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“Aye, you are right. But Collin, I am at a loss, I do not know what to do. The timeline has been changed, and there is no way to alter it. What if I do something to make it worse?”

“We have to fight on. I seem to remember you telling me that I had to trust you; I had to believe in your skills. Well, I believe in you, Molly. I’ve never met another woman quite like you. I fell in love with you from the moment I read your diary. You have the heart of a warrior, Molly. Don’t forget who you are. You are your mother and father’s daughter!”

“We have lost our greatest champions. We cannot mount a counter-attack…. “

“And why not? Speaking of greatest champions, what do you think you are? Not to mention your Lady Knights. You have the power inside of you, Molly. Now, you need to tap into it. Merlin and Arthur did not guide you all this way for nothing. They knew you were meant for a greater purpose. You are a part of a greater design,” Collin’s voice became fervent with the depths of his emotions. He whirled her around and scrutinized her with his green eyes.

“I had not thought that you would give up so easily. Merlin taught you to fight on, until your dying breath if need be. And your father showed you how to be a noble knight. You have his Knights’ loyalty. Everyone here would gladly follow you to the ends of the Earth. You must live up to your destiny, for it is calling you right now!”

She stared up into his eyes, and then impulsively flung her arms around him. “When did you grow up?” she asked, smiling as she thought of the arrogant man that he had been when she first met him.

He tilted her chin up, and gazed adoringly down into her eyes. “I suppose I decided that in order to be man enough for you, I’d have to rid myself of my childish ways. “ He grinned, and then lowered his lips to hers. His gentle lips seared hers, as passion exploded throughout her body. This had to be heaven. He could say nothing at all, and yet express so much. They parted after a few moments, yet she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him.

“Marry me,” he said, dropping to one knee. She closed her eyes against the reawakened pain inside of her. If she let him become close to her…he could become vulnerable. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if he got hurt because of her.

“Don’t you think this is a rather poor time to ask for my hand in marriage?”

Collin frowned as a determined gleam entered his eyes.

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“I’d been planning to ask you tonight, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow anything to stand in my way. I’ve been planning to make you my wife ever since I read your diary. “

“We are living in dark times, Collin; we might not even live past our honeymoon. And we must also take into account that we will have to return to the future at some point…we won’t be the same people then. “

Collin stood up, and rested his hands on her shoulder. “How do you know we won’t be the same people? I think you just want to put me off so that you won’t have to commit…admit it, Molly, you are a very independent woman. “

“That isn’t it, and you know it. I have no fear of commitment. I’ve never found a real man like you before. They’ve always been threatened by my independence and my forward thinking mind…they’ve never had the guts to take a chance on me. You, however, do. I can’t deny that my heart belongs to you. But right now, we are in our darkest hour, Collin. “

“I still have hope. We don’t have your father’s dead body, or Merlin’s, for that matter.

What is life worth if you don’t live it?” his yearning eyes searched her face, and her heart skipped another beat.

She loved him, loved him dearly, and though she couldn’t voice the words yet, she knew that she would do anything for him. “But what do we have?”

“We have us. “ He placed her hand over his heart, and then his eyes flashed with light.

“And we’ll always have tomorrow. “

She was swept away. The man had done it again. Collin was the love that she’d been waiting for, for over a millennia. She’d be a fool to let him slip through her fingers.

“As far as I’m concerned, you were my life-mate from the moment I set eyes upon you.

We belong together, Collin Remington. From the moment we met, I couldn’t decide between kissing you or killing you,” she said, dropping her voice so no one would overhear his modern name. He laughed.

“Well, I for one, would prefer the kiss,” Collin said, molding his lips to hers again.

Molly was carried away by the magic of Collin’s kiss, though she was paying enough attention to hear several loud popping noises.

“Saints be praised, the two of ye match perfectly, like two halves of a heart. “ Molly tried to ignore Lachlan’s voice, but her patience was being sorely tested. Lachlan let out a huge and prolonged sigh.

