Written in the Stars Page 7

  Yes, she knew there was great danger, for she felt the energy of darkness around her.

  From where does it come? And what should I do to overcome it?

  These were the questions which haunted her. Yet they faded, becoming nothing compared to the heart of her torment.

  How can I change the course of my life to intersect with Will’s?

  Feeling the chill of the hours past midnight, she crawled into bed, clasping the jeweled girdle to her breasts, praying its magic would give her the answers.

  Alice found her there in the morning.

  “God in heaven, you could have hurt yourself with that thing in your bed while you slept!”

  Having been granted no answers, but rather a sleepless night, Elizabeth sat weakly on the side of the bed while Alice fussed about, gathering scented water and all Cybil’s potions to better help her greet the day.

  The knock came at the door as Alice finished lacing Elizabeth’s morning robe.

  Will, neatly dressed, his hair darkened by water and his skin glowing, stood in the entry.

  My prayers have been answered.

  Joy exploded through her blood, evaporating her listlessness, propelling her into movement.

  “Alice, leave us, please.” Surprisingly, she vanished without comment.

  Slowly closing the door, Will turned to her.

  Not able to wait another moment, she ran to be in the cherished warmth of his arms.

  He stood quite still, his hands gripped behind his back.

  She swayed to a stop, her eyes searching his closed face. “What has happened?”

  “Lady Elizabeth, I have come to tell you I am leaving tomorrow with a troop of my men to fortify our border with Scotland. This will be our last meeting. When I return you shall be my brother’s wife.”

  The words reached her, but she couldn’t understand their meaning, so foreign was his face and voice.

  When finally they penetrated her confusion she recoiled in disbelief.

  “So we are to repeat your mother and father’s tragedy.”

  For an instant she marveled at how she had known what weapon to use to drain his skin of color and bring blue fire to his eyes. To bring life to the hard-controlled muscles of his face.

  I know because I am his soul mate.

  “Elizabeth, you must understand I can offer you nothing but dishonor.”

  She held back the tears, the need to throw herself into his arms, pleading with him not to leave her alone. “You can offer me love, can you not, Will?” she asked softly.

  His eyes caressed her, giving her the courage to take a step closer.

  “Until the end of time, Elizabeth, I shall love you.”

  “Then do not throw away our future with both hands. I shall find a way for us to be together. I promise.”

  “At the expense of others? The guilt would destroy both of us.” The harsh weariness in his voice stopped her. She sensed his decision had been hard-won, but he had chosen honor, duty.

  She would not tell him of the danger she felt gathering around her. She sensed the burden of his choice was nearly more than he could bear. From deep inside, her love for him gave her the strength to meet the open plea in his eyes.

  “For now I give you leave to go, Will. Yet I promise this is not the end for us.”

  She thought he would touch her, willed him to do so, but she saw his shoulders stiffen in resolve. Recognized the determination in the firm set of his jaw. Ached at the agony in his eyes.

  Only after the door closed behind him, did she sink to the floor, bury her face in her palms, and weep for what lay ahead for them both.

  Dunham Castle, 1601

  A dark energy grows heavily around me and I struggle to understand from whence it comes. I alone must discover the source of the danger. I call on the knowledge and power within me which grows daily. From it, I gain strength to accept my need for Will to be by my side for all time and to uncover the path of honor for both of us.

  Will believes he must choose honor and duty over our love, and I know I must be patient with his decision until the moment is right to reveal my choice.

  I defy the choice my father made for me and plot how I shall fall at his feet and beg him to understand I must be free to seize my own destiny. Out of his love for me I pray he will understand my change of heart. I came here to do my duty and in doing so I have found my heart’s desire for all time.

  In this time and place I choose both love and honor, for neither can exist without the other. I know my choice will shape your destiny.

  Chapter Six

  Elizabeth lay awake throughout the long night, counting the hours until Will would leave her.

