Fathers and Sons: A Collection of Medieval Romances
Page 136
“I heard what was said,” she murmured. “I heard the screams, too, and came up behind you just as I heard you speak with Rhogan. So… the ghost has returned.”
Val lifted his eyebrows. “He has,” he said. “I do not know how he came here, but he is here just the same. And he saved Juliana from Aland’s ill intentions.”
Vesper was suffering the same strains of disbelief as her husband. Slowly, she shook her head.
“Astonishing,” she murmured, inspecting the hulking figure of Rhogan de Garr. “But he looks as if he has met with some terrible times. The man looks as if he has been living with the animals.”
Val noticed that, too. Dressed in rags and with a heavy beard, Rhogan looked like an animal himself. “I did not tell you what Aland told me earlier today,” he said. “He said Rhogan had met with a terrible accident and was cast aside by his princess. No one seemed to know where he had gone, but here he is. Do you suppose that is why he has come back? Because of such ill fortune?”
Vesper was watching the pair in the distance, difficult to see clearly beneath the dim light of the moon. But she and her husband could see very clearly when Juliana lifted Rhogan’s head and kissed the man. It took very little for Rhogan to wrap his big arms around her, holding her tightly.
As the winter sky glittered above, there was nothing but warmth and adoration in that little garden. It seemed to blanket everything around them, like the dusting of snow that glittered so delicately.
“I do not think that is why he came back,” Vesper murmured after a moment. “I think he came back because he loved Juliana.”
Val wasn’t sure how comfortable he was watching his daughter kiss a man but, upon reflection, he supposed that it was right and good that she did so. This was the man she had been waiting for all her life.
“And she loves him,” he said quietly. “She would not give him up, not even the memory of him. Mayhap she knew something we did not.”
Vesper smiled faintly as she watched the pair. “What they have is not an ordinary love,” she said. “It is a love that you and I share, something that goes beyond mere mortality. Look at them, Val. They exist in the realm of angels where there are no imperfections between them, where forgiveness is as natural as breathing. I do not think I have ever been prouder of my daughter than I am right now. She does not see the beaten and scarred exterior; she only sees the man she loves.”
Watching Juliana hug the dirty, beaten man before her, Val had to admit that his wife was correct. This was no ordinary romance. Juliana had never lost the love she held for the man so perhaps, in that sense, they truly did exist in the realm of angels, for only the angels would have brought Rhogan back to her. And only an angel on earth would have accepted him as he was, scars and all.
Val and Vesper were willing to believe a Christmas miracle had occurred that night. Leaving Juliana and Rhogan in the garden, they returned to the hall, knowing that all was right in the world again.
The king of their daughter’s heart had finally returned, for good.
* THE END *
About Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Just Got Real.
KATHRYN LE VEQUE is a USA TODAY Bestselling author, an Amazon All-Star author, and a #1 bestselling, award-winning, multi-published author in Medieval Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. She has been featured in the NEW YORK TIMES and on USA TODAY’s HEA blog. In March 2015, Kathryn was the featured cover story for the March issue of InD’Tale Magazine, the premier Indie author magazine. She was also a quadruple nominee (a record!) for the prestigious RONE awards for 2015.
Kathryn’s Medieval Romance novels have been called ‘detailed’, ‘highly romantic’, and ‘character-rich’. She crafts great adventures of love, battles, passion, and romance in the High Middle Ages. More than that, she writes for both women AND men – an unusual crossover for a romance author – and Kathryn has many male readers who enjoy her stories because of the male perspective, the action, and the adventure.
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