“I’m a time traveler,” Lyall says. His gaze never wavers from mine as he speaks with such conviction, I have no choice but to believe him.
“Fuck…” I lower my face into my hands.
“Shall we continue?” Fergus asks.
Speechless, I can only nod.
He clears his throat. “Lyall isn’t the only traveler I know, Soren.” He hesitates for a long moment. I look up and wish I hadn’t. Fergus looks more devastated than I’ve ever seen him. “You are too.”
I shake my head. “What are you talking about?”
No, this is some kind of joke. I can almost get behind the whole time travel thing, but me being a time traveler? That’s not possible. I would have remembered that.
“When you were eighteen, you arrived in this timeline from the past. You were alone and in need of help. My employers at the Travelers Council assigned me to care for you and help you adjust to this new time.”
“No.” I push myself up. “This isn’t funny.” I pace from one side of the room to the other. This room is so fuckingsmall, and it’s only getting smaller. Everything narrows down to me and my grandfather.
Who is he? Are we even related?
“This isn’t true. My mom ran off when I was a baby. You raised me. You’re my family.”
Fergus’s lips tremble, and my heart cracks.
“Aren’t you?” I whisper.
“That was the story my employers decided on. Those memories you have of your past, they were planted there.”
I gasp as my chest tightens. When I try to suck in air, it won’t come. “No. No, that’s not true. You’re lying.”
“Think, Soren,” Lyall says softly. “Really think. What’s your earliest memory of Fergus?”
“That’s easy. It was… it was…”
I can’t. I’m trying, but there’snothingthere. There’s a fucking hole in my head where something should be. A part of me is missing, and I don’t know how to get it back. A gaping void opens up in my head the deeper I probe, searching for memories of childhood friends I would have met in school, a first boyfriend, high school, college… But there’s nothing.
It’s a lie. My entire life has been one big lie.
The room tilts, there’s a whooshing in my ears, and the tiled floor gets closer. Big arms wrap around me, holding me tight.
“I’ve got you. Breathe, Soren. I have you.”
I’m safe,a voice inside whispers.Lyall’s here, and I’m safe.
It makes no sense. I don’t know this man at all—do I?
Gasping, I clutch onto him. His clothes are soft. The scent of coconut blankets me. A shampoo or body wash, I don’t know. Warmth spreads through every part of me when he strokes my back. At some point, my frantic gasps shift to deep, slow breaths. I’ve never felt so safe. Not with Fergus. Not with any of the guys I’ve dated.
For all my life, I’ve always felt like something was missing.
Here in Lyall’s arms, I realize that it was never something I was searching for, but someone.Lyall is who I was missing. The piece of my heart that I thought I’d lost has finally come home.
“Why are you so familiar?” I whisper into his chest.
His fingers sweep through my hair. “Because deep down inside, your soul recognizes mine.”
My breath catches. I look up into his eyes. “You’re saying we… knew each other?”
Lyall dips his head, never looking away as he runs his knuckles along my jaw. “We may be from different times now, but that matters not. In every life, in every time, we would find each other. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you but I am here now. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you remember.”
