Page 41 of The Tides of Time (Storm Tide #1)
T hough they’d left the outskirts of Paris behind more than an hour earlier and dusk was fully upon them, Armitage had remained abovedeck helping Captain Travert. It had been best, while in the vicinity of the capital city, to give the impression that he and the captain were the only people aboard.
“There’s little risk of curious onlookers any longer,” Captain Travert said, his watchful eye sweeping the river and its banks. “This would be a good time to change places with your father.”
Armitage didn’t need convincing. He opened the hatch leading below. They were going to sail through the night rather than tie up somewhere. The quicker they could put distance between themselves and Paris, the better. The countryside wasn’t truly safe, but word of Lili’s escape and identity would reach beyond Paris very soon.
He hurried down the steps into the hold. Cabin lanterns lit the space enough for him to spot his parents. They sat with their backs against a line of barrels. Mum had her head on Dad’s shoulder, and she looked to be sleeping.
Armitage moved quietly to them. “I hate for she to be awoken,” he said to his father, “but Captain says it’s time to change roles.”
Dad pulled the blanket off his lap. “Fold this up like a pillow. I’ll tuck it under her head.”
Mum was soon lying on the floor, Dad’s blanket under her head, her own blanket laid over her.
“Lili’s in the quarters to the left,” Dad said. “Us haven’t heard a peep from she in quite some time. Might be sleeping.”
For Lili’s sake, Armitage hoped that were true. For his own, he hoped it weren’t. Knowing she was belowdecks and having to pretend he wasn’t at all concerned or anxious to be down there with her had taken every bit of self-control he possessed. He wanted to see her, to hold her, to know for himself that she was safe and whole.
“Keep watch over your mum,” Dad said. “And that sweet woman in there.” He motioned toward the closed door.
“I intend to.”
While Dad climbed the ladder, Armitage crossed to the door of the captain’s quarters. He rapped lightly, not wanting to wake his mum. Was Lili truly asleep as well? Would he have to wait to have her in his arms again? He would if he had to, but he was beginning to feel almost desperate. He’d stood in the shadow of the guillotine meant to have killed her that day. He couldn’t rid his mind or heart of how close he’d come to losing her forever.
The door opened. He held his breath.
The dim spill of light from inside illuminated Lili’s beloved face. Before he could say a single word, she pulled in a tight breath and pushed it out in a strangled whisper of “Armitage,” then dissolved in a sudden deluge of tears.
Armitage pulled her into his arms.
“How did you come to be here? When?”
He held her as tightly as he dared. “A few weeks after you.”
“You took such a risk sailing to Paris.” Her voice broke with emotion. “You might have been arrested. You could have been killed.”
“Elisabeth Minet was not going to die today.” He closed his eyes, committing to memory this moment. They were together, and she was safe.
“The book says I did.”
He kissed her forehead. “You were marked as having departed le Conciergerie and having been taken to the guillotine. The record hasn’t changed.”
“But I’m not dead.” It was almost a question.
He tipped her chin upward, gazing down into her storm-colored eyes. “A very brave group of people caused a great deal of trouble to make certain of that.”
“They took a horrible risk.”
He brushed a tear off her cheek with his thumb. “A risk you willingly took seventy-eight times.”
“I watched for you, Armitage. In Honfleur. I watched for days, hoping you would arrive on one of the ships. But the tides didn’t bring us to the same time.”
“Close, though, like them did with you and Géraud when you were brought to Loftstone.”
“Where do we go now?”
As far from Géraud as possible. “Us could try going home, but Géraud would know to look for you then.”
She leaned her head against him again. “He will know I escaped today. And he’ll look for me.”
He had sworn to it, in fact. “Us’ll find a place, Lili. You and I and Mum and Dad. And if we can manage to be pulled back to 1873, we’ll all be with Grandfather again. Captain Travert has said him’ll help.”
“He sails these tides, doesn’t he? In this ship?”
“Eez. But him’s not said how. All him’ll tell me is him’s learned much of it during him’s adventures. And him’s said that you, my darling Lili, are a linchpin in time.”
“A linchpin? What does he mean by that?”
Heavens, it was good to be holding her. “I don’t know, but I think us’ll discover a great many things as us search out a time to call home.”
“I love you, Armitage. I wished again and again while in le Conciergerie that I’d told you more often.”
“Well, ma bien-aimée ”—he brushed his lips over her forehead—“us can tell each other every day now.” He slid his arm around her again as he lightly kissed her cheek. “Every single day.”
He kissed the corner of her mouth. She turned her head the tiniest bit, bringing their lips together. He lost himself in the moment, pulling her fully against him, kissing her with every bit of love and desperation and newfound hope he felt. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him in return.
“Please do not let go,” she whispered.
“Never again.”
Le Charon sailed to Honfleur, docking long enough for Lili to retrieve the cork vest she’d hidden in Saint Catherine’s, then continued out into la Manche. Armitage’s cork vest was still in the ship, having been left there when the captain had pulled him from the sea. They would use those as a template for making three more.
The ship, for reasons Captain Travert insisted he couldn’t yet explain, had the ability to be pulled through time, and everyone aboard it made the journey together. But these were unforgiving seas, and when the water grew rough, they would do best to increase their chances of survival.
Lili stood on the deck as Loftstone Island came into view. It wasn’t the island they knew, and none of the people living there were known to them, but the dual lights were reassuringly familiar. Somewhere in time, she would find another place that felt as much like home as this island had. Armitage would be with his parents whenever that was. And he and Lili would be together.
Armitage smiled at her as he joined her on deck. He set an arm around her, holding her close.
“We might be traveling the Tides of Time for years yet.” She’d offered the warning before, knowing he would respond as he always did.
“I will go wherever and whenever you go, ma bien-aimée. ”
A great many adventures lay ahead of them, and she was ready for them all. With him. Together.