“Well, I suppose we’re late for the battle,” Lachlan said, holding his gleaming Elvin sword in his hands. “I told me Da that we couldn’t wait for the time it took to move our pots of gold. But would he listen to me? No, of course not. “

Molly and Collin finally parted, and Molly’s mouth gaped open at the sight before her.

Several hundred armed leprechauns stood in front of them, eagerly looking round for a viable opponent. When they found that there were none, the male leprechauns began eyeing the faerie women.

“Lachlan, thank you for the show of support, even if you were…” her voice trailed off.

“Fashionably late?” Lachlan said. “Well, ye see, I wouldn’t have been late, but me Da is still King of the Leprechauns, I had no way of ordering the Leprechaun Warriors to follow me in battle. And by the time we moved our pots of gold, and me father had summoned the council, and they’d all voted, then they were rip-roaring drunk on Poteen. At which point, there was no reasoning with them. I had to encourage them all to stay behind and guard our treasures of gold.

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I couldn’t have them come staggering into battle in their condition. Why, they would have gotten themselves killed!”

Molly stared around at the disbanded leprechauns, and arched one eyebrow. They were shameless flirts, and were now trying to chat up the distraught faeries.

“We leprechauns are good at building things; I’ll offer our services to the King and Queen of the Faeries since they certainly have a lot of work left to be done here. “ Lachlan snorted, and then moved over to sit beside Branden. “Good morrow,” he said, extending his hand for Branden to shake.

“Good morrow,” Branden returned, pumping Lachlan’s hand.

“Bless me, but I think I could do with a pint. “ Lachlan smiled at Molly and then magically conjured a frothing pint of Guinness Stout. He took a long draught of it and then beamed at Molly with the creamy white froth rimming his mouth. “Bless me lucky rainbow, but that hit the spot. “

“Lachlan!” Molly chastised loudly, planting her hands on her hips.

“Oh, forgive me,” he apologized, waving his hand. “I forgot about ye lot. “ Pints of amber Stout appeared in Branden’s hand, Molly’s hand, and Collin’s hand.

“Cheers,” he said, raising his glass and then lifting it again to his mouth.

“Lachlan, you cheeky leprechaun, you can’t conjure up a pint of Guinness in the middle of the 6th century. Tell me, Lachlan, when was Guinness invented?”

“1759,” he answered promptly. “That blessed year is forever ingrained into me memories. I have a celebration every year on their anniversary. Here, ye have a pint, Molly. “

Lachlan relented, his eyes twinkling. “Molly, you needn’t worry your pretty little head about it, no one will notice. “

“Yes, but what if they do? Branden isn’t from the future. And Merlin…” Her voice trailed off…she couldn’t bear to say the words. Someone had to tell Lachlan that Merlin had fallen, but right now, she could barely come to terms with it, let alone voice it aloud. If she verbalized it, it just might make it seem all the more real to her.

“Oh, get off it, Molly. ‘Course Branden is,” Lachlan said, slapping Branden on the back and causing some of his Stout to slosh out of the glass. Molly folded her arms and glared at him.

“No, Branden is from this time. “ she argued, her anger rising. Lachlan should have already realized that it was the Branden from the past and not the one from the future.

“Ah, so he ‘tis. “ Lachlan muttered, after he had studied Branden closer. “My mistake.

Me apologies. “ He sipped at his Guinness again, and then blurted out, “I was wondering why he and Adria weren’t together. I’d gotten so used to them almost being joined at the hip, that I—”

Molly rushed in and cut him off before he could inflict any more damage to the already unstable timeline.

“Oh, shit! Lachlan, when will you ever learn to keep your bloody hole shut?”

Lachlan winked at her, and wiped the froth from his mouth with the back of his hand.

What Lachlan failed to mention was that Adria was dead in their future and that Branden had become a heartbroken recluse.

Branden knitted his eyebrows together and Molly moved stealthily forward, this time fully intending to throttle Lachlan.

But Collin caught her in time, and pulled her back. “Shouldn’t we go and check on Lady Vivienne?” he asked. Molly knew what he was doing. He was trying to distract her from murdering the big-mouthed leprechaun. But the urge to make Lachlan’s eyes pop straight out of his head was pretty overwhelming.

