Albion's Legacy (Sons Of Camelot Book 3)

by Sarah Luddington

  Rhea laughed. “Oh, bloody hell, they want you to marry Morgan Avallach? Well, that won’t be happening, Holt, so don’t worry. I think Morgan would be much happier with a man she can bed.” She continued to giggle while stroking Galahad’s head. “You and Morgan...”

  “Yeah, alright, I know it’s a bad idea but you don’t have to make me feel quite so worthless, I am the bloody King of Camelot.” I wanted to come out of this with a little of my dignity intact.

  “At least for the moment, right?” she said, her gaze once more serious and penetrating.

  “At least for the moment,” I agreed, with equal seriousness.

  She nodded and rose from the floor. “I’ll give you a few moments, then join us next door, you must leave before he wakes and I can’t keep him under forever.”

  I sat beside Galahad, just staring at him in confusion. “What is going on in that head of yours?” I asked him. I considered using the bonding to find out but realised I would be messing around with a fragile mind and damaged soul. Galahad hadn’t known a proper peace since we’d met.

  “Look after yourself and them,” I told him. “I’ll look after Morgan, I promise.” I planted a kiss on his cheek and left the bathroom with its sleeping King.

  When I returned to my bedroom I could hear voices from the salon. The Brownies had been hard at work and a new set of riding leathers were laid on my bed. My saddlebags were also clean and repacked. I picked them up with a strange combination of emotions.

  Part of me was desperate to leave once again, to escape the nagging and responsibility, but part of me wanted desperately to lay still with Severus at my side.

  In the salon I found all those I was expecting: Nim, Lance, Severus and Rhea as well as Morgan. She was dressed for travel, the dark leather making her appear as a goddess of war, and I shivered. She had begun to look less like her mother now and more like a woman who knew how to command.

  “Where are we going?” I asked Rhea, strapping on my sword belt once again. The weight made my bones and back ache in protest. Severus came toward me and his gentle eyes were full of trepidation and sadness. I drew him toward me, and just to feel his weight pressed against my body, made it possible to understand the gifts of life not the curses.

  All eyes turned to Rhea. I couldn’t help but notice how pale Nim was, she didn’t like being separated from her twin at the best of times, and this was not the best of times. Rhea picked at a plate of cold roast lamb.

  “We have to get you out of The City,” Rhea said. “That’s the first stage.”

  “I don’t think there is time for us to go travelling all over Albion once again,” I said.

  “No, you don’t have time for travel or anything else come to that, but I don’t want her feeling what’s going to happen and with her army camped outside the walls of here and Camelot she’ll feel everything.”

  None of us needed confirmation of a name to know who we were talking about.

  Quilliam walked into the room and Rhea smiled. “My old friend.” She knelt and embraced the Brownie.

  “My Lady, it is very good to see you at last,” Quilliam said. When he disengaged from the embrace he stepped back and looked at her with sober brown eyes. “Everything is ready. The Lord Pendragon and Lady Morgan just need to come with me.”

  “Thank you, Quilliam. Albion will once more be in your debt –”

  A noise from the bathroom cut her off. I glanced at her and watched the colour rise in her pale cheeks. The door opened and Galahad stood there, leaning heavily on the door frame, his breathing ragged and his eyes heavily dilated.

  “Release me from the spell,” he gasped, his dark eyes hard and his body naked.

  Rhea approached him but Galahad pushed away from her and into the room, toward me. “Don’t let her touch me.” He fell into my arms. “Don’t let her steal me from you.” Fingers dug into my muscles. I turned him slightly to keep him protected between me and Severus.

  “I thought you’d appreciate the sleep,” I told him, the apology in my tone. I was supporting the weight of a man who felt like he’d drunk too much.

  “I must be the one to fight The Lady, Holt. Don’t let them take it from me. I have to finish this, whatever the cost. I have to!”

