The house was unusually loud today. Marcus's sudden arrival had my whole family, including the extended members go crazy with whipping out several dishes.
"He's just one person! And he doesn't eat much at other people's homes." I tried to stop my mom from serving huge heaps of a dozen items.
Marcus's forehead creased with a frown. I closely observed his eating habits when we were traveling back from the fortress.
"You talk like you know a lot about me." He muttered while looking at my mom for more colcannon.
"So buttery, I love this!" He said, eating it too quickly.
"Your wife made it." My mom's words made my face turn beet red.
"It's nice and buttery but a little too salty for my taste. I am not a fan of cabbage."
He changed his opinion on the dish. What was he trying to achieve by pissing me off more?
"Looks like you are not the only one that's pissed off here," Iona whispered to me.
"What the hell should he be ma
Marcus got hold of me when I was slowly sliding out of bed."Stay for a few more minutes," He said pulling me close and pressing a kiss on my cheek."Aren't you starving? It must be lunchtime already. I can smell fried onions and garlic.""Mmm me too! I have to go out for a little bit after lunch... will be back before dinner.""I was looking forward to spending the day with you.""I would have loved to. No one knows that I am here. I was supposed to take care of more useless peace treaties further east. I sent Max to do that for me. But I have to meet Dumnones today.""Who are Dumnones?""Dumnonii tribe is another tribe like yours. We have plans to build a Roman settlement there. But right now the harbor is only accessible by water. The military enclosure will need access by road. Exporting tin will be a lot more efficient too if there's a road. They are known for tin mining.""So if that tribe had silver mines and mine had ti
Training with Aiden was a nightmare today. Marcus promised to talk more at night and left to meet the Dumnonii tribe after lunch. He figured out most of the crazy stuff on his own these last couple of days. The weight of many things untold got lighter unexpectedly this noon. I just had to reveal one last thing and the hardest thing... that I was not Allena.I rehearsed my lines several times, imagining a different reaction from him each time."Allena, why the fuck didn't you go with him if you were going to think about him all day anyway? Aiden spat in irritation."I need this. I feel stressed.""About what? You have to focus, or just get the hell out.""I'll do better, I promise!"It was much easier on other days when Aiden had me do a mix of things for hours; sprinting, working the core, thrusting heavy wooden weapons at a fast pace, and my least favorite of all, wrestling.Today was the fateful day where wrestling was the main focus. Allena was good at kicking and hitting but unfort
We laid on the grass, feeling spent and blissful."I have been meaning to ask you something since our wedding night," Marcus said with a sudden frown on his face.He yanked me into an embrace and pulled me on top of him, staring at me. His moves were gentle but his face and body looked tense."Ask what?""Who the fuck is Jon?" His tone was lightly admonishing."Er..." I cracked an anxious smile at him."I wanted to lay next to you that night, even if it was just for a little bit. I wasn't very confident because I expected you to have feelings for Neill. I was careful not to wake you up---""So you did kiss me that night? And untied my knot?!" I asked interrupting him, almost forgetting about his previous question.He paused for a few seconds before saying, "I did. I wanted to take you into my arms too but you had that silly thing in your hair that scratched my face when I got close.""It's your silly custom. You have no
There were wounded bodies lying all over the hillfort grounds, soaked in blood and rain. Everything happened so fast that we couldn't wrap our heads around the events of the night until around dawn.It started raining right after Marcus left me with Iona in the house, which was probably around 3 AM. The fighting continued for another hour or so until all the attackers were either dead or had fled.Aiden and Marcus captured four people alive but they succumbed to their fatal wounds before they got medical help. No answers could be extracted from anyone as to who planned the attack.Neill's father was severely injured before he got hold of one of the raiders. It proved futile though because some of these raiders were just paid fighters who were clueless about where the orders came from."This happens all the time," Selma said. "The hillfort offers some protection but we still get attacked a lot. Most tribes do. We had some peace for the last several weeks b
We stayed at my home for two more days, making sure that Devin was back to being all healthy and his usual goofy self.While returning to Marcus's family home, he had an idea when we reached the river crossing."I think we should try to see how the stones work. The caves are perfect places to create portals without drawing attention.""You mean now?""Why not? If it works, we will just see where it takes us, and we will be back in a couple of hours.""Time works differently though. If we go to the future, a couple of hours spent there equals a day here... I think. One day there is a week here, so you do the math. I suck at it.""Holy smoke!""But I think it's a great idea. We should eat some pizza and come back! Yes!! There's this awesome place in Chicago, we should go!""What the hell is a pizza?""Oh, it's the best thing! We have to see if this takes us to Chicago because we are going to need some money, and I can't ge
