“Do we tell him about her death?” Lance asked.
“We can’t afford to,” I said. “It will risk the people she was due to meet here. We weren’t supposed to be in Larz and we don’t want him finding enemies where he wasn’t previously looking. Besides she wasn’t really his sister. Does anyone know the burial rights of her people?”
“What are her people?” Severus asked.
“Kerith,” I said.
His sister gasped and Severus’ skin flushed. “My father was Kerith,” he said quietly. He did everything quietly I noticed, taking up as little space as possible now we weren’t alone.
“They are a rare tribe of fey, are you certain?” Nest asked.
“I am. She will not need to be buried or burned. She is of the earth, we just have to find the right place to leave her and she will return to the earth.”
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“They are like the brownies and ogre,” Nest explained. “They come from the spirit of Albion more than other fey, they return to their Mother when their time is done in this world.”
This made us all sad, the grief of losing Aleah hitting us all for the first time. “She was a strong woman,” I said. “She did not deserve to die.”
“She honoured her people,” Nest agreed. “And her husband,” she added quietly.
I smiled sadly but only because Aleah was dead, not because of her place in Galahad’s life. “She did. He cared for her deeply in the end.”
We began to speak of our memories of the young woman who had been with us for too short a time. Did Galahad even know he’d been widowed? Once more no one stood between us – if only we were in the same place. That thought lasted no longer than my gaze catching Severus’.
“Right,” I said, bringing everyone to attention. “It’s time to move on. We cannot stay here and we have enough horses to leave. We need supplies but we can buy those on the way, there are farms in the area. For now we move. Is there anything you need at your home?” I asked Severus in front of everyone.
He stared at me blankly.
“You are coming with us, you and your sister.”
“No...” he said.
“Holt,” Lance said using his warning tone. “That’s two extra mouths without the swords. We are down Galahad, we cannot offer them protection.”
A voice from the entrance to the lodgings made Severus start violently and poor Lil yelp. I turned and rose in one movement, pulling my sword and stepping in front of Severus. The others did the same. Nim pulled Lil behind us.
The biggest man I’d ever seen came storming toward us with a much smaller man next to him. The big man, all muscles and possibly some ogre, had skin darker than midnight. The small man, built more like Severus but with dead eyes, shouted at us in his own language.
Severus rose and tried to push past me, speaking in his own language and holding his hands out. I could hear his panic and Lil began to speak, her voice full of fear. I pulled the young man back and lifted my sword point toward the big man.
“I suggest you stop,” I said clearly.
“Who the fuck are you?” the small man asked in Common with a heavy accent.
“It doesn’t matter, I’m the one whose telling you to stop,” I said, my voice suitably chilly.
“That boy owes me money,” the small man said.
I felt my eyes narrow. “I don’t think so.”
“Holt, I do, I didn’t pay him for our night together and last night when they were beating me... I owe him two nights...” Severus’ voice babbled behind me.
This was Severus’ pimp. I should have guessed. Considering how much I paid for his services his living conditions were pitiful.
The small man looked at Severus. “How are you going to earn money looking like that?” he asked. “What did you do? It isn’t that difficult to suck cock well, or take a good fucking.”
The sword moved without me really understanding I’d taken action. As the long blade slid into the large man’s belly, my knife came free and sliced the neck of the pimp. The big man tried to draw his own knife but Lance stepped up and thrust his own sword through the man’s heart. Both died.
“He comes with us, Sire,” Lord Fitzwilliam said. “They both come with us.”
I looked at Lance and nodded. “Thank you, my friend.”
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
The wail from the man who owned the lodgings when he found two more dead bodies on the premises surprised us all – he should be used to it. He vowed never to allow northerners over his threshold again. I vowed never to return to Larz unless I had an army at my back.
It took almost no time to pack our things, collect Aleah’s belongings together and give them to Lil, and Galahad’s, which I would keep, including his sword. Once done we picked up the horses.
“I cannot ride, neither can my sister,” Severus said. He’d hardly spoken since the death of his pimp; he just kept staring at me with a mixture of fear and confusion.
“It’s alright, you aren’t strong enough at the moment. You’ll ride with me, we’ll teach you both once we are free of this place. Lil can ride with Nim, Morgan will ride with Valla. The other horses can carry our spare gear. We can buy you new belongings on the way. Galahad’s won’t fit you,” I said, checking my tack.
“Right,” he said, faintly.
“You do want to come?” I asked for the first time.
“I...”
I stopped moving. “Gods, you don’t. Severus – I thought – I just... I’m sorry, I’ve made assumptions. I’m not...” Damn fool, I thought to myself, because of you he’s been half beaten to death and lost his protector in a city of bad men.
“I don’t understand,” he whispered.
“What don’t you understand?”
“You are a king.”
“Yes, sorry, should have told you but...” I shrugged.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Helping?” I laughed. “Severus, I owe you. The injuries you are currently enduring are my fault.”
He stepped toward me for the first time and placed a hand on my chest, to stare up into my face. He was searching for something. “Why are you helping me? I am a whore, you are a king.”
