“You’re late,” a voice said from the shadows.
“And you’re keeping me from getting the key.”
“Dinnae talk to your mother like that. Show some respect.”
“What do you want?”
“Drop that tone. I’m not the one who let three keys slip through his fingers. Need I remind you that time is of the essence?”
She emerged from the darkness, a spark flashing from her finger toward a candle which spluttered and then glowed into life, smoke curling upward toward the ceiling of the chamber.
The light was enough to illuminate her last sacrifice, the entrails still dripping from the blood table onto the floor. “Now you lose another key andtime is running out to get this done. He will not last much longer.”
“If you hadn’t called for me, I’d have the fourth key in my hand right now. Any minute someone will spot the two of them.”
“They’re on Knife Island.”
He frowned. “How did they get there?”
“Because he’s trying to help them.”
The barefoot man spat on the floor. “Still interfering. It’s too late. I have my entire army out looking for them. They won’t get far.”
“Send a fleet across the island. We must get that key.”
The ground shook under their feet. “I will have it before the end of the day.”
“And when you get it, dinnae try swanning off to the future like a fool who can go his own way. You have a destiny, like it or not.”
“Listen to me old crone-”
The ground shook again, this time strongly enough to send him off balance. He fell to the floor as his mother stood over him, pointing a bony finger toward his chest.
She coughed, spitting onto his face as she did so. “Dinnae let your heart rule your head. Once your father is free, we will have all the time in the worldto take over. You’ll be able to unlock any door you wish and go to any time. First we must have one of the six keys.”
“I know that,” he said, climbing back to his feet.
“And yet you’ve already lost three.”
“I didn’t lose them. I merely…misplaced them.”
“You were bested by three generations of MacGregors. Think with your head. To think I sired such a fool, it shames me to my core.”
“Don’t you trouble yourself, I will get the key.”
“You sound very sure and yet here you are empty handed yet again.”
He swore under his breath. “Anything else?”
“Do you even care about doing this or do you just want to go through time seducing pathetic little harlots?”
“Of course I care. Why do you think I’ve spent so long tracking down the keys? For the sake of my health?”
“All I know is you tried using that Tabitha woman to get hold of the key and you let your guard down and here we are, still living in a cave, your father still trapped.” She prodded him in the chest.
He shoved her backward, smiling as she fell to the floor. “I’ll get the key,” he snapped. “I’ll freehim and together we will burn the world. Perhaps I’ll even get to burn you. If swords and poison can’t kill you, maybe his fire can.”
“Your father loves me. Unlike you.”
