He will never see his mother again.
“She left me,” Soren whispers. It hurts to look at the tears glinting on his cheeks. “She comes back. Doesn’t she?”
I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing.
Soren exhales shakily. “Does anyone come for me?”
“Aye,” I say quickly. Slipping my arm around his shoulders, I turn him away from the tree his younger self hides in. “Not right away, but my father finds you and brings you to our village.”
“Can we, I don’t know, skip ahead to that?”
“Of course.”
Soren wipes away his tears and gifts me with a wobbly smile. “Thank you, Lyall.”
Chapter 12
Soren
“We’re leaving?”
“For the day, aye,” Lyall says as he leads the way back to the boat. “Tomorrow we will return and you can see the rest of the memories. It’s best we pace ourselves.”
Secretly, I’m relieved. Seeing my family for the first time only to lose them took a lot out of me. I need time to think, and I want to speak to Fergus as soon as possible.
As we settle into the boat, Lyall lifts the oars. A frown twists his face. “My apologies, Soren. It was inconsiderate to allow that to be your first memory.”
“No, I’m glad I know the truth,” I insist. As painful as today was, I’d rather know the truth than continue believing the lies Fergus told me.
My parents hadn’t abandoned me. My mother had given her life to save mine, and so had my father. Because they’d loved me. Tears sting my eyes, and I focus on the churning waves around us. I hope Lyall will think it’s just the sea spray making me misty-eyed.
There’s a flash and my stomach flips over, and then the skyscrapers of the city materialize ahead of us. The world spins around me, and I close my eyes. “Don’t think I’ll get used to that.”
“You will.” Lyall sounds confident and calm. He’s clearly used to traveling from one time to another.
He moors the boat and we leave the piers together. “You’re not going back?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’ll stay at Anders’s home. What time would you like to meet again in the morn?”
“Same as today?”
“Will do.”
I look back at him, feeling like I should say something. “Thank you for showing me what really happened. It was rough but… I appreciate it. A lot.”
Lyall smiles. “You’re sure you’re well?”
I shrug. “I will be. See you, Lyall.”
Once I’m home, I shower and dress for bed. When I leave the bathroom, my heart skips at the sight of Fergus sitting at the table. He must have heard me come in. “Does your magic stuff tell you when I’m home?”
“I have wards around the home that alert me when the threshold’s been breached.”
I don’t know what any of that means. “You know, a Ring cam would work, too.”
He doesn’t react to my attempt at humor. “What did the wolf show you?”
I want to go and sit with him like we’ve always done but I’m not the same person I was. The man I loved and trusted like a father lied to me, and I don’t know how to forgive that. I settle for gripping the back of my chair instead. Not sitting, but close enough to have a conversation with him. “Why did you tell me my parents had abandoned me?”