“Do want to continue selling your body for sex?” I asked him.
“No,” he said.
“Then someone needs to give you a chance to change that pattern. I can give you that chance. It’s up to you what you do with it.”
“You don’t want me? You just want to rescue me?”
I cupped his jaw. “It is your choice where you spend your nights, Severus. If you wish to share my bed, I would be honoured, but you don’t have to and I’m not doing this because I expect it.”
He rose on his toes and those damaged soft lips brushed mine. “I choose you and your bed, King of Camelot,” he said. “I will leave whenever you wish me to, but I...” He stared at me once more. “My Golden Warrior, I am already half in love with you. It’s only fair you know.”
I smiled and all the loneliness I’d known over the years before Galahad and afterwards washed away. “Then we have a deal. You fall in love with a king and I will fall in love with a whore. Between us we will rewrite the rules on what is permitted.” I kissed him with more passion and it felt wonderful. I didn’t love him, not yet, it was too soon after too many strange events but it would happen. I was ready to love someone, I’d just been picking the wrong men. Torvec was dead and Galahad... I’d meant what I’d said to him before he’d been taken. I would never share his bed again.
I helped Lil onto the back of Nim’s horse and showed Severus where he could place his unbroken hand and damaged foot to help himself upward. The others, Valla and Morgan, were both injured but they could cope with the pain in order to leave the city of Larz. Kerwin brought Aleah’s body on another horse. I took point, Lance the rear guard, Nest in the centre. Not having Galahad’s professional sword arm travelling with us made everyone jumpy. We kept close together and forced o
ur way out of the city to the east, the closest point, then I turned us north on a good road and we picked up the pace.
“This is amazing,” Severus said behind me. His good arm was tight around my waist and he’d begun to match my movements perfectly. He laughed.
“The pain alright?” I asked.
“I can live with the pain if it means remaining at your side, joining your adventure and this,” he called out loudly. I chuckled and pushed the horse to a controlled gallop. Severus whooped happily. It felt wonderful to have his body pressed tight to mine. We rode on into the dusk and found lodgings on the well travelled road.
“Friend Holt,” came a familiar voice from the corner of a small taproom.
“Habib?” I replied. The merchant appeared looking the worst for wear. “What happened? Where are the others?”
Habib shrugged, his tiredness clear. “Alas, it was not to be. Larz is not a good city to do business. It seems it was not you I needed to worry about with regards to my faithless young wife.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” I said.
“Where is your brooding dark friend?” he asked.
“Long story. We will share a drink and talk,” I said. Lance dealt with the rooms and ordered us food. Severus sat close to me, Lil close to him and the others spread themselves around. Aleah’s body remained with the horses but Kerwin had prepared her with great care so she’d be protected until we found the right place to give her back to Albion.
Habib and I exchanged stories but he didn’t understand why Galahad was valuable to anyone but us as our companion. I didn’t illuminate him. We ate and tiredness took over.
Lance informed me I had my own room, small but clean, at the back of the inn. I firmly took hold of Severus’ hand and we left the others. When we reached the room he turned and looked up at me. The healing from Nim and Nest still worked its gentle magic, improving the bruising with more speed than whenever I had to recover from a beating, not being fey.
“What would you like tonight?” he asked, slightly fearfully I thought.
“You don’t understand this arrangement, do you?” I said, sitting on the bed and pulling off my boots. He remained silent and still. I patted the bed and he sat next to me. “Severus, what would you like? If you want the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor, it doesn’t matter to me. If you want to have sex we can do that, or if you want to sleep in my arms, we can do that.”
“Really?” He took my hand and drew circles on my palm.
“Really, I just have one question,” I said. He looked up at me. “What happened to you in the city, before that man turned up? You were... Suffering something.”
“I will tell you, Holt, but I just – it’s a bit confusing. I need to think on it and after last night, the night before with you, I wonder if...”
“You want to sleep.”
“In your arms if that’s alright.” He was smiling up at me and I couldn’t refuse the offer. I leaned into him and kissed his mouth. His lips opened and I entered his body slowly, the kiss deepening. He had no fear in his body language, no resistance in his surrender to my cradling arms.
When I let him up for air he said, “Maybe a little fooling around first, my Golden Warrior.”
“I really like being wanted,” I told him. “But tonight you sleep.”
He smiled adoringly and we undressed. I helped him and saw the main bruises on his body. How he’d managed to sit up and ride during the day I didn’t understand, he should be safely tucked up in bed. With more care than strictly necessary I lay him in the small bed and curled around his back. He pulled my arm around his body and we were asleep in moments.
The following day we rose early, poor Severus stiff from riding the previous day and the washout from the beating. I helped him and Lil while striking another deal with Habib. He still had some of his horses and wares so he planned on building up his business. I warned him we were travelling north quickly but he seemed fine with that so long as I didn’t leave him somewhere alone.
