Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (130 page)

This was the tale of Gawain that was more
familiar to Niall, not the version that Viviane had created on her
own.

“
Did he ride right over
her?” Matthew demanded. “He had big horse, he could have done
it.”

“
Of course not! That
wouldn’t have been very nice. He asked her what he could do to
persuade her to move from the road - because he was too courteous
to ride over her! - and the old hag said he had only to answer a
riddle.” Viviane’s voice hushed. “Then she lifted her hand and
pointed to the woods surrounding the road, and Gawain saw that the
trees were hung with the bodies of dead knights.”

Matthew gasped.

“
And the old hag told him
that they were all the ones who had answered her riddle
wrong.”

Matthew clutched Niall’s hand. “Oh! I would
have ridden right over her, right then! She was a wicked
woman!”

“
Ah, but Gawain knew that
she must be a magical being, so he dared not offend her. Gawain
knew that when he saw the knights, for there were many there he
recognized, valiant men who had ridden off on quests, never to
return.”

“
Like Uncle Niall,” Matthew
piped up proudly. “But he returned.”

“
That he did. And Gawain
intended to return as well.”

“
So, he agreed?”

“
He did. And the old hag
gave him the riddle:

‘
Kings will crow and
knights will boast,

Their victories hailed from coast to
coast.

But none have named desire innermost:

What is it that a woman wants
most?’
”

Niall could almost hear Matthew
thinking.

“
A rich husband,” the boy
decided finally, probably thinking of his mother.

“
Ah, that was the first
thought of Gawain,” Viviane admitted. “But then he wondered if it
was too obvious a response. He looked at those fallen knights and
knew that all the obvious answers would have been made already. So,
he did not say that, and he did not say a fine meal, and he did not
say fine clothing and jewelry. He did not even say healthy
children, though he considered that possibility long. The word
‘innermost’ made him think there was something more important that
a woman might desire.”

“
Did he guess
it?”

“
Well, he spent three days
and three nights in that horrible forest, feeling the old hag
watching him, listening to the rustle of the wind through the
cloaks and the mail of the knights fallen all around him. And
finally, as he watched the moon rise one night, he knew the
answer.”

“
What was it?”

“
Oh, I am not certain I
should tell you,” Viviane teased, and Niall grinned outright when
his nephew cried foul.

“
I told you that you had a
gift with the telling of a tale, Viviane,” Niall charged and opened
his eyes, deliberately avoiding a glance toward his lady. He would
not argue with her before the boy, and she had been sorely vexed
with him before.

“
Uncle Niall!” Matthew
hugged him soundly and Niall tousled the boy’s hair. “You must know
the answer to the riddle, for you know everything.”

“
Well, I do know this.”
Niall met Viviane’s gaze just long enough to note her minute nod of
agreement. “What a woman desires most of all is her own will. ’Tis
something any man would do well to recall.”

’
Twas then Niall realized,
somewhat belatedly, that her own will was the one thing he had not
given Viviane. She had wanted only to remain on Salt Spring, and he
had stolen that choice away from her in his urge to do what was
right. And what he had believed to be right had turned out to be
dreadfully wrong.

Even beyond that, Niall knew he should have
respected Viviane’s desire to stay away from Cantlecroft.

Because now she would die. They had come
full circle from the first day they had met - not only would
Viviane die, but Niall would join her.

That had not been his plan.

And just as before, Niall knew without doubt
that he did not want Viviane to die. He could not imagine a world
without her sunny smile, or her cheerful insistence that she was
lucky; her determination to see matters resolved, or the power of
her storytelling. Further, he did not want to awaken and not find
her beside him, he did not to be without her whimsical convictions
or her certainty that she could make all come aright, he did not
want to sleep without her curled beside him.

He loved her. Against all rhyme and reason,
against every conviction that matters tangible alone were real,
Niall loved Viviane.

It took him a moment to come to terms with
the truth of that, amazing as ’twas.

