Claire Delacroix (31 page)

He flicked open to March, Aurelia shifting her weight anxiously by his side. “Actually, the equinox is today.”

“Today!” Aurelia stepped back and scanned the store, but Baird knew she wasn’t seeing her surroundings.

What was she thinking? She left the shop abruptly and stared up at the clear blue sky, her gaze fixed on the sun.

It was a good thing Baird liked puzzles, because this woman had a million of them. He shrugged his confusion to the clerk, put back the calendar and followed Aurelia.

She must have heard him because she pivoted and impaled him with an intense glance. “It is not yet midday.”

“No.” Baird checked his watch. “Just past eleven, actually.”

“Do you know the stones of the moon and the sun? They are here, on the big island. Can you take me there?”

Baird frowned. “The stones of the moon and the sun? There’s two stone circles here, I know that. The Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stemness.”

Aurelia jumped at that, her excitement evident. “Two circles, yes! One bigger and one smaller! Towards the sea side of the island. Can we get there by midday? Can we?”

It was obviously so important to Aurelia that Baird could not have refused her.

“I don’t see why not,” he said, but Aurelia’s anxiety did not ease. Determined to see her mind set at rest, Baird stepped out into the road and hailed a cab.

* * *

Two thousand years.

As the chariot without horses raced across the countryside, the words echoed through Aurelia’s mind.

Along with her father’s mocking laughter when told of the faith of the Christians: “Why should I worship a man dead eight hundred years? He is no less dead than any of us will be! By Odin, only a fool would worship less than an immortal god!”

What kind of a fool would believe twelve hundred years had slipped away? Aurelia fought against the very idea, pinning her hopes on the moments ahead.

The stones would tell no lies to those who knew their secrets.

The stones had stood for longer than anyone could remember, had been placed by people long dead and forgotten, but still they showed the line of sun and moon with unswerving accuracy.

Aurelia had been there, once a year, every year since she had been ordained priestess. She knew the stones as well as any priestess could, knew them so well that they could not deceive her.

But to her shock and dismay, when the chariot crested a small rise, the stones were not all there. Aurelia was out of the chariot before it had even fully stopped and running across the fields.

“Aurelia! Wait!” Baird muttered something unflattering under his breath, but Aurelia had no time for his concern now.

Where were the stones?

This could not be! If it was the beginning of the Month of Eostre, then only a year had passed since she had stood on this same spot and watched the midday sun.

But that midday sun had risen above a circle of twelve stones. Though the four that remained were familiar in shape, of the others, there was no sign. They were each taller than her and heavy beyond all. They had stood here since time immemorial.

How could they have been removed without trace in so little time?

The wooden pillar in the middle of the circle was gone as completely as though it had never been. Aurelia crouched and fought back her tears as she ran her hand across the four flat stones arranged in a square in the middle of the circle. The stones were cold with disuse and she guessed no priestess had come this way in many years.

The prophecy could not have come true, it could not have.

Baird crouched by her side, his expression concerned. “What’s the matter?”

“Where are the other stones?” Aurelia heard the breathlessness in her own voice. Her heart was hammering with a vengeance, a wildly ridiculous premise gaining credibility in her mind with every passing moment.

“What other stones?”

“There should be twelve. Twelve!” Aurelia’s vision blurred with tears. “What has happened to them? Where did they go? How could they have been removed?”

Aurelia clutched Baird’s shirt and gave him a shake, hoping that she would find him responsible for this desecration instead of more than a millennium stolen away from her. “Why did you have them taken away?”

Baird lifted her hands gently away. He held her hands and Aurelia exhaled slowly, welcoming his quiet strength despite herself. “I had nothing to do with this,” he murmured, his green gaze boring into her own.

And Aurelia believed him.

But she could not believe the rest.

Baird must have read her thoughts, for he gave her hands a quick squeeze. “Wait right here. We’ll find the answer.” He shoved a hand through his hair and pushed to his feet, and Aurelia hated how relieved she felt to have his aid in this.