We rode north for a long time during the day but found the perfect spot for Aleah during the late afternoon. A quiet hilltop off the road that overlooked a fertile valley with farms, a wood and a river. We took her to the top and lay her gently on the ground, among herbs and small pink flowers. I cut her free of the bindings, but didn’t unravel them, not wanting to disturb her body any more than necessary. We stood around while Severus knelt beside her and for the first time I saw him as a man separate to me and my experiences.
He started to sing in a language I didn’t know, the sound sweet and clear. He didn’t have Torvec’s rich musical tones but it was beautiful. We stood around in respectful silence and Nim, our heart, wept for her friend. I just kept thinking about Galahad. How was he? Where was he?
The song ended and Severus looked up at me. “It is done,” he said. “She has been accepted, we can either remain and see her passing done or leave, the body itself is empty and she knows we have urgent business.”
I frowned slightly at his words, confused by the present tense of Aleah’s wishes, but I put it down to a muddle of language and Severus’ obvious exhaustion. We walked back down the hill toward the horses and Severus stumbled badly, rocking into me.
I caught his arm, holding him upright. “Are you alright?” I asked.
“I didn’t know you were bonded to Galahad,” he whispered, trying to draw breath. He bent over, leaning against my hip. “Bonded to Galahad and... No, that cannot be right. You cannot be serious, there are no dragons in Albion.” He dropped to one knee and I called the others to a halt.
“Oh, no, Severus, not now,” Lil cried out, racing toward her brother. She dropped to the ground beside him and tried to shake him. “Stop it, stop it, they will reject you. We will be lost...”
I knelt as well. “Can someone tell me what’s going on?” I asked the others.
“He is Kerith, at least in part, that clearly makes him strongly empathic and I think there’s more,” Nest said. She rubbed her arms as if cold.
I touched Severus’ bowed back and the moment I did he sat straight. “Holt?” it wasn’t Severus’ soft light voice. It was Torvec’s. “Holt?” Severus’ head turned, his eyes were bright and no longer their own colour, they were blue with a shadow of the elongated iris.
“Tor...” I felt my heartbeat quicken and my breath shorten. “Torvec?”
A slow smile spread over Severus’ face. “I have finally reached you. It is so good to see you, beloved,” Torvec said, using tones Severus didn’t.
“What?” I asked, more than slightly horrified.
“Dragon, beloved. I am the white dragon, Lancelot knew the black. I have bonded with you, so I will always be with you, at least my shadow, my ghost will be present,” Torvec said.
Oh, gods.
“Unfortunately, Severus isn’t very strong at the moment, so I must be brief. I know you want to close the bonds between you and Galahad but he needs you. The ties between you must be woken and used,” Torvec said firmly in a voice with more confidence than I’d ever heard from him in life.
“But...”
“I know, love. I know. It’s confusing and impossible but I can help. I am tied to you both. I can reach through you and give you access to Galahad,” he said.
“What about Severus?” I asked weakly.
“He’s fine, I won’t hurt him. I need him and so do you. I think he’ll make you very happy,” Torvec said with a warmth that surprised me. I finally had the sense to look toward the others. Lance shrugged.
“Talk to him,” Nim urged.
“I’m not hurting Severus?” I asked Lil.
“I do not know,” she said in a small voice. “He has always been branded as evil for touching the dead.”
I didn’t for one moment think Severus was evil, just touched by a rare fey power that seemed to render him incapable while the spirit took over. The spirit of my dead lover.
I looked into Torvec’s eyes surrounded by Severus’ black waves of hair and
said, “Are you alright, Torvec?”
“No time, King of Camelot, we have to reach Galahad,” he said.
“Torvec, I don’t understand. I can’t use the bonding – it’s flawed. We aren’t... We weren’t... Lovers...” I finished lamely and feeling my skin flush. Why was I talking about this to the shade of Galahad’s rival?
“I know it’s difficult, but you can reach him, you can go through all The Lady’s barriers, if I am with you,” Torvec said. “But time is short and Galahad needs to feel you inside him.”
Ah, the times I’d wished that to happen in a different context.
“What do I have to do?” I asked.
“Simply open yourself to me,” Torvec said.
“Sire,” Lance stepped forward from the group surrounding us. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Torvec is dead and whatever this is we have no reason to trust he isn’t going to drag your soul down with his.”
Severus’ head turned and those strange eyes looked up at Lance, who shuddered and stepped back. “I would never harm, Holt. Have faith. I’m disappointed in you, I thought everyone would want to help Galahad.”
“Everyone does,” I said, drawing the shade’s attention back to me. “We are just a little worried and trying to take precautions, Torvec. You’ve taken advantage of me more than once.” Understatement. He’d bonded to me without my permission, lied to me about who he was and where he came from and tried to hurt Galahad on more than one occasion.
“I must help you,” Torvec whispered. “I must make reparation. Albion isn’t very happy with me... She’s very – firm – about my responsibilities.” His irises dilated and an expression of extreme worry crossed Severus’ face. This was odd, scary odd.
The Du Lac Legacy (Sons of Camelot Book 2) Page 22