Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (33 page)

“
What’s the matter? What is
it?” Baird asked, his voice low with concern. His hand landed on
the back of her waist and in the reflection, Aurelia saw his head
bent close to her own.

He looked the very image of a man confused
and concerned. Liar! That he should mock her in this was beyond
reprehensible!

Oh, he had confused her with his generosity
and challenged her assumptions about his character with his pledge
to do her no harm. But this, this travesty showed his true colors
as Aurelia knew them to be.

Aurelia spun to face Baird, her vision
blurred with tears. She pushed him away from her, unable to bear
such proximity to one who wished her ill.

“
How could you do such a
thing?” she demanded in a voice that throbbed low with emotion.
“How could you steal my only token of my mother? Did they give you
so much coin that such a betrayal was worth it?”

*

Baird’s heart sank as he read the label
perched beside the silver bracelet displayed in the museum
window.

Pictish bracelet - silver

c.a. late 8th century

Part of the silver trove discovered in west
Rousay, 1934

The bracelet was about three inches deep. A
graceful eagle with a long tail was encircled with a Celtic braid
to make a medallion. On either side, those same tangled creatures
that covered the stone slab in Dunhelm’s well filled the width of
the bracelet. The bracelet was not hinged, but had a rounded slit
that would rest on the inside of the wrist and make it easier to
put on.

Baird fought to ignore the way his hair was
standing on end.

“
Aurelia, this is a
museum.”

She blinked at him uncomprehendingly, her
tears threatening to spill at any moment. Baird gripped her
shoulders and stared into her eyes, willing her to believe one less
dastardly thing about him. “I didn’t sell your bracelet. I’ve never
seen it before.”

“
Then how did it get
here?”

“
Apparently, it was found
somewhere on the island in 1934.”

She glared at him. “I do not understand this
1934.”

Baird smothered a sigh. She never made a
slip in her story, that was for sure. “It’s a year, a date, the
number of years since the birth of Christ.” He frowned. “Well, not
exactly, there’s a mistake in the calculation somewhere.”

Aurelia’s face was pale, her tears
dispatched and her eyes wide. “Nineteen hundred years since the
birth of this Christ?”

“
Well, now it’s almost two
thousand, but like I said, the calculation is off…”

Aurelia clutched two fistfuls of his shirt
and gave him a shake. Her gaze was fever bright. “How much of a
mistake?”

Baird shrugged. “I don’t know. Twenty or
thirty years. I guess it depends who you listen to.”

But Aurelia wasn’t listening to him. She
turned away and scanned the street, the breath leaving her lungs in
a low hiss.

Then she abruptly pivoted back to Baird and
her features were drawn tight with fear. What was she afraid
of?

“
It is spring?”

“
Yes. It’s March - “ Baird
checked his watch “- well, it’s the 21st.”

Aurelia waved these details away with a
dismissive gesture. “I know nothing of this March. When does the
Month of Eostre begin?”

Baird blinked. “Eostre?”

“
Eostre!” Aurelia’s eyes
flashed with impatience. “The festival, in the spring, the
beginning of spring.” She rolled her eyes, apparently incredulous
that anyone could not know such a thing. “Has the day already
passed when day and night are of equal length?”

“
Oh! The
equinox.”

“
Call it what you will. Has
it passed?”

It obviously mattered so much her that Baird
had to find the answer. He’d never paid much attention to all that
astronomical gunk, but at least he knew where to find it. There was
a card shop across the street, and just as Baird suspected, they
sold calendars.

He flicked open to March, Aurelia shifting
her weight anxiously by his side. “Actually, the equinox is
today.”

“
Today!” Aurelia stepped
back and scanned the store, but Baird knew she wasn’t seeing her
surroundings.

What was she thinking? She left the shop
abruptly and stared up at the clear blue sky, her gaze fixed on the
sun.

It was a good thing Baird liked puzzles,
because this woman had a million of them. He shrugged his confusion
to the clerk, put back the calendar and followed Aurelia.

She must have heard him because she pivoted
and impaled him with an intense glance. “It is not yet midday.”

“
No.” Baird checked his
watch. “Just past eleven, actually.”

“
Do you know the stones of
the moon and the sun? They are here, on the big island. Can you
take me there?”

Baird frowned. “The stones of the moon and
the sun? There’s two stone circles here, I know that. The Ring of
Brodgar and the Stones of Stemness.”

Aurelia jumped at that, her excitement
evident. “Two circles, yes! One bigger and one smaller! Towards the
sea side of the island. Can we get there by midday? Can we?”

It was obviously so important to Aurelia
that Baird could not have refused her.

“
I don’t see why not,” he
said, but Aurelia’s anxiety did not ease. Determined to see her
mind set at rest, Baird stepped out into the road and hailed a
cab.

*

Two thousand years.

As the chariot without horses raced across
the countryside, the words echoed through Aurelia’s mind.

Along with her father’s mocking laughter
when told of the faith of the Christians: “Why should I worship a
man dead eight hundred years? He is no less dead than any of us
will be! By Odin, only a fool would worship less than an immortal
god!”

What kind of a fool would believe twelve
hundred years had slipped away? Aurelia fought against the very
idea, pinning her hopes on the moments ahead.

The stones would tell no lies to those who
knew their secrets.

The stones had stood for longer than anyone
could remember, had been placed by people long dead and forgotten,
but still they showed the line of sun and moon with unswerving
accuracy.

Aurelia had been there, once a year, every
year since she had been ordained priestess. She knew the stones as
well as any priestess could, knew them so well that they could not
deceive her.

But to her shock and dismay, when the
chariot crested a small rise, the stones were not all there.
Aurelia was out of the chariot before it had even fully stopped and
running across the fields.

“
Aurelia! Wait!” Baird
muttered something unflattering under his breath, but Aurelia had
no time for his concern now.