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She had been able to catch her breath, and Collin was right, Lady Vivienne might need their assistance. Besides, Lachlan really didn’t mean any harm by blabbing his mouth off. He simply couldn’t help himself. Unfortunately, Lachlan’s ability to run off at the mouth was in his blood.

“You are right, Collin, we must make haste. “ She called out for Wind Spirit, and swung up onto his back. “My Lord Knights, I wish you to return to Tintagel and guard it closely until I return. My Light Bearers, we shall be going to aid Lady Vivienne. “

“We would like to come along,” one of the water faeries said, flying down to hover in front of Molly. Her skin sparkled from the raindrops, and Molly had to admire the beauty that she possessed. If only the faeries had not left Earth’s shores forever….

“Of course,” Molly said, smiling at the glittering faerie.

“I will come with you as well,” Branden added, already astride his horse.

“Don’t even think about leaving me behind,” Collin said, daring her to argue. But she only smiled.

“We shall accompany you as well,” Lachlan muttered, as his empty glass disappeared along with the others that had been put on the ground. “After all, I can’t return to my father and tell him that his legion of Warrior Leprechauns saw nothing of battle and glory. He will be livid with me if I do that. A leprechaun’s battle honor must never be put into question. ‘Lachlan, you must do me proud by bringing honor and glory to our illustrious clan’,” he mimicked his father’s voice.

“Fine,” she snapped out. “But listen to me, Irish, stay out of my way. “ She narrowed her gaze at him and shook her fist his way. Lachlan only smiled, and cheekily stuck his tongue out at her.

“Here, here,” Morganna cried, appearing at Molly’s side. Molly frowned when she noticed the violent looking gash across her aunt’s cheek.

“Morganna, perhaps you should return to Tintagel, with the other wounded Knights. You don’t look so good…I think you may require a healer. “

“Are you implying that I am not up to accompanying you and the other Light Bearers?”

Morganna served her with a direct challenge. Molly shrugged her shoulders and sat up straighter against her high-backed Elvin saddle.

“Morganna, I am only concerned about you. You must take care of yourself…and there is Lancelot to consider,” she muttered, lowering her voice and looking at her pointedly.

“I shall be with Molly,” Morgause said, sailing down to hover above them.

“All the more reason for me to come with her. If you haven’t noticed, Molly’s our Queen now. Arthur would want me there to protect his daughter. “

Morgause’s eyes sparked with fire. “Of course I’ve noticed. And in case you haven’t noticed, dearest sister, I am completely loyal to Molly now. Queen Mary is loved by each and every one of her subjects. “ Morgause wrinkled her nose, as Lachlan came up to hover beside her. He winked playfully at her, and Morgause let out a loud gasp of surprised air. She produced Lachlan’s flute from her robes, and gingerly offered it to him.

“Thank you for forgetting this. It served us well combating the goblin’s sleeping spell. “

“Goblins!” Lachlan clapped his hands together in excitement. In the blink of an eye, the other Leprechauns finally came to attention. Keyed-up chattering erupted amongst the gathered leprechauns. They all lifted their weapons high into the air preparing for battle.

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“Nasty little buggers, where are they now? Prince Lachlan, we must meet them in battle!

We need to give those smelly wart sucking goblins a what for!” one of the pudgier leprechauns shouted, moving forward.

“Easy there, Angus. No need to light the fire under your arse,” Lachlan soothed. The other leprechauns began murmuring their dissent. They all looked ready to clobber some goblins.

“We made short work of them. You needn’t fear. Lachlan, you may tell your loyal leprechauns that their eagerness is much appreciated,” Lady Brigid said, moving to stand beside Molly’s horse. She began murmuring to Wind Spirit, and then commanded Molly’s gaze.

‘Do not lose your faith,’ Lady Brigid murmured mentally, as a tremulous smile enveloped her porcelain features. ‘For we have not. ’ She glided away from them back toward her people.

“Lady Brigid,” she called out, waiting for Brigid to turn around. “Will you and your subjects be staying here on Earth?” Hope clung to her voice. Even Collin and Branden heard it, for they each turned to stare at her.