Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (159 page)

Lilith turned and looked deeply into Mitch’s
eyes, golden eyes like sunlight snared in a bottomless pond.
“
You
heard me, when you were Sebastian. It was just the
first sign of many that we were destined to be together.”

If Mitch looked slightly discomfited by
this, Lilith didn’t notice. She looked back to the changing sky and
hugged her knees closer.

“
It was a wonderful summer,
a year when everything seemed possible to me, a year of unspeakable
magick. I was twenty-one years of age, well past the age when the
Rom
would have seen me wed, but I knew there was something
special in my future. And I was indulged because I had the
Gift.”

“
What gift?”

“
The one I told you about.
I could always see the future, I could see what would come to pass,
with greater clarity than anyone else within our
kumpania
.
There were those who said it was because I was born on the night of
a blue moon, those who insisted it was the kiss of a goddess on my
brow, but old Dritta said it was my mother’s talent that coursed
through my veins. She said it was passed from mother to
daughter.”

Lilith paused. It felt so good to be able to
share these precious memories. It felt so good to have
Mitch/Sebastian back by her side, with the unexpected bonus that he
was even more wonderful than she remembered.

“
You sound fond of this
Dritta.”

Lilith smiled in reminiscence. “She was a
total tyrant. Some said she was my grandmother – I never knew the
truth.”

“
Didn’t your mother tell
you?”

Lilith sobered and shook her head. “My
mother died when I was an infant. I don’t remember her. But Dritta
took me in as her own. She always said she only did it because she
could discern the power of my Gift. Dritta was a true
shuvani
.” The
Rom
word fell easily from Lilith’s
tongue.

“
What’s that?”

“
A wise woman, maybe a
sorceress. It doesn’t translate perfectly well.” Lilith considered
that for a moment and realized suddenly how much Rom had crossed
her lips since Mitch had moved in next door to her. It was strange,
but she shrugged it off as coincidence.

“
At any rate, she had a
rare ability to see beyond this world, through the veil to the
possibilities of the future. Dritta taught me to read the cards,
and to read customers, too.”

“
I don’t understand.”
Mitch’s voice sharpened in his interest. “What do you mean by
reading customers?”

Lilith glanced at him. “Most people come to
have their fortune told for a reason, although there are some,
particularly now, who indulge their curiosity regularly. In those
days, though, it was risky to visit the
Rom
– you could be
charged with heresy and burned.”

Lilith paused, then decided to state the
worst. It might prompt Mitch’s memory, although she had made it a
matter of principle not to recall the events of a certain
night.

“
You could be hanged for
consorting with heretics.” She spoke deliberately, then looked at
him.

Mitch didn’t say anything. He held her gaze
without blinking and she wondered whether her words had awakened an
uneasy recollection.

She swallowed the lump in her throat that
that short sentence had prompted and pulled her mind away from the
darkness of that night’s memories. She never dwelt upon that.

Lilith forced herself to continue in an even
tone. “So, those who came, usually had a good reason to come. And
an astute observer like Dritta could often guess the reason before
a word was uttered.”

“
That doesn’t sound very
honest.”

“
On the contrary, it saves
a lot of time. The reading has a focus, a focus derived from the
seeker as surely as the lay of the cards themselves. Keen
observation makes for better readings.” Lilith smiled. “And greater
customer satisfaction” She looked steadily at Mitch. “When your
presence is barely tolerated by the locals, it’s wise to ensure
that they have no complaints about services rendered.”

Mitch lifted one brow. “What kind of
observations? Give me an example.”

Lilith frowned. These were secrets whispered
to her by Dritta and not to be readily shared, even to someone she
knew she could trust more than herself.

But the time for hugging all her secrets to
herself was passed. She could share a few.

“
Generalizations, really.
Young women often consult a fortune-teller about love. Either they
have an affection for someone they know casually, or they want to
know what the future will bring in terms of love or marriage. Older
married women often come because they believe their husband is
unfaithful and they don’t know who else to ask for
advice.”

“
In case they’re wrong,”
Mitch contributed. “In a small community, that kind of accusation
could have made a lot of trouble.”

“
Exactly. One wants to be
certain, or reassured that such suspicions are foolish.” Lilith
shrugged. “Married women also come because they haven’t conceived
children, or sons.”

“
And men?”

“
Younger men can come for
much the same reason as younger women, or they may be concerned
about their trade and financial future. Older men, particularly
established ones, only come to fortune-tellers when they have a
secret.”

“
A mistress?”

“
Or shady business
dealings, or something from the past that they fear could return to
jeopardize their position in the community. An illegitimate child,
a forsaken fiancée, a deal made in the shadows. There must be a
good deal at stake for a man of influence and prestige to risk
being seen visiting a fortune-teller.”

“
Sounds like a study of
human nature.”

“
I suppose it is in a way.”
Lilith shrugged. “And there are the obvious signs, of course,
Missing wedding bands that have left their mark indicated
unfaithfulness. People who play nervously with their wedding band
have come about marital problems. That sort of thing.” Lilith
smiled at Mitch. “It’s become much more complicated in these days
than once it was.”

“
You make it sound so
innocuous.”

“
It is! These observations
don’t change what I see – they just confirm which part of what I
see the seeker most wants to know about.” Lilith flicked a playful
glance at her companion. “I guess they’d call it target marketing
now.”

Mitch shook his head. They sipped sangria in
silence and she watched him, loving the play of shadows on his
features. He glanced up suddenly, and their gazes collided and
held. The warmth of an unstated compliment shone in his eyes and
made Lilith’s heart pound.

She felt admired and respected beneath his
gaze, feminine yet appreciated for far more than her appearance. He
really listened to her. He had become so much more over the time
they’d been apart.

