“What business do you have in the thirteenth century?” Gabriel continued. His foot kicked the machine Charlotte had given me to search for the correct sound wave, the device having fallen out of my coat in my desperation to surface. “And with my sister’s machine, no less?”

“I could ask you the same,” I replied evenly. “Come to change some other part of history?”

He chuckled, the point of the knife digging a little harder into my skin, though still not drawing blood. “You could say that. I take it my efforts have not been in vain, then? The future is changed for the better?”

Snorting, I tried to keep from shivering, not wanting to appear weak to him. “That’s another argument entirely.”

The point of the knife removed from my skin, the unfavorable contact replaced by a swift kick to the back.

Sprawling across the ice once more, I coughed, slipping across the surface, stinging the cut on my hand further.

“That’s for taking my blood thinners,” Gabriel spat. “And if you’re planning on sabotaging me any other way, you can expect more than that.”

Grunting, I rolled over, glaring at him as I carefully got to my feet. With the ice between us, he was less likely to attack me again, not unless he wanted to risk slipping. Half of me wanted to run, while the other demanded revenge for his actions against Olivia.

“You’ll stab me?” I countered. “The same as you did to Olivia?”

He frowned, shaking his head. “That was different . . . an accident. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He gave me a pointed stare. “I’m through being careful, though.” Gesturing to the dark forest around him, he laughed. “Time and history are my oysters now. The world is mine to shape. By the time I make it home, I’ll have created a legacy so powerful, no person would dream of arguing against a Mercer.”

Hesitating, a realization lit in me.

He hadn’t changed all the things I knew he would yet. I was meeting a Gabriel who had interacted with Olivia and me recently, who knew nothing of the real impact he would have on the future. Assuming he was the one who was trying to erase me from time, I didn’t think he’d even taken those steps yet.

“How long has it been since that night?” I asked with hesitation, not sure if I should prod him for any information. “When you stabbed Olivia, I mean.”

A smile brushed across his face as he shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

Frowning, I glared at him. He looked to be about the same age as the last time I saw him. There wasn’t much to study with him in that skin-tight black suit, but it seemed like I should have recognized if he had aged considerably.

No, my initial perception had to be right. This was Gabriel Scott as I’d known him, before he became a war hero bent on forcing Time to accept his whims. For whatever reason, I was being given a chance to stop him before everything, to try and talk him out of it.

At least, I hoped that was what was going on.

“What are you doing here?” I pressed. “Why were you in seventeen forty-one?”

Turning his back on me, he went to the bag he’d abandoned on the ground, hoisting it over his shoulder with a grunt. “You mean why was I trying to get to seventeen forty-one? None of your business.”

Frowning, I let the words sink in. “You were already here, in the twelve hundreds,” I started slowly. “Using the loops to time hop to another century.”

Gabriel snorted. “I see you’ve been somewhat more educated since we last met.”

An uncomfortable feeling twisted in my stomach. He was already on whatever path he’d decided to take. The odds of me stopping him here and now were slim.

“You intend to change your history, to paint your family a better life,” I prompted, hoping I could learn some of whatever it was he had set out to do. Olivia had said he was more than willing to share his plans with her in the past. If luck were on my side at all, he would do the same with me. “Like you did with General Mercer?”

“Like I tried to do,” he corrected me sharply. “Failure is not something I deal with lightly. My family was counting on me, and I destroyed their trust.”

The glare he gave me made it clear he believed the fault didn’t entirely lie with him.

Pushing the anger growing inside me away, I took a deep breath, knowing I needed to get all the information I could out of him. There may not be a chance to do so again in the future. If I could get him to cooperate now, we could avoid having a conflict over anything more than his treatment of my fiancée. “How will you rebuild what is broken?”

Pausing, Gabriel stared at the forest around us, his expression thoughtful. After a moment he shook himself, carefully picking his way toward shore. “What’s it matter to you? You’re just a soldier from the Revolution. Anything I do isn’t going to bother your life. In the long run, anyway.”

“I wish to stay with Olivia,” I asserted strongly, my clothes dripping as I followed him across the ice, skirting around the small hole he’d entered the water through before saving me. “And when I was in her time, she told me things were different. Your sister claimed you were responsible.”

“Then you probably already know,” he replied, laughing. Stopping in his tracks, he glanced at me, grinning. “I’m going to make myself into the greatest war hero this country has ever seen. My father wants a Mercer with a legacy to live up to? Fine. I’ll become that for him. There isn’t a single inch of the American Revolution I haven’t studied. It will be easy. As easy as hopping the different loops.”

Holding up the machine Charlotte had given me, his smile widened, a sinister gleam entering his eyes. “Now that I have this, it will be even easier. Thanks for that.”

“I don’t think so,” I replied sharply. “Charlotte gifted that to me. Without it, I will have no way to find my next loop.”

He shrugged, not caring one bit. “Shoulda studied the maps more. Maybe you’ll end up stuck here. Lost in time. I don’t know. Either way, it works out for me.”

Anger and fear ripped through me. Whatever the man’s intentions, he was clearly not bothered by the ethical dilemmas of his decision to change time. It was becoming harder by the second not to roar my displeasure and attack him as what he was—a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The memory of my painting at the museum flashed into my head, its features not quite right. Charlotte’s voice, warning me of disappearing altogether, echoed in my mind, my heart rate increasing rapidly.

