Breath Of Heaven
Page 24
“I do not understand,” Eliane said. “What has happened?”
Rhys knelt beside her and laid the babe in her arms. “We have a son,” he said. Eliane looked down at the babe and saw a thatch of red hair and a strong brow, much like his father’s. Her heart swelled as the child nudged her breast.
“We have a son?” she asked. She looked from Rhys to Madwyn.
“He is yours. I gave him mandrake to make him sleep so I could carry him out. The child you saw died yestermorn in birth. ’Twas Jodhi and Peter’s. Jodhi has nursed your babe ‘til your return.”
“But a son.” She still could not believe it. For as long as history was written, there had only been daughters born to the women of Aubregate. The babe whimpered in protest at not being fed. Madwyn nodded encouragement and Eliane loosened the tie on her kirtle and put the child to her breast. He latched on with a determined ferocity that made her gasp. Rhys laughed and placed his hand around the back of his son’s head. His other hand found the end of her hair and he pulled the curl straight, watching with a rueful smile as it bounced back. Eliane tore her eyes from the babe to watch Rhys’s reaction to her hair.
“Madwyn told me you did this,” he said.
“I am sorry.” She was suddenly self-conscious of her looks. She had not seen him for months and knew she was not the same wife he’d left behind.
“It will grow.”
She nodded and ran her finger down the soft cheek of her son. He raised his arm and placed his tiny fist against her breast.
“I would have cut off my arm to get you back,” Rhys said, and she knew he meant it.
She looked at him once more. His eyes upon her were deep and dark, haunted by the lonely little boy he had once been. While her son nursed at her breast, her blood quickened with want and need for her husband.
“I love you, Eliane.”
Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked them back. “As I love you.”
He slowly bent his head to hers. “You are the treasure of Aubregate,” he said as his lips found hers in the gentlest of kisses.
Later, when they were in the keep at Aubregate and once more clean and well fed, Rhys realized that what he felt was contentment. He gazed at Eliane from his chair by the fire. Llyr felt it too. His tail thumped against the floor as Rhys gave his huge head a rub.
Eliane sat on the bed, playing with their son. Her hair was freshly washed and had quickly dried into a riot of curls that bounced around her shoulders as she laughed at a face the babe made. Her countenance glowed and he knew in his heart that she would never regret giving birth. That she would never abandon their son or willingly leave his side.
At last he had a home. As if she knew he watched her, she lifted her face and her emerald eyes dazzled him as they always did.
“We must have a name for him,” she said as he joined her on the bed. Rhys put his finger in the babe’s palm, and his fist closed over it in a tight grip.
“He will do well with a sword,” he said.
“Already training him to fight, are you?”
“I have enough trouble training Mathias.” The babe’s eyes shifted between their faces, and once more he was struck by how much his gaze resembled Eliane’s. “We will give him plenty of time to play boyish games and learn the ways of the land before putting a sword in his hand.” Feeling a bit foolish, he added, “Mayhap I can learn these things as well.”
“You will be a good father, Rhys.” He was once more caught by her emerald gaze. “I know it in my heart.” She smiled sweetly and he could not help kissing her. The babe pushed at them with his legs and thrust his arms out, causing them both to laugh at his antics.
“We could name him Edward after your father.”
“I would like to use Edward, but there is also another name I like. Since he is a male child and the first in more years than I can count, I thought we might give him a name of the forest also.”
“Do you have one in mind?”
“Yes. I would like to call our son Duncan. After Han’s father.”
“Duncan,” Rhys said. “I like the sound of it.” He raised an eyebrow and looked at Eliane skeptically. “Are you sure Han has a father? I had always thought Edward kept him in a box and only brought him out to deliver messages.”
Eliane laughed at his joke, and then turned serious once more. “Truly? You like Duncan for our son?”
“Duncan Edward de Remy. ’Tis a fine name.”
Eliane moved their son from the bed to her lap and cooed down at him. “Duncan is your name. ’Tis a fine name indeed and one you will do justice to.”
“If Duncan was Han’s father, then who was his mother?”
“Madwyn, of course.”
Rhys shook his head in disbelief. “It seems to make sense, now that you’ve told me.” He watched in fascination as Duncan latched on to Eliane’s breast. “The people of the forest are a kingdom unto themselves.”
“Oh, dear husband, you have no idea.”
A knock on the door interrupted his question. “Come,” he commanded, and Mathias came in, walking slowly became of the wound in his side.
“We have visitors,” he said.
“Please tell me they are not from the king,” Rhys groaned. He’d sent a message by Jess to Henry, telling him of Vannoy’s actions and his death. Now there was the wait to see who would claim Chasmore. Rhys chose not to worry over it. He had more important things to fill his mind.
