That sounded familiar. I almost mocked, “At first light or now?” when there was a sharp knock at my door.
“My lord,” someone called from the hall.
Duncan gave me one more frosty glare before putting his pants back on and stuffing in his shirt before he marched for the door. He jerked it open and let it close hard on his way out. I couldn’t hear the muffled conversation on the other side.
Tears of frustration gathered in my eyes. I hated him on the one hand, and I felt inexplicably drawn to him on the other.
“Someone’s coming,” I heard yelled. It wasn’t from the hall. I got up and went to the window. I drew the curtains back just enough so I could see.
Winged men seemed to descend from the sky. I blinked a few times. Clearly, I’d been seeing things as instead I spotted three riders atop horses approaching. Because yeah, flying men were obviously the strangest thing that had happened to me. They were clad like the Knights of the Round Table. They matched so much, as did their horses, I couldn’t distinguish between them.
My racing mind cut off when Duncan barreled out the castle toward them. I was three stories up and couldn’t see them well, but Duncan I knew. His walk and everything about him had been branded in my mind.
What shouldn’t have been possible was for me to hear the conversation below. But it was as if the sea breeze carried their words right to me.
“The time walker is here,” one of the three said, lacking the Scottish brogue I’d become accustomed to hearing.
“Uriel,” Duncan acknowledged.
“This is your opportunity,” another said. “Don’t waste it.”
From Duncan’s posture, he wasn’t happy about what they were saying. “Ye should go,” he said flatly.
“Don’t do this,” Uriel said. “All will be forgiven if you just give up the time walker. We need you. You are our rightful king.”
There was that word again. Duncan was a king, even if he didn’t want to accept it.
“You have Michael,” Duncan said.
At the feast, he’d mentioned Charles being the king. Was he king of another land or…? Duncan wasn’t human, considering humans didn’t live four hundred years or more and not age a day. If he wasn’t, what did that make me?
“Michael’s ego will lead us down the wrong path. We need you. And you know as well as we do, the time walker is better in our hands than theirs.” There was a pause. “We will use force if we have to.”
Duncan flung out a hand as if reaching for me. A bright light washed up the walls and over past me.
“What are you doing?” Uriel asked. “This is madness.”
“Don’t you see?” the other said. The third had yet to say a word, but his gaze landed right on me. I nearly tripped backing up, the curtain falling back in place. But I could still hear. “He’s marked.”
I crawled back toward the window, wondering if they referred to our matching tattoos.
“How can that be?” Uriel asked.
“The time walker must be his mate,” the second unnamed man said.
“That’s not possible. We don’t have mates,” Uriel said.
“He’s not one of us anymore.” The voice was different. It had to be the third. “That mark means one within those walls is his fated mate. He would lay down his life for his mate. Otherwise, why would he protect the time walker thus? Yes, the time walker is his,” The third man said to the group. He faced Duncan. “Brother, you must fight against the need to bond with her. If you hand her over, you will be rewarded and free from the compulsion you feel. You could get back what you lost.” Duncan said nothing as I was stunned silent. “We will give you time to think this through. You hand her over and you will be free of that mark. You will be restored and back in his favor. Find the strength, brother, to walk away from her.”
It was clear he hadn’t meant brother by blood. It sounded more like a brotherhood between them. Whatever they were, and I dared not guess because the idea baffled my mind. But worse, they wanted me.
I scrambled to my feet and glanced around. There wasn’t an exit in this room. I went for the door and opened it. I was halfway down the hall when I heard Duncan’s voice approaching. Damn, he was fast.
Considering the offer he’d been made, I had to assume he’d come for me. I ran back to my room just as I heard him reaching this floor.
I had to get out of here. That was my only thought when I forgot to use the door handle, yet I easily passed through the door. Caught off guard, I found myself stumbling on the other side to catch my footing. That was when I noticed the bathroom door and tub beyond. I was back in the future… or present. And it was no longer night, but day.