Oskar’s jaw tightened. Why was Magnus touching her and why was she letting him? When he’d done the same he’d gotten a bruised shin for his troubles!
She lifted her head. Her nostrils flared as she breathed deeply, clearly trying to gather herself. If this was an act, it was a good one. Did she really not know that she’d traveled through time? How could that be?
“How?” she asked Magnus. “How is this possible?”
“Ye said ye stepped through some kind of portal. Where did that come from?”
“I’ve no idea. It was just...there all of a sudden. I felt drawn to it, like it was pulling me in. I couldn’t seem to resist stepping through.”
Magnus sat back, thinking about this. Oskar shifted uncomfortably. He did not like where this conversation was heading.
Emeric took up the questioning. “Did anything else out of the ordinary happen before it?” he asked. “Anything unusual?”
“No,” Lily replied with a shake of her head. “Nothing. It was just a normal day.” She paused. “No. Wait. There was something a little strange. I met someone.”
Here it comes,Oskar thought.
“Met someone?” Emeric asked. “Who?”
“An old woman. She said some strange things and then she just seemed to disappear.”
Oskar sighed.And there it is.
“Let me guess,” he said, pushing away from the wall. “Her name was Irene MacAskill?”
Lily looked up at him. “How did you know that?”
“Because our Order has had dealings with this woman before,” he replied. He met Lily’s wide-eyed stare. “And because I saw her too.”
Magnus and Emeric’s eyes snapped to him. “Ye did?” Magnus asked. “And ye didnae say anything?”
Oskar scowled at his sword-brother. “What difference would it have made?”
“What difference? Have ye lost yer senses, man? What difference? Ye know what the appearance of that woman signifies! And ye didnae think we needed to know about it?”
Oskar glared at Magnus. “We had a mission to complete. Nothing she said had any bearing on that!”
Magnus rose to his feet. He towered over Oskar. “And what exactly did she say to ye?”
“Nothing important. The usual Fae nonsense about destiny and choices. It doesnae matter!”
“Dinna ye think we should have been the judge of that?”
“It changes nothing!” Oskar snarled, his hand going involuntarily to the hilt of his sword. “I swore to deliver Alfred Brewer for trial! I swore I’d ensure he faces justice and I will do that no matter what some doddery old woman has to say!”
“She’s no doddery old woman, Oskar, ye know that.”
“I dinna care!” he exploded. “I willnae be manipulated! I willnae be controlled! If she thinks she can get me to do her bidding, then she’s picked the wrong man!”
Magnus glared down at him and Oskar glared back, fury pounding through his veins. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to have a fight, to get it all out in the open and be damned.
“Stop!” Lily cried, suddenly coming between them. “Arguing won’t help!” She put one hand against Magnus’s chest and one against Oskar’s and shoved. “Back up, both of you!”
She didn’t have the strength to move either of them, but her words broke the spell. Oskar looked away, took a tight rein on his anger, and stepped back. Magnus did the same.
Lily turned on Oskar. “Are you telling me you met Irene MacAskill here? In this century?”
“Aye, lass,” he replied. “Just this morning. Right before I met ye.”
