A growl ripped through the forest behind him.
He spun, his features lighting up. “The bear!” He took off running, crashing through the underbrush in a blur of buckskin.
I stood alone in the clearing with my heart trying to pound from my chest.
A light appeared in front of me. It started as a pinprick, then expanded, growing brighter and wider until it formed a doorway. Magic poured from it in warm, familiar waves.
The auld stones.
Heart racing, I ran through the portal. Light blinded me, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I tumbled through chaos. Colorsflashed behind my closed lids. My stomach lurched. The world twisted, and I stumbled onto solid ground.
Strong arms caught me.
“Portia!” My father stared down at me. Moonlight shone on his face, which looked thinner than before. His black hair was wild around his head, and his dark eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a year.
“Da,” I choked out.
His mouth trembled. Then he crushed me to his chest, his sobs shaking us both. He cupped the back of my head and held me against him.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he said hoarsely. “My gods, I thought I’d driven you away.”
My throat burned, and I knew my tears were soaking his barasta. “I didn’t run. I promise. I would never do that.”
“I know.” He pressed a hard kiss to the top of my head. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Da.”
He pulled back, tears tracking down his face. “You haven’t called me that since you were a little girl.”
My own tears flowed faster. “I’ve messed up everything. I’velosteverything.” For a second, sorrow gripped me so tightly that I couldn’t speak. “I’ve lost the men I love,” I said on a sob.
My father’s lips parted. “Tell me,” he said.
Words tumbled out. I told him everything, explaining the stones and the chronomancer and all my jumps through time. I told him of the choice the chronomancer had given me in the short alley in 1964 New York.
“I found my mates,” I said, my voice breaking. “I didn’t want to get stuck in the past, but now I realize I can’t live without them. And I’m afraid I’ll never find them again.”
My father’s eyes burned. For a moment, he wasn’t my father or a witch halfling or even Niall Balfour.
He was POWER, raw and terrible. Too much for one being to possess.
But he did. My father was the master of all seven elements.
Fire.
Water.
Earth.
Air.
Body.
Spirit.
Blood.
He’d taken them from Mullo, and I never knew it. Because he’d never told me. And I knew without asking that only two other people in the world knew the truth.
