Just past midnight, he shifted. Then he blinked. I pressed the call button for the nurse and three bustled in to perform a bunch of procedures. After they left, Magnus's voice emerged like a croak. “Kait. . .”

I grasped his closest hand. “Hi Magnus. Welcome home.”

His cheek pulled back in a sad attempt at smiling. I clutched his hand as he drifted back to sleep.

My head jerked up. Three hours had passed. The room was dark, except for the glow of the lights, quiet except for the hums and beeps of the machines. I had been deep asleep, but Magnus was squeezing my hand. I wiped drool off my cheek and looked up. Magnus's face was pressed heavy into the mattress, and we were almost nose to nose. He whispered, “I needed tae see ye.”

I kissed his fingers and tucked his hand to my cheek.

He asked, “Can ye get closer?”

I wanted closer too and figured I could slide under him easily enough. It was wishful thinking though, the easy part. I pushed his shoulder up and shimmied under halfway. He was a heavy weight along my side. My arm stuck under his chest.

He said, “Raise your arm,” and with a groan and strain on his face, he lifted while I brought my arm up and under his forehead. “Am I too heavy for ye?”

“No, I need the weight of you. It feels good.”

He buried his face into my underarm. “It hurts terribly.” His shoulders heaved with sobs.

“Oh, oh — Magnus, are you crying?” I wrapped around his head. Oh no. I held him, the parts I could touch, as tight as I could. I kissed the top of his head and held him. Spasms rocked his body.

“I'll call the nurse, have her bring some pain meds.” I pushed the button beside his bed.

It took a few moments before a nurse appeared. She quietly said, “Is he awake?”

“He is and in a lot of pain.”

She asked, “Mr Campbell, how is the pain, scale of—”

He gasped, “Terrible.”

She adjusted the bag on the pole beside his bed. “Mrs. Campbell, this will take a few moments; then he'll be able to sleep again.”

“Thank you.”

I held him quietly, scared, in the dark, for some long moments until slowly his large mass of muscle bound shoulders began to relax, to soften, and grow heavier on my body. He groaned and then sighed. “Tis a wee better now.”

“Good.” I relaxed my grip on his arms.

He burrowed his face into my side, his voice a whisper. “I missed the smell of you.”

I said, “I ran for a long way to get you, and I'm sweaty and …”

He inhaled deeply. “Kaitlyn is alive, the smell of ye means you art alive. I worried I would nae find ye again.”

I burst into tears. “You almost died.”

He remained quiet, still. I wished he could hold me while I sobbed under him, but I wasn't lying when I said I needed his weight. Having him heavy on my side helped.

After a long cry, I wiggled to the side and flailed to get my fingers on a tissue from the bed stand. I wiped my eyes and nose, sniffling and wet, and wriggled back under him. I used the dry side of the tissue to wipe his cheek. “What happened to your back?”

“I was whipped.” His voice was deep, quiet, and rumbling, vibrating my chest where his head was cradled. “Tis a long and complicated story, Kaitlyn — Lady Mairead is the keeper of three — I dinna ken what they are called. They are verra precious machines. I daena understand their power, but I know they are dangerous. They can transport a body beyond the world of flesh and marrow to an otherworldly time. Like a vessel. Tis a power that in the wrong hands could end wars, but might also begin them.”

His body spasmed for a second, “Where is it?”

“You gave it to me for safe keeping, I have it in my bag, here, by the bed.”

His body relaxed. “My sword?”

“You didn't have it. You didn't have anything with you.”

His forehead, rubbed on my skin as he nodded. “I remember.”

“You said there were three, Lady Mairead has the other two?”

“Her new husband, Lord Delapointe wanted the vessels. She kept them from him for a time, but he is a brutal man.” Magnus grew quiet, in the darkness of the room, he was breathing heavy, but seemed determined to go on.

“Delapointe has a black heart. He believed he could force Mairead tae give him the vessels, as he forced her tae marry him, but she would nae relent. He accused her of witchcraft, sentenced her tae death — I had tae fight tae save her, and in doing so I hae killed his brother.”

“Oh.” Listening to this story it was easy to forget it was real.

“Twas a mistake to do it. There was nocht else tae do but run. I brought Mairead here with only one of the vessels. While we were away, Lord Delapointe uncovered the hiding place of one and has been using it.”

“That was the men who came to the restaurant?”

“Aye, those were his men. I hae been his captive. He meant my whipping to be a warning tae my mother she should give all the vessels tae him. Then last night someone I dinna recognize passed me one and I was able tae escape my cell. I dinna ken which vessel it is. I am nae closer tae finding all three.”

“Have you seen Lady Mairead?”

“I haena seen her, she remained hidden.”

“That's probably good, right? She is hiding a vessel, she's probably going to take the one from her husband, then she'll bring them both here.”

“There is a chance she has one. There is a small chance she will do the right thing, but I canna trust her.”

We lay quietly for a long time, I stroked my fingers up and down his shoulder, the one place that seemed uninjured.

Finally I asked, “Magnus, what year is it for you?”