“
Is that the truth of it?”
Matthew demanded.

Viviane nodded and smiled for the boy,
obviously unaware that Niall had just had an epiphany. He watched
her shamelessly, savoring the way her lips curved to form the
words, the way her eyes shone as she recounted the tale. “When
Gawain gave that very answer, the old hag told him that he was
right. She offered him a kiss as a reward -”

“
Ewwww!” Matthew grimaced
and squirmed with the horror of young boys everywhere for feminine
kisses. “I should never kiss a woman, especially a wrinkled old
hag!”

Viviane shook a finger at him. “Ah, but you
see, Gawain believed it would be rude to refuse her such a small
thing. What price is a small kiss? And he felt a bit sorry for her,
trapped out in the wild and condemned to ask people this riddle. So
he kissed her, and to his surprise, she instantly turned into a
beautiful woman.”

“
Oh!” Matthew’s eyes were
round.

“
And she offered to marry
him, admitting that she had been cursed to take the form of this
old hag until someone answered the riddle right. Well, Gawain
thought he was terribly lucky, because she was very beautiful, so
he agreed.”

“
And they lived happily
ever after?”

Viviane shook her head. “Not quite. For the
lady confessed that there was one little catch. You see, she still
had to be an ugly old hag half of the time. So, she asked Gawain to
choose whether she should be a beauty in the day or the night.”

“
He would not want his
friends to think he had married an old hag,” Matthew said
quickly.

“
And he would not want the
lady to think that he was wedding her only for his own nightly
pleasure,” Niall contributed, doubting that Matthew would guess
that element of the tale. He was rewarded with a glimpse of his
lady’s smile.

“
Exactly.” Viviane nodded.
“It seemed to Gawain that this was a test of his character, but he
didn’t know which to choose. But in the nick of time, he remembered
the answer to the riddle.”

“
The lady must choose!”
Matthew crowed and bounced on the pallet.

“
Yes! He told her to choose
and that completely broke the spell that had been cast over her.
So, the lady was beautiful all the day and all the night, and they
were married and then they lived happily ever after.”

“
Because Gawain let his
lady have her own will.” Matthew nodded happily at this conclusion.
“But Uncle Niall knew the answer.”

Matthew abruptly gave Niall a hug that
brought tears to the knight’s eyes. “I am glad you returned,”
Matthew whispered against his shoulder. “For now we are all
together again.”

Aye, he had gone soft, ’twas true. Though as
he held Viviane’s regard, Niall was not certain ’twas such a dire
fate. Majella summoned Matthew and with one last squeeze of Niall’s
hand, the boy scampered away, leaving Niall alone with Viviane.

Niall surveyed her silently for a moment,
still marveling at his realization. The liveliness had left her
features now that she was no longer telling a tale. Questions
lurked in the depths of her eyes and Niall knew he was the knave
responsible for their presence.

’
Twas not the way he
preferred she regard him. Niall frowned and averted his gaze,
knowing he needed to repair his error. He had to give Viviane her
will, he had to find a way to send her back to Salt Spring. He had
to save his sister and her brood from the danger he had cast them
into, however unwittingly.

Zounds, but the world was heavy on his
shoulders!

“
Matthew admires you,”
Viviane said softly.

Niall snorted and sat up, rubbing his
temples with his fingertips, feeling a very unworthy hero for his
nephew. “He is young.” Then Niall winced at the unwelcome truth.
“Though indeed, he will not have the chance to grow much
older.”

She leaned dangerously close and place her
hand upon his, her eyes filled with appeal. “Niall, we must
talk…”

Nay, he must
think
. There had to be a
way free of this trouble, a way to see Viviane’s desire fulfilled
and Niall’s family saved.

“
Nay, Viviane,” he
interrupted her crisply. He scowled deliberately and made an
excuse. “My head aches overmuch. I fear my companionship would be
burdensome.” Before she could argue with him - for he knew she
would - Niall pushed to his feet and strode across the tiny stone
chamber.

