Hearts Across Time (The Knights of Berwyck: A Quest Through Time Novel ~ Books 1 & 2) (24 page)

T
he ground shook
violently
beneath her feet while dancing, iridescent lights flashed brilliantly before her eyes. The fear of falling through time consumed her while a heavy mist began to surround her entire being. Desperately, she reached out her hands in a hopeless attempt at grabbing the comforting strength always surrounding Riorden. She encountered nothing but air. Closing her eyes, she could still see the stunned expression on his face as he lost his grip on her hand. He had been her life line, her reason for existing. Her breath left her. Her heart actually felt as if it had stopped its beating. Panic set in until she lost all hope.

“Riorden!” she screamed, and then listened as her voice echoed all around her until even the sound of her own words faded into nothingness.

Only the stillness of silence met her ears. All was quiet now and, as she opened her eyes, she found herself alone, casually sitting on the heavily worn steps of a circular turret in one of Bamburgh’s towers. She raised her eyes to the walls, and she looked forever upward at the spiraling structure above her. Smoke no longer emitted from the torches set in the sconces, hanging on the stones above her head. Such devices were now long since gone. They had been replaced ages ago by the modern marvels of electricity and light bulbs.

“Oh God,” she cried out, “how could you take him from me so completely!”

Sobs of agony wracked her body and consumed her until she could barely breathe. Her heart was actually hammering inside her chest. She wrapped her arms around herself, rocking back and forth, trying to keep what little sanity she had left. Completely bereft, she continued to sit on the cold stone stair, wondering how she would ever possibly manage, even one day, without Riorden in her life. He had come to mean everything to her, and she had lost him.

She felt it then...that tingling sensation, knowing he was somewhere near. Raising her tear streaked face in a last ditch effort of hope, she wiped the moisture from her eyes while she looked around, trying to locate the source of where she would espy her knight. And then, she knew with every fiber of her being just where she would find him.

She practically flew up the stairs until she fell scraping her knees. But she didn’t care if they pained her. Getting back up in a frantic need to see the only man who would ever possess her heart, she dashed down the passageway until she reached his chamber door. It hung open like a welcoming invitation for her to enter. It was as if he had been waiting for her. He stood there, watching her step into his chamber with the sun glistening on his body, as if he, in truth, stood before her. And yet, this was not to be, nor would it ever be so again. Clearly, they were merely vague shadows of ghosts to each other, once more.

“Oh, Riorden,” she whispered miserably, “I’m so very sorry.”

He gave her a sad sort of smile and held out his hand for her. He had done this once before…this man, who she had come to love with all her heart. She slowly made her way to stand next to him until she too held her numb and lifeless limb but inches from his own. It was still there…that rare and special connection between them that Time could not separate. She felt the sensation of electric currents racing up her arm that she could only feel with his nearness. He made her senses come alive.

“Live your life to its fullest, my dearest love, and know, I shall always be a part of you,” Riorden whispered to her soul.

“How can I possibly hope to accomplish this, when I’ve lost you?” she said as tears of regret escaped her eyes.

He gave her a radiant smile. “Lost me? Nay you have not lost me,
ma cherie
. I shall live inside your heart for always,” he said, pointing to her chest.

“Yes,” she said softly, “forever will you remain in my heart, Riorden.”

“Besides…I have given you the best part of me, Katherine. You, even now, carry it tenderly and protected well within you,” he exclaimed, with his own sense of loss shining in the depths of his vivid blue eyes. “See you to my son, my sweet, and raise him well.”

She placed her hand on her stomach. “A child?”

He chuckled. “Aye. He will be a strong healthy lad and of much comfort to you.”

“How can you know I’m pregnant?”

“You must needs ask, wife?” he queried with a raised brow, knowing she doubted his words. “Suffice to say, you, too, shall know soon enough.”

“I’ll never see you again,” she whispered quietly, and watched his image begin to fade.

“Aye, my dearest Katherine, you will. When you gaze into the eyes of our son, you shall see me for all of your days until we meet again.”

“It’s a long time to wait, Riorden.”

