Always and Forever (44 page)

She came alone. The others offered to join her, but she needed to do this alone. When she reached Morgan's grave, Quinn was resigned to do what she needed to. She knelt down in front of Morgan but her eyes were on Archer's grave.

"I really miss you but you did find me and we love each other just as we had. I won't lose you again." She kissed her fingers and ran it over his name then took the small shovel and started digging. She thought it was going to take longer than it did but she almost had the sense that she was being guided to dig in the right place and when her shovel hit metal, she whispered, "Thank you."

When she revealed the box, it showed its age but her fingers traced the letters she had scratched into it all those years ago and the memory made her smile.

"It really does mean love," she said to the still air.

She returned to the great hall to find that Constance was talking a mile a minute. An old parchment, folded, with markings on it sat on the table before her. Quinn couldn't help taking a step closer to it.

"Is that it? The Codex."

"Yes. Amazing, isn't it?" Tessa was completely in awe.

Quinn turned to Constance. "How was it?"

Her smile was answer enough. Derek was sitting near the fire and Quinn decided now was as good a time as any to ask him.

"Derek, what did Gabriel ask you when he spoke to you the other day?"

"He wanted me to tell him how I learned about the Scarcliff treasure."

"How did you?"

Derek hesitated a moment before he answered, "There was a party at Whispering Winds and it was announced at the party that they would be unveiling the treasure soon."

"What party?" Quinn pressed.

He looked down for a moment before he replied, "It was a party for Gabriel and you."

Quinn felt her legs go weak and it took a few minutes for her nerves to calm enough so she could ask, "Our anniversary party?"

"Yes."

"Was Katherine there?"

"Yes."

Nick spoke from across the room. "You found the box?"

Quinn started to answer when a moment of clarity made her laugh in disbelief. What she held really was the Scarcliff treasure. The ring that had sent her back to Archer, her betrothal ring, had been Morgan's once upon a time. It explained how she saw the ring in the future. Time travel altered when the ring was made but the ring itself was a constant. She held up the box to Derek.

"This is the Scarcliff treasure. This is what you've been searching for, but the jokes on you, Derek because its value is not monetary but sentimental. And only to me."

For a minute, Derek said nothing and his disappointment was almost palpable since the man had been searching for the Scarcliff treasure for a long time. Admitting defeat, he pulled a hand through his hair and chuckled, "Why am I not surprised?"

Quinn turned her attention to Nick, "I don't have the key." Quinn placed the box on the table. Nick walked over to look at it, a strange expression crossing over his features.

"What's wrong, Nick?"

"I think I have the key for that."

"Really?"

Nick didn't hide his excitement as he continued, "I always wondered what it was for. Tried every lock in the castle but never found what it opened."

Quinn stood and reached for the box. "Let's see if it fits this."

They walked to Nick's solar and Quinn held back as he disappeared into a room where she assumed the vault was. A few minutes later he came back with a small, iron key. Quinn placed the box on the table and lifted a shaky hand to Nick where he placed the key. The last time she saw the contents of this box was when Archer had placed her ring in it. No one had touched that ring since and at that moment she couldn't wait to see it, to touch it. It took her a minute to get her hand to stop shaking enough to get the key in the lock but when it turned, it did so smoothly. When she lifted the lid, she couldn't help the tears that spilled down her cheek.

The ring was as beautiful as she remembered but she hesitated to touch it, even though the idea of going back to Archer had her heart beating rapidly, she couldn't leave Gabriel. Instead, she reached for the oil cloth and slowly unwrapped it until the miniature of Archer was looking up at her. Her finger traced his face and a smile touched her lips. She felt the unevenness on the back of the miniature and turned it over to see the inscription that Archer had engraved. She knew what it said since it was the same thing she had engraved on his miniature, the same thing Gabriel and she had engraved on their wedding bands:

Always and Forever

"Too bad we don't have both of the miniatures." Shane said absently and everyone looked over at him.

"How do you know there's another miniature?" Quinn asked.

"I've seen it and it looks an awful lot like you," Shane offered as he held Quinn's stare. And then he added, "Gabriel is never without it."

"How did he get it?" Quinn asked.

"I don't know but he's had it for as long as I've known him and we were kids together."

"If you saw it, do you think Katherine did as well?" Charles asked.

"Niall, absolutely, his sister I don't know because Gabriel tended to avoid her."

"Why?"

"Like I said, she was completely obsessed with Gabriel so if she did see that miniature and then saw you, one can only guess how she would have reacted. She wasn't right in the head, crazy doesn't even begin to describe her. But she was smart too, really freakin' smart."

Every one turned to Derek and Constance. "Was she the one who told you where that pendant was located?" Tessa asked.

"Yes, but you aren't suggesting she planned..." Derek didn't get to finish before Cole interrupted him.

"Yeah, that's exactly what we think."

Quinn pulled out the chair and fell into it as her heart ached. "So everything, Morgan's death, mine, all the twisting of history was because this woman wants Gabriel?"

Cole met her gaze. "Looks like it."