  Eyes acid-dry from endless weeping, she watched Alice leave the chamber to bid farewell to Tom before Will led his troops from the castle. She chose to be spared the torment of that sight for she feared watching him ride away would break even her iron resolve to find an honorable way for them to be together. If she broke, she would fall to her knees, begging him to stay.

  I cannot burden him with my need until I forge an honorable path for us both to follow.

  Sure in the knowledge that she would find the way and that Will would return to her, she strengthened her resolve to bide her time until all could be as she desired.

  “They are safely away?” she asked as Alice entered the room.

  “Aye.” Her usual smile wavered and then was gone. “Sorry to see Tom go. Thinking I might stay for a bit after your wedding to see him return.”

  Icy shivers consumed Elizabeth anew as she thought of her upcoming wedding and what she must do to prevent it. She rose, hurrying to the hot, scented water Alice had brought. “You know you may stay as long as you wish.”

  “Aye, I know. Miss my bossy sister Jane and Granny Cybil. I’ll be full of tales to tell about this fine court and your grand wedding.” Laying out Elizabeth’s clothes for riding with Carlyle, Alice slid her a worried look. “Speaking of your groom, you don’t seem that excited about becoming his countess.”

  Swirling to face her, Elizabeth forced a smile. “And you say you don’t have the eye like your Granny Cybil. No, I do not know Carlyle, nor am I sure I shall like to be his bride, but I shall try to appear more pleasant to not hurt his feelings.”

  Sensible Alice straightened and stared at her in disbelief. “Elizabeth, what can be done but to do what your father wishes?”

  Her heart felt as if it would burst through her bones and skin. She held Alice’s hands and squeezed. “I do not yet know. Perhaps a ride in the crisp, fresh air will help clear my head and show me the way.”

  Hours later, her words to Alice haunted Elizabeth as Carlyle kissed her wrist before helping her mount her horse. As always, his touch sent shivers of fear along her skin and into her heart.

  It is not his doing that my heart belongs to another and his touch repulses me. I must be kind. I do not wish to hurt him.

  He led her in a new direction, foreign to her. As they rode, she saw no small, neat farms, or hailed any of the scouts who guarded the duke’s lands. Where Carlyle led there was only forest and a strange stillness.

  Smiling, she pretended to be interested in his talk of hawking and hunting. His pleasant companionship, the air cool and fresh on her face, her love of riding, could not quench her strange unease. She had the oddest feeling that she was being led somewhere she would not like to reach.

  She kept glancing behind her, hoping to see a familiar rider, a beloved face. Someone who would stay by her side, to make her feel safe on this strange ride into a part of the forest she had not visited.

  Will! Will, if only you were by my side.

  Her heart sent the plea while her mind tried to stop wishing for it to be true.

  I must make my desire to have Will always by
my side come to pass. I must refuse to marry Carlyle, a man who I do not love, and in truth, fear.

  The knowledge of what she must do echoed again and again in her head as she rode beside him, deeper into thicker brush and tall trees which blocked the sun.

  “I want to take you to my special place, Elizabeth.”

  Instinct made her hesitate. Duty and a certain guilt at what she planned demanded she nod in agreement.

  …

  As they rode into the sun, his men and the supply horses laden with food, casks of beer, helmets, steel plates, spearheads, and swords at his back, Will laid out to his lieutenant all his plans to fortify the duke’s border with Scotland and to secure the newly acquired lands to the east.

  The lands Elizabeth will bring to her marriage to Carlyle.

  In the cold hours before dawn, Will had paced the courtyard, hoping and dreading she might appear to bid him farewell. Leaning heavily upon the duke’s strong arm and Will’s grandfather while holding Stephen, Laurel had sent him off with tears, embraces, and prayers for a safe and swift return.

  His gut clenched again, remembering Alice running into the torch-lit courtyard, believing for one glorious moment that Elizabeth had followed and he could see her one last time. He felt again the aching disappointment when he realized Alice was alone, coming to say good-bye to his smitten lieutenant.