Only now, Aurelia noticed that there were others here, oddly dressed people. They stared at her, as though she, a priestess, was the intruder, not all these common people who had no right to be within the circle.

They touched the stones and clicked little black boxes in every direction. What a travesty! This was a sacred place! They had no right to wander here as though it were no more than a patch of earth.

But in her heart, she knew that the common people could not have forgotten the Goddess in a mere year. And Aurelia feared the portent of that.

Baird stepped toward a plump woman in white shoes. “Excuse me, could I borrow your guidebook? For just a second?”

Aurelia refused to watch him work his charm on some hapless female. She watched the sun climb to its zenith and could not swallow the lump in her throat.

Baird hunkered down beside her again and fanned through the book. “Well, let’s see. The Stones of Stemness. Built circa 2500 BC. Yada, yada, yada. Here it is - originally consisting of twelve stones.”

Aurelia looked him in the eye. “I know that. Where are they?”

Baird scanned the text. “Doesn’t say.”

“And the pillar?”

“What pillar?”

“The one in the center, the one that makes the sacred thirteen along with the twelve stones.” Aurelia gritted her teeth. “The one that casts the shadow of the midday sun.”

“Where should it be?”

Aurelia pointed to the middle of the square defined by the four flat stones.

Baird flicked through the book, his brow furrowed in concentration. “Ah! ‘Excavations have shown revealed traces of a wooden pillar that must have stood in the middle of the circle, though its purpose is unknown.’“

“As it should be by those who have not earned the right to know the sacred mysteries.”

Baird looked to her questioningly, but Aurelia shoved to her feet. She backed towards the north side of the circle, her gaze rising again to the sun. She squinted, but could not precisely guess where the shadow would fall if the pillar was still there.

And precision was of import in this.

Baird gave the woman back her book with a smile of thanks and came to Aurelia’s side once more. His voice was low. “What is it?”

She sighed, then frowned and fired a frustrated glance at him. “I can tell nothing without the pillar. I need its shadow.”

“I can cast a shadow as well as any piece of wood.”

Aurelia eyed Baird with suspicion but he did not seem to be mocking her. To have a king lend himself to her service was something she would not have expected, especially this king.

“You would do this?”

“If you explain later what this is about.”

He wanted her to reveal a hidden mystery in exchange for his assistance. Aurelia hesitated, remembering her vow of secrecy only too well.

But if her fears were right, then the priestess to whom she had sworn that oath was long dead and forgotten.

As forgotten as the Goddess they had sworn it before.

Perhaps the mysteries were not as important as once they had been. Every manner of common person was obviously allowed to wander freely amidst these great holy stones. Aurelia rubbed her forehead, feeling that things were moving too quickly for her.

First, she had to know the truth.

And if that required compromise, so be it.

She pointed to the four flat stones before she could change her mind. “Could you stand in the center there?” she asked quietly and Baird quickly complied. “I need only see the line of the midday sun.”

He did as she bade, and though shorter than the great pillar, his shadow stretched a line across the circle. Aurelia was oblivious to the open stares of the passersby as she traced the direction of Baird’s shadow to a stone no longer there.

She did it again and again, she watched the sun crest its zenith and ever so slowly descend towards the earth again. But there was no avoiding the truth.

The sun - and its shadow - were in the wrong place.

When Aurelia last celebrated the rebirth of the sun, a mere year before in her mind, the shadow of the pillar had fallen on the next stone. That stone still stood and was both so large and so well anchored that it could not have moved.

Even in a millennium. Aurelia swallowed carefully.

But the sun would take at least a thousand years to change its shadow so much.

Just as she had known, the stones told no lies. With a pounding heart, Aurelia turned her palm up and examined her left thumb beneath the golden light of Eostre’s sun.

Right in the middle of the whorl was a minute scar.

Her breath caught in her throat.