Quinn remembered her conversation with Katherine back in Archer's time and now her creepy words made sense.
Let me make this very clear to you. He's mine. I always get want I want and I want him. I've gone through so much
to get here that I'm not going to let you stand in my way.

"Based on her behavior in Archer's time, she's capable of anything," Quinn whispered. "We have to stop her."

Gabriel spent the days after he left Quinn and the others digging up anything and everything he could find on Niall's sister, Katherine, and learned about some truly terrible things she had done since he'd last seen her. She made no attempt to cover her tracks so once she was caught, she'd be locked away forever.

He remembered her as a young girl with those eyes so pale a blue they almost looked colorless but it was the coldness in them and the complete lack of conscience that had always disturbed him. He knew she idolized him, in her way, but he was always so very careful to stay away from her because, in truth, she scared him. He remembered the one day she caught him looking at the miniature he always carried with him. It was hate he saw looking back at him and the depth of that hate was disturbing in one so young.

It wasn't until "the incident" that he knew she was more than cold and calculating but insane. She had grown tired of living on the streets, grown tired of following Niall's direction though he did all he could to keep her safe and happy. He wondered if she ever knew that he had seen her, in that alley, that he knew she had cut that girl's throat, a girl later identified as the sister of a rival gang leader with whom Niall had been able to negotiate a tentative truce. What Gabriel hadn't seen, not until it was held to his throat, was the knife Katherine had used was his own.

The knowledge that Niall's sister had set him up, had tried to orchestrate his death, stayed with him. Not long after that he moved to Gloucestershire. He didn't think of Katherine again but when he heard the description of the woman named Katherine, he knew somehow she had figured a way to go back and really fuck up his world.

She had to be stopped but she was crazy and smart and she hated him and Quinn with a passion. He thought to let her kill him but he wasn't so sure she would stop at that and would more than likely come after Quinn once he was dead. No, they needed to work together and find a way to stop her. They had to fix the past because the thought of going back to the future, a future that didn't include Quinn, how the hell would he survive it?

Quinn and Nick sat by the fire discussing Katherine. Sure, they might be able to lure her here but once she got here, then what? Quinn's attention to their discussion was broken when a warmth sizzled down her spine just as she heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the hall. It wasn't a conscious decision that had her rising and starting for the door.

"Quinn?" Nick stood.

Minutes later Gabriel appeared in the doorway but he was looking only at Quinn. In two strides he had her wrapped tightly in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She pressed her face into his chest and held him a moment before she lifted her face to his. "You have the miniature of Morgan."

Surprise crossed over his expression before he replied, "Yes." He ran his finger along her jaw before he added, "That was why when I saw you for the first time in the flesh I knew that you were mine."

"Always," Quinn whispered but Gabriel was prevented from answering when Nick offered, "Welcome back, Gabriel."

Gabriel lifted his head and looked at his friend just before Nick added, "So you came back to help us stop Katherine, yes?"

Quinn was grinning at him as she teased, "I've said it before and I'll say in again: You really have the worse taste in women."

His focus never left her face as his finger traced her jaw. "There has only ever been one woman and she's the finest woman I've ever known."

Her heart gave one long, slow pull before she replied, "Sweet talker."

He reached for her hand before he looked to the others in the room.

"So what did I miss?"

For the next hour Gabriel sat and listened as they brought him up to speed with what they had learned. After, he looked to Tessa.

"Your work, the Codex and necklace have been destroyed?"

"Yes."

There was compassion in his expression as he went on, "I'm sorry you had to do that but it really is for the best."

Tessa blew out a breath before she replied, "I know. Humans are not ready for the responsibility of time travel, I get that. Especially after this lovely web we find ourselves in."

Cole reached for his glass and turned his attention to Gabriel as he asked, "Tell us about Katherine."

Gabriel stood and started to pace. "I knew her as a kid but even then there was something about her that was off. I avoided her, I know that sounds silly since she was several years younger than me, but I never got a good vibe around her. She tried to have her brother and me killed, setup the attack, killed a girl and tried to frame it on me."

Quinn sharp inhale caused Gabriel to turn to her. There was love looking back at her but there was another emotion too and one she could only describe as fear. "She's very dangerous but she's also crazy, literally. In a few days she'll come after me, she did before."

Quinn's voice was very soft in response, "The attempted murder from the newspaper clipping."

"Yes, it wasn't her but someone she hired. If we can get her to come after me personally, once she's arrested she'll be locked up for life -- I've found enough on her to guarantee that -- which means she won't be walking the streets in the future so she will never get an opportunity to come after Quinn."

"We're actually on the same page. We've just been discussing how to lure her here. And we think the promise of the Scarcliff treasure is as good as anything," Shane suggested.

"I agree, I think the Scarcliff treasure is a good lure since there's a connection to me, and she's obsessed with me, but it can't be a formal party since she's a lot like a kid in many ways so the venue has to be one that would appeal to her."

"Like a fair," Quinn offered which pulled a tender smile from Gabriel before he added, "Yes, on the grounds of Whispering Winds if you are okay with that, Nick."