Powerful Magic (41 page)

          
Were that to happen, something good, something precious, something beautiful, would forever vanish from this earth, leaving only a giant, gaping hole.
 

          
Stunned, he raised his head to find his sister watching him.
 
Megan too, though the soft tenderness he saw in her beautiful eyes told him she somehow knew what he was feeling inside.

          
He felt like he was standing on a cliff, about to take that one step that would catapult him over the edge.

          
"I have lost too much already.
 
I could not..." he said haltingly, "lose you as well."

          
Hearing this, Rhiannon's expression crumpled.
 
Gone was the everyday mask she wore; that of regal Queen. Tears spilled over from eyes that brimmed with them and, with a tremulous smile, she moved forward to embrace him.

          
He suffered her embrace gladly, though he had

carefully held himself aloof these many years past.
 
She was, after all, his sister.
 
It was not her fault that she had been born full-blooded faerie rather than human.
 

          
"You are of my blood."
 
He spoke into her hair, as his gaze sought Megan over Rhiannon's head.
 
Megan too wept softly, though she smiled at him through her tears.
 
Her smile seemed as brilliant as the sun, blinding him.

          
It was time he settled things, once and for all.
 
Kenric realized that, unless he did, he would never be able to live the simple life he so craved.
 
He would have to wear the cumbersome mantle of warrior for a bit longer.

          
"Myrddin has once destroyed my family.
 
I will not permit him to do so again."
 
By these words he claimed what he'd refused his entire life.
 
Kinship with Rhiannon and thus too the faerie folk.
 
Kinship with the part of him that he'd only eschewed.
 
Warrior and mage, human and faerie.
 
All of it made up the man that he was, the man that he would be.

          
Finally, wiping at her streaming eyes, Rhiannon stepped back.
 
"You will join in battle then?"

          
After one final glance at Megan, he gave a slow nod.
 
"I have no choice."

          
"You will have to learn how to control your magic."

          
Again he nodded, trying not to wince at the thought of willingly allowing such power as that he sensed within free rein.
 
And, there was more he would know before he could commit himself wholly to the task at hand.

          
"Now, tell me what you meant when you said you brought Megan from another place and time."
 
Though he laced his voice with humor, he was not prepared for what Rhiannon said next.

          
"She comes from a time of no magic, a time we are all moving inexplicably towards.
 
She comes from a place where machines are valued as highly as life, and where faeries - and Rune - have vanished from the world."

          
Shocked, he looked at Megan.
 
"Is this true?"

          
Megan did not speak but, with a quiet nod, confirmed Rhiannon's statement.

          
He had been a warrior too long to put in to words the thought which came next, so terrifying did he find it.
 
Though Rhiannon claimed her magic shielded them from Myrddin's scrying, to exhibit such a weakness could be his downfall.

          
Still, the thought would not leave him.
 
If Megan belonged in another place, another time, would she return there once their task had been completed?
 

          
Such a thing was unacceptable.
 
He would talk to Rhiannon later and gain her agreement.
 

          
It wasn't until later, when they had eaten a meager meal of greens and nuts provided by Rhiannon, that it occurred to him to ask about Roger.

          
He waited until Megan seemed peaceful, brushing her short hair with a brush Rhiannon had given her.
 
As she brushed, her dark hair crackled and shone, alternating gold and sable in the shifting light of the fire.
 
her delicate face too was in shadow one moment, light the next, bringing to mind what a wonder he had found in her.
 
Lighthearted and full of a child's heedless joy one moment, a passionate, sensual woman the next.

          
His mate.
 
The other half of his soul.

          
He watched her until he could stand no more, until the stark beauty of her ignited a fire or its own deep within his belly.

          
"Tis time we talked."
 
He spoke quietly, taking care not to disturb Rhiannon, who busied herself with something in a clearing nearby.

          
Was that fear that flashed into Megan's lovely eyes as she nodded?
 
He hoped not.
 
Of all the emotions he wanted to elicit in her, he never wanted her to fear him.

          
Throat aching, he held out his hand.
 
She took it, her smaller hand slipping into his as if it belonged there.
 
God's teeth, a tremor went through him at this smallest of touches, and he had to clench his teeth against the urge to haul her up against him and kiss her senseless.

          
With a heavy heart, he tugged her along after him, to a clearing surrounded by saplings that would shelter them from Rhiannon's too wise gaze.
 
