Return to Caer Lon (19 page)

“I’m Derek and this is Sacha. We’re from the western coast.”

Baul considered his answer then shrugged, slashing the reins again.

“You’re a long way from home. Going to Londinium?”

Sacha stared at Derek, at a loss for a plausible lie.

“Hell, no. We heard about Alynnfaid, so we wanted to have a look.”

“Ah
,
yes, the waterfall is something one must see at least once. You’re lucky
.
T
his year it’s particularly beautiful.”

The High King’s manuscript was illustrated with vivid streams… Her eyes connected with Derek’s above the back of her bench. By the spark in his stare, he remembered too. Her anger dwindled in the deep blue eyes fixed on her. Why was it he always managed to overcome her defen
s
es so easily? She couldn’t stay mad at him when he had this
win-it-all
grin on him. Sacha swallowed, unable to look away.

“So we were told.”

Baul bobbed his head.

“That’s a long way to come to see a waterfall.”

This time, Derek was the one seeking Sacha’s help silently. She offered her best innocent smile.

“I love books with a passion. Saint-Stephen Library is so
well known
.
I had to visit it. Today’s sightseeing is my thank
s
for Derek’s patience with me.”

And here she was, flirting again with a man twice her age. Derek frowned when her sweet act earned her a fatherly smile. Baul returned his attention to his animals and abandoned his questioning.

Chapter 19

One
glance in the mirror convinced Ylianor there was little she could do to cover up the signs of angst on her face. Too little rest and even less appetite had left their marks
. S
mall wrinkles circled each side of her mouth as the smoky shadows under her eyes made them sh
i
ne like gemstones.

Her hands trembled slightly when she picked up the small phial of perfume Derek had offered her just weeks before. Not on a special occasion
;
just because
,
H
e
'd
flinched when she pressed a kiss on his cheek in thanks and mumbled
that
he thought she’d like it. The floral scent caressed her nose. A thoughtful gift from a loving man
.
William had been just as attentive
,
or touchy
when she displayed too many thanks for his liking.

She gave a small smile to her tired image. Her son looked so much like his father. She had never gathered up the courage to talk to Derek about William. She thought she was protecting her son; that she was offering him a chance to create the man he wanted to be, instead of mimicking a ghost. Truth was
,
it was too painful talking about the one she had loved and lost
,
and loved still. She had missed him every day, every hour, for the last fifteen years.

She refused to lose her son
,
too. The proud woman breathed in carefully, and put the small bottle back on the dresser.

Sonia rose on her feet when her host entered the winter garden. With the clear days of spring upon them, the small greenhouse was otherwise empty. Ylianor’s invitation to join her here had come sooner than she expected. The young woman smoothed her sunny dress. She hoped it hadn’t come too late.

“Lady Sonia.”

“Your
H
ighness.”

Annoyance flashed in the cornflower blue eyes. Ylianor took a seat and waved at her companion to imitate her.

“I am not longer a
q
ueen, as you know full well.”

The young brunette bowed her head briefly, maybe in an apology as she held the glacial stare. Ylianor might refuse her title, but she still acted like a Royal.

Pushing the thought away, Sonia focused on the reason that had brought her to Haven. There were alliances to revive, and time was ticking away fast. The young woman recited
:
“The Dragon’s blood sings, rise the Power to life; watching are the Faerlings, until needs its wife.”

Ylianor scowled. She was being given more riddles by a child, when she needed answers… The lady barely kept her tone regal, almost a snap
.

“Spare my patience and tell me why you forced Agnes to betray her mistress
. What do
you want with my son
?
”

Sonia lowered her gaze to mask her surprise. Under the icy words, she felt fear, and it troubled her. Ylianor was a mother deeply worried for her only child, but the
q
ueen also knew the significance of the poem
.
S
he had to. She had been raised by the Elders to marry a Pendragon
.
S
he couldn’t ignore…

Sonia allowed her eyes to brush over the fingers clutch
ing
the armchair, their knuckles white in wary. On an impulse, she covered the cold hand with hers, offering comfort. Ylianor
pulled
abruptly
away
f
r
om
the touch. Sonia resigned
herself
to us
ing
words for reassurance.

“My
l
ady, my family was always meant to protect the Blood and its legacy.”

“I don’t understand.”

Sonia hissed under her breath. In their grand scheme, the Countess of Gosharling and her
counsellors
had overlooked minor details, such as making sure the most important pieces on the chessboard knew their roles and the risks. So it relied on her to explain…

“My mother is a descendant of the Faerlings; we are the last of the Forest People. When Caer Lon fell, we took an oath to King
Caid
.”

“It’s a legend.”

“With all due respect, Queen Ylianor, it is
h
istory.”

The title casted a shadow on the weary stare, though this time Ylianor let it pass unuttered. Sonia went on.

“
Caid
not only entrusted us with the late High King’s sister
,
he left something else to our guardianship: Eileen’s price for her treason. I thought you were aware of that, you were taught by the People…”

“I heard your poem before
,
but it means nothing to me.”

The older woman had regained some part of her composure. Sonia repeated reverently
,
“Watching are the Faerlings, until needs his wife.”

Ylianor stood. She knew the words. She didn’t understand them but she needed to. Her voice quivered when she wanted it to stay firm.

“Please, Sonia, this is not the time for word games. Derek’s life is at stake
,
and ours too. You must tell me… What does the poem mean? What did you do to Sacha? Did you put a spell on her?”

Sonia seemed not to hear the questions or the anguish behind them.

“We guard Excalibur’s scabbard.”

