Page 78 of Only a Breath Away

He chuckled. “Aye, tis all we had tae do — fight them at Kilchurn, battle them in the stadium, fight them in front of the king of England, war against them a few times in long ago Scotland, live in the past, gain a kingdom, and then at the verra end, really after averralong time, in the verra last second, Lochinvar got tae run ontae the field and help me kill them dead. He was a great help, couldna hae done it without him.”

I laughed.

He said, “I am teasing, Lochinvar saved my life, he was more than necessary. Only daena tell him I said that, I need tae feign that he was unnecessary or he will be insufferable.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I would be insufferable, if our positions were reversed.”

“Who dragged us here? How did we get from the thirteenth century to here? Who did it?”

“My first suspect is m’mother.”

“She was dragged here too. She’s incensed about it.”

His eyes narrowed as he searched his mind for who it could have been. “I daena ken. Our bairns hae access tae the tech, perhaps they dragged us there tae handle Domnall and Ormr.”

“Well, I don’t like that one bit, if there is any dragging to happen, it needs to beusdraggingthem.We are the parents. Remind me to tell them, they are not allowed to mess with us. Besides, you were injured. You easily could have died in the arena. It was a terrible risk to take. That’s why I don’t think it was them.”

“Ye think someone else has the tech and can move us around if they want?”

“Yes.”

Magnus said, “I wonder how far back we can time travel. We ought tae test if the times that we opened with the Trailblazer are still passable. We can go back tae a day beyond the dates, and see if we can return.”

“I agree, just not you. You are wounded, but we can send other men, like James, Fraoch, and Quentin. We need to keep the vessels under our control, And that bridge thing, that is… We ought to test. If it’s powerful enough to close off time, we need to know how many Bridges exist.”

“Aye, twill take some investigation.”

“So many unknowns.”

“And so many brothers tae challenge the throne. I hae a new one, his name is Finch Mac.”

“The rock star? Finch Mac the freaking rock star?”

“He is a son of Donnan.”

“What the hell? How do you know?”

“Because his father, named Donnan, gave him a sword with Donnan’s crest on it, and the Bridge is in a box that only sons of Donnan can open. He was able tae open it. Fraoch and I can both open it. Tis indisputable.”

I raised my head and looked down at him. “Let me get this straight, a rock star is a son of Donnan? A rock star could challenge you for your throne? A guitar solo challenge?” I laughed.

“Aye, but he winna challenge me, look at me, who would want tae fight me? I am lethal.”

I put my head back down on his shoulder. “How many sons of Donnan are there?”

“I daena ken, how many sons can one man make?”

I groaned.

He said, “Finch Mac though is proof that just because Donnan sired a son, daena mean he meant for them tae take over the kingdom. He gave that power tae me. Fraoch wasna offered the chance tae be a king. Finch Mac daena even ken about time travel. So how many sons of Donnan—”

“Or Samuel or Roderick or all your ass-backward uncles and cousins, are there?”

“Aye, how many are there that actually want tae take m’throne? I think, ten tops.”

I groaned again. “That’s ten too many.”

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