“If it’s out in the open that we all know that Ariana went forward, er, both times,” Serena started. “Why would Ashford go to the past?”
“Ariana, why don’t you check in on Maria. Owen was sitting with her, she’s still quite distraught.”
Tilly couldn’t fathom why Maria was with them and didn’t have the mental capacity for it at that moment. Every second they spent explaining things around in circles was another second her stupid, foolish husband was risking his life. She couldn’t have that.
“It’s fine,” she said. “Ariana can stay. I told her no more lies. No more covering up the truth. And—” she stopped.
“And it’s my fault he went.” Ariana straightened her spine. “I’ll go after him. Just tell me when. I’ll have him back in a trice.” Her voice only wavered a little.
She was trying to be brave but Tilly could see the last thing she wanted to do was wander around in time again. For the most part that was good. No, there was no way she’d let Ariana do it again.
“Nonsense. I’ll go,” she said.
Kostya snorted at that. “More nonsense. It will have to be me.”
“We’ll both go then,” Tilly said, actually liking that plan. “One of us should be able to talk some sense into him.” If they found him in time. Or at all. Her stomach rolled over at that thought.
Ariana gaped at them. “You’re both speaking nonsense. Listen, Mum, what about the boys if you and Father both don’t make it back?” She paused to clear her throat, blinking rapidly to try and hide obvious tears. “And Uncle Kostya, this isn’t your doing. It’s my mess and I’ll clean it up.” When Kostya opened his mouth to argue, she held up her hand imperiously. “When was the last time you tried a spell? Any spell, not just the precise art of traversing time?” She looked far too smug for Tilly’s liking but she also had a good point.
“I tried to scry you just last night,” he said weakly.
“Oh, is that how you found me, then?” She snickered and then looked apologetic. “I’m sorry to say it but you’d probably make things worse. You’re out of practice and you’re fearful of it. You’re asking to be killed.”
Serena moaned and sank into a chair, putting her head in her hands on the table. “Why would he do such a thing?”
Kostya looked questioningly at Tilly over Ariana’s head. She nodded at him that it was okay to tell it all.
“He’s gone back to… remove… someone… before he has a chance to meet you.”
Ariana shook her head. “No! He’s going to kill Nick?” At their collective gasp, she frowned. “I know it all. Cousin Dexter told me everything. Now I have to go. I have to go at once, because he can’t kill him. He’s innocent.”
“No, he’s not, Ariana,” Kostya said quietly. “Your mother was there.”
“That time, but not this time. Please, we’re wasting time. Nick had nothing to do with it, he was a victim as well. He’s safely in Italy. Father can not kill him.” Her voice rose with every word to a near hysterical pitch and Tilly put her arm around her.
“I wouldn’t let him do it,” she said to Ariana. “He wanted to, after we learned what happened to you. Even before he ever knew you, your father wanted to protect you. But I couldn’t let him kill someone who hadn’t done anything yet.”
“He didn’t do anything at all,” Ariana said, scraping her fingers through her tangled hair. She looked so like Ashford in that moment it made Tilly’s heart hurt. She didn’t want to live without any of them, was that too much to ask?
A difficult silence filled the room and Serena lifted her head. “If he’s gone back to a time he already exists, isn’t that dangerous?”
Of course. Of course it was. Tilly had forgotten all about that. “If he gets too close to his younger self, he’ll get sick. He could go mad or even die.”
“Tell me when to go,” Ariana demanded. “There’s no time to waste, especially if I have to get back to London.” She hung her head. “I can’t do a quick travel spell at all.”
Kostya narrowed his eyes and then whooped in triumph. “And your lump of a father— sorry, dear— certainly doesn’t know how to do one either. That should trim the timelines down a bit. We only need to think if Nick and Ashford were ever here at the estate at the same time back in those days.”
“It won’t trim them much,” Serena said. “Nick and Jeremy used to come here all the time.”
Tilly let herself float back in her memories for a moment. She hadn’t known him long but she was already in love with Ashford by the time he brought her to this place for the first time. The circumstances had been dire, he’d been searching for his missing sister. But Serena had insisted on throwing a ball in his honor since he hadn’t been home to Scotland in so long. Nick had showed up, begging for forgiveness and a clean slate. She’d been amused and charmed by him back then, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Ashford. Not that Ashford knew that. It was the first time he’d acted jealous, when he shoved Nick away and told her to only dance with him from that moment forward. It was the first night they’d…
She loved him then and she loved him now, more than ever. She had to have him back, and whole. Because no matter what he thought in his sleep deprived and retribution seeking mind, he wouldn’t be the same if he killed Nick Kerr.
She reached for her firstborn’s hand. “You’re sure you can do it?”
“Positive. I’ve been doing it for months.” She didn’t sound as if she was bragging, but confident she could succeed. Tilly
