Contents
Chapter 17
Overview
Una and Owen time-run for nine years, shedding names, roles, and disguises to evade Vivian’s reach. They define strict rules—no settling, no traveling near their origins, and no interference—while solidifying their partnership into a chosen, equal bond. As Dominion falters without the grail, Una struggles with lost heroism, and Vivian’s unseen pursuit raises the stakes.
Summary
Una and Owen flee through time using the stolen enchanted book, emerging beneath the yew in a later era. Owen reasons they are safer during a regency with no queen on the throne. They abandon names, appearances, and even gendered presentations to vanish, shedding armor, coats, and expectations while learning how to survive.
Early on, uncertainty strains them: Una doubts Owen’s desire beyond legend, and Owen fears replicating coercion. Their hesitation breaks when they choose each other explicitly, defining intimacy as voluntary and mutual. They reject marriage or sanction by crown or church, committing instead to remain side by side by choice.
Owen establishes survival rules: never settle long, never travel before Una’s death or after Owen’s birth, and never interfere. He argues Vivian may exist in many guises across eras, seeking any anomaly to find them. Meanwhile Dominion, deprived of the grail and its Champion, fragments into usurpers and loses territories; rumors about Una multiply without resolution.
Temptations test the rules—lingering in kind villages, rescuing Hen earlier in time, or stopping soldiers’ brutality—but Owen insists on restraint. Una mourns the loss of her identity as a famed weapon and hero, while Owen reminds her that living free from Vivian’s control matters more than legend.
Despite grief and anger, Una and Owen repeatedly choose each other, using their bond to quiet the pull of past roles. They continue running, hiding their abilities and knowledge, as Vivian’s unseen wrath intensifies and history shifts without its orchestrated ending.
Who Appears
- Una (the knight, formerly Sir Una Everlasting)Flees through time with Owen, struggles with lost heroism, chooses mutual love, resents but follows survival rules.
- Owen (the scholar)Steals the enchanted book, sets strict rules, fears coercion, confirms a consensual bond, keeps them hidden across eras.
- Vivian/Yvanne (the wicked queen)Offstage antagonist; her sprawling presence across eras forces Una and Owen to hide and never interfere.