Free TemptressofTime by Dee Brice

heavenward. Did I make the wrong
choice? Should I have run away or gone to a nunnery instead?
    The latrine shook harder. Darkness swirled all around her.
Stifling her screams with her fist, she fought to remain conscious. The vortex
consumed her then swept her away.
    * * * * *
    I must have passed out , she thought, regaining
consciousness. Stretching tentatively, she felt her heart stall then race on
like a rocket launching into outer space. Somehow she’d made it home, to the
exact place she’d left.
    As she had that lifetime ago, she reached out, intending to
shut off her computer. Her flashing cursor demanded that she look at the
screen.
    Large black letters flashed as well.
    The End
    Of what?

Chapter Six
    Belleange, Yorkshire
    Present day
     
    Picking himself off the floor, Walker glared at Adrian.
“What the bloody hell just happened?”
    Adrian righted himself in his chair. “How the bloody hell do
I know? Last thing I remember is getting into bed and waiting for Diane to join
me.” He supposed they’d had a rougher than usual ride through the vortex—a ride
neither he nor Walker had expected. Kronos playing games again or some other
Master toying with them?
    “Then you didn’t…bed her?”
    Amused by Walker’s oddly restrained phrasing, Adrian
laughed. “Not that I remember. Did you?”
    Walker shot him an impatient look, then swore. “I see
Kronos’ hand in our sudden amnesia.”
    Nice to have my suspicions validated , Adrian thought.
“Why would he involve himself? Limit our recollection?”
    “Because he can,” Walker snapped, striding to the sideboard
in Adrian’s ancestral office.
    From medieval times to the present, earls and stewards
reviewed estate matters and went over accounts in this space. Nowadays the
massive desk housed a computer and printer. The sideboard contained the rewards
for work well done—brandy, gin and well-aged scotch. This close to the border
with Scotland, Adrian had established a tradition, making scotch his first
beverage when he returned home.
    Walker handed him a glass half-filled with rich, amber
liquid. The peaty aroma made Adrian’s mouth water. The first sip went down as
smoothly as cold spring water on a hot summer day. Warmth spread from his belly
to his chest.
    “Ahhh,” he sighed.
    “We’re not where we started,” Walker said, his scowl blaming
Adrian for their displacement. “Not in the Lake District.” He seemed to need
confirmation, as if starting in one location and returning to another had never
before happened to him.
    Knowing it had never happened to him, Adrian drew a breath
for courage, then said, “Do you remember any of what we just lived through? I
didn’t at the time, but now I seem to recall every minute. I had no idea who I
am…who we are. I was just Adrian de Vesay, medieval nobleman.” Besides, they
were where they’d been with Diane.
    “In our previous missions, we were there to help others find
happiness. Any joy we found for ourselves was simply our…misfortune since none
of it lasted. For us, at any rate. Do you think Diane is the woman we are
destined… No. Not that harridan.” Raking his hands through his hair, he paced
the room.
    Resisting the urge to contradict his mentor, Adrian held his
tongue. He had few doubts that Diane was indeed important to any future
happiness he and Walker might find. All they had to do was locate her and
convince her. And if modern Diane was anything like her medieval counterpart,
they had a devil of a time in store.
    “Do you suppose…” Walker glanced at the computer, his
expression somewhere between hope and abhorrence. “Never mind.”
    Knowing his friend had never gotten the hang of modern
technology—in fact seemed to consider it a form of witchcraft—Adrian insisted
Walker complete his thought. “Suppose, what?”
    “That Diane is a guest here? Or is wandering about somewhere
on the grounds? After all, we’re here.”
    Adrian snorted. “We don’t even know if she’s alive