  I glanced over his shoulder at Morgan while she covered her brother in a blanket. Nim moved a chair and lowered our young King but he wouldn’t release me from his control. “Don’t let them deprive me of this. Her death is all that matters.”

  With gentle fingers I stroked his hands. “Galahad, you need to rest.” I sought our connection through the bonding, hoping to help calm him and take him back to the peace of sleep.

  “Don’t, Holt. Don’t try it. I will fight you for this. Make her release the spell,” he repeated. The depth of determination in his eyes made it clear to me that there would be no point in arguing. I looked at Rhea.

  “Release him,” I said.

  “Facing her could finish destroying his mind. I don’t understand how he is awake. He shouldn’t be able to fight me; all I want to do is protect him.”

  “He’s strong, Rhea. He always has been. Let him go. Don’t control him the way The Lady has, don’t force him, don’t try to mould him. Let Galahad du Lac be the man he chooses and trust him,” I said.

  “Even if it kills him?” Rhea asked.

  The pain in my heart when I heard those words belied my determination to give Galahad the freedom he craved to pursue his enemy.

  Rhea pressed her advantage, “And if he dies, you die, King of Camelot.”

  I frowned, cross with her suddenly for the portents of doom. “And maybe you need to trust us a little more. We are a good team, the two of us. With Severus and Morgan to help we can do this – whatever ‘this’ is.”

  Rhea sighed. “Alright, but Galahad is just as capable of getting you all killed and turning into his grandsire.”

  “My father’s blood is stronger,” Morgan told her. “We are stronger.”

  Rhea nodded and made a lazy gesture toward Galahad. For a moment he relaxed before I felt him surge through me, the bonding shining brightly for a moment.

  He rose and fixed his eyes on Rhea. “I’m not happy with you.”

  “I’m not overly pleased with you either. Why did you fight me so damned hard? I only wanted to protect what’s left of your sanity.”

  “It is my duty to make sacrifices for Albion,” Galahad snapped.

  “Not like this. How much use are you going to be to me if you’re mad?” Rhea countered. They moved more closely together and were snarling into each other’s faces. Nim stepped toward them, braver than the rest of us in the room.

  “I think we need to calm down. Rhea was trying to help you, Galahad. She didn’t mean any harm.” Nim placed a calming hand on his arm.

  Galahad’s mouth tightened and his eyes flashed, his temper still unpredictable. I decided to interfere. “If you are coming with us, you need to get dressed. Go next door, we must leave.”

  Our King briefly wondered if it was worth the aggravation to rebel against my command but he surrendered and left us alone. I turned instantly to Rhea. “How dangerous is he – really? You keep giving me hints that he’s about to lose his mind but he’s come through from mindlessness and seems stronger than ever in many respects.”

  “Holt, you can’t ask if Galahad’s dangerous to you,” said Nim, the horror of my betrayal clearly upsetting her sense of loyalty.

  “I can because it’s not just my life on the block, Morgan is coming with us – right?” I concentrated on Rhea once again.

  Her fawn coloured eyes were sad. “If he goes with you...”

  “Just give me the bad news, or even the edited highlights,” I ordered, out of patience with them all.

  “You are bonded...”

  “I know, Rhea, just tell me.”

  “He’s dying,” she blurted out.

  Silence from the entire room. Even the walls held their breath.

  “How?” Severus whispered. />
  “His mind is betraying him and with it his body will gradually shut down. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I wanted to keep him here in the hope that things would slow down. That we could find a way to save Holt.”

  The world turned but I remained still, trying to understand the consequences of her statement.

  “Madness can be cured and doesn’t kill anyone,” Lance said quietly.

  The world still turned but my life was ending.

  “It’s more than just a broken mind. The Lady has...” She shrugged, trying to explain something too complex for words. “There are traps inside him which cannot be healed. She’d be able to fix him perhaps, but she isn’t going to. I think her original plan was to make him king, marry him, then allow him to die so she could take the power of Albion’s connections to the fey,” Rhea told us. “Now she doesn’t need his connection so she’ll just allow him to die.”