The prophecy had come true! She had fallen into a slumber that lasted nigh on twelve hundred years. Even with all the evidence before her, Aurelia’s reason fought against the conclusion.

It could not be true!

But it was.

Her pulse rose in her ears to the roar of thunder, the sun shone on her brow with a savage heat.

It had all come true.

Aurelia could not tear her gaze away from the scar on her thumb though the world danced around her in a mad swirl. A thousand years had come and gone while she slept. Aurelia felt her knees crumple as a terrible numbness seized her body.

The last thing she heard was Baird calling her name.

* * *

Aurelia awakened in her chamber at Dunhelm. Judging by the angle of the light slanting through the window, it was late afternoon, though she had no recollection of leaving the circle of stones.

She propped herself up on her elbows, then froze when she met Baird’s steady green gaze. He was sitting against the far wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him, watching her over the tent of his strong fingertips.

His face was drawn as though he was concerned for her. Aurelia knew that Baird who had killed her brother would never have been troubled about her fate.

But then, the Baird that sat before her had surprised her in many ways already. He was gentle with her, and generous with his purse. He had neither raped nor killed her, nor cast her to his men for their amusement. He had carried her to safety when she was overcome. He had loved her with a passion and tenderness that belied his reputation.

And he had given her his word.

Twice.

Aurelia frowned. But if twelve hundred years had passed, then this man could not be Bard, son of Erc.

Which explained a great deal.

Except for who he actually was.

“What in the hell was that all about?” he demanded in a low voice. “You scared me half to death.”

Aurelia thought furiously as she stared back at her benefactor. One thing she had noticed was that he was a man of good sense - and no one of good sense would believe the tale she now knew to be true.

Twelve hundred years! The idea made her own gut clench.

“I do not know,” she lied uneasily. “Perhaps it was the sun.”

And in a way, it had been.

He rolled his eyes and sat forward to brace his elbows on his knees, apparently reassured by her awakening if not her explanation. The corner of his mouth tugged in that smile that made everything within her melt. “After the brunch you put away, I wouldn’t be surprised if your stomach had something to say.”

“I was hungry.” And no wonder, after over a thousand years with an empty stomach!

“Obviously.” Though his tone was light, his gaze still danced over her with concern. “Feeling better now?”

“Much better, thank you.”

“I’m sorry we had no luck finding your father in Kirkwall.”

Aurelia tried to swallow the lump that rose in her throat and failed. Her father was long dead! There was no point in searching for him now, and as wave of loss swept over her, she could not summon any pretence to lie.

Her father was gone. Her Viking relations were gone. The seamstress, the ostler, the cook and all the others in her father’s household were lost to her forever.

Everyone Aurelia had ever known was so long departed from this world that they were completely forgotten. She was alone in a new world, in a new time, rootless as she had never been in all her life.

“We do not have to look for him any longer,” she managed to choke out before her eyes blurred with tears. “I understand now that it is futile to seek him.”

“What do you mean?”

“He is truly gone,” Aurelia said softly. “He is dead and lost to me for all time.” She felt one heavy tear slide free.

“Hey!” Baird crossed to her side with one long stride, sat on the edge of the bed and gathered her into his arms. Aurelia, helpless to do anything else, crumpled against him and wept like a baby for all she had lost.

“Go ahead and cry, princess,” he whispered into her hair. “It’s all right. Everything will be all right. This is good, even though it hurts. It’s good that you remember the truth.”

Aurelia could not imagine what was good about this truth. She was alone. An ache of loneliness she had never expected to feel cast a shadow over her heart.

Aurelia became aware of the strong arms encircling her, the heady musk of masculinity rising from the chest she leaned against. The weight of a warrior’s hand rested gently on her nape and she felt as though she had found safe haven in a storm.

It was tempting to remain in the circle of this man’s arms, to rely upon his strength, but Aurelia knew she had already taken too much from him. He was a stranger, he owed her nothing, yet he had taken her in, garbed her, fed her and shown her kindness.