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face that I didn’t imagine anything or anyonecould remove. Well, scratch that—the vampire Sinjin probably could have wiped the grin right off his face.
    Thinking of Sinjin, I had to swallow my sense of foreboding. Sinjin had been there on the battlefield—he’d watched Gwynn run me through with her blade, and then he’d destroyed her. When I subsequently died from the mortal wound, Sinjin vanished, and I hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
    And that bothered me, because complicated though it was and as much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, I cared about Sinjin—a lot.
    “Jolie?” Rand asked, seeming to realize that I’d completely zoned out, my thoughts consumed with Sinjin Sinclair.
    “Sorry?”
    “Do you know where Mercedes is?” Rand asked with an arched eyebrow.
    What, pray tell, is on your mind, Miss Wilkins?
His voice entered my head, and I faced him with surprise, not sure which question to answer first.
    “I don’t know where she is but I imagine she’s here somewhere,” I replied, glancing between Rand and Odran. “Mercedes brought me to my room this morning.”
    “I wouldna like ta miss an introdooction to the prophetess,” Odran said in his thick brogue and then winked at me. Hmm, it appeared Odran was back to lusting after me again. For a while there he’d been pretty freaked out over the fact that by touching him, I’d been able to see glimpses of his future—of him on the battlefield. But now it seemed as if that fear had been replaced with his inexhaustible need to rut. Just great.
    I took a step closer to Rand, who clasped his hand in mine, which was fine by me … anything to curtail the sexual interests of the King. “I’ll make sure to introduce you.”
    Are you going to answer my question?
    I faced Rand and smiled.
There’s really nothing to say—and since when do you call me Miss Wilkins?
    The Rand of 1878 had referred to me as Miss Wilkins in the first week or so of our acquaintance, when he’d wanted nothing more than for me to leave Pelham Manor. Rand, both now and in the past, was suspicious as well as protective of those he loved. In this case, he had thought he was protecting Pelham from me, a gold digger. In the end, though, 1878 Rand’s tune had changed as far as I was concerned—but it’s not like it had been an easy task. It had taken a spell from Mathilda to allow 1878 Rand to have the same feelings for me that modern-day Rand felt. That’s when he’d warmed up to me, considerably. That’s also when we had sex and bonded. Sigh.
    My heart was suddenly even heavier and I felt like I needed to sit down—like I couldn’t carry it around anymore, lest it fall right out of my chest and shatter into a million pieces at my feet. But I couldn’t sit down because we were still standing at the mouth of the courtyard, caught up in a conversation that prevented me from leaving.
    We never got to finish our discussion about you traveling back in time
, Rand’s voice in my head pointed out.
    I glanced at Odran and was suddenly relieved by the fact that I had a diversion—that this celebration wouldn’t allow for a detailed conversation.
    We’ll find time
, I answered simply.
    “The legion will want ta see ya, lass,” Odran said and turned toward the great expanse of open courtyard, facing our throng of soldiers, who stood huddled in small groups, laughing and patting one another’s backs with obvious pride. The surviving members of our legion filled the courtyard of the smallish fae village, and the more I observed them, the more I realized their attention keptworking its way back to our small circle as they smiled and laughed, raising their cups of ale in toasts to us.
    These people, for lack of a better word, were my family now. Prior to Rand walking through my door and changing my life forever, the only family I had was a mother whom I rarely saw and Christa, my best friend. Luckily, Christa had moved to England with me so I still counted her among