"I had an interesting conversation with my champion," Riora began. "And he proved possible yet another impossibility. I alerted the vampire to the fact that once you got your hot little hands on the key, he would lose you forever. History would be changed. The future would buckle and grind to fit the past. You would never have found him, because you wouldn't have suffered the death of your sisters. And a vampire chose to relinquish his Bride rather than have her suffer that horror and guilt. To spare you pain, he chose to give you the key, even believing he would lose you forever."
"Is this true?" Kaderin asked Sebastian with a catch in her voice. "Y-you would do that?"
In answer, he rasped, "Want you happy."
Her tears ran freely.
"Why these tears, Katja?" he asked. "You will have your family back, I swear it. Do not cry."
"What's on your mind, Valkyrie?" Riora said from behind them. "Don't make me go digging for it."
On her mind? Good question. There were too many thoughts to sort through. And too many feelings. Her heart felt rent in two, choosing between her family and the vampire she was falling for.
Did she love him? She thought she might, but how did one know? Most didn't trust their own feelings anyway, much less if they were unpracticed for so long.
But Kaderin had always trusted her instinct.
She could now accept that instinct had commanded her right from the start not to hurt him, all the way back to that first morning. "I can't not know him, Riora."
"What are you saying?" he asked, seeming not to breathe.
"I don't want to have to choose."
He dragged her against his chest with his good arm, resting his chin on her head again. "For my part, if I could know for a day that I'd won you, it would be worth it."
"But you wouldn't remember winning me," she said against him.
"Wait." He set her away to give her that half-grin. "Katja, my arm is broken."
"I know!" Kaderin cried, her voice breaking. "Why do you sound so bloody delighted about that?"
"It should have been healed," Sebastian said. "I was never struck with a boulder until the serpent woke. Your crossing the cable woke it, and when you didn't cross... "
She sucked in a breath, and her eyes widened.
"Very good, vampire," Riora said. "Kaderin told you time travel would work. And you told her you can't go to the past to change the future. You were both right."
"I don't understand how this is possible," Kaderin said. "He changed the past. The present should be different. And you said he had to choose - "
"Ah, I... told a little lie. I wanted to see if it was possible for a vampire to surrender his fated Bride." She inclined her head at them. "And thank you both for your cooperation. Now. Truthfully. You can't go back and then change the future."
Sebastian's expression grew dark. "Riora, that's exactly on our agenda right now."
"Scribe! Ribbon! Shears!" In the blink of an eye, a scarlet ribbon was rolled out over the altar, stark against the marble. Scribe laid scissors into her outstretched palm. "This ribbon is time, from past to present."
She leaned down to the end of the ribbon representing the past and cut a sliver a few inches up. "I've gone back and extracted something from time, but the rest of the ribbon remains wholly unchanged. Vampire, you were absolutely right - to a point. You unquestionably cannot go back in time to change the future. That way lies madness." She frowned at Kaderin. "Really, Valkyrie, you should give him more credit. He is a scholar." She shrugged and continued, "But magic allows us to go back and nab a few things now and again. A mystical parlor trick."
"I won't forget him?" Kaderin couldn't stop shaking.
"No, not at all. But when you use the key, do not attempt to get clever with it. Time is living and fluid but refuses to allow the past to be. Thrane's genius was that he discovered doors to the past could be opened, but time would shut them immediately to prevent instability and chaos. So he created a key that would open millions of doors at the same time. Keeps a body busy closing all of them. The hope is that your door is the last to get shut down, because if you get locked out, you will fade."
Riora tilted her head at Kaderin, then turned that sharp, cutting stare on Sebastian. "Look at Kaderin's relief, vampire. For some reason, your pull on her was stronger than a blessing bestowed by a goddess" - she stretched her fingers out, examining her nails - "of no mean power."
"Blessing?" Sebastian asked. "The blessing?"
"You?" Kaderin whispered. "It was you?"
"Yes." Riora studied her. "That's why I was perplexed that your attraction to a vampire could neutralize it."
"Why?" Kaderin demanded. "Why did you do it?"
"You blamed yourself for your sisters' deaths, and yet you were too strong to die. Your sorrow was debilitating the Valkyrie covens."
"Why numb everything? I haven't felt joy, humor, love."
Riora delicately coughed, clearing her throat. "That was a bit unintentional." She turned to Sebastian. "You, and you alone, have freed her to feel. And it is time she should."
"This explains much," Sebastian said, then rocked on his feet.
"We've got to get you bandaged up." Kaderin leaned into him to help him stand, alarmed at how pale his face had grown. How much blood had he lost?
"Kaderin, he's bleeding all over my temple," Riora said. "And by the way, Valkyrie, you owe me for a skylight." Riora turned from her. "Scribe? Where are you? Scribe!" And then they were gone.
"Are you going to be able to trace us?" Kaderin asked.
"Of course," he grated, but he was barely able to get them back to her flat.
Stubborn vampire. He's been hiding how weak he is.
In the bedroom, his legs gave out. When she helped him to the bed, he fell back but clenched her wrist. "You're not going without me."
"Your sword arm is injured. You won't be able to defend yourself in a battle."
Sebastian said, "You've waited a thousand years, you can wait two more days."
She shook her head. "I'd be taking you into a war where you are the enemy."
"I'll take that chance, Katja. Do not do anything until I heal."
She hesitated, then said, "I won't go until you're healed."
He nodded, then passed out immediately.
She meant what she'd said. There was no way he could accompany her. A vampire on a battlefield with an army of Valkyrie? Not going to happen. Her own sisters would likely try to kill him.