“Nay, milord,” Mathias said. “ ’Tis a family of crofters. They said milady bade them come here if they were in need.” Mathias placed his ring in his hand. Rhys had noticed it was gone from Eliane’s hand but had not had time to ask about it. He held it up for her to see.
“My ring!” she exclaimed, and a look of sheer joy came over her lovely face. “They cared for me when I begged Vannoy to stop. They were most kind and gracious to me even though their own lives were at risk. I told them they would always have a home at Aubregate.”
“Indeed they will,” Rhys said. “Give them shelter and tell them I will meet with them on the morrow.”
“Yes, milord,” Mathias said, and made to shut the door.
“Mathias,” Rhys called out. The boy looked at him expectantly. “It pleases me to say that of late, I have no cause to beat you.”
Mathias grinned. “It pleases me to hear so, milord.”
They both laughed as Mathias closed the door.
Contentment…If every day could have moments such as these…Rhys took Eliane’s hand in his, and slid the ring back where it belonged. Her fingers closed over his. He put his arm around her and pulled her and Duncan against him, while placing his cheek against the satiny softness of her curls. He pulled a curl straight and watched in fascination as it bounced back into place. It was a simple pleasure. One that he would never tire of.
Epilogue
We must walk from here,” Eliane said. They dismounted in a small glade that was barely big enough for their horses. The small game trail they’d followed had gone up and down and twisted upon itself until he had no clue at to where he was within the forest of Aubregate. It seemed much bigger once one was in it than it did when one rode around it.
It came to him as they rode that he had now seen Eliane in every season. He’d met her in the dead of winter, within the forest. He’d lusted after her through the spring, missed her during the heat of summer, and realized he could not live a day without her when the leaves blazed bright as her hair. Love, once discovered, was something he desired more than anything.
Eliane was sad and his heart ached for her. He could tell her mood by the way her fingers twisted in the hair at Llyr’s neck. It was the first time they had left Duncan for more than a few hours, but it was not missing the child that caused her mood. Duncan was well cared for by Khati and Jodhi. It was Madwyn’s imminent departure that caused her sadness.
As they followed the nearly invisible trail deeper into the forest, Madwyn carried her basket and Han carried a blanket wrapped with her
other things. Her snowy owl landed in a branch overhead and watched them with its golden eyes before taking off again to lead the way.
A heavy frost had come the night before and the air was thick with cold; his lungs hurt with the effort to breathe, and the air fogged with each exhalation. The thick carpet of leaves crunched heavily under his boots as he followed Madwyn, Han, and Eliane down the trail between the twisting roots of the oaks.
They walked in silence, Llyr, Han, Madwyn, and Eliane before him. They knew they were safe here. There was none from the outside world who could survive coming in this deep. Rhys felt as if he’d gone into another world. They walked on, the only sounds the chirping of the birds and the occasional flutter of wings, and the crunch of the frozen leaves.
The air felt suddenly warmer. The sharp bite of the frost was gone. A breeze that felt like summer touched his cheek and Eliane turned and graced him with a smile. The smells changed also. No longer was there the forest smell of decay and rotten wood. Instead he smelled something fresh and clean, like newly cut grass.
The trail spiraled downward again. Through the trees he saw a glimmer of water. The leaves that still hung on the trees overhead sighed with the breeze and he looked up. He saw the owl again, a flash of white against the bronzes, reds, and golds of autumn.
The trail widened and thick grass edged the trail. They moved into a glade bisected by a wide stream. Llyr bounded down to the water’s edge and drank. The glade was so large that it was hard to see into the trees opposite. Even though it was fall, flowers bloomed brightly in patches and butterflies skimmed over their tops. It was so warm that he could remove his cloak.
Rhys stepped out into the open and turned in a circle with his eyes on the sky. It was the same bright blue as before and scattered with a few fluffy clouds. He could not count the miles they had ridden, or walked.
“What is this place?” he asked Eliane.
“This way,” she said with a mysterious smile.
They followed after Han and Madwyn, who had disappeared around a huge pine with branches that swept the ground. When he came round it, he stopped in his tracks. Two stone columns stood before him. The warm breeze he felt upon his face came from between, yet the grass beyond did not move.
Madwyn dropped her basket next to the things Han had carried. Her son bent to her, took her in his arms, and hugged her tight.
“I will miss you, Mother,” he said.
“It is time for me to go,” she said as Eliane went to her.
“You can stay,” she said. A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away. “I don’t know if I can do this without you.”
Madwyn took Eliane’s hands into hers. “Nonsense. My duty was to show you the way and help you raise your daughter.” She ran a hand through Eliane’s curls and smiled her approval. “But you have a son. It is up to Han to show him the way.”
