Once Upon a Valentine (21 page)

One big reminder? Raine Fowler, the man carefully holding another razor-sharp branch away so she could maneuver around it.

She couldn’t let him go without a backward glance. More, she
wouldn’t.
She just hadn’t figured out how to tell him that yet.

“Thanks.” She didn’t meet his eyes, not sure what he’d see in hers. Probably too much.

“Not a problem,” he told her, though she knew by the drops of blood dripping from his fingertips that it was a problem. But he hadn’t voiced a single complaint. It seemed his sense of adventure outweighed any physical discomfort.

She loved that sense of adventure. Loved being part of it.

For the past several days, Ashlynn had allowed herself to live like he did. To think only of the here and now, this moment, their journey and the thrill of the chase. Raine had no other expectations, no other obligations, and could come and go as he pleased. And so, that’s how she’d felt, too.

It had been incredibly appealing, living this way, with
him.
Part of her wasn’t sure how she would ever give it up. Honestly, as much as she wanted to find this castle, and to document the history within its ancient walls, a tiny part of her wished they’d just have to keep on looking.

“Hell,” he said with a groan, lifting a hand to his face.

Ashlynn touched his shoulder and made him turn around to face her. He’d taken a thorn to the forehead and blood freely dripped down his brow. “This is crazy,” she said. “You could have been blinded! We should go back.”

He wiped the blood off with the back of his arm. “Hey, no pain, no gain. And we’re almost through the worst of it.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I mean it,” he said, shifting to the side so she could see past him into the dark tunnel ahead.

It took a second, but she quickly realized what he meant. It looked lighter about ten paces ahead of them, as if the hedge thinned out beyond. If it were thin enough to admit light, perhaps there was fresher air up there, too. And there might be an end to their trial by thorn.

“Stay with me, historian,” he said, his voice thrumming with excitement.

Her heart sped up, her breaths grew shallow, because of both the bad quality of the air and the excitement washing through her. There was no escaping his contagious enthusiasm. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She inched behind him. Wiping sweat and dirt and blood off her face, she helped where she could. Though, mainly, she only watched, seeing the way his thick shoulders and broad back flexed beneath his shirt as he hacked at the unforgiving barrier.

Mercy, he was beautiful—a picture of masculine strength and agility.

“Do you see?” he asked, his breaths hoarse.

“It’s lighter,” she replied. “The air…”

“Definitely moving.”

They kept their voices low, as if they both knew they were about to reach the end of the line. And were equally as nervous about what they would find.

“You ready?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

She drew in a deep breath, tasting freshness, coolness and a hint of salt.
The sea.
Then she nodded.

Raine reached back and took her hand as they moved on. The shrubs were not only thinning overhead—revealing a bit of bright sky with a few puffy clouds—they were also spreading out, drawing back, leaving enough room for them to stand abreast.

“We break through together,” he said.

Hand in hand.

Excitement roared through her. Yes, she was worried about what might happen between her and Raine later, once they’d found what they were seeking. But for now, all the hopes, the dreams, the planning…everything was coming to fruition. She was about to find out if she—and her father—had been right about the most famous legend in all the worlds.

Raine extended the long knife, cut away a few more branches. They stepped, side by side, until they reached one last barrier—tall and imposing, thick and impossible to see through.

Knowing in her soul that they’d come to the end, Ashlynn reached out, unable to resist tugging at the branches with her bare hands. She ignored the thorns, didn’t feel any pain. Raine did the same, sheathing his knife, and the two of them dug and pulled and clawed their way through the last few feet of hedge.

At last, a hole. No more shrub, no more thorns. Light poured in, bathing their faces. Together they took one more step, pushing through as if they were being born out of a long, dark passage.

And emerged to witness the most glorious sight Ashlynn had ever beheld in her life.

WELL, IT SURE WASN’T much to look at.

Sleeping Beauty’s castle—if this was, indeed, hers—looked like a lot of ruins he’d seen over the years. Gray and huge, with collapsed walls, thick vines growing over everything and trees that had sprouted up inside roofless parts of the structure.

Interesting—and probably to Ashlynn, fascinating. But he’d been expecting the wow factor. Though King Midas hadn’t had anything to do with Sleeping Beauty—at least, as far as he knew—he’d almost pictured this place being covered with gold leaf. He’d envisioned a Disney score swelling up when they stepped out of the hedge and some talking animal to greet him.

Squawk.

A bird flew out of the ruin, swooping overhead and dropping another kind of welcome altogether. Right on his shoe.

“Hell,” he muttered.

She wasn’t even listening. A quick glance told him Ashlynn was totally, completely enraptured by what she saw.

“It’s magnificent,” she whispered. A visible shiver ran through her. “I keep asking myself if I’m dreaming!”

Raine couldn’t help smiling, glad for her. Maybe his expectations had been too high. The place was pretty damned cool, dipped in gold or not. “So, ready to go in?”

Her hand trembling, she reached for his. “I’m
so
ready.”

“Let me lead the way, okay? There are probably rotted floors, unstable walls. We’ve got to take it slow and easy.”

