23
Louis
Confidence. Not something I’d ever lacked, which wasn’t surprising given my background. My parents had been the worst kind of magic users, arrogant and used to flaunting their supremacy around. Which meant I was raised to believe I was better than everyone else, that nothing I did had any consequences because I was above consequences. If I hadn’t met Tee and her family when I was young, I had no doubt I would have been a complete and total asshole as an adult.
Thankfully, she had shown me the light. Called me out whenever I started to grow hubristic. And reminded me that the more power one possessed, the more responsibility they held—the more they should help others, rather than lording it over them.
Elizabeth Montgomery changed me fundamentally, and it was for her safety and future, along with the rest of the supernatural world, that I was now standing in Antarctica about to try and shift a timeline. I’d attempted it only one other time, and I’d been only a few seconds into my attempt before I realized I couldn’t bring my dead mate back to life. Timeline shifts were not allowed for that, and if I’d actually succeeded in turning back the time on Regina’s death, I would have probably sent the world into a tailspin that would have destroyed it.
Death was beyond my power. Something I had come to terms with a long time ago, despite what I’d thought during the time darkness possessed me.
“Are you ready?” I asked the dragons, my eyes running across the four of them.Brothers.
Each of their giant heads bounced. I allowed my energy to flow from me then, trickling down in small waves to the ley line that ran beneath our feet. It was only a trickle, because if I went in full force, I could lose control. There was so much power in this area, it literally had my jaw clenched.
The mate bond thrummed in my chest, and I allowed it to join me. Not enough that if anything happened, Tee would be sucked in too, but enough to keep me grounded. I needed to return to my body here; I had no other option.
Reaching out, I placed a hand on the nearest dragon. To touch one was to touch them all, since they were bonded in a way that went beyond life and death, and immediately that ancient, earthy, foreign magic invaded my body. For a moment I almost pulled away, because dragon energy was … disconcerting. Not something I could easily explain, but I likened it to suddenly waking up in another country, one where the people didn’t speak the same language as you. Things were familiar there, but you still couldn’t understand anything.
My body started to shake, and I had to move quickly. Between the ley line, the dragons, and my own power, I was a veritable bomb waiting to go off. There was a spell specifically designed for timeline shifts, and I had memorized it long ago. I couldn’t speak through the power, so I just let the words spin across my mind. The ancient language was as familiar to me as English. It was actually my first language, since in my house we spoke it before we learned another word. It did help with spell casting. I’d been able to silently cast since I was very young.
As the words continued to rush around, they exploded into energy themselves, and using the power I held in my hands, I was suddenly seeing more than just darkness in my mind’s eye. I was seeing the entire universe. Time itself is not linear. It runs in mad circles and squiggles and loops, showing the infinite number of ways a timeline could have gone. Every decision a person makes changes the path that person is on, even if it’s only a small detour.
At first it was beyond overwhelming, the world zooming through my head, the billions of lives and their paths. But breathing deeply, I allowed only those paths where my energy had touched to stay, while sending the rest away. Some of the chaos died off, but there was still enough there to overwhelm anyone. Again, though, I only had to focus on the ones closest to the time I was in now. It had been a week since I cast the last spell, and that had caused such a ripple in my timelines—and in the world as a whole—that it was very clear where I needed to look. The moment I was in the right place, I sent out one burst of warmth to Tee, because this was the moment where everything could go to shit, and I needed her to know that she was my heart. That warmth came back to me with force, and I had to internally smile at my little spitfire. Time had not diminished her fire, and I was eternally grateful for that.
I reached out with my power and wrapped it around a spot in the timeline just before the huge squiggle. Then I was sucked right down that line and ejected into the past. It was disorienting for a moment, while I tried to calm my violently swirling energy. I wasn’t supposed to be back here, and the further back one went, the worse it was to deal with. The past was trying to eject me, but I couldn’t let that happen. Not until I fixed my mistake.
I was nothing more than a wisp of energy; no one could see me, but I could see all of the familiar faces. I was near the town hall, and past-Louis, with the swirling dark energy around him, had just stormed inside. I followed that energy. My energy.
From the outside looking in, I was astonished to see myself up on that stage: a cruel, mocking smile, eyes hard and cold. I knew I could be a cold bastard at times—I’d cut supes out of my life and turned my back when I shouldn’t have—but there was something scary in the mage I had been that day.
The book appeared then, and I realized I was going to run out of time if I didn’t move quickly. Focusing only on myself, I ignored everything else in this room, including Tee and my family who were fighting for my soul.
When I reached the front of the room, my energy merged with Louis of the past, and I spiraled into the same sort of darkness that had caused this problem in the first place. This had always been the riskiest part of my entire plan. If I couldn’t control myself and the darkness, then I would simply stay merged with this Louis, and if that went on long enough, I would die. Because Louis from the future would die, my vessel that I left there fading away, and then my timeline would end.
Darkness, sticky and unyielding, clung to me as I fought to take control of myself, trying to merge more of my energy into his, to give him some clarity. The internal struggle went on for what felt like hours, and I knew that it would have looked like my body was frozen on the outside, but inside we fought for everyone.
He was so much stronger than I expected. This was my fault. I’d refused to think about this time of darkness, and therefore I did not go into this battle with all the weapons I should have.
Spelled words were coming out of Louis’s mouth, and I couldn’t lock them down, because I was drowning in the addictive and evil energy consuming my soul.No. I’m stronger than this!
My mate bond, something this Louis didn’t have, thrummed in my energy. It gave me strength.
The second part of his spell came out garbled as I snapped back with power, not even caring if I had to hurt myself to stop the power. Desperation clawed at me, because I was running out of time. The second part of the spell was finished.
I had managed to delay him though, which changed the timeline, allowing Tee to freeze our power, and for the council members to pour into the room before the spell was finished. I wanted to kill the fucking council members right then, especially the ones who’d blasted Tee, but I had to let all of that happen.
What if she dies this time though?
The council blasted out before I could think about it, and a guttural snarl ripped from my lips as Tee, her beautiful face screwed up in panic, threw herself in front of me.
Before I could even catch her, as I had done that day, I felt pressure on my body in the future—the timelines started to shake as things grew unsteady—and I almost released my hold on the past.
Something was pulling me back, and it might happen before I had a chance to fix my mistake.
24
Elizabeth Teresa Montgomery II