His roguish grin about dropped her to her knees. “’Twill be worth it Kat, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to your vow, Riorden,” she said, trying to memorize every inch of his beloved face.

“My soul will find yours, Katherine. If it takes until the end of time itself, I will find you once more,” he swore.

She reached out her hand as if to touch him, but stopped inches from his cheek. He gave her that smile she so adored and sadly watched him disappear, knowing he was now only but a memory in her mind.

Slowly, she walked to the window to stare with sightless eyes at the view he had been gazing upon but moments before. She quickly realized she had awoken to her worst nightmare and, in her utter sorrow, could only now wonder if she had, perhaps, dreamed and imagined the whole damn thing…

T
he earth began moving forcefully
beneath her as she cried out in terror with her fear of falling through space.

“Katherine, awake my love. You are but dreaming.”

She heard his voice, as if from afar, and almost refused to answer his calling. If she could stay in her dream, knowing he was still with her just a few minutes longer, she would have done so. But it wasn’t to be, if the insistent shaking of her shoulders was any indication. Someone was, annoyingly, demanding her attention.

Her eyes flickered open to the darkness of their chamber, and her immediate recognition of who was gently attempting to wake her caused a gasp of delight to rush from her lips. She quickly flung her arms around Riorden’s neck and held on, as if her survival depended on him to save her. She was sure she heard him groan from the force of her embrace as he wrapped her in the comfort of his arms. She was safe.

“What is this you do, Kat?” he asked with concern. “You act as if you have not seen me in some time.”

“It’s not that, Riorden,” she said still trembling from the nightmare that had plagued her dreams.

“Then tell me you enjoyed our lovemaking afore you decided to sleep the eve away. Did I bore you so much
, ma cher
, that sleep was the better alternative than my clever conversation?” he teased.

She took his face between her palms and tenderly caressed the planes of his cheeks with her thumbs, as if this might be the last time she saw him. Trying to find the words to express what she was feeling seemed an improbability at the moment, so she merely continued to look intently into his eyes. She gently stroked the lids of his eyes, ran her fingers through his hair, touched the stubble on his chin, and felt the silkiness of his lips.

Nothing in her life had ever prepared her for the deep and abiding love coursing through her veins for this man she had taken as her husband. To call it only love was almost a sin. Surely, what she felt for Riorden was more than just some small, four-letter-word term of affection.

“Why so serious, my lovely Katherine?” he pondered aloud and kissed her lips.

“I thought, I had lost you,” she answered in a simple declaration of the sorrow consuming her.

“Never,” he vowed.

“Tell that to what’s going on inside my head, Riorden. Look...” She held out her hands to him. Her fingers shook until he took them in his hand and brought them to his lips. “I can’t make them stop. I had a dream I went back, or forward, to the future and─”

“Hush now.
Time
would not be so cruel as to tear us apart now that we have found one another,” he said with a stern voice of disapproval. “Do not even think I would allow you to be taken from me in such a manner.”

“You’ll keep me safe then? You won’t let me fall through the time gate when the others are leaving us?” she said frantically.

He laughed at her foolishness. “Stay here in our chamber if I cannot convince you I will keep you safe. We shall then have no worries about such a happening.”

“I have to see them leave with my own eyes. I have to know─” she quickly halted midsentence and sat there waiting. One look at Riorden’s face and Katherine knew he had felt the same sense of urgency. “Riorden! They have to go and now!”

“We must make haste.” He leapt toward the door with her following closely in his footsteps.

They made their way to the chamber next to their own and rapped on the wooden door. It opened slowly, and once Gavin saw who stood there, he opened the door wider to admit them.

Gazing around the room, Katherine confirmed that Juliana and Emily were already impatiently waiting. It was when her eyes fell upon Danior and Tiernan that she became angered.

“Are you two out of your minds?” she admonished, noticing the two men had donned their normal everyday garments. “Where are the dresses we had made for you?”

Danior went to Juliana and tucked her hand within the crook of his arm while Tiernan did the same with Emily. They stood together in a united front of determination, and perhaps this was a good sign the men would become friends someday.