“But what if we have a daughter someday? What then?” Eliane asked tearfully.
“Then there will be someone for her as I was there for you, your mother, and her mother before her.” She hugged Eliane to her breast. “More of your mothers than you will know, Eliane. They wait for me inside. As I will wait for you.” She looked at Rhys and she suddenly seemed younger and more beautiful than ever. “And you.”
“What is this place?” Rhys asked. “Where are you going?”
“It is the passageway to our world,” Han said. “We are the guardians of this gate.”
“Your world?” Rhys asked.
“You know of Merlin and Arthur?” Madwyn asked.
“Yes. Camelot.” Rhys knew the legend.
“Merlin was one of us. We are the fey. Long ago this land was ours, but men and their wars drove us from it. This is the only place that remains where our kind can cross over into our paradise. We leave it open for those who are still lost.”
“It is my duty to protect it,” Eliane said. “As long as the portal remains open, Aubregate will prosper. This is the treasure.”
“If a mortal passes through, it will be destroyed,” Han said.
“But you said you will wait for Eliane…and me.”
“Eliane may come when it is her time. She may bring you if her heart desires it.”
Eliane took his hand. “My heart will always desire it.”
“But what of your mother? And Edward?”
“We may only die in battle,” Han said. “Arden died fighting to protect the keep.”
“Therefore Edward could not go with her,” Rhys surmised.
“A good reason to keep me safe,” Eliane teased.
“Always,” he promised. “No matter the cost.”
They stood hand in hand as Madwyn waved good-bye and stepped through the portal. The breeze quickened, and blew across them, throwing Eliane’s curls into wild disarray around her. Rhys watched Madwyn fade into the distance and heard a soft whinny. A white horse, nay, not a horse, for it had a horn upon its forehead…Eliane squeezed his hand.
“Yes. ’Tis what you think,” she said. “Someday I will show you.”
“I can wait,” he said. “For my heaven is right here, beside you.”
Rave Reviews for Cindy Holby!
FALLEN
“From the lochs of Scotland to the shores of America comes a gentle romance about two lonely hearts who find each other only to be torn apart by betrayal.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Cindy Holby provides a fun late eighteenth-century romance that takes place on both sides of the Atlantic.”
—Midwest Book Review
RISING WIND
“The final installment of the Wind series is a gritty, suspenseful novel that Holby’s readers are sure to enjoy.”
—RT Book Reviews
“If you like a good adventure romance and something a little different, then Rising Wind should definitely answer the call. I can’t recommend Holby’s writing and characters enough and look forward to reading her again.”
—All About Romance
WHIRLWIND
“Whirlwind is an exciting addition to Mrs. Holby’s Wind saga. This story keeps you reading with never a dull moment. It’s full of action and adventure…If you haven’t read the Wind books, I suggest you do so; you won’t be disappointed.”
—Fresh Fiction
“A fast-paced, romantic adventure filled with laughter and danger…Zane and Mary are fire and ice, each wanting to fall in love, yet fighting every step of the way…the pages turn very quickly and their story of adversity keeps the reader absorbed.”
—Romance Reviews Today
FORGIVE THE WIND
“Wow! What a great addition to this series. Like all the other books in this series, you’ll get a good chuckle and shed a few tears.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Holby writes an enjoyable romance.”
—RT Book Reviews
WINDFALL
“A great story with warm, likable characters.”
—The Best Reviews
“If you’re fascinated with the Civil War, Holby gives you everything you want and more.”
—RT Book Reviews
CROSSWINDS
“Cindy Holby proves she is quite talented with an enjoyable saga that fans will relish.”
—Midwest Book Review
“A reader who is enchanted by history and the U.S. Civil War will be sure to enjoy this read.”
—Roundtable Reviews
WIND OF THE WOLF
“A wonderful story! It captured my attention, pulled me in and made me feel like I was there with the characters.”
—Old Book Barn Gazette
“Cindy Holby displays her talent with an insightful look at tragedy.”
—Midwest Book Review
CHASE THE WIND
“Cindy Holby takes us on an incredible journey of love, betrayal, and the will to survive. Ms. Holby is definitely a star on the rise!”
—The Best Reviews
“Chase the Wind is like no other book you’ll read
, and you owe it to yourself to experience it.”
—EscapetoRomance.com
Other Leisure books by Cindy Holby:
FALLEN
RISING WIND
WHIRLWIND
FORGIVE THE WIND
WINDFALL
CROSSWINDS
WIND OF THE WOLF
CHASE THE WIND
Writing as Colby Hodge:
TWIST
STAR SHADOWS
SHOOTING STAR
STARGAZER
Copyright
A LEISURE BOOK®
June 2010
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2010 by Cindy Holby
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