Page 32 of Promises Made at Midnight
She held her hands before the flames to warm them, but she had never experienced a cold such as this in her entire life. The sensation consumed her whole body down to the deepest recesses of her heart, much as if a stormy cloud hung over her. She wasn’t the type of person to be so melancholy or depressed and she began to wonder if she would ever return to the normal person who used to stare back at her in a modern-day mirror. She hated feeling like this. She vowed she would confront Ulrick with the truth he failed to recognize by the morning. She couldn’t continue living like this.
She began singing a sad song from a time that now seemed foreign to her. How long had it been since she’d been swept back inTime? How were her parents and Megan faring with her absence? They must be frantic when Bridgette went missing, but perhaps they would consult with Zoe who could surely put their fears to rest. Zoe would know that Bridgette was fine, at least physically. Mentally, she was unsure if she would ever befineagain.
Elbows resting on her thighs, her hands went to her tear-soaked cheeks to wipe away the wetness that had unknowingly crept from her eyes. She shook her head as if this alone would put her back in the right frame of mind. Confident… happy… But who was she kidding? There was only one thing, or rather one person, who would truly make her happy.
Ulrick… His name rushed across her soul as though, if she thought his name often enough, then the man himself would appear before her. She smiled for the first time that evening and wondered if she should test that theory. He’d be mad as hell if it worked but she had nothing to lose at this point. Or did she?
Ulrick… Come to me, my love.
Over and over, she whispered these words until they became like a mantra in her mind. She could sense him resisting when he first recognized she was asking him to come for her. But then, a glimmer of trust began to surface through his confusion, giving her hope. A feeling so overwhelmingly strong began to take shape and she knew with every fiber of her being that Ulrick was no longer struggling with the pull of her calling.
When a soft knock came at her door what felt like hours later instead of minutes, she wasn’t overly surprised. Bridgette took her sword in hand to ensure her safety in the miniscule event that it wasn’t Ulrick rapping on her door at this ungodly hour of the night. She slid the bolt before opening the wooden portal a crack to peer out into the dimly lit passageway. Ulrick leaned against the stone wall with one booted foot propped up against it as though for extra support. His hair was tousled, and he looked as uncomfortable as any medieval knight would be from what could only be termed pure magic.
He nodded to the sword she held in her hand before she leaned the blade against the wall inside her chamber.
“Glad tidings to you this eve, Bridgette. I am glad to see you are prepared to defend yourself if the need had arisen,” he murmured. The husky tone of his voice caused her to shiver in delight. She hid her smile, although nothing could have pleased her more to see Ulrick standing there waiting for her reply.
“Best to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” she teased, although this only caused him to frown. The look on his face would have frightened most people, she supposed, but she wasn’t one of them. She opened her door wider and waited to see what he would say next. A silent invitation, if he chose to accept what she willingly offered.
He appeared more perplexed than moments before, so Bridgette stepped out into the passageway. There was a light breeze rushing down the corridor causing the torches in their scones to sputter. But the sensation didn’t make her chilly, not as she stepped closer to Ulrick. The heat radiating from his body was enough to warm her until the end of time itself.
“Do you trust me?” he asked, as though finally coming to a decision.
She smiled up into his face before she raised her hand to cup his face. “Always.”
“Then come with me.” He held out his hand for her to take and hers slipped into his as easily as taking her next breath.
Down the passageway they went like two young lovers stealing away under the cover of darkness until they reached the turret stairs. Again, down they went to the next floor until they came to Ulrick’s room. He pushed open the portal, holding the door for her to enter if she dared. Bridgette hesitated only an instant before she went inside his chamber. The door closed behind her, the bolt slid into place to ensure their privacy, and Bridgette held her breath for what was surely to come next.
The room was tidy with furnishings much like her own. A small table sat near a shuttered window that was closed against the night’s chilly air, a fire burned brightly in the hearth, but the large bed seemed to dominate the room. Or perhaps it was Bridgette’s overly active imagination about what could happen in that very bed that caused her breath to hitch. She went to sit in a chair near the fire while he poured her a chalice of wine. She took the goblet he handed to her, sipped from it, and inspected him as he sat across from her.
“You called to me.” There was a strange tone in his voice that was more of a statement instead of the question she was expecting.
“And you answered,” she replied, before setting her cup down on the small table between them.
He took a few moments before he spoke, also taking a sip of his wine as if to calm his nerves. “You were singing. I could feel the sadness of your song.”
She nodded in acknowledgement of their connection. “And I could feel your confusion about what was happening when I called out to you.”
“’Twas a lot to take in and I could no longer deny what has been happening between us,” he murmured, before heaving a sigh. He reached over to take her hands in his and rubbed his thumb over her trembling skin. The calluses on his fingertips were a reminder of the life he led, always ready to fight in battle… to train for battle… to kill in battle, if necessary.
She would not think about him taking his life in his hands through his work. Instead, she focused on the fact he was now acknowledging the magic that surrounded them. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that you now believe in our connection.”
“I could hardly gainsay you any longer, Bridgette. Not with you filling my head with aneedI swear I could hear acrossTimeitself.”
A hint of her conversation with her friend Megan echoed inside Bridgette’s memories. God… that seemed like a lifetime ago. She again wondered how Megan handled her disappearance, but this was not the time to worry about her friend. This moment belonged to her and Ulrick.
“Do you know why soulmates meet?” she asked in a breathy whisper. She watched the firelight reflected in those blue-grey eyes and held her breath.
“Nay, I do not,” he murmured before rising and pulling her to stand before him.
She smiled before reaching up to caress his cheek, smoothing the stubble of the five o’clock shadow that had formed there from the day before. “They meet because they are hiding in the same place while waiting to be found by the one other soul who will make them complete.”
His hand ran through her hair before he brought her up fully against her chest. It was like leaning against a mountain of hard perfected marble and she relished how her body came alive being in his embrace.
“Aye… you complete me, Bridgette, as no other woman has done before,” he said, cupping her face with his hands.
“Then make me yours in every way, Ulrick. From this day forward, I never want to be parted from you again.” She offered herself willingly and her heart soared when he leaned down to capture her lips with his own.