“I shall not be going to the future, or anywhere else, for that matter, dressed as a woman,” Danior exclaimed.

“Damn your pride to hell, Danior! Do you want to get yourself killed?” Katherine exclaimed.

“Aye!” Tiernan chimed in. “’Twas unmanly enough the first time to have to use such a ruse to gain entrance to the castle. I willna be making a fool o’ myself again, showing up in Emily’s future world dressed as a lass.”

Riorden laughed, although from Katherine’s perspective it wasn’t anything to laugh over.

“Leave it be, Katie,” Emily urged.

“We’ve already tried a million times, and they won’t budge,” Juliana exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

Riorden came forward, breaking off any further conversation. “We must away, and now. Katherine and I know the time is right for your traveling this eve. You must go, and you must make haste, afore the portal closes,” he declared, ushering the group toward the door. He held up his hand to Gavin and Brianna. “Keep your lady here, brother, where there is no chance she may fall from your side where you may not wish to follow.”

“But I have to go see them off, too,” Brianna cried out and flung herself into the arms of the three women, who already had their arms wrapped tightly around each other.

Katherine turned to her young friend. “Please Brie, do this for me. Quickly, say your goodbye’s and stay here where I know Gavin will keep you safe until I return.”

Brianna nodded mutely and gave Juliana and Emily a brief hug before she threw herself into Gavin’s arms and sobbed out her misery.

Katherine stood there also, in mute silence, holding on to her sisters’ hands. “I’m really not sure what else to say that we haven’t already said before.”

Juliana and Emily both smiled at her, and perhaps this was the way she would like to remember her friends’ faces, knowing they would find a lifetime of happiness.

“We’ll see each other again, my dear sister. Perhaps not in this lifetime, but surely when we meet back again in the heavens above,” Juliana promised.

Katherine smiled and gave them each a kiss on their cheeks. “Well, you know what I’ve always said about us…I like to think we were together there once before, waiting to come down to this earthly planet. I can see us all just sitting around on a lovely bench, chatting away in a beautiful garden created by our Heavenly Father. It’s why I think we always felt so close from the very first time we met.”

“You know, we’ve felt the same way, too, Katie,” Juliana replied honestly.

Katherine gave them one last hug before she whispered in their ears. “Brianna and I will be waiting for the both of you. You’ll just take a wee bit longer to join us again, that’s all.”

“Ah, damn it, Katie,” Emily sniffled, “you’re gonna make me cry. Anyway, I just may pop back here, from time to time. You know, just to check in and make sure you haven’t gotten tired of that handsome devil you married.”

“Not a chance, Em.”

“Ya never know,” Emily said, with a wink toward Riorden.

“Ladies…” Riorden urged, opening the door.

Riorden and Katherine led the way as they raced down the passageway towards the tower where they had traveled more than eight hundred years before. She could feel the necessity to hurry, since they had taken longer rounding up their group than they should have. At last, they finally reached the entrance where they could see the eerie glow, confirming they were right in their assumption that the portal was active.

The two couples took each other’s hands and Juliana was about to step forward when a gut wrenching feeling assaulted Katherine. She quickly took hold of Juliana’s arm and jerked hard, practically wrenching it from its socket.

“Ouch! What the hell’s the matter with you Katie?” she grumbled irritably, rubbing her abused limb.

Katherine watched Riorden intently and waited to see if he came to the same conclusion as she of the premonition she had felt just seconds before. “Well…what do you think?”

He looked down upon her and nodded. “Aye, Kat, you have it aright. ’Tis the wrong way.”

“What the heck do you mean, it’s the wrong way?” Emily gasped. “We went down these same set of stairs when we traveled through time, remember? I knew this was a bad idea.”

She was silenced when Tiernan placed a quick kiss upon her lips.

“Aye, you went down the stairs to travel back in time,” Riorden explained and began rushing them through the passageways and toward another tower so they could back track and arrive on the correct side of the portal. “You must go up the stairs to return to your time, or so Katherine and I think.”