Lilith loved Mitch’s protectiveness; she
loved his sense of duty; she loved that he did what was right
regardless of the price. She loved how he adored his kids; she
loved how he talked and listened to her; she loved he frowned when
he was reasoning things through.

Lilith realized that she loved Mitch with an
intensity that she had never felt when she loved him as Sebastian.
She decided right then and there that Mitch’s ideas about “all that
old-fashioned stuff” sounded like the perfect way to spend the rest
of her life. In fact, she would give anything to begin as soon as
possible.

Remarkably enough, her Gift gave her no
inkling of how much Mitch would ask from her in a moment’s time. He
would ask for no less than the tale of the most painful night of
her life.

And Lilith would give it to him, willingly
paying the postage due on that glorious future. She wouldn’t
consider how it might shred her heart to step into that abyss, to
explore painful memories that she had declared off-limits for
nearly six centuries.

She would do as he asked quite simply
because she loved him.

*

She was doing it to him again.

But this time, Lilith wasn’t seducing Mitch
with her eyes or her perfume or even her kisses. It was her clear
thinking, her understanding of human nature, the flash of
compassion in her eyes when she spoke of troubled people coming for
advice that prompted his admiration. Her low voice with its exotic
accent made him want to listen to her all night long.

She could lull him to sleep with that voice,
dispatch him on a journey from which he would never return. It was
so low and musical, so rich and evocative. When she lingered over a
word, or saw humor in some small thing, Mitch had to fight the
sense that she truly had experienced the better part of six
centuries.

Lilith was unlike anyone he had ever
known.

And the fact that she made good sense was no
small thing to a man who prized reason as Mitch did. The
acknowledgement that there were other factors at play besides her
so-called gift for seeing the future was an interesting one. That
Lilith clung tenaciously to a faith in her ability, even conceding
as much as she had, was doubly intriguing.

On this night, when the conversation flowed
so readily between them, Mitch could smell the truth he sought,
lingering just out of reach.

“
So what happened that
summer in 1420?” he invited conversationally as he topped up their
sangria. “Remind me.”

Lilith froze.

Then she carefully set down her glass and
took a deep breath. “I’ve never spoken of the end,” she said so
evenly that Mitch knew she was trying to veil her feelings. “I
don’t even think about it, as a rule.”

If she had wanted to prompt Mitch’s
curiosity, Lilith had just done a really good job. “Why not?”

She glanced across the yard, frowned, then
shook her head. “I suppose, like all tales, there is good and bad
in it,” she murmured. “It is the extremes that make it so
painful.”

And then she fell silent so long that Mitch
was sure he had crossed an invisible line.

“
I don’t mean to pry,” he
said quietly. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“
No.” Lilith shook her head
with unexpected resolve. She turned to meet his gaze and studied
him for a moment. “You really don’t remember that
night?”

Mitch shook his head.

“
Then you have a right to
know,” she concluded crisply.

Lilith turned away before Mitch could say
anything. “My first glimpse of you wasn’t the last, by any means.”
She smiled with sudden mischievousness and shook a finger at Mitch.
“You surprised me quite often, in fact, and you
gadjo
types
shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“
Maybe I was a sorcerer
myself.” Mitch grinned. She had spooked him for a minute there, but
this didn’t sound so bad. The edge of skepticism in his next words
was surprisingly slight. “Or was it just another sign of
destiny?”

“
Destiny,” Lilith said with
conviction. “We knew each other from first sight and your actions
showed that our minds were as one. I’d find flowers on the path in
front of me in the forest - flowers obviously left for me - and no
sign of anyone until I heard your whistling in the distance. And
there were ribbons left in pretty bundles on the path I took to
town, always in colors that I particularly liked. You knew
instinctively how to woo me because we were destined to be
soulmates.”

Lilith smiled and wrapped her arms around
her knees again. Her delighted expression and pose made her look
young and trusting. Mitch relaxed against the post and enjoyed the
luxury of watching her. “There was a great sense of anticipation in
me that summer, that something wonderful was about to happen, and
each gift made it feel closer and closer. It was very romantic of
you.”

Lilith cast a smile at Mitch, but he
anticipated her move and examined the bottom of his glass instead
of holding her gaze. He felt a funny pang of jealousy, hearing how
terrific this Sebastian guy had been, how deliberate he had been
about cultivating Lilith’s attention.

It must just be his conscience tweaking him.
After all, it was one thing for Mitch to let Lilith think he was
some other guy, at least for the purpose of seeing Andrea safe, but
quite another to accept credit for anything that guy had done.

To his relief, Lilith seemed to take his
silence as a sign of modesty, for she soon continued on. “At any
rate, one August twilight, you came to have your fortune read.” Her
eyes shone as though they were filled with stardust. “I can still
see you stepping into our camp, so proud and strong, so determined
that only I could read for you. Our gazes met and held across the
fire - in that moment, it was as though there was a tangible
realization of all the great forces that linked us together.”

Mitch didn’t have the heart to question her
assertion. It would have interrupted the flow of her story, after
all, and he knew how irritating it was when people did that to
him.

“
A cord snapped tight
between us,” Lilith whispered, her ripe lips curved in a smile of
recollection. “I know the others felt it too. I couldn’t have
stayed away from you. There was nowhere else to be but by your
side. I remember coming to you and taking your hand, I remember
leading you to my tent without a single word, pulling back the flap
and secreting we two inside.”

Mitch had a sudden definite sense that he
really didn’t want to know what had happened. He didn’t want to
think about Lilith pouncing on another guy, even if she thought
that guy was him, even if she thought it had all happened some six
hundred years ago.