The cursed moonstone held the key, Niall
knew it well.

And once -
if
! - he retrieved it,
Viviane would be gone. The very thought made his innards clench,
even though her departure might well see the rest of them
released.

Niall could only hope.

He gripped the bars on the window in the
door, well aware of Viviane’s gaze locked upon him. He hated that
he had been discourteous, and heartily disliked that he could not
mend matters between them.

But that would only make matters worse when
they did part, for part they must. Niall’s place was here, he knew
it as well as he knew his own name. He had not needed Matthew’s
reminder of the obligations of his blood. Niall could not simply
follow his heart’s desire to another place and time, nor could he
selfishly change the course of eight people’s lives in pursuit of
his own happiness.

Which meant that he did not dare give
Viviane any hint of his newly discovered feelings for her. ’Twould
be better if Viviane despised him for his betrayal, better if she
believed him a duty-bound wretch who had used her for his own
ends.

Aye, Niall knew that his lady had a weakness
for love and its charms. He would not condemn her to the
unhappiness of yearning for what she could not have.

He would save that burden for himself, for
truly, he would not have to endure it long.

Now, to fetch the witching stone.

*

Something was wrong.

Viviane didn’t know what it was. In fact,
she couldn’t imagine what it was. It was true that she had
questioned Niall’s feelings for her - for two reasons.

The first had been proven false - Majella
was neither his lover or wife, or even pregnant with his child.
Niall’s obligation was only that of a brother for his widowed
sister’s children. Viviane liked that he took such responsibility
for his family and she had already seen that they were children who
would do him proud.

The second had proven to be a miscalculation
on Niall’s part. Aye, just as Monty had charged, Niall had made a
pledge to bring her back to Cantlecroft. He had kept his word, but
clearly only because he had believed he could vouch for her
innocence. Viviane had seen the truth in Niall’s shock at the
revelation of the archbishop’s deception.

Now that Niall had finally awakened, after a
day and a night of lying unconscious while Viviane kept an anxious
watch, things should be right between them.

But they weren’t. He wouldn’t even talk to
her.

She wondered whether he was worried about
his sister, but he wasn’t hovering around her.

Niall was pacing.

And he was avoiding Viviane, as well as a
man could in the confines of this cell. He studiously kept from
making eye contact with her, he was always on the other side of the
small chamber no matter how she tried to end up beside him.

Viviane thought that maybe Niall was
insulted that she hadn’t given him a chance to explain for himself.
She made a point of apologizing, hoping for a kiss, but Niall
mumbled an excuse and turned away.

He busied himself with his nieces and
nephews, or scowled out the small window to the corridor. His mood
was clearly not good and though he wasn’t a talkative man at the
best of times, now he positively brooded. Every time Viviane
managed to corner him and try to strike up a conversation, Niall
mumbled an excuse, ducked and escaped.

It was getting annoying, mostly because
Viviane couldn’t explain his behavior.

It was only because Viviane was watching
Niall like a hawk, trying to sneak up on him one more time, that
she even noticed his mumbled conversation with their jailor. Niall
had called for water and the little jailor had brought the cup to
the door again. This time, Viviane noticed, he came alone, without
one of those big sentries hovering behind him.

That sparked Viviane’s curiosity. Niall was
certainly bigger than this little man and could have pushed past
him easily. She supposed there were sentries close by, but then
realized that Niall had probably given his word of honor or
something that he wouldn’t try to escape.

That would be like Niall, she thought with
mingled affection and exasperation. And if this man knew him at
all, he’d know that as well as Viviane did.

Come to think of it, Viviane remembered that
bald little man from the last time she was here. He glanced
nervously over his shoulder while he handed Niall the cup of water.
At first glance, the two didn’t appear to be speaking, but then
Viviane saw the jailor’s lips move quickly. Either no sound came
out or his voice was pitched so low that Viviane couldn’t hear
it.