Kiss Across Time (Kiss Across Time Series) by Tracy Cooper-Posey Page B

explain to her afterward.
    The queen had already moved on to Veris. “Now, how are we to clean up this mess you have created, hmmm?”
    “What mess?” Taylor asked.
    The queen turned and lifted a smooth brow. “You are unaware of the temporal loop they have created?”
    Brody cleared his throat. “We hadn’t got that far, ma’am.”
    She smiled, showing very white teeth. “Ah! I’m keen to see what a human woman would do to you when you impart such news. Go ahead.” She moved around the table and pulled out one of the chairs and sat. “Tell her,” she ordered with a wave of her hand.
    Taylor turned to look at Brody and Veris, who were both showing distinct signs of discomfort now. Finally, Brody took a deep breath and rubbed his temple. “Taylor, twenty years ago, when you first heard about Domhnall. The man who was working with your father, who told you those tales and about Domhnall himself and about King Arthur…he left you with such a strong impression of those days, that you’ve basically spent your life trying to prove the existence of Domhnall and his manuscripts, yes?”
    “Yes. And now I’ve been fired from my job, because I won’t give up.”
    The queen gave a small laugh. “Oh dear,” she said softly.
    “It was Brody,” Veris said, his voice low. “Brody was the man working with your father twenty years ago.”
    Taylor stared at Brody, her heart creaking under the strain. “No…I would remember that. You don’t sound like him, you don’t look the same—of course you wouldn’t but… No, it can’t be.” She knew she sounded pathetically like she was in denial.
    Brody shrugged. “Roanoake, Virginia, 1987 to 1989.” His voice changed to an Irish lilt. “Yer father was retooling the printing plant and brought in an Irish consultant for the new web press he bought, d’ye remember? I came over for dinner on more than one occasion and got to talk to his lovely little daughter Maggie Taylor Yates, who enjoyed a good story, nearly every night I was there.”
    Taylor moaned as the lilt in his voice triggered a flood of memories, of the man with the dark eyes murmuring his stories as she drifted off to sleep, while her father was on the phone dealing with problems at the plant, as he always was.
    Taylor found herself backing up, away from them, until her knees knocked into the chair Veris had thrust away from the table earlier.   She fell into the chair. “It was you,” she confirmed, clutching the arms of the chair.
    “Aye, ’twas,” Brody said softly. “I didn’t remember it was you until you spoke last night about the man telling you bedtime tales. You’ve changed of course…all except the eyes, now that I’ve recalled those times.” He gave a shrug, a tiny lift of the shoulders. “There are so many humans and they move through my life so fast and then they are…gone. I learned a long time ago not to try too hard to remember them all. I’m sorry.”
    Veris was watching her, measuring her reaction to this telling revelation.
    All she felt was sadness. She had never considered this side of immortality before. When you lived forever, what was it like watching those around you wither and die, knowing you would have to do so endlessly?
    The queen sighed. “That wasn’t nearly the reaction I was expecting. Perhaps you don’t have the internal fortitude I expected of the one these two would mark, after all.” She stood up and stepped around the table again but neither Veris nor Brody looked at the queen. They were watching her, instead. For what? Waiting for her to explode? Fall in a heap?
    She felt numb. Her whole life, her life’s work, was based on a…what? A lie? A mistake?
    “This should never have happened,” the queen said. “Your bedtime stories have put into action a series of events that have very nearly affected the course of history. Veris’ attempts to have your father’s name recognized are honorable, Brody. But you have stirred up history itself with your