  The news filtered through the room and everyone looked at me. Severus made a small sound of genuine pain.

  I squared my shoulders and the world continued to turn, so I joined it. “Does he know?”

  “I have no idea,” Rhea said. “I don’t think so, or you’d feel his sadness and guilt over killing you. He loves you more than anything else in the world.”

  I couldn’t take that on board right now. I needed practical, not emotional. “How long will it take for him to die?” I asked.

  “I don’t know that either. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to keep him safe,” she said, her eyes were tragic.

  “How long will I have after his death?” I asked her. Severus sat in the chair previously occupied by Galahad, there were tears on his cheeks and his hands trembled visibly.

  Rhea opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, her own unshed tears making her eyes bright. “You have not been bonded long. It could be several days, maybe weeks.”

  Lance stepped toward Rhea. “Can you do something, can you separate them? You took Arthur away from Lancelot; can you do the same thing here?”

  Rhea continued to look at me. “No, I don’t think so.” Her expression finally moved to Lance. “Some things just can’t be changed. I am sorry. Lancelot, Arthur and Tancred were so close, so entangled, their destinies were written long ago and we could use that, but Holt and Galahad are different men with different destinies. I really am so very, very, sorry.”

  “You didn’t do it, Rhea, this is not your fault. We bonded at a time when I was dying and we’ve had many, many months of life in exchange for that decision. I don’t think either of us would change that decision, despite it all, I would not sacrifice our bonding,” I said. I felt Severus stiffen beside me but it was Lance’s reaction I chose to focus on.

  I watched rage well up in my oldest friend, he didn’t get angry easily. “How can this be the final result of all the grief they’ve been through? How can you allow this? You’re a Titan, a god, do something. Holt is my King, my oldest and closest friend, my family.” He towered over Rhea and his torment filled the room.

  “This is not my fault. I did not plant this seed inside Galahad du Lac and I would change it if I could. Do you think I want to lose him?” she asked, clearly unafraid.

  I was afraid, for Lance, so I took hold of my friend. “It hasn’t happened yet, Lance. We don’t know how this will play out. We never do. And if it’s my time, there’s nothing I can do about it and Camelot will go on.”

  “I won’t,” Severus said quietly.

  “Stop it,” I told him. “Seriously, it hasn’t happened yet.” I glanced at Morgan and Nim, the twins stood together. “Time is all we have to sort this out; until the end comes we make no plans beyond the job at hand.”

  “How can you be so sanguine about it?” Severus asked, unable to hide the agony he’d suffer at my loss. I found it hard to look at him but I owed him bravery in the face of suffering, not emotional cowardice because his grief scared me.

  “I’m a soldier first, it’s part of the job,” I told him. “Things have a habit of changing on the throw of the dice. Sometimes the dice are loaded and you can’t fight the inevitable. I need everyone to agree that we do not speak of this to Galahad, because he will never, ever, allow me to join him if he thinks it will kill me but he cannot do this alone. Everyone, promise me, now.”

  I looked at each person in the room, including the Brownie and received a nod from them, some reluctant, some stoic.

  The door to my rooms opened and Galahad walked in, looking every inch the warrior-king.

  “Besides,” I said to the room. “I have him on our side and we’ve cheated death more than once.” I smiled at him, feeling the grace of his presence warm me.

  “Why are you talking about dying?” Galahad asked. “We haven’t started yet.”

  “They are worried you’ll be the death of me,” I told him in a light-hearted tone. I decided not to take Rhea’s pronouncement too seriously, there wasn’t any point. Galahad and I would fight as we always had – in concert.

  Nim and Morgan, still together, gazed at their brother. Nim worried and pale, Morgan calm and resolute. Her fate was entwined with her brother’s. If he were to die, she’d be the last of her line to try for the throne of Albion.

  “If we are ready I believe we should leave,” Quilliam said quietly. “Time is short.”

