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“How did ye get over it? Were ye able tae change it?”

“I daena ken. It haena happened yet.” She sighed. “It is something I will never be able tae get from my mind.” She patted me on both shoulders and looked me in the eyes. “Tis our glory that we are heirs of these vessels and our privilege tae live outside of time, Magnus, and tis our burden that we canna fully love someone who lives inside of time. But ye must steel yourself tae your life. When the doors of the arena open ye must meet Samuel and take your throne.”

She continued, “Samuel has told me I may watch the battle. He has also told me that when ye die he will be merciful towards me. I want ye tae ken he has never been merciful tae anyone and so ye must win today. Your son is countin’ on ye as am I.”

I nodded again, quietly.

The door opened and the guards barged in.

We left Lady Mairead with a guard leadin’ her tae her rooms.

They forced me intae step alongside them down the halls, through the tunnel, and left me outside the familiar arena doors.

I did try tae steel myself tae the battle ahead. And when the arena doors opened with a burst of bright sunlight, I tapped my chest, over my heart, the place where the walkytalk had been, as if twas as easy as that tae speak tae her hundreds of years in the past, and said, “I love ye,” as I crossed the threshold tae meet my future.

56 - KAITLYN

Iwas in grass. On mud. It was all pretty gosh darn wet, but not as bad as the time I woke up in the swamp. I opened my eyes and tried to lift my head. It was dark, forested, but I was in a clearing, a slope, my head lower than my body. I twisted to look down. The dock, the spring. A few boxes and bags lying around. A couple of swords strewn in the grass. A flashlight, faint but still burning, lying in the grass.

I turned my head and looked up the slope. Tyler’s truck, parked, door open. And then beside me, Tyler’s foot.

I dragged a hand up and jiggled his foot. He groaned.

I smacked his foot. Then grumbling, pulled myself to sitting over him. He was lying sprawled, his eyes opened but I could tell he wasn’t really seeing me. “I hate you. I hate you so much. I can’t believe you did that.”

I collapsed back on the grass and stared up the pine trees to the sky above, light gray, on the verge of turning a tint of blue. “I hate you so much.”

Tyler pulled himself up to sitting. “You know what. I’m not that happy with you either. What the fuck, Katie. You know how hard it is to deal with you?” He ran his hand over his now scruffy hair. He banged his hand flat on the ground beside him. “Fuck. I had one job to do for him. All this other shit was just extra. I mean what the fuck, you have a freaking death wish?”

I stared up at him dumbfounded.

He pulled himself up to standing. “God, you are such a pain in the ass. If someone tells you to run, you run. Why do you have to argue about every fucking thing?” He brushed off his jeans and straightened up with yet another groan. “And you know what? I could have gotten killed, killed myself, and for what, so you could hate me? Well fine, I didn’t do it for you, so yeah, fuck you.” He started limping to his truck. “And you know what the worst part is? He doesn’t even know me now. Thanks for that. It’s just great.”

He made it to his truck, climbed in and tried to start it. The ignition went ‘click’. He stepped out and yelled down the slope at me, “And now my battery is dead. Fucking great. I saved your life for him and I can’t even get a break.”

“What are you even talking about?”

He popped his hood, lifted it and peered in, jiggling the battery cables. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it. My wife freaking warned me, too. Now she’s right.”

I stood, tried to brush the top layer of grime from my skirts, but I was seriously filthy, like a destitute wench from the 18th century grimy. “Okay, you just now said a bunch of shit that makes no sense. Either you have a concussion or you are talking about someone and only you know what the hell you’re talking about. You have a wife? And who is ‘him’?”

He leaned on the front of his truck. “Do you have the keys to your Mustang?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I want to go home and I need to jump my battery.”

“Fine.” I schlepped myself up the slope to the far edge of the clearing where the Mustang was parked. The trunk was still open. I looked in the driver’s side window. The keys were in the ignition. “I’ve got keys!”

I checked the trunk. “I’ve got jumper cables too.”

“I’ve got my own, thank you.”

I stood half in and out of my car and yelled at him. “You know, you don’t just win because you’re angrier than me. That is such a man thing. You freaking dragged me away and left Magnus to die.”

“I saved your life. For like the third time, actually. You’re welcome.” He dragged a box from under his seat, clicked it open and dragged out some jumper cables.

I started my Mustang and drove it down the slope toward his truck, stopping short, nose to nose. I popped the hood and jumped out of the car. “And another thing, if Magnus dies I will never forgive you.”