He wondered what Megan would say if she knew that he, Kenric of Blackstone, a warrior feared throughout the land, had to struggle to force words past the lump in his throat.

          
"You are truly from another time?"

          
"Yes."
 
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, drawing his gaze.
 
"From the future, about nine hundred years from now."

          
Nine hundred years?
 
With difficulty, Kenric forced his mind back to the task at hand.
 
Though he had a thousand questions, questions about what life was like so far in the distant future, now was not the time.
 
Though both he and she had been pawns in Rhiannon's schemes, he needed to know what Megan really wanted.

          
To keep from touching her, he clasped his hands behind his back.
 
"Do you wish to return to your time, once we have completed our task and vanquished Myrddin?"
 
Or, and though he left the words unsaid, he thought she heard them, do you want to remain here with me?

          
"I want to stay."
 
In a broken whisper she answered, her eyes filling again with tears.
 
"But Rhiannon has not told me if I can remain, or if I have to return to 2010, where I belong."

          
He wondered if she knew how it would be with him, were she to go.
 
He would be condemned to a hollow life, half an existence.

          
"I love you," she whispered.
 

          
Though everything inside him wanted to respond in kind, he needed more than a simple declaration of love.
 
Sometimes, love truly was not enough.
 
She must promise to never leave him, if the choice was within her to make.

          
He waited and then, when he was certain she had finished speaking, he inclined his head and strode away, trying to calm the maelstrom that raged within him.

#

          
Rhiannon watched her brother stalk off and sighed.

Raw anguish palpitated off him in waves, which she easily deflected.
 
Though it pained him now, it was a good thing, this powerful emotion from a man who only wanted to be free of such things.
 
Hurt would cleanse him, free him from old restraints, old shackles.
 
Thus he would be prepared him for the awful and beautiful shape of things to come.

          
She heard a quiet sob.
 
Megan sat, hunched into a miserable little ball, sniffling as she tried to keep from weeping.

          
Crossing to her, Rhiannon laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
 
"Do not mourn, little sister.
 
Kenric is a wise man. He will think on your words and in time he’ll come to realize you had no choice in any of this."

          
Megan lifted tear-filled eyes.
 
"But don’t you see, I did.
 
I had a choice.
 
I didn't have to lie to him, to promise him land when I have none to give.
 
Do you honestly think he will trust me now?
 
I promised him his heart's greatest desire, then yanked it away."

          
“No.”
 
Gently squeezing her shoulder, Rhiannon smiled.
 
"You are his heart's greatest desire."

          
"He wants the land more."
 
Megan sniffled.
 
"Without it he feels he has nothing to offer me.
 
He will not even tell me he loves me.”

          
With the greatest of efforts, Rhiannon kept herself from rolling her eyes.
 
These humans!
 
How could Megan not understand the silken bond that tied her and Kenric together?
 
       

          
"So he hasn’t spoken of love.
 
Has he not told you that you are his woman?"
 
This she asked with the greatest of patience, pleased with her uncharacteristic restraint.

          
Flashing her a startled look, Megan gave a slow nod.
 
"He has said those words.
 
But I think he meant... you know..."
 
She blushed and looked down at her hands.
 

          
"My brother has never claimed anything as his. Not since the Black Faeries took the lives of his human family.
 
Have you not noticed he does not even name his horse?"

          
"Lancelot?"
 
Megan smiled wanly, looking toward where the big animal cropped contentedly on grass. “Yes, I noticed.
I
named him."

          
Grinning, Rhiannon showed her approval.
 
"Lancelot.
 
I like it.
 
Does Kenric use the name?"

          
Megan's smile faded.
 
"No."

          
"'Tis because he fears to grow too close to the beast."

          
"I thought it might be something like that."

          
Ah, so the tiny human woman instinctively understood the man she was fated to love.
 
Things were looking better.

          
Rhiannon leaned close, removing all traces of humor from her face.
 
"Do you love my brother, Megan Potter of Dallas Texas?"

          
In the heartbeat that it took Megan to compose a response, Rhiannon had her answer.
 
She watched as longing and love, despair and defeat, strong emotions all, chased themselves across Megan's mobile face.
 
As Megan she opened her mouth to speak, Rhiannon saw hope fill her lovely amber eyes.
 

          
"Yes, I love him."
 
Megan sighed, her voice trembling with the force of her feelings.
 
"I love him more than life itself."

          
"What of this Roger?"