Page 125 of The Daughters of Avalon
Giles adjusted his arms about her, and Rosalynde sighed, burrowing into the safety of his embrace, wondering again about that bonding spell…
But if she doubted the words she’d heard, she must also doubt the council she’d been given in the glade… to bind that beast with words she’d never heard spoken in all her life.
It was as though the Goddess herself provided her the rites to bind the creature into solid form. Only then could Giles have had any chance to slay it. Because no matter how many times Wilhelm had swung his sword, it never once found purchase.And if she needed proof it was not all a dream, she had the reliquary tucked away with thegrimoirein Giles’s satchel. And if not, she but needed to look at Wilhelm, with his ravaged face, because even after seeing what she was capable of, he had refused to allow her to heal him, distrusting hermagik, if not so much Rosalynde herself. His bloodstains were gone, but his once handsome face now bore the marks of the creature’s talons, scars that were healing slowly on their own, but as dark as her own puncture wounds remained, despite her healingmagik.
Alas, Mordecai was not her mother’s only servant, only her most loyal, and, when he did not return, she would go searching for him, and if she came herself… Goddess help them.
“Do you think the creature is dead?” asked Wilhelm, perhaps sensing the dark turn of Rosalynde’s thoughts.
Instinctively, Giles pulled her close when she stiffened over the question. “Aye,” he said, and his breath was hot against the back of her neck as he whispered, “It’s gone, Rose.”
“It must be,” she said. “But…”
She couldn’t finish, even as a caveat, because it seemed too incredible. And still, she worried about the reliquary in Giles’s satchel.
Could Mordecai’s spirit have retreated into that unholy relic, waiting to be summoned again by her mother?
The feeling it had given her as she’d held it was… indescribable… like darkness and terror bound together. And then, when Wilhelm returned the trinket after she’d thrown it away, she’d had a sudden vision of her kindred—a hundreddewinesouls—all cowering in the bowels of the earth, whilst outside the earthen bower… lurked an indefinable and present evil. The image made her shudder, and in response, Giles leaned close again, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Don’t think of it,” he commanded. “I will protect you.”
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Immediately after spending alms for Lady Ayleth’s soul, Wilhelm was preparing again to travel. Grateful for the donation, and perhaps feeling aggrieved for all his troubles and fresh scars, the nuns provided him a sack full of victuals and profuse thanks he endured with flushed cheeks.
Giles perhaps would have provided him the alms, but Rosalynde had stepped forward to offer her own—all five gold marks she’d sewn into the hem of her gown. It was the least she could do for the service these brothers were providing, and she had every faith Elspeth would provide for her once Giles delivered her to Aldergh.
When both men had looked at her with a question in their eyes, she’d merely shrugged. “I did tell you I had five gold marks, did I not?”
And yet, clearly, her heartfelt gesture moved Wilhelm, because a twinkle appeared in the warrior’s dark eyes. “Thank you… Lady Rosalynde,” he said. The title came diffidently to his lips for the first time since meeting her, and the bear of a man stepped forward to offer one more heartfelt embrace. Rosalynde hugged him fiercely, even as she cast a glance at his brother.
There wasno way around it; Wilhelmmustreturn to Warkworth to welcome the supply ships. As important as it was to deliver Rosalynde and hergrimoire, that was Giles’s primary objective, and Wilhelm was the only man he trusted.
Rather than procure another mount, he and Rosalynde would travel together. Greedy perhaps, but he wanted her as close to him as possible, even if it slowed their pace.
She glanced at him now, and his heart squeezed.
She was afraid, he sensed. So, too, was Wilhelm. So was Giles, if the truth be known. And yet, it wouldn’t serve anyone to confess the truth. He must keep his wits about him… and what was more, he must keep his sanity. If, ever, his faith had failed him, he must find a way to renew it, because God alone could help them now.
Although his past works had more than oft crippled his faith, he saw the madness behind the Guard’s methods. Evil could not be vanquished by might alone, nor could it be won by honor and justice. Indeed, God worked in mysterious ways. And yet, he had few illusions. He was but a lone man, and it would take every means available to defeat this rising evil.
So much depended upon his duty to the Guard—and now, to Rosalynde—that his shoulders felt heavy with the burden. But now Wilhelm understood so much without having to be given explanations, and he and his brother had found a new accord. Mounted now, and ready to ride, Wilhelm sought his gaze, and Giles could see the uncertainty nestled in his dark eyes. His elder brother and self-appointed guardian would never willingly abandon his side. “Art certain, Giles?”
Giles nodded. “Now that you…know… I trust you most to see to what must be done. Rosalynde and I will continue together.” There was great meaning in the words that followed. “I need you, my brother.” And one day, when he could, he would reward his loyalty.
His brother’s face was pinched, worried, and Giles could tell that he was reluctant to go. But, for all that they’d endured and all the discord that had passed between them, Giles trusted now that he would heed his commands, down to the letter. Their relationship, too, had changed—as thoroughly as with Rosalynde—even despite that they had yet to speak of it.
Later, when they had a moment alone, once the mission was complete, he would explain everything to Wilhelm in far greater detail. And, once the evil in this land was banished, he and Rosalynde—he gazed warmly at the woman standing beside him—would tell stories of this for years to come. Somehow, though he didn’t know why he knew it, he knew it to be true. He felt a bond with her that he couldn’t explain, nor did he believe for an instant that God had put them together without purpose. And yet… his heart writhed with anguish, because he had a duty to uphold, and so much as he felt in his heart that Rosalynde was destined to be the mother of his babes, he also now understood with a clarity borne of circumstance, how important it was to strengthen his dominion in the north—not merely for the sake of vengeance, but for England.
Wilhelm’s knuckles whitened as he gripped his reins. His eyes said everything his mouth daren’t utter. “Have care, my brother,” he said.
“Worry not,” said Giles. “I am capable.”
And to that, the brothers shared the gravest of looks. “Only too well do I know it,” said Wilhelm, as he held the courser’s reins. “I have been blind, Giles. Fear blinded me to what my eyes should have understood from the moment you returned.” And simply so as not to leave words unsaid, his brother offered apologies. “I am sorry,” he said.
“Think no more of it,” Giles said with a rueful smile.
Wilhelm inclined his head; then, his lips curved ever so slightly. “Mayhap some day you will teach me some of your… tricks?”
