Echoes of Magic (20 page)

“
Against so many? There has
to be at least two dozen knights.”

He shrugged. “There’s more, but it matters
not.”

“
Matters not,” she mumbled
and turned away from him, her arms folded over her chest. “Of
course it matters. How can you think to fight so many?”

“
They won’t be expecting
me.”

Adrianna stopped and looked at him. The
confident grin on his lips made her smile. “That sure of yourself,
are you?”

“
Aye.”

She turned to Leoma. “I think now is the
time you decide what side you’re on.”

“
That’s never been a
decision,” Leoma said. “I’ve never been on Nigel’s
side.”

Adrianna let out a breath she hadn’t known
she was holding. “Good. Exactly how many knights are in the castle
walls?”

“
Thirty, but they aren’t
Nigel’s best,” Leoma said.

Grayson leaned back against the table. “Nay,
those men he sent the first time. They nearly succeeded in killing
me. If it hadn’t of been for Adrianna, I wouldn’t be here now.
Where are they now?”

“
I’m not sure. They
normally ride together, but lately they’ve been split. Two rode out
yesterday.”

“
I saw them,” he said.
“Where were they headed?”

His mother shrugged. “I’m never privy to
that information.”

“
Well, we needn’t worry
about two of them,” Adrianna said. “Grayson killed them a few
nights back.”

Leoma’s eyes widened as she looked at him.
“You killed them?”

Chapter
Twenty
‐
Three

“
Aye,” Grayson
said.

“
No one has been able to
even wound those knights. They are Nigel’s most trusted men, men
who are a part of him,” his mother said.

“
I got the better of them,
I suppose.”

She turned to Adrianna. “Do
you understand the implications? Can you see what this
means?”

Grayson looked from his mother to Adrianna.
“I’d appreciate it if someone told me.”

Adrianna ignored him and rose to her feet.
“You say those men are a part of Nigel? Do you mean he holds their
souls?”

“
Aye,” Leoma
said.

“
No wonder they smelled
almost as evil as Nigel,” Adrianna said and tapped her chin with
her finger.

Grayson blew out a breath. “Drina. Don’t
talk as if I’m not here.”

“
I’m sorry,” she said and
faced him. “If what your mother says is true, you shouldn’t have
been able to harm them. Much like Drogan was unable to really harm
Nigel when they fought.”

“
Then how did I kill
them?”

She shrugged. “Magic.”

“
You used
magic?”

“
Not me. You.”

He chuckled, thinking she jested. But at her
serious expression, he looked to his mother to find her staring at
him with an odd expression of excitement and fear. It was then he
realized in all the anger of discovering his mother, he had
forgotten she was a witch, same as Adrianna.

“
You said males don’t
inherit the magic,” he said.

Adrianna lifted a shoulder.
“That’s what we were told. We’re cursed, yet you said Drogan and
Serena broke it for themselves. How can we discount that you do
have magic.”

“
I think I would
know.”

“
Maybe your body does. When
I found you, you should have been dead, but you weren’t. Maybe your
magic works differently than mine.”

Grayson raked a hand down his face. “Whether
I have magic matters not. What matters is making sure you’re gone
before Nigel finds you.”

“
He’s right,” Leoma said.
“Adrianna, if he discovers what you are, he’ll use you as he has
used me.”

The mere thought of Nigel touching Adrianna
made Grayson’s blood boil. “He’ll die before I let him touch
her.”

A strange light came into his mother’s eyes.
She stared at him for several moments before she gave him a brief
nod. The anger inside of him wouldn’t diminish. He shouldn’t care
why she never sought him, but he desperately wanted to know. Was he
such a bad child that she didn’t want him?

He reached for Adrianna’s hand before he
realized what he was doing. She smiled and threaded her fingers
with his. Just touching her settled his soul. He knew he should
make her leave, but he feared what would happen if Nigel found
her.

How he regretted coming to Hawksbridge. He
didn’t have answers, and now he had even more questions. Adrianna
had spoken to his mother, maybe she learned something. He was sure
she would tell him if she had, but he wondered if he really wanted
to know.

Sometimes it was best to be kept ignorant of
such things. Yet, deep down, he knew if he was to fight Nigel and
his knights, Grayson needed to know exactly what he faced.

“
Tell me how Nigel came to
have Hawksbridge?” he demanded.

Leoma sighed and folded her hands in her
lap. “He coveted Hawksbridge for years. He had King Henry’s ear
and, if it wasn’t for the close friendship between your father and
the king, we would have lost Hawksbridge years ago.”

“
So Nigel lied?”

She nodded. “Constantly. The king knew it
but, because Nigel was a noble, Henry did nothing of it.”

“
My faith isn’t restored in
the king,” Grayson muttered.

“
For years we lived content
at Hawksbridge. Life was good. Then, a skirmish between two
families erupted. William rode out with a group of his knights to
help make peace.”

“
He never returned,”
Adrianna finished.

Leoma nodded. “A week after William left,
Nigel sent me a letter stating the king had given him control of
Hawksbridge until William could be found.”

Grayson slammed his hand on the table. “You
believed him?”

“
Of course not,” his mother
replied as if she were talking to a simpleton. “I demanded to see
the king’s correspondence. The next day, after you and I went for
our walk, Nigel and his men stormed the castle. We didn’t have time
for a defense.”

“
You had knights. They
should have fought.”

“
Nigel was from the king,”
she said. “No one dared to harm him. None of us knew at the time
just what sort of hell he would bring here.”

Grayson folded his arms over his chest. “So
Nigel took over. Did no one look for my father?”

“
I sent several men
unbeknownst to Nigel. William’s body was never found.”

“
And his men?”

Leoma briefly closed her eyes. “The few that
were found were dead, their bodies mutilated.”