After losing almost thirty minutes, thanks to Marcus and his horniness, he said "We should resume this after we reach the caves."I smacked him on his chest for leaving me wanting more."We don't have much time left to shop. Let's see if anything from my stepdad's wardrobe fits you. He is pretty fit and athletic. We will take at least a jacket from here."I saw my cell phone, CTA train pass, and wallet that I took to the coffee shop all lying on the side table."Oh yes! I'll make reservations for the restaurant."The battery was at 5%. Someone went through my phone because it wasn't locked anymore. I plugged it into the power outlet, made reservations, and walked to Marcus with the phone."Let me show you something. Smile!" I took a selfie and showed it to him."Wow! This is trickier than any sorcery! And we look so good together.""We do!!""Can we not take it with us?""It needs the power to charge. Else, it wil
December 25, 4 PM in Brimley, Upper Peninsula of MichiganThird person’s POVAlyssa’s parents, the Crowes, were enjoying a quiet Christmas dinner at her step-grandparents’ cabin. It has become their tradition for the past seven years to travel to the cabin in the woods to spend their winter holidays.“I’m so glad you didn’t bring that emo kid along this time. My son does so much for her but she’s such an ungrateful brat. Has she---" Alyssa's grandma was cut off.“Have some mercy! She’s still my daughter and is in a coma for the past five days.” Alyssa’s mom snapped at her.“It’s all your fault! You are too self-absorbed to care about her whereabouts. She goes wherever and does whatever she pleases. I’m surprised that she didn’t turn out to be a drug addict or some---"“Mom! Stop! I know you hate my wife and her daughter, but they are my family, our family. Maria has proven to be the best that my kids could ever ask for. You know how much they love her. How many more years does she have
"Allena! The sorcerer's apprentice is here. What are you still doing?"Marcus was all ready for our next adventure. He walked to stand next to me and waited impatiently, looking at my reflection in the mirror.I coated my eyelashes with mascara, popped on some nude lipstick, and set my face with a setting spray. "What's the point in applying such a color?" He smirked, examining my peachy nude lipstick."You obviously know nothing about the 2019 lipstick trends.""All I care about is that they are waterproof." He placed several pecks on my lips."We are late!" I put some distance between us and grabbed the parchment scroll that we might need for the trip.We were still tired because it was only a few hours earlier that we returned from Allena's home. Logan stopped by to meet Marcus before leaving for the fortress. So I was going to give the books that I borrowed from the French town library to him; they were probably past the due date for returning.I had lost hope of finding anything
"How can that be? Billy took them?""Liam Cooper checked them out."Marcus and the Druid had some heated exchange of words about the Druid not telling Marcus about Liam earlier."We were focussed on finding Alyssa's home address back then, not who Liam Cooper was or why he exists, remember?"We went to find someone named Jake, the doctor."You folks are driving me insane. That guy looked exactly like him but spoke perfect English," Jake said, pointing to Marcus."Please ask him about Allena's condition," Marcus prompted him.I was so confused about who this other Allena was if Alyssa was in the alternate world as Allena. How many worlds have these people infested?The Druid translated Jake's words for Marcus, "Looks like she underwent the last surgery and was out of danger. As expected, he is going crazy as to why both Allena and Alyssa are still unconscious. He is also suspicious about who we really are. Alyssa said you were h
Marcus's feet staggered, and I caught him from falling to the ground.She loaded the next one to aim at Marcus again."No! Stop!!"He seemed to be awake but not able to get off the ground. What the hell did she shoot him with? Poison?I ran to stop her but was too late. She took a shot at him again."Stop, don't kill him." My voice cracked when I tried to beg.She grabbed another dart and was loading once more. I reached close enough to attack her, but she pulled out a strange weapon from underneath her tunic and moved toward me threateningly, speaking in a foreign language.But what was she going to shoot me with? She loaded nothing in there. It was too tiny to be a weapon. Was she fooling me?I disregarded her warning and pulled my knife out from my boot while grabbing her hair with my other hand.I heard a click sound and saw her nervous expression before she pressed it again. She was too slow, and I had already
I followed Marcus to the hallway where all the guests were accommodated, including my family. He lightly tapped on a door and stepped in.The windows facing the courtyard were all shut and I couldn't hear a thing. I exited the house through the garden entrance to see if the room had windows facing the river like ours. I scaled up to the second floor and stayed behind the window curtains."It just occurred to me now. No wonder she couldn't visit Chicago." I heard Marcus's voice."If the stones work only one way, how were we able to return then?""I think by one way, it means the place where they can be activated from. We can activate my stone only from here. And hers only from Chicago. We used the portal you created from here to return. If the portal had closed, I think we would have been stuck in Chicago."Chicago, portal, stones... what was he talking about? Maybe they were speaking in a mixed language because most of it sounded like gibb