  Now, face solemn, Tom rode beside him, Alice’s parcel of ginger and other concoctions she swore would keep him healthy tucked securely in his saddlebag.

  Although Tom had appeared to listen and grasp Will’s plans for the weeks of their campaign, his unusually grim countenance told another story.

  “We shall return before you are forgotten. Stop fretting,” Will coaxed and was rewarded by a grin.

  “Aye, Alice is quite a girl. I hope she stays a bit after the grand wedding.”

  The grand wedding of my brother to the woman I love.

  Images burned through his mind and seared his heart.

  Carlyle’s hands touching the warmth of Elizabeth’s lush, responsive body. Carlyle pushing his fingers through the glory of her hair, pulling her close to plunder the sweetness of her lips. Carlyle possessing her.

  Pounding jealousy and fear shattered all other feelings, leaving only one at his center. She had asked what might be greater than honor. He had always known the answer but been fearful of accepting the truth.

  Will! She was calling to him as he had called to her in the courtyard. He could see her being led into a secluded glade by Carlyle. Her fear poured through him, drowning his iron resolve. He must make sure she was safe.

  No longer able to still his deep-seated fear for her, he held up his arm and his troops halted behind him. “Tom, take the men back to Dunham Castle. I shall meet you there.”

  Wheeling his horse, he raced to find her before it was too late.

  …

  Patches of sunshine, falling down through the arch of trees above them, played across Carlyle’s intense face as he led Elizabeth into a quiet glade. Thick, low bushes surrounded an odd circle of flat grass. In one corner a small pool was fed by an underground spring. She slid off her horse, allowing it to drink there.

  Her defenses weakened by fatigue, she couldn’t step away before Carlyle clasped her hand, pressing his lips to her birthmark.

  “I have chosen you for this. And for this.” With his fingertips he stroked the celestial girdle around her hips.

  His touch and smile froze her with unease and the edge of fear she didn’t understand.

  “Your birthmark and girdle represent the old arts of which I know much. As do you, my beautiful Elizabeth. Here, I brought you to my special place to show you who I am and what we shall be together.”

  He reached into what appeared to be a hollow between felled logs and pulled out a heavy, black-hooded robe.

  Every instinct screamed danger and she backed away one step.

  He placed it around his shoulders before he pushed aside the thick brush. There stood a stone altar stained with blood such as Cybil, had described to her as the worship place of the dark ways.

  Sickened, now realizing why she had instinctively feared Carlyle, Elizabeth retreated even farther from him. “You practice the dark magic.”

  His eyes wide and flickering with emotions which froze Elizabeth, Carlyle, smiling, moved closer to her. “Ah, Elizabeth, you are a child of such magic. Marked by the pagan gods. Within you lives both darkness and light. It is the purity of your heart which shields you from all you are destined to be. When you are joined with me, I shall release your full dark power. Together we shall conquer time and space.”

  “Never!” Rage and defiance swelled in her breast, and she pulled the hidden golden dagger from her celestial girdle and aimed it at his heart.

  Carlyle laughed. “Good. You like your play rough, Elizabeth. As do I.”

  He lunged toward her.

  Some force within her, like unseen hands, flung him back away from her.

  His triumphant face turned her blood to ice. “You are more than I had hoped. By our wedding day I will have the measure of your magic and match it.”

  Frozen in disbelief and terror, she couldn’t move until her birthmark began to tingle, warming her body, giving her the strength and knowledge to defy him. “You do not match me this day, my lord.”

  Eyes wide, laughing, he again moved toward her. “My bewitching Elizabeth, it is heedless to struggle. The old gods have decreed this the time and place where we shall join our powers.”

  The force of her revulsion flung him to the ground. “I believe the gods have decreed this the time and place for me to discover your darkness and reject it.”

  His face a mask of disbelief and rage, he leapt to his feet. “You shall not defy me!”