  “I cannot go with you directly,” Rhea said. “Albion and I need to meet at exactly the right moment. I will know when. Holt, don’t forget your charge.”

  My hand folded over the amulet in the pouch at my belt, given to me by Morgana. “I won’t.”

  The leave taking of those not joining us was swift. Lance and I exchanged hardly a word, he knew perfectly well that if I didn’t make it back he and Nim would be the liaison Camelot needed with the fey and The City. He’d also be responsible for keeping the Pendragon bloodline on the throne. I didn’t envy him that job to be honest. If the merchants and guilds were beginning to disavow the rights of Camelot’s nobility I could see a day when they removed us from the social structure completely. But all things change.

  We followed Quilliam through the palace and out into the labyrinth of gardens. The quiet among us began to sit heavily upon me, the grim reality of losing those I loved stealing my peace of mind. I would not grieve for myself in leaving this world for the next, how could I? I’d been honest with Severus when I told him I was a warrior and therefore destined to die an unnatural death. If I did manage to die in my bed it would be more by accident than anything else. I would also walk beside my family once more and I could not regret that, the only real loss and sadness would be Severus. He deserved a life without grief and suffering but if he remained with me it was inevitable. I wished I could leave him at home, safe and at peace. From the moment I’d met him all I’d wanted to give him was a sense of security and I just kept dragging him from one conflict to another.

  Galahad was naturally my next thought. My strange friend, the mercurial nature almost too complex to grasp and the passions within him too dark to understand, walked beside Quilliam. To believe he’d self-destruct at some point because of The Lady wasn’t beyond comprehension. He suffered a darkness within his soul I don’t think any of us could fully comprehend, though I knew I came closest, and it was this that drove him to my bed and away again. He wanted to be the perfect knight. He wanted a blameless soul. He wanted to be chaste and innocent but like all of us, he was just a man. Blessed with a smile to break hearts and a charm to match, but also desires that engulfed the purity he sought. I didn’t think he’d ever know true happiness or peace, or even if it were possible for a man like him.

  I was lucky. I’d tasted something Galahad never would. I knew peace. In Severus’ arms I understood the peace of true love and contentment. I had enjoyed tranquillity, I understood joy and hope. I knew my place in the world and how it moved around me, what it expected. I might not like what the world wanted from me but I did understand it. I feared Galahad would never have that gift.

  The peace I felt in my b
onded companion in this moment came from the peace before conflict. The moment before the battle when the world becomes a very simple place. To die or to live. The equation relying on your skill and that of your enemy. Luck didn’t usually have much to do with those kinds of conflicts and Galahad knew he had the skill and believed he had the right to defeat The Lady, we just had to have the raw power to achieve our goal.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  We reached the edge of the formal garden and Quilliam stood before the wall that separated the royal household from the grounds of the different legions guarding the palace and The City. We happened to be near the First Legion’s base. I doubted that was a coincidence. A small gated doorway stood within the darkness of the wall.

  “You will have to be careful of your heads, this entrance is designed for my kind. It would be wise for the Lady Morgan to remain at the front with myself in the lead. If you would be kind enough to close the gate, my Lord,” Quilliam said to Severus.

  He turned to the gated door in the stone wall and waved his hand over the place a doorknob should usually be, it opened soundlessly. I didn’t remember ever noticing a door in this wall and I’d walked through the normal entrance many times.

  I didn’t bother enquiring after this small piece of fey magic. The Brownies deserved their secrets and those of us from Camelot had long since stopped trying to understand the mysteries of this world. I did want to know something however, I said to Severus, “My Lord?”

  He grinned at my amused question. “Morgan took it on herself to give me a title when I returned and you didn’t. I am the official Lord of her estates within The City. She has sole possession of a small estate given to her by her mother where she is planning to have a private retreat. Where she will work on private projects unconnected to her work among the family. She says I can help oversee the gardens and building. I think she just wanted Quilliam to stop panicking every time he spoke to me as he’s not sure of my status within the royal family.”