After the wedding feast, Marcus was beginning to look distracted and stressed again. His eyes wandered around, searching for someone. Who else would he be looking for?"Are you looking for Laelia?"I couldn't hide the anger out of my voice.He made me feel so special that I forgot all about her existence until now."Laelia is not here," he said"Was she not invited? Or did she not want to come?"If I had to attend my boyfriend's wedding, I would probably be a crying mess.He looked at me with amusement."Why do you care?""I don't care. I will take it as an insult though if you stare at her while I am in your arms."He stroked my cheek, setting it on fire, "How can I stare at anyone else?"I was at a loss for words. I should be feeling ashamed of myself. I made such overconfident claims, even said to Marcus many times, that I loved Neill. Here I was, dying to hear such cheesy words from him.Ev
Alternate World TwoAllena's POV"I think he suffers from a personality disorder," I told my mother."That won't stop this wedding. Stop making stories up and look down so that she can do your hair well.""It's true! I know no one would believe me if I told them. He has three different personalities, all different from one another.""And what are these?" Selma asked.She thinks I was already so into him already that his hot and cold behavior was bothering me."The first one is the arrogant jerk who is madly in love with Laelia and doesn't give two shits about me."It was my mother's turn to look amused."Does this girlfriend really exist? Or did you make this story up as well? Where is she? I expected her to dress up better than you and taunt you already. That's the kind of impression you gave me about this imaginary woman.""He must have sent her away somewhere when he got possessed by that second personality of
Alternate World TwoMarcus's POVI struggled to focus on what was important. Things were a mess in Chicago, and I was clueless as to what exactly was going on.Thankfully, the Druid from here was very cooperative. He looked almost a decade younger than the other Druid. I was wary about giving him all the details at once and freaking him out. He was already quite panicked that I knew his time traveler secret.But once I talked to him long enough explaining my situation, and when I told him that an older version of him existed, he was all up for helping and meeting his older self. He wanted to know what he had done differently so far in the parallel universe, and all the adventures he went on.The older Druid definitely went back further in time or lived longer in the past to have aged so much more. This younger Druid was particularly excited about portals to the alternate world, which I had no idea even existed. If they did, it w
I wanted to feel anger or indifference. I just wanted to cry my heart out while in his arms."Please don't leave me," he said.I was so determined to leave until this moment. But now I was wondering if I should leave it for Allena to decide. She knows what has been going on so far, and unlike me, she may already know what she wants. I did not have the heart to say no to him. I also did not have much time left with him.After a long and tight hug, he released me from his arms. I saw him look vulnerable for the first time."I am still learning to love, and I will probably never learn to live without you. Please, stay."His words made me cry more. They also had me realize that I could not leave him in the lurch. What if I forgive him today and Allena tells him to fuck off tomorrow?"I have to tell you something, something very important.""Oh yeah? Me too.""Um... What I have to say is not easy to explain. When I show you so
Something inside me had snapped. His words delivered such painful blows that feelings of hopelessness engulfed me; hopelessness about now and forever.I pushed my way out of the kitchen, with a dozen servants watching the drama. Selma followed me to the room, but I didn't want to talk to anyone for as long as possible. I closed the door and locked it, pretending to not see her.What just happened? How I wished this was one nightmare while under sedation.I locked myself in for the next two days, not caring about Marcus or breaking the curse. Nothing mattered anymore.I knew I shouldn't feel so devastated. We didn't share the soulmate bond. I wouldn't even be here two days from now. It was like getting mad at my Marcus for something Damen did like when he lied to Nyneve. The sorceress said 'about' three weeks. I hoped each day that it was the last day.I guess I already blew up my chance to find the portal and do something meaningful. Ma
They say it's very hard to love something that doesn't need you. But it was harder to stop loving the ruthless version of Marcus, even if he didn't want me.He avoided me at all costs for the rest of the afternoon. He said I had to stay in my room until my ankle healed completely. It would save me from all the back-breaking work for sure, but how was I ever going to get another chance to sneak out of the fortress then?I considered telling him about it, asking him to take me to the cave himself. That was the easiest and safest way. I walked to the training grounds, wondering if he was over there."Where do you think you are going?" Logan stopped me."I am looking for the Legatus.""And why would he want to meet you?""He would very much want to, and that's why I am looking for him.""Get back to wherever you are supposed to be. You don't own this place, so stop walking around as if you do."Huh!"I will go back, just tel