  On its own power, her golden dagger left her fingers to hover at his exposed throat. She sucked air into her hot lungs in awe at the power she felt coursing through her and with the dagger as if it was a part of her. “Leave now, Carlyle, or I shall destroy you. I swear it.”

  Laughing, he ripped off his robe, hid it once more, and leaped upon his horse. “Follow the setting sun back to Dunham Castle and ponder what we will soon be together. For I swear it shall come to pass. There is naught you can do to defy the old gods. You cannot flee from this destiny. Even if you try, you shall fail.”

  Fearing he spoke the truth and, weakened by despair and horror, she fell to her knees as she returned the dagger to its place in her girdle.

  I shall never be a creature of darkness with him. Never. Never. Never.

  Hearing the sound of an approaching rider, fearing Carlyle might be returning, she swayed to her feet, ready to pull the dagger free once again

  Will slid off his horse and ran rapidly across the glade to her. “Elizabeth! Love, I am here.”

  Her relief was white-hot, scalding, a blaze too bright to bear.

  Instinct, hunger, desire long denied and now free drove her hands into the hair at the nape of his neck, bringing his face, his lips so close.

  Every reservation gone, Will pulled her even closer, parting her lips, tasting her. His mouth stroked over hers again and again as he dragged her tight against his body. She breathed in his heat and his scent, craving more.

  In burning desire, in full acceptance of what she wanted, she twisted into his body, throwing back her head, exposing her throat and breasts to his searching kisses.

  His hands ran up and down her spine, sending shuddering thrills along her tingling nerves.

  “If Carlyle hurt you, I shall kill him!” His voice sounded hoarse.

  Afraid, she held him tighter. “Leave him! He did not harm me, though he’s revealed himself to be a monster.” She cupped his face with her palms. Every cell in her body burned for him and against these feelings duty faded to nothin
g. “Only you have the power to hurt me, Will.”

  Laying his forehead softly against hers, he lifted his hands to stroke her face. “Forgive me, Elizabeth. I was wrong. I can never let you go. Ever.”

  “Nor I you. I pray that out of love my father will release me from my pledge to marry Carlyle and I will beg him on my knees to bless our union with a dowry. As I pray the duke’s love for you shall sustain us,” she whispered and kissed him deeply and tenderly with an intensity which left her weak. “Please take me somewhere safe. Away from this evil place. Where we can be together as we are meant to be.”

  Will hesitated, his heart pounding against her breasts.

  She saw the decision in his eyes before, at last, he nodded. “My grandfather’s cottage. He keeps my old room ready for me.”

  Elizabeth clung to Will, resting her cheek against his shoulder, as he cradled her in his arms before him on his horse.

  Leading her stallion, they galloped into the courtyard of a large cottage at the edge of deep woods.

  Purple twilight surrounded them as Will’s grandfather, dressed in a knee-length cloak for traveling, hurried across the cobblestones toward them. “Will, you have returned. What has happened?”

  “Crucial matters here have brought me home. I found Lady Elizabeth faint from fatigue while riding. It was closer to bring her here, Grandfather.”

  He peered up into both their faces. “I understand. I shall tell the duke and duchess that Elizabeth should remain here for the night. They need send no servants. My own shall attend her.”

  “Tell Stephen’s nursemaid I, too, shall return on the morrow.” She felt Will’s arm tighten around her like armor.

  She turned her head and unflinchingly met his grandfather’s stare, as she bared her love for Will openly.

  He nodded. “Then it shall be as it should be.”

  …

  There was little Will had not seen in court, the battlefield, or the bedroom, yet watching Elizabeth walk to the warm, spring-fed pool at the edge of the woods behind his grandfather’s cottage filled him with wonder.

  He slipped his arm around her waist and her head rested on his shoulder. Freed of her ribbons, her ebony hair blown by the evening winds flowed across his throat and chest, filling the air he breathed with the scent of lavender.