He shifted slightly and inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Tis the year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred, and two.”

I nodded. Because I was relieved to be right, and happy to have it finally out in the open, but also why was I nodding? That was terrifying, crazy — three hundred years ago? That's where this man was from. Three. Hundred. Years. “Thank you for trusting me, for telling me.”

“We are tied by a vow, a name, and this — the vessels are verra dangerous. When I go back—”

“You'll go back? Magnus you can't. You can't go back. You almost died, and I have no way of knowing if you're alive and—” A tear rolled down my cheek. “You've been gone, and I didn't know if you were alive or how to find you, and it's been so scary.”

“I hae been on the other side of that fear. I dinna ken if I could get back.”

“You did though, but can't you please stay?”

“I hae tae find the vessels and protect them.”

“But you could live here, just forget it, stay here and not worry about it.” I hated how I sounded, pleading, insecure.

“Kaitlyn, I dinna ken if that is possible. I hae turned time tae be here, broken natural law. Tis verra likely witchcraft, and if I hae used witchcraft, I am nae longer deserving eternal salvation. I may be a lost soul. Am I tae live here, as if I winna born three hundred years ago? I am nae assured of my life when I am in this time.”

I was shaking my head against his forehead, silent tears streaming down my face.

“I fear the laws of god and nature will catch up tae me. What is the price they will extract? How will I pay for crossing time, and with what, my life and my soul? When will the payment be due? I hae no assurances here. If the natural order has been disrupted, tis up tae me tae set it tae rights.”

“It's not all your responsibility, Lady Mairead—”

“Kaitlyn, imagine if one of your weapons ended up in my time?”

I chewed my lip considering. I only knew of time travel from movies. There was always a downside to messing with the natural order of things, as Magnus had said. I could agree it was dangerous, but also, his broken wounded body weighed heavy on my heart. He almost died. It was too dangerous for him to take on so much. “Can we just — I can't think about you going back. You're hurt. You have to heal. Please stay until you're better and then please, we need to talk about it first.”

“Aye, Kaitlyn.”

We stayed quiet for a few moments. The sounds of the room surrounding us, the soft hum of the air conditioning, the beep of his heart monitor, a light with a barely distinct buzzing sound was driving me crazy, so it must have been driving Magnus mad.

He said, “I knew I wanted tae spend my life loving ye, but my life is from three centuries past. I am here in this hospital, but I am nae alive this year. There may well be a gravestone with my name etched upon it, yet tis improbable — an airport has been built atop, burying me more still. I am a dead man, tis nae done in fairness tae bind ye tae my life when I am nae alive.

“Don't Magnus, don't speak of it — you are. You're flesh and blood in my arms, and I don't know what kind of magic it is, but I know you're really here. I can feel you. Please don't talk anymore of fairness. I married you, and you married me, and you promised to give me your full life. You promised. I mean to hold you to it.”

A chuckle rumbled low in his chest. “You hae used my words.”

“I did. I may have signed a contract. I may have agreed to marry you through your mother. I may have entered it without knowing you at all. I still don't. But I mean to hold you to it. I find myself tied, heart and soul, and I can't bear the thought of being without you.”

“I canna bear it either, mo reul-iuiel.”

I turned my lips to his hair and breathed in his scent. It made more sense now with the truth between us, that lingering smell of dust and wine. I had discovered it the other day in a candle with the scent of musk, patchouli, ylang-ylang, and frankincense. It had taken me back to Magnus or brought him forward to me. He smelled of the scents of a deep dark past.

He burrowed his face further in under my arm and quietly said, “I want ye, Kaitlyn.”

“Jeez Magnus, you're incorrigible — here, in the hospital?” I glanced about me. A nurse would be in here any minute, plus Magnus could barely move. “What are you thinking—”

He chuckled.

“Oh, you're joking! I half-believed you for a moment.”

“From my scalp tae my feet I am either in screaming discomfort or, thankfully, numb. I'm in nae condition.”

“Your heart monitor would probably alert the nurses anyway.”

“Tis what this incessant noise is?”

“It's to make sure your heart is pumping, because it stopped earlier.”

“I must hae scared ye.”

“You did.”

“What else happened?”

“Your back is terribly cut up, you're bandaged. You have many bruises internal and external and your heart — you're dehydrated. On your other arm there is a tube for dripping liquids into your blood stream. You may be missing part of an earlobe.”

“I will be far uglier. My other parts though, they hae made it unscathed?”

“If you're asking about your family jewels, yes. You were naked when you arrived and they were present and accounted for. I would assume that in a few days they'll remind you of their existence.”

“Good, I hae future plans for them with ye, but for now I am verra tired. I am going to fall asleep but worry I might crush ye.”

I kissed the top of his head. “I'll climb out.” I shimmied out from under him. “I'll sleep right over there on the couch. If you need me just ask, okay?” I pulled an end of the couch from the wall so that I was angled to see his face better. “I'm glad you're home.”

But from his deep breaths and still body it sounded like Magnus was already asleep.