“Understood.”

One more thing he liked about Ashlynn—she had so much common sense.

Maybe it was because of that common sense, and because he had her to look after, but Raine didn’t barrel right in as he might have done if he’d been alone. He carefully evaluated every step they took, watching for hidden dangers. But as they drew farther into the castle—and began to realize there was much more to see inside than the outside had led them to believe—his own caution began to give way to wonder.

“My God,” he whispered as they pushed open a nearly rotten doorway to enter what had once been the great hall.

“Unbelievable,” she replied, equally as overwhelmed.

The outside might have looked like a ruin from some European country. But inside—well, this was pure Elatyria. Pure fairy tale. Because, as if the powerful magic of the world itself wouldn’t allow the true destruction of anything pure and beautiful, the interior was remarkably intact. Yes, some walls had fallen, some roofs had caved in. But many still stood solid and proud, as they had centuries ago when the last occupants had departed.

The graceful marble columns were dirty, yes, but still gleamed with soft beauty. On the walls, rotted tapestries couldn’t detract from the hand-painted murals that depicted chivalrous scenes of knights and dragons and ladies. Furniture made of stout oak, and perhaps the heart of the most powerful beanstalks, remained in place, covered in dust but mostly unbroken.

“The thrones,” she whispered.

He followed her stare, seeing a raised dais with two intricately carved chairs. Still plush and covered with red velvet, they looked as though their occupants had just arisen and stepped away for a moment.

Both drawn to different things in the cavernous room, they separated, Ashlynn moving to study the paintings on the farthest wall, Raine to examine the thrones more carefully. He told himself he was looking for jewels embedded in the wood, having pictured this moment in his mind ever since he’d heard about this place.

But he suddenly realized something. Even before he’d reached the dais and examined the thrones, he knew that, even if there were stones to rival the Hope Diamond studding every corner, he wouldn’t dig them out. This place almost seemed like sacred ground. A feeling of reverence he’d never experienced at another site washed over him. He wouldn’t desecrate it, not for all the jewels in Seaside’s lost kingdom.

Now, a handful of them lying on the floor? That would be another story. Fortunately, there was a lot of castle left to explore. And the more they found, the bigger that ten percent finder’s fee would become.

“Raine, look at this!” Ashlynn called, sounding excited.

He strode across the richly veined marble floor, to her. She was pointing to a series of paintings, smaller and less ornate than the floor-to-ceiling ones that graced much of the hall.

“The whole story is here,” she told him, her voice actually shaking.

She pointed to each picture in turn, and he saw what she meant. They began with an image of a beautiful family of three—the king, queen and beautiful little girl. Then storm clouds, a dark fairy, a spindle. A sleeping maiden, the grieving parents, a royal court falling into slumber.

God, it’s all true?

With everything else he knew about Elatyria, he shouldn’t have been so surprised. But, hell, this was pretty major stuff. It would take some time to process.

“Someone stayed behind to tell the tale,” she told him as she moved down the wall to the last sequence of paintings. “Mercy, this alone is a priceless treasure—the mystery of the disappearance of the entire royal court is explained right here!”

He stared at the images, trying to see whatever it was she saw. It took a long moment, then the truth started to dawn. The painting showed the happy Beauty—awake—and in the arms of a handsome man who stood on the bow of a ship. The royals were gathered behind them on the decks, celebrating as the ship literally sailed off the edge of the sea into a dark blue abyss.

A blue abyss with some odd shapes—like landmasses.

Familiar landmasses.

Very familiar ones.

“Holy shit, it’s Earth,” he said, everything making sense.

The handsome Prince Charming who rescued the beauty was from Earth, and he took her and all the rest of them back with him. Raine knew enough about Elatyria to know its geography didn’t match Earth’s. And there was no disguising those familiar shapes—from Africa to Europe and Asia, right down to North America and the tiny tail of Florida. It appeared the Elatyrians had known more about Earth’s geography than Earthlings had.

She laughed and clapped her hands. “Yes! That’s why they disappeared forever, leaving no trace, no descendants…except for the person who painted this mural and possibly drew the map.”

And that’s why the legend had become one of the most long-abiding, popular stories in
both
worlds.

Raine closed his eyes, shocked into silence. For years he’d called himself a finder of things. Of treasures. But today, he felt like the finder of a deep, irrevocable truth. And he at last understood what
real
treasure was.

This game Ashlynn played—searching for truth and clarity amidst the deepest mystery—was powerful. More thrilling than any he’d ever known.

He reached for her, drawing her into his arms. She looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with excitement and pleasure.

“I’m so happy for you,” he told her, a little overwhelmed at the seriousness of the moment. Although this had started as an adventure, it had ended with a discovery that truly shook him.

“Thank you. This is a dream come true,” she replied. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, tugging him down for a long, warm kiss.

He held her tight, plunging his tongue against hers as if needing to memorize the taste of her, almost desperate to make the moment last. Right in the middle of the kiss, he realized why.

Her dream had come true. They’d found her Holy Grail.

But now her real job was about to begin. She would be tied to this place, throwing herself into her work for probably decades.