Where were the stones?

This could not be! If it was the beginning
of the Month of Eostre, then only a year had passed since she had
stood on this same spot and watched the midday sun.

But that midday sun had risen above a circle
of twelve stones. Though the four that remained were familiar in
shape, of the others, there was no sign. They were each taller than
her and heavy beyond all. They had stood here since time
immemorial.

How could they have been removed without
trace in so little time?

The wooden pillar in the middle of the
circle was gone as completely as though it had never been. Aurelia
crouched and fought back her tears as she ran her hand across the
four flat stones arranged in a square in the middle of the circle.
The stones were cold with disuse and she guessed no priestess had
come this way in many years.

The prophecy could not have come true, it
could not have.

Baird crouched by her side, his expression
concerned. “What’s the matter?”

“
Where are the other
stones?” Aurelia heard the breathlessness in her own voice. Her
heart was hammering with a vengeance, a wildly ridiculous premise
gaining credibility in her mind with every passing
moment.

“
What other
stones?”

“
There should be twelve.
Twelve!” Aurelia’s vision blurred with tears. “What has happened to
them? Where did they go? How could they have been
removed?”

Aurelia clutched Baird’s shirt and gave him
a shake, hoping that she would find him responsible for this
desecration instead of more than a millennium stolen away from her.
“Why did you have them taken away?”

Baird lifted her hands gently away. He held
her hands and Aurelia exhaled slowly, welcoming his quiet strength
despite herself. “I had nothing to do with this,” he murmured, his
green gaze boring into her own.

And Aurelia believed him.

But she could not believe the rest.

Baird must have read her thoughts, for he
gave her hands a quick squeeze. “Wait right here. We’ll find the
answer.” He shoved a hand through his hair and pushed to his feet,
and Aurelia hated how relieved she felt to have his aid in
this.

Only now, Aurelia noticed that there were
others here, oddly dressed people. They stared at her, as though
she, a priestess, was the intruder, not all these common people who
had no right to be within the circle.

They touched the stones and clicked little
black boxes in every direction. What a travesty! This was a sacred
place! They had no right to wander here as though it were no more
than a patch of earth.

But in her heart, she knew that the common
people could not have forgotten the Goddess in a mere year. And
Aurelia feared the portent of that.

Baird stepped toward a plump woman in white
shoes. “Excuse me, could I borrow your guidebook? For just a
second?”

Aurelia refused to watch him work his charm
on some hapless female. She watched the sun climb to its zenith and
could not swallow the lump in her throat.

Baird hunkered down beside her again and
fanned through the book. “Well, let’s see. The Stones of Stemness.
Built circa 2500 BC. Yada, yada, yada. Here it is - originally
consisting of twelve stones.”

Aurelia looked him in the eye. “I know that.
Where are they?”

Baird scanned the text. “Doesn’t say.”

“
And the
pillar?”

“
What pillar?”

“
The one in the center, the
one that makes the sacred thirteen along with the twelve stones.”
Aurelia gritted her teeth. “The one that casts the shadow of the
midday sun.”

“
Where should it
be?”

Aurelia pointed to the middle of the square
defined by the four flat stones.

Baird flicked through the book, his brow
furrowed in concentration. “Ah! ‘Excavations have shown revealed
traces of a wooden pillar that must have stood in the middle of the
circle, though its purpose is unknown.’“

“
As it should be by those
who have not earned the right to know the sacred
mysteries.”

Baird looked to her questioningly, but
Aurelia shoved to her feet. She backed towards the north side of
the circle, her gaze rising again to the sun. She squinted, but
could not precisely guess where the shadow would fall if the pillar
was still there.

And precision was of import in this.

Baird gave the woman back her book with a
smile of thanks and came to Aurelia’s side once more. His voice was
low. “What is it?”

She sighed, then frowned and fired a
frustrated glance at him. “I can tell nothing without the pillar. I
need its shadow.”

“
I can cast a shadow as
well as any piece of wood.”

Aurelia eyed Baird with suspicion but he did
not seem to be mocking her. To have a king lend himself to her
service was something she would not have expected, especially this
king.

“
You would do
this?”

“
If you explain later what
this is about.”

He wanted her to reveal a hidden mystery in
exchange for his assistance. Aurelia hesitated, remembering her vow
of secrecy only too well.

But if her fears were right, then the
priestess to whom she had sworn that oath was long dead and
forgotten.

As forgotten as the Goddess they had sworn
it before.

Perhaps the mysteries were not as important
as once they had been. Every manner of common person was obviously
allowed to wander freely amidst these great holy stones. Aurelia
rubbed her forehead, feeling that things were moving too quickly
for her.

First, she had to know the truth.

And if that required compromise, so be
it.

She pointed to the four flat stones before
she could change her mind. “Could you stand in the center there?”
she asked quietly and Baird quickly complied. “I need only see the
line of the midday sun.”

He did as she bade, and though shorter than
the great pillar, his shadow stretched a line across the circle.
Aurelia was oblivious to the open stares of the passersby as she
traced the direction of Baird’s shadow to a stone no longer
there.

She did it again and again, she watched the
sun crest its zenith and ever so slowly descend towards the earth
again. But there was no avoiding the truth.

The sun - and its shadow - were in the wrong
place.

When Aurelia last celebrated the rebirth of
the sun, a mere year before in her mind, the shadow of the pillar
had fallen on the next stone. That stone still stood and was both
so large and so well anchored that it could not have moved.

Even in a millennium. Aurelia swallowed
carefully.

But the sun would take at least a thousand
years to change its shadow so much.

Just as she had known, the stones told no
lies. With a pounding heart, Aurelia turned her palm up and
examined her left thumb beneath the golden light of Eostre’s
sun.