The older woman sat back down slowly. The scabbard had a legend of its own. It was said High Kings couldn’t be defeated while they wore it. It was also said only the Worthy could wear in battle it without its soul being sucked into the magical item. Only the legitimate Blood could hold the Celestial Blade, and resist its deadly spell.

“Why now? Why Derek?”

“My mother is a Reader. Element
al
s talk to her. She governs none, but all speak to her.”

Sonia’s voice hushed.

“The night Derek was born she saw the four elements become one. Fire fell from the sky and when it split the Earth, Water changed its course to reveal what was hidden.”

It made no sense; nothing in the last days’ events did. Ylianor shook her head.

“Sonia, if you know something that can help us, you have to tell me. Please…”

The young woman bowed her head in apology.

“I’m sorry. I’m forgetting you are not aware of our prophecies. My mother witnessed what we, the Forest People, believe are the signs of the rise of the next High King. But let me finish, I hope it will make everything clearer.”

A cloud masked the sun, dimming the light inside the garden for an instant.

“So the
S
igns were acknowledged and we began to prepare for the King’s return but-“

“Camelot fell.”

Sonia went on, dismissing the interruption with the shortest nod.

“Yes; my father was instructed to take you to Haven, the only place where we would still be able to follow Derek’s upbringing.”

“Your father?”

Ylianor remembered the dreadful night when she had lost so much. She had tried very hard to bury the memory deep inside her heart, to no avail. She had never forgotten the terrible noise of the walls crumbling down; the yells of agony. The horrid smell of death… A desperate ride in the woods until dawn broke, Derek clutching her waist; one dark-haired man bowing before the five year old boy and herself, when a small group of knights welcomed them at the
south
ern frontier of the kingdom. And that man had turned his back to safety, and returned to fight for his lost king.

“Hector… Sir Hector was your father…”

Now the
q
ueen recognized the onyx stare, and the determined chin, inherited from her late husband’s second-in-command. It seemed each step, each one of her actions had been under scrutiny for years. Ylianor shook her head, unsure if she was annoyed or grateful for that ‘protection’.

“In Haven,
M
other was able to watch Derek through the Seer’s dreams.”

The royal blue eyes narrowed. Sacha’s
true
feeling and thoughts about her son were hers, a
private
place
, her refuge
… How dare someone observe-

“You spied on Sacha and used her to watch us?”

Sonia held her hands up in peace offering.

“We simply kept an eye for your well-being, my
l
ady. As it is our duty to do. Of course, we had a biased image of the King
-
” Ylianor’s stare hardened at the smirk in the young woman’s comment
.
“
B
ut it was better than nothing. Then, last year, Sacha’s visions blurred somehow.”

Sonia arranged her skirt around her, smoothing the fabric on her lap.

“Mother sent me here to discover the why, if not the remedy.”

The brunette grinned mischievously.

“I admit I was curious… I heard about Derek Pendragon all my life. When I met him, I knew. His blood sings.”

“Sacha did misunderstand your interest in Derek.”

Bitter amusement spiked in the otherwise sober tone of Ylianor. Sonia’s mouth twitched.

“Did she? I wish I
had
managed to befriend Sacha. If we had got along better, maybe I would have noticed the mark sooner…”

“What mark?”

Sonia looked away, studying their surroundings, then
stared
back
at
the
q
ueen
.

“When a sorcerer put
s
a spell on another magical being, the enchanted core reacts. That reaction leaves a mark. Sacha avoided me so efficiently it took weeks before I recognized it and alerted my mother. By then-”

Ylianor interrupted once more:

“What is it? That spell Wolfryth put on Sacha, what is it?”

Her heart vibrated dangerously. Sacha was enchanted. Sacha had convinced Derek to go to Camelot straight into the beast’s den… Ylianor forced herself to swallow, already loathing Sonia’s answer.
The
younger
lost no time denying Wolfryth was responsible.

“He apparently used a controlling spell.”

“So he could alter her visions
,
or rather ‘channel’ them.”

The queen folded her arms across her midsection. However hard she squeezed, the chill grew inside her, colder and colder.

“Sacha’s nightmares worsened this winter.”

“Yes. She saw only what he wanted her to see. We interfered
,
but we were late and Wolfryth is incredibly powerful. I never
encountered
a charm so strong before. Of course it had to be
,
to
make
Sacha
submit
. Her Seeing is the most potent since…”

Ylianor tensed; the discreet gesture tugged Sonia back to the main topic.

“When I finally identified the curse,
mother
was able to use a counterspell to stop him watching. We hoped that without the sight, he could not influence her. It worked, more or less efficiently, until the patrol was attacked.”

Sonia stopped, eyeing the glass door. Sunlight poured inside again, untouched. However, she felt something, like someone looking over her shoulder. Sonia pushed on
to
her feet, inviting Ylianor to imitate her.

“Would your
H
ighness walk with me?”

They got away from the bench to approach the trees the gardeners had still to put out. The rose bushes already showed buds between the tender spring leaves. Ylianor mechanically tore out some weed growing at the feet of an orange tree,
and
then another. Sonia’s account seemed to be coming to an end and with it the fragile clasp she had on her emotions. It was too much, aimless. She had lost her husband, might lose her only son and the lovely girl she considered as a daughter; all this sorrow and abandon
ment
for what? In the name of obscure prophecies and the greed of a sick man? Why? Hadn’t she suffered enough? Hadn’t her family given enough? What gods could desire so much pain?

The sliver of grass escaped her in a quiver. Ylianor winced as she noticed blood pearling from the cut. The throb washed
away
part of the anguish burning her stomach. Calmer, she faced her companion again. She knew she risked
blowing
up the cover they had so carefully put into place, but she had to ask.