“
Grayson,” Adrianna said
and moved to his side. “It would be very foolish to stand against
Nigel alone. We can leave, us three, and find Drogan. We’ll gather
an army.”

Grayson shook his head. “We’d never reach
Drogan in time.”

He dropped his arms and turned to lean on
the table. A fool he wasn’t, but he saw no way out of their
predicament. He would love nothing better than an army at his back,
but it was impossible. They had precious few hours in which to plan
before Nigel arrived.

As much as Grayson wanted to kill the
bastard, he would rather spend the time with Adrianna, kissing her,
caressing her...loving her.

He straightened and faced his mother, the
woman he had searched years for. He had expected to find her dead,
but she was living, breathing in front of him. Her warm, dark eyes
watching him intently.

“
Finish the story. Nigel
came. Then what?”

“
He took me while another
man jerked you out of my arms. Nigel said if I didn’t come
willingly he would kill you right then. I couldn’t bear the
thought.”

Grayson snorted. “Death would have been
kinder rather than what I have suffered.”

“
I had moments to make a
decision,” she said, her gaze pleading with him. “If you had
children you would understand.”

He sliced his hand through the air. “That
isn’t the point. I was allowed to live, aye?”

“
Aye, but only if you were
sent from Hawksbridge. Nigel wouldn’t admit it, but I think he
feared you.”

“
Then he should have killed
me when he had the chance.”

“
Grayson,” Adrianna
murmured.

He glanced at her. She shook her head slowly
at him, her disappointment evident. How could he explain to her
that years of anger and fear and disappointment were now being set
free? He couldn’t control those emotions anymore than he could
control the moon.

“
I did the only thing I
could do,” Leoma said. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“
Where is the armory? I’m
going to need more weapons.”

Leoma lowered her gaze and
pointed. “Follow the corridor. It’s the sixth door on the
left.”

Grayson walked away. His head was a whirl of
information and shock, and he needed some time to himself. To think
and decide.

He found the armory without any problems.
Once inside, he took several deep breaths as he struggled to right
his world. Facing certain death didn’t frighten him. Knowing he had
brought Adrianna to her death sliced open his heart.

With the heels of his hands, he rubbed his
eyes. How had everything fallen apart so quickly? Or had it always
been so? Had he been so caught up in his secrets and lies that he
couldn’t see the chaos in front of him?

He dropped his hands and looked at the
weapons in front of him. Shields, swords, crossbows, flails, axes,
and even suits of armor filled the chamber.

“
Grayson?”

He turned at the sound of Adrianna’s voice.
She was the calm of the storm, the one person who could keep him
anchored. Grayson pulled her into his arms and held her against
him, breathing in the fresh scent of her hair.

“
I should never have
brought you,” he whispered. “How I wish we were still at the
inn.”

“
It wouldn’t have
mattered,” she said and pulled back to look at him. “Nigel would
have found us eventually.”

He knew she was right, but it didn’t make
their situation any better.

“
You found your mother,”
she said and ran her hand down his cheek.

“
Aye,” he admitted,
unwilling to release her for the moment.

Adrianna ran her hands up and down his back,
her caress soothing the beast within him. “She did what she thought
was for the best. I would do the same thing in her situation.”

“
I could have
died.”

“
But you didn’t. She would
never have let you leave if she hadn’t known in her heart you would
be all right. I understand the anger, but you have it directed at
the wrong person. Turn it to Nigel where it truly
belongs.”

He couldn’t stop the grin that tugged at his
lips. “You always have the answers, don’t you?”

“
Always,” she said with a
wink. “Now, what do you need me to do?”

He cupped her face. “Stay safe. Leave if you
can.”

“
I’m not leaving
you.”

Her words touched him as nothing else could.
He leaned down and took her lips. His body roared to life, his
hunger for her demanding he take her. He crushed her against him
and cupped a breast. She moaned into his mouth when his thumb
brushed her nipple. Saints, how he craved her. Each taste, each
touch only deepened his yearning until he feared he might never be
able to let her go.

Her hand grasped his cock. He groaned as she
ran her hand up and down his length, fueling the flames of his
desire until he burned with a need only she could put out. If he
didn’t step away from her now, he’d have her up against a wall,
thrusting into her hot, wet sex.

With reluctance, he ended the kiss. “Drina.
I want you more than you can imagine.”

“
Then take me.”

He growled and kissed the soft skin of her
neck as she released his rod. “I’d like nothing better.”

“
But you have duties to see
to.”

“
Aye.” He dropped his
forehead to hers. “Don’t leave the castle without me.”

“
If that is your
wish.”

He chuckled. “My wish is for none of this to
be happening.”

She took his face in her hands and leaned up
on her toes to kiss him. “You are a warrior, a knight skilled to
defeat those who would do evil. You couldn’t turn your back on
this, even if this weren’t your family home.”

“
Shite,” he cursed and
turned away from her. “My family home. I cannot believe
it.”

“
What? That you’re a
nobleman? I saw it in you the first time you looked at me. Whether
we like it or not, this is your fate, Grayson.”

He blew out a breath and shifted to face
her. “Have you looked into the future?”

“
Not yet.”

“
Will you?”

“
For you, I would do
anything.”

Grayson didn’t know how he had come to have
Adrianna, but he knew in that moment he would never let her go. His
past no longer matter. It was the future he was looking to.

And he wanted her by his side. Always.

Chapter
Twenty
‐
Four

Adrianna sat silently with
Leoma while Grayson cleaned and sharpened the weapons he had
chosen. Their meal had been a quiet affair with Leoma staring at
Grayson, and Grayson looking anywhere but at his mother. The hurt
in Leoma’s eyes was enough to make Adrianna want to try to have
Grayson see reason. But his wound went too deep.