things are very different. There, the Balance is all but destroyed. Nobody believes in the Fae anymore and so the strength of the Seelie is weak. Too weak to stop me breaking open the walls of time, destroying the Balance, and giving dominion to the Unseelie Fae. I only needed one thing to bring this all to pass. Bring the boy!”
The Disinherited dragged Rory across the garden to his father. Rodric took Rory’s hand and stepped closer to the stone structure. Then, to Maddy’s horror, Rodric pulled a knife from his belt. He sliced Rory’s palm and shoved his hand against a large, pitted gray stone. Rory screamed and began bawling but Rodric held him fast. Then he cut his own palm and placed itagainst the stone next to Rory’s. He held them both there for several seconds and then stepped back. Two red hand prints shone against the stone, one large, one small.
Maddy held her breath, unable to look away from those hand prints. Then, as she watched, the handprints disappeared, absorbed into the stone. A second later, light flared inside the space beneath the stone structure, a light so bright it dwarfed the lanterns and forced Maddy to squint. When the light dissipated, it revealed a shimmering curtain of energy hanging in the space beneath the stones. And through this shimmering curtain, Maddy could see...somewhere else.
Tall buildings. Houses and cars. Aircraft crossing the sky.
The twenty-first century.
“No,” she breathed. “No.” Somehow, Rodric MacKay had opened an arch through time.
And he’d used Rory to do it.
The expression on Rodric’s face was exultant, triumphant, and in the flickering lantern light, slightly demonic.
“Did I not say ye were a fool, Madeleine,” he said. “A fool to think I ever had any interest in ye. Ye were a tool only. A tool to give me the child I needed.”
“Get your hands off him!” she screamed. “Get your hands off my son!”
“Not a chance,” Rodric replied. Rory was still bawling and sagged in his father’s grip. “Havenae I already told ye he’s my key?”
“You’re insane! He’s not the key to anything!”
“Did ye never wonder how I was able to time-travel?” he asked her.
“It’s because you’re in league with the Unseelie Fae!”
He smirked. “Wrong again, Madeleine. I’m not in league with the Unseelie Fae. IamUnseelie Fae. At least partly. My fatherwas one of our immortal masters. Their blood runs in my veins. It was that which allowed me to open the portal to yer time.”
“If that’s so, then you don’t need Rory. Let him go!”
“Are ye not listening? I said I’mpartUnseelie Fae. The power in my blood is only strong enough to open the tiniest of portals. I need more if I am to take my army to the future and claim it for our Unseelie masters. So I needed a child. One with both Fae blood and a connection to the future. That’s why he’s the key, Madeleine. That’s why this has been about him from the start.”
Madeleine stared in mute horror at the man before her. What kind of monster would use a child in such a way?
“I’ll kill you for this,” she panted. “I’ll kill you.”
“I dinna think so. Ye are powerless against me. Ye are only a mortal, after all. I—”
He paused as a sound cut through the night. There was some kind of commotion going on in the courtyard beyond the garden’s wall. Shouting. The thump of feet. And was that the clash of weapons?
Then two shadows launched themselves from the top of the wall and crashed into Rodric, sending all three of them sprawling.
It was Deryn and Craig.
The collision broke the contact between Rory’s hand and Rodric’s and as it did, the portal through time winked out of existence.
“No!” Rodric roared, his eyes going wide as he stared at the space where the portal had been. He gestured at Deryn and Craig. “Kill them! Kill them both!”
Deryn scooped up Rory, whipping him out of his father’s reach. Craig climbed to his feet, interposing himself between Deryn, Rory, and the Disinherited that now moved to obey their leader’s command.
But before Rodric’s followers could take more than a few steps, the gate burst open and armed men came pouring into the garden. Maddy recognized Callum and Cian Sutherland among them. The Disinherited drew weapons.
The garden was suddenly filled with fighting. Maddy took advantage of her guards’ distraction to yank herself free and go sprinting away from them. She’d lost sight of Deryn and Rory in the melee and she darted through knots of fighting, searching desperately for a glimpse of them.
There! Deryn had carried Rory over to the far wall, away from the fighting, and Craig was crouched protectively in front of them both, holding a sword he’d found from somewhere.
“Rory!” she screamed. “Deryn!”
