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.“Wine,” Decimus ordered.“For my master and me.” He tossed a few coins on the table.She scooped them up and gave a saucy wink, then walked away.A few minutes later, she returned with two goblets and placed them down on the table.“Is she to your liking?” Decimus queried.She turned on her heel and walked away, but gave a backward glance over her shoulder.The master gazed at her retreating back and shook his head.“You don’t understand.” He took a sip from his cup and spat out a dark liquid stream.“This wine is horrible, Decimus.” He plunked the goblet down on the table.Decimus’ eyes darted around the room.He lowered his voice.“We’re not here for the, uh, excellent vintage, Master.”“I’ll say.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.“We’re here so that we can have privacy while you explain everything to me.”That earned Decimus a dark look from the master.“Excellency, I need to understand so that I may get you what you desire.”He sighed.“It’s not what I desire, it’s what I need to do.”“Of course.” Decimus’ mouth lifted in a knowing grin.“This is useless.” The master rose to his feet.“I’m leaving.If you’d like to help, fine.Otherwise, go home.”Decimus pulled him back down into the chair, surprised at his own strength despite his age.A sour look filled the master’s face.He stayed in the chair, but it seemed as though he did so reluctantly.The master’s shoulders slumped.“Master, why do you look so troubled?”He lifted his head, his eyes bleak.“Decimus, I need you to swear to me that what I’m about to tell you will stay in the strictest confidence.” The master spoke in a hushed tone.“It will, Excellency.You can trust me.”The master blew out a breath.“I thought I could fool myself, but no more.” He glanced at Decimus, lowering his eyes.“You must think me very strange.”Decimus shrugged.“I cannot say.”“I wish you would.This is a time for truth, not mincing words.”“All right, then let me say this—you have been acting odd.Not just today, but for a long time.You disappear for days, sometimes months.”The master scrubbed a hand over his face.“For a while, I thought I dreamt things, but now I realise these places I’ve been to do not spring from my imagination.I’ve actually been to them.”Silence stretched between them.Then Decimus spoke.“I had a similar conversation once, with your father.”He looked at him sharply.“You did?”“When you were a little boy, your father used to leave your mother, and you, for long periods of time.He claimed he travelled all over the empire on business, but one day, I found him in straights similar to yours.” Decimus nodded.“He wound up back home dressed in odd clothing.”“That happened to me this morning.”“I know, Excellency.”The master’s brows rose.“Nothing escapes me, Excellency.I served your father in the same capacity as I serve you now.My knowledge gives me power—the power to aid you.The more I hear and know, the more I can assist you.”“I came back dressed in that strange attire because I didn’t have time to prepare myself properly to journey back home.” He lowered his eyes.“I, uh, was distracted.”Decimus leant back in his chair.He folded his arms across his chest and grinned.“By this woman you’re so determined to find?” I’d like to meet her—this woman, one tiny female who holds my master so enthralled.“She slipped through the portal.”Decimus snapped his brows together.“What is this ‘portal’?”“It is an opening, a way into the future…and the past.” He continued on, the words spilling quickly from his mouth, “You get to the future, or the past, by stroking a stone embedded in something called a ‘book’.”Decimus rubbed a hand beneath his chin.“You’ve been doing what your father used to do.I suspected as much.”“You know about my father’s actual journeys?” The master raised both brows.“Besides your mother, it was I who knew what your father really did,” Decimus replied.“Did you get that bump on your recent, uh, trip?”The master fingered the bruise on his head.“Yes
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