No response from him, no change in his body to indicate he was awake and aware of his actions. His chest rose and fell at a steady pace and a little bit of drool stained my shirt.
At least one of us would get some sleep, because every inch of me was wide awake and fully aware of every inch of him.
This is gonna be a long fucking night.
Interruption Five
Time Unknown
Inside an Unregulated Pocket Dimension
Motion Sick
Godwin stood off to the side of the road, bent over double, puking his guts out. It’d been a long time since he’d been subjected to anyone’s timely whims other than his own and he’d forgotten how unpleasant it was. Twice in short order, time had changed, flowing backwards around him at a pace difficult to watch. Motion blurred and sound mixed into a cacophonous riot still ranging in his ears.
Worse, his companions hadn’t noticed the time shift. They’d gone from one edge of the town to the other without missing a beat, their conversation starting right from the beginning, repeating word-for-word.
Lucinda was the first to notice Godwin missing. She looked around, confused for a moment, before finally spotting him several feet away from them. “Oh my! Did crossing the border make you sick? I didn’t know being in an evil dimension was so determinantal to … an apprentice,” she finished awkwardly, remembering their cover story in time.
“It’s not the dimension,” Godwin said, using the edge of his black cloak to wipe the vomit from his lips. “It’s the damntime shifts.”
Cyril arched an eyebrow. “Time shifts? You never mentioned any time manipulation.”
Godwin sighed. It was his own fault that he’d withheld that information. He hadn’t expected it to come up. No one in their right mind would reset time so often. But evil never followed the same standards as good. “The council—” he didn’t specify which one “—believes that Wilde created this dimension to control the time and people within it. Whenever he doesn’t like the way events progress, he resets the timeline, and everything starts again. Apparently, he’sveryunhappy right now, because he reset time twice before we even left town!”
Francesca gasped. “But we didn’t notice anything!”
“Of course not,” he snapped. “If you had, what would be the point of restarting?”
“You mean he’spurposefullymaking us forget things?” A deep scowl marred her beautiful face. “I don’t like people messing with my head.”
Godwin started to sigh, then held it in, annoyed at the idea of repeating himself. He’d be doing that quite a lot if the apprentice kept abusing the timeline. “He does not need to make you forget events that never occurred.”
“But you remember them,” Cyril said. “Which means theydidoccur.”
“Yes, and that’s where things get messy. The ability to control time directly correlates to chaos magic. Changing time can change someone’s fate, Wilde has already proven that. Before he created this pocket dimension, he did something that affected the whole timeline of the primary dimension. It might have been something small. Meeting someone he shouldn’t have, preventing people from meeting who should, appearing in a place he was never meant to be. Whatever he did, it changed the fate of all the royal champions.”
Francesca gasped again, less concerned about repeating herself. “What did he do to Delilah?”
“Prevented her marriage to Princess Gwendolyn Unfortunate. A marriage I officiated myself but now does not exist,” Godwin explained, particularly bitter about the last bit.
“Let me guess,” Lucinda said. “Treasure Banes was also supposed to marry as a component of the spell?”
Godwin nodded. “To Princess Angelica Calamitous.”
“Oh. Oh dear. No wonder he … well,Iwould change time too if Cyril was supposed to marry someone else!” She batted her eyelashes at her husband.
Cyril scooped up her hand and kissed her knuckles, one at a time, pulling her closer with each kiss. Soon they stood flush against each other, gazing lovingly into their partner’s eyes.
Godwin cleared his throat. “If you would let me continue, please.”
They focused on him but did not separate. Lucinda rested her head against her husband’s shoulder and Cyril rested his head on top of hers.
“As I was saying, Wilde changed their fates, and thus created chaos. Everything that has followed adds to that chaos. Beasts feed on it. Mages use it to fuel their magic. Evil thrives in it.” For now, that chaos was contained within the pocket dimension. Godwin would need to take extraordinary measures to prevent it from infecting the primary dimension.
“Is there any way to hold on to our memories?” Francesca asked. “I don’t want to forget what I’m doing every time he throws a tantrum.”
“It’ll be easier now that we know what to look for,” Cyril said. The stern look he gave Godwin clearly stated:which we should have known from the beginning.