If Gabriel succeeded in any of his plans, there was a chance Olivia and I would be torn apart. I was already vanishing from time. What if she started to as well?

I had to do something quickly, something decisive and permanent. While the thought made me more dissatisfied, my soul knew it was true.

I would have to end Gabriel Scott Mercer if I wanted to preserve time and my relationship with Olivia as they should be.

My lips settled into a grim line, brow furrowing as I stared at him. The muscles of my legs began to tighten, fingers curling into fists, my rage and dismay over not just what he’d said but his stabbing of Olivia bursting to the surface.

Leaping forward, I shoved him, losing my hold on him as we both scrambled to the higher ground of the shore. Tripping in the darkness, I managed to grab onto his shoulder, jerking him around and punching him in the eye, my knuckles crunching against bone.

Howling, he jerked, fumbling with his bag for the knife he’d stowed away earlier. With a flourish, he revealed it, swiping toward my chest and missing by mere inches.

Growling, I dove for his ankles, tackling him. The impact caused him to drop the knife, resulting in a desperate wrestling match between the two of us as we each attempted to get it first.

Laying on top of him, his belly scrapping across the ground, I grabbed his face, hardly noticing the blood from my freshly bleeding hand as it smeared across his jaw. “Stop!” I ground out. “Stop this asinine plan and see reason!”

“Get off me!” he shouted, bucking his body in an attempt to dislodge me.

Shoving his head into the snow, I scrambled over the top of him, grabbing the knife before he was able to wrap his fingers around it.

“I said stop!” I commanded, lowering the blade to his neck and using it to guide him to a standing position.

“I cannot let you follow this path,” I shared, breathless. “While it gives you everything you think you want, it could destroy my chance to be with the woman I love.”

Chest heaving, blood dripping from his nose, he spat. “Without me, you wouldn’t even know who she is.” He looked ready to pounce at any moment, observing my every move, searching for any opening I might give.

“And I will be forever grateful for that,” I countered, careful to keep the upper hand. “But your changing of the past has made me disappear. My portrait is changing. Olivia’s life is full of obstacles we may not be able to conquer. All of it is because of you.”

My fury at his injuring of Olivia was still white hot as well, her spilled blood calling out to me for revenge. What if he tried to harm her again? If she ever came about and decided to fix the past, they would run into each other. He’d wanted to kill us then, which meant there would be no stopping him if he attempted it.

Were there other options? I could sell him to the Natives. They would keep him as a slave . . . But if he ever escaped, he would return to his original path, unbothered by my attempts to stop him.

Frowning, I glanced toward his knapsack, feeling the sudden urge to look inside and see what he had. I may not have understood every medical tool I’d seen him use, but I knew I would recognize a life ender as soon as I saw it. If not, there should be something I could work with.

Guiding him to his bag, I kept a tight grip on the knife as I kicked the top of the container open. There were several items I didn’t recognize, but the one I’d hoped would be in there was.

“Grab the rope,” I ordered. “Take it by that tree.”

Gabriel hesitated, eyes narrowing as he watched me, as if trying to discern if I was serious or not. Then, slowly, he bent down and removed the item, shuffling to the tree and low hanging branch I’d instructed.

“Tie the noose.” Swallowing, I stared at him with hard eyes, giving off an aura of authority.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked dangerously. “If I ever get out of it—”

“You won’t,” I interrupted roughly. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Smiling angrily, he began looping the rope over and over, creating the noose I planned to hang him with. “You know, when I first heard someone was going to try and stop me from traveling, I expected my sister Charlotte to show up. When I realized it was someone else, I felt bad for her.” Glancing at me, he dared to smirk. “Naturally born travelers always have a harder time than trained ones. I didn’t expect her to live longer than a few months, to be honest.”

Finishing the knot, he shoved the rope at me, pressing his neck against the knife so hard that it drew blood. “You two have been pretty surprising,” he hissed. “Neither of you started out as idiots hired by my mother to put an end to me, but the both of you ended up there anyway.”

Shoving the noose to his chest, I frowned. “Put it around your neck and face away from me.”

Doing as I asked, he tightened the rope and handed me the other end, facing away as he put his hands behind his back, already guessing what my next request would be.

Working quickly, I cut a length off the end of the rope, wrapping it snugly around his wrists and checking to make sure he couldn’t get out of it. Then, I threw the loose end over the branch, pulling it tight enough that Gabriel could stand easily but struggled to take a full breath.

“When I get out of this,” he breathed quietly, “I’ll make sure you go missing. Every roadblock I can put in your path, I will. Remember that when your life goes up in flames.”

Anger ripped through me, and I threw the knife away, using my entire body weight to pull on the rope. Grunting, I almost sat on the ground, listening to the choking, gurgling sounds behind me. Occasionally, Gabriel’s legs would kick, landing on me, but I refused to give in. Finally, his body fell still, and there was no more sound.

Releasing my hold, I wiped at the sweat on my face as the body crumpled downward. The eyes were closed, but the rope had left an odd bulge of skin under his chin.

Breathing heavily, I leaned over the corpse, hands on my knees. “That’s for stabbing Olivia,” I whispered.

As the adrenaline from my fight and execution wore off, the cold returned to my limbs, exhaustion washing over me as I stumbled to the shore, picking up Charlotte’s machine and the remainders of Gabriel’s bag.

“One more week,” I muttered to myself.

One more week until I knew if I’d stopped Gabriel.

One more week before I could verify I existed in time.

One more week until I was with Olivia.