Page 35 of The Tides of Time (Storm Tide #1)

L ili was very quiet. She had been from the time she’d returned to the lower light that morning. Armitage hadn’t been in a talkative mood either.

He’d stood at the window, looking at two faces he hadn’t seen in ten years. His parents were younger than he had any memory of them being, but there was no denying who he’d seen. He’d watched, his heart longing to be with them. But he didn’t know what it would mean for two people to see a grown version of their child, even if that child hadn’t been born yet. He understood so little of the Tides of Time, but he knew better than to take lightly something so mysteriously powerful. For a moment, he’d thought that seeing his parents, even from a distance, would be healing. It had simply broken him more.

Lili was setting out food on the table, wearing the same pensive expression she had all day. He likely had as well. And that wasn’t helping either of them. So rather than sitting and silently eating, he walked to where she stood. He set his hands gently on either side of her face, tipping it upward, and gently, tenderly kissed her.

“I’ve been in a heavy mood today,” he said. “That ain’t fair to you.”

But she shook her head in tiny side to side movements. “It has been a difficult day; I understand that. I simply did not realize fully until today in just how many ways the Tides of Time can be horribly cruel.”

He slipped his arms around her. Remarkable, brave Lili. Those magical tides had pulled her out of her own time, away from everyone she knew and everything familiar. And they had just done so again. Yet she remained stalwart.

“Did ma parents listen to you?” he asked. “About Dad learning French?”

“ Oui. They promised me most solemnly that he would learn.”

He held her closer, needing a bit of her strength. “It took every bit of effort I could muster not to rush out there and hug they both.”

She turned in his arms and held him. “It is so unfair, Armitage. I spoke with them today, and you couldn’t . You’ve grieved your parents for years, and for part of that, they were with me. I feel like I stole them from you. Like I keep stealing them from you.”

He set his fingertips under her chin, tipping it upward again so he was looking into her eyes. He brushed his hand over her cheek, allowing his thumb to linger over her soft skin. “You told me you couldn’t have escaped Paris without their help. If them hadn’t been in Paris, you’d never have arrived on Loftstone. I’d not ever have known you. I’d not be holding you now. Don’t wish that away, bien-aimée .”

A tear escaped the corner of her eye. He brushed it away.

“And you’ve given they the warning that’ll lead Dad to learn French. Speaking French will keep he safe in Paris when the Tides of Time take they there.”

She slipped out of his arms and, wringing her hands in apparent worry, paced a bit away. “The danger they will be in is so great that it should be inescapable. Knowing French is crucial, but ... I do not know why it was enough. With all they did for me and others, it ought not to have been.”

“You said you checked the book for their names.”

She nodded. “And they were not listed.”

“Them was fortunate, it seems.”

She pushed out an audible breath. “Or they were rescued.”

A feeling of foreboding tiptoed over him.

Lili rubbed her face. “I have wondered ever since reading of Lili Minet in your book why I was credited with seventy-eight rescues. The book said the rescues were documented and known, not conjecture. Seventy-eight. Two more than I actually saved. Two more. ”

“Lili—”

“It’s them, Armitage. I knew it while I stood on the beach this morning, looking into their eyes. I felt it in my heart, in my very soul. They are in Paris in 1793, and if I don’t go back, they will die. If I don’t go back, their names will be on that list.”

Fear enveloped every thought, every breath he had. Fear at the danger she was talking of courting and at the mortal peril his parents faced.

“Robespierre and his Comité are killing dozens of people every single day,” she said. “It won’t be long before he comes after them. They helped me escape when my life was in danger. And they are your parents, mon Armitage.” He could hear the emotion in her voice. “I cannot leave them there. I will not.”

“That us reached this time to offer a warning without trying was miraculous. The Tides of Time can’t be controlled or navigated with intention. You could be pulled through a hundred storms before reaching 1793.”

“I might not find them until I am an old woman, but I will not stop until I do.” It wasn’t defiance that he saw in her posture and expression. She was determined, yes, but there was also a calm sort of acceptance. “They saved so many people. They deserve to be saved too.”

But to go back into the Reign of Terror when her previous escape had been nothing short of miraculous. “You are a criminal in that time.”

“I am.”

“And Robespierre’s Comité is eager to arrest you for your ‘crimes.’”

“ Oui. ”

Armitage shook his head “It is too dangerous, Lili.”

“The last thing your grandfather said to me was, ‘You’ve been brave before, Lili. You need to be again.’” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know if he understood the entirety of where I was going or when. I think he knew I was soon to be tossed back here. But, Armitage, he wasn’t wrong.”

“Lili, please.”

“I have faced danger again and again. If I had chosen not to do the right thing because it was dangerous, seventy-six people would have died in Paris. And all the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those people would never have been born. And the lives they touched would have been emptier without them.”

Armitage’s heart thudded against his tight lungs. “Do you not think you have given enough? Those seventy-six rescues surely constitute all the bravery any one person should be required to show in a lifetime.”

“Seventy-seven and seventy-eight are your parents, Armitage.”

His parents. “If them aren’t rescued from Paris, you’re certain them’ll be taken to the guillotine?”

She nodded. “I know it. As surely as I knew the others would meet that fate if I didn’t take the risk of saving them.”

The last thing Grandfather had said to Armitage was, “Keep Lili safe.” And he’d promised he would. Abandoning her to such a dangerous endeavor, to potentially years of traveling whenever the Tides of Time took her, would hardly be keeping his promise. “Us still has the cork vests. I’m certain there’s another rowboat, though I don’t know how to determine when us ought to row out onto the water.”

“ Us ?” She shook her head furiously. “You don’t speak enough French, Armitage. You will be in immediate danger there. You could die.”

“My parents will die if them aren’t rescued. And you may very well die if you attempt this alone.”

“No,” she said firmly.

“Lili, I—”

“No.”

“Lili—”

“I didn’t check the book for your name, Armitage. I don’t know if you’ll be safe. I can’t risk that.”

He took her face in his hands. “ I checked.”

Her brows knitted.

“Call it morbid curiosity, but I did look. There was no Armitage Pierce on the list.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You swear to it.”

He kissed her lightly. “I give you my word.”

She set her palm over his heart and closed her eyes as she breathed. Then she looked at him once more. “You might spend the rest of your life jumping in and out of the sea,” she warned.

“A lifetime I’d be spending with you.”