Lost Heart: A Celta Novella (Celta HeartMate Series) (15 page)

T
hat evening
they told Reglis and Captain Mor that they'd be ready to depart for Druida City the next day at MidMorning Bell. When night fell both Resup and Glabra deserted them — Resup to help Glabra gather things from here to take for a nest she'd establish in Druida City.

Enata had taken a waterfall with Barton and he'd displayed excellent skill in pleasuring them both. Now she sat wrapped in a thin silkeen robe and watched Barton, who only wore a towel around his waist, obtain a couple of flutes of prime fizz wine from the no-time. His every movement was efficient and virile.

There was no sexier man in the world than Barton Clover.

She stilled as dread washed through her bringing a rush of horrible questions.
Could
someone have read her mind and provided this man? More, could have bespelled both of them to love at first sight?

The same, powerful person, powerful force who'd erased the memories of the lost family members. Celta.

Did that entity manipulate human emotions? Mold them to fit with another's?

The deep horror of it caught Enata's breath. Exactly how much might have the planet controlled her . . . and Barton. Was their love real? And if not, would they fall
out of love
at some point in the future? How terrible!

Barton stood in front of her, frowning. He placed both glasses on a side table, picked her from her chair, sat, and put her on his lap. "What's wrong?"

Since she panted and could feel his concern, so he must be feeling her panic, she couldn't deny anything.

"Best tell me about it." He wrapped his arms around her, and even naked from he waist up, he kept her warm.

"I had a few thoughts."

"Okay, tell me."

"The planet made us love each other, not normal falling in love or love at first sight." She gulped, calculated. "It all started at the dark of the twinmoons, the first day of the month of Reed."

He stroked her hair. "I had my appointment with the matchmaker before the dark of the twinmoons, the last week of the month of Ivy."

She relaxed, but her mind kept running. "And when did your quest truly begin?"

He froze. "The disappearances occurred at Ivy full twinmoons."

Tears coated her throat, backed up, stinging, behind her eyes. "Both potent twinmoons cycles. We've been manipulated."

"Let's ask the planet." A sharp smile edged his lips, and he squeezed her. "But I'm not giving you up."

She bit her lip, swallowed hard. "I don't like thinking we've been bespelled. What happens if the spell wears off? I couldn't bear it. Better that we end our relationship now, when the hurt won't—"

"The hurt now would fliggering tear me apart. And how the fligger do you think we'd live? And what about children for our Families? You're not leaving me again. We made vows, Enata."

"You're right. I'm running scared. Again."

Barton pointed to the luxurious square carpet that had a circular floral border and the four directions picked out with woven bouquets. "We'll just stand right there in that circle and ask Celta." He set her on her feet, and when he took his place, he stood braced as if for a fight.

He took her hand and put it over his heart. "We marry for love, we Clovers. So far. We haven't been noble enough for us to get any ideas that we should increase our status or fortune or whatever—" he stopped. "Well, Walker had a problem with the elders, but he resolved that in his usual quiet Walker fashion."

"I'm sure his HeartMate Sedwy had something to say about it."

Barton grinned. "Yes, she did."

Seeing him smile unwound the tension enveloping Enata.

With a jerk of his chin, he asked aloud, "So, Celta, we call on you for information. Have you manipulated me and Enata to fall in love with each other?"

Why is it important that I fashioned you for each other in your mothers' wombs?

Barton sat abruptly on the carpet, pulling Enata down with him.

"Because we prefer to find our own destiny?" Enata squeaked, trying to get her mind around the new information.

The whole room seemed to waver in her vision and Barton rocked against her.

You do not understand the dynamics of the universe,
Celta said.
You love and are loved. That is sufficient
.

"Do you also do HeartMates and HeartBonds?" Enata asked.

No, those are beyond Me. Created by a greater power.

"Lady and Lord," Enata whispered.

"Lord and Lady," Barton said gruffly, at the same time. He fell backward and took her with him. They lay there, on the thick patterned rugs like nothing they'd seen before, staring up at the beautiful patterned wood above them, for long minutes.

Finally Barton cleared his throat. "I think I can accept that I've been manipulated by our planet, our home, to love you, to fit with you."

"Me too," Enata said inelegantly.

"All right, then."

Their eyes met. She took his hand and led him to the bedsponge. There she made love to him tenderly, thoroughly, hoping the love she felt for him wasn't artificial, wouldn't fade.

But a shard of fear that unnatural love could vanish lodged in her heart. She wished they'd been HeartMates.

M
idmorning the next day
, Captain Mor stood stiff and straight near the end of the gangplank that led up to the ship,
The Lady of Celta.
Enata, Barton, Balansa and the Fams awaited the signal to board.

After one last hug, Reglis snapped his fingers and translocated a box. "For you and Barton. Please open them now."

Enata unwrapped the gift, tucking bow and paper into one of her sleeves, Barton took off the top of the box and pushed back softleaves to reveal gorgeous marriage armbands. Lined with bespelled velvet, the base was copper, and the engraved panels pure gold. The etching showed eternal Celtic marriage knots framed by a clover blossom on one side and a spray of licorice leaves on the other.

"I noticed you didn't wear marriage armbands," Reglis said.

"We married quickly," Barton said gruffly. "Didn't pick any out. These are fabulous. We'll treasure them."

"Such a wonderful gift!" She flung herself against her brother and squeezed him hard, was glad of his tight clasp.

When he let go, he blinked several times. "Don't be a stranger. Come back now and again. You can, you know."

"I know. I might." She glanced at Barton. They all knew his memory of this would fade.

Barton shrugged. "I'll probably go off on training missions now and then, you can come here."

Reglis slapped him on the shoulder. "Barton, you are a man among men."

"I know."

"And now we're linked again, we can speak telepathically," Reglis said. He closed his eyes a few seconds. "You can keep me up to date on the Family."

"And everything else," Enata added.

Eyes damp, Reglis turned to Balansa and said, "I have a gift for you, too." Another snap of his fingers and a small black and white kitten appeared in his hands.

Her shriek of happiness bounced off the cliffs of the bay, mingling with the kitten's plaintive mews and Resup's demands to
See a new Fam friend!

With a grimace, Captain Mor stepped up and snapped another tiny orange vest around the kitten.

Then last hugs around and they trooped up the gangplank.

Barton helped the crew raise the platform and stow it, then looked toward where he last saw Reglis. The man had vanished, teleporting to the Castle, though Barton would bet any amount of gilt that Reglis would be watching from a tower until
The Lady of Celta
sailed out of sight. A good man, and one who loved his job as much as Enata did hers. This separation was tough on the both of them. Enata had already disappeared below, not wanting to see the island that held her brother diminish in the distance.

Turning to the Captain, Barton said, "I thank you for bringing us here and taking us back."

"Just doing my job," Mor said.

Barton shrugged. "Is there anything I can do for
you
?"

The Captain measured him with wary eyes. After a couple of breaths, he said, "I'd like a membership to The Green Knight Fencing and Fighting Salon. Like to go there on shore leave in Druida City."

"I can do that," Barton said. If he couldn't get the Hollys to donate a membership, he and the Clovers could buy one for the Captain. Always good to have an influential acquaintance. And as
the
physical connection between Druida City and Cyfrinach Island, Captain Mor was a good acquaintance to have.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Mor handed a piece of papyrus and a writestick to Barton. "Better write down a promissory scrip for that membership for me. 'Cuz you'll be forgetting all about it in a little while."

Barton wrote:
I hereby promise Captain Mor—

"Spell it 'Moores'," the Captain instructed.

Doing so, Barton finished the note and handed back to Mor, along with the writestick. "When will my memory start to fail?"

"Once we pass the halfway point from the island to the peninsula. Good luck to you."

"And to you." Barton tried a smile, but it turned lopsided. "I won't remember you when you introduce yourself to me in Druida City and remind me of the note, but . . . maybe we can build an acquaintance there."

For once the man's eyes didn't look like hard marbles. He dipped his head. "Maybe."

T
he first part
of the trip passed well, if with a touch of melancholy. When they reached the midpoint, Barton came down with a fever for several septhours, then moaned, shuddered once, and fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he had no knowledge of Savi or the events on Cyfrinach Island other than their sexual bouts and that Enata had claimed a new FamCompanion.

As she'd promised before they left, Enata told him he was missing memories, and that he could have them back, but the price would be steep. Since he
did
recall her suffering in the vault, if not the cause, he grunted but didn't press her. As time wore on, his mood lightened as he played with Balansa, the kitten, and talked to Glabra about the best things to have in a nest-home.

Until a septhour before they reached Druida City.

"
S
omething's wrong
," Barton muttered. He'd come up to stand next to Enata and look over the rail in the direction of Druida City.

"What?" she asked.

He rubbed his neck, then his chest. "Something is definitely wrong." Lifting his face into the breeze coming from the distant shore, he inhaled. Then he rubbed over his heart. "It's Walker."

"Walker?"

"Walker's sick." Barton turned to her, glowering. "These damn memories that I've lost. Is there something in them that might have affected Walker, too? Hurt him?"

Dismay filled her, but she'd promised to answer any of his questions honestly. "Perhaps."

"Cave of the Dark Goddess!" He banged the rail of the ship with his fist, then muttered more vile curses she hadn't heard him use before. He swung around. "Captain Mor, can we go any faster?" he shouted.

The Captain strode up to them with his rolling walk and face set in hard lines. "Maybe. If I think we should." He looked at Enata.

"How sick is Walker?" she asked.

"Sick enough."

So she nodded to Captain Mor. "I think that if we can get more speed, we should." Curving her mouth in a small smile, she said, "And the sooner we land, the sooner you're rid of us."

"There is that," the Captain grunted. He stalked away, gathered some of his crew around him and they went to the prow. Enata sensed great Flair, and a touch of that
otherness,
planetary energy, and the ship picked up significant speed.

As soon as they'd docked, they heard a yell, "Barton! Barton Clover, are you there?"

"Yes!" Barton shouted back.

When they disembarked, two of Barton's guards ran up to them, linked her and Balansa — whom they'd recognized — and Barton together and teleported them to Clover Compound.

T
hey alit
outside Walker's chambers, Balansa shaky with weariness. Thankfully, Resup slept in the duffle and Glabra sat quiet and fluffed on Enata’s shoulder.

One of the older women took Balansa away to sleep with Trif Clover Winterberry's family, and Barton strode into Walker's bedroom, drawing Enata with him.

The Head of the Household looked bad. Worse off than Barton had been when he'd lost his memory, awake but weak. Barton politely asked Walker's HeartMate to go for clucker soup and dark bread and after one long stare, she'd agreed.

Barton glared at Enata, widened his stance, and crossed his arms.

"We're suffering from memory loss," he informed his brother. "Enata, as a PublicLibrarian, has the information, but I have refrained from asking her about it. Until now.

“I think we should know."

"Know what?" Enata delayed.

"Everything," both men said in unison.

Raising her brows, she faced off against the two Clovers. "I would advise against this."

"We need to know."

"Why?" She truly thought that the worst was over for them. Obviously they both had been tied to Savi as a distant cuz, but from what Barton had told her before, they barely knew him. "You need to know because you are the Head of the Household and Chief of Security for a large Family.” She shrugged. "I'm sure you have secrets, even Family secrets I will never be told. We, the Licorices, have and protect secrets, too. Let this one be."

Barton stood even taller. "Walker will someday be the most powerful man on Celta, the Captain of All the Councils."

She
had
heard that. "To me that's more of a reason for him
not
to know."

Both Clover brows wrinkled in frustration.

"Walker would never abuse power."

Walker angled to a straighter position and even that effort seemed to cost him. “Whatever happened is hurting me, and through me, my Family.” He rubbed his chest. “It’s limiting my ability to protect them. And if the effects linger, or occur again . . .” He shook his head. “I don’t want my Family hurt.”

She stared at the two stubborn men for a full minute, and her own will began to weaken. So much easier to be with Barton without this particular secret between them.

If Walker knew of Celta and the Chosen, she might be able to ask him for advice. She believed other Clovers would be Chosen in the future. Wetting her lips, she repeated, "There will be a physical price to pay for this knowledge."

"We will pay it," Walker stated, white around the mouth.

It only took a wisp of a thought of Celta, the first Word of the long spell rhyme the entity had taught her, for Enata to feel the deep interest of the being who was a planet. And pause.

“No,” she said, looking at the half-brothers. “No. I’m not going to tell you.” Glabra shifted on Enata’s shoulder, but said nothing.

“I am the head of the Family,” Walker stated, and she felt his Flair fill the room. A touch of charisma, but most of all, empathy – and . . . at that minute he removed the dulling shields of all the threads of the individual Clover bonds. All the ties he had, Barton had, to the nearly two hundred member Family.

She made a sound as they began to twine through her and Barton hesitated, but came to her and put a hand on her shoulder. That helped her deal with the influx of emotional ties. In the shadows of all the other links, she felt the one that only she and Balansa knew of – Savi.

Stiffening her spine, she stood solid and nodded once to Walker. “You are the head of the Clover Family, but not the Licorices, and head of the Family or not, every person must decide the points of their own honor and to act responsibly.”

Barton dropped his hand from her shoulder, and that hurt, hurt. Her mouth dry, she continued. “For your protection, and the protection of all the Clovers and, in fact, the protection of us all, I am not going to tell you.”

Walker appeared offended, but wary. Anger slipped from Barton to her along the bond.

“You’re judging me?” Walker asked.

Again a dark stirring of a tendril of the lady of Celta. “One of the prices for you to pay is a journey like the one Barton and I made.” Anxiety, trying to do the right thing for everyone, made her smile sharp. “An open-ended journey.” She put up her hand and stroked Glabra with the backs of her fingers. “It could be trying. Would you go, Walker Clover? Alone, or take your HeartMate and children? Some . . . rituals demand days. Can you afford days away from Druida City?”

Walker crossed his arms. “I don’t like your tone.”

“I don’t like your demands.” She looked at him, watched Barton from the corner of her eye. “And if you don’t respect me and my judgment, now, when you are
not
the most powerful man on Celta, will you make even more demands of those around you when you are? Listen only to your wants and needs at the expense of others?”

“We’re protecting the Family,” Barton said in a rough voice.

“Are you? By hurting one member of the Family? Me?” She took in an uneven breath. “There are truisms that apply here. ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ ‘The ends justify the means.’ I won’t tell you this particular secret.”

“You may go then,” Walker said. “Barton, I’d like to debrief you on everything.” Walker waved and the door opened.

Not looking at Barton, but with a cooing Glabra cradled in her hands, she left.

Would Barton follow her? Choose her over his Family? She didn’t know, and sometime in the last few minutes, their bond had closed to a strand. She took the wide marble stairs down, walked slowly along the wide hallway to a door she thought open into the courtyard. One of the three courtyards of the long blocks of Clover Compound.

Despite the continuing discomfort of all the bonds of all the people pushing at her, despite Walker seeming to give her a choice between her Family or the Clovers, Enata would stay. Somehow she would find Barton’s home. It had been on the east . . .

Now that she truly felt the links of the Clover Family, among some individuals was a dark trauma of missing Savi.

And she realized that love would get them through, heal those fractures in the Family when one went missing. Only love could do that. Her Family had been mending, and she'd work hard on ensuring her sister and her parents knew she loved them, on weaving the bonds between them all — love bonds — tighter.

Love had to be the only way such wounds could heal. She would also observe the Hazels, the Heathers, and the Mors. Perhaps invite them to certain rituals. She knew a creative priestess who crafted good rituals for specific purposes.

Then, no more than half way down the courtyard, strong arms grabbed her from behind, and swung her up against a broad chest. Glabra chirped in happy welcome and transferred to Barton’s shoulder.

“You chose me." Enata's voice trembled.

“I will always choose you,” he murmured near her ear, stirring her hair.

“Even over your Family.”

“You are my Family.” His breath came a little rough. “I admit I like to be in control, and am overprotective. But I’ve learned that I can’t hold myself responsible for everything that happens to a member of my Family. And that my life should be more than working to keep them safe. I have you now.” He tightened his grip around her, then swung her to her feet and twined his fingers with hers.

“So you told Walker, what?”

“That I trust you. That you’re my wife and if he doesn’t trust you, then I can resign and head up security for the Licorice clan.”

The shock had her jerking. “You did?”

“I did. He was pleased, and when his HeartMate returned, she was pleased, too. I translocated my duffle and Resup home." He glanced at Glabra. "I've got my woman now. Why don't you fly and explore the Compound?"

She flicked her tail, chirped mentally,
I am happy to do so!
and took off.

Barton continued, "Oh, and Walker said that if you think the FirstFamily nobles will ever let him have absolute power, you should think again.”

“There is that.” She rubbed her head, but now felt the flicker of attention she’d had from Celta was gone. Then Enata brought up something bothering her. "We aren't HeartMates."

"I'm glad you're not my HeartMate," Barton squeezed her. "Should I die, our children will not be abandoned by both parents. Even with all the Clovers to help them, my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, I don't want that."

Enata's voice clogged with horrified tears. "I don't think I could go on well without you, HeartMate or not."

He pivoted fast, lifted her chin so she met his intense gaze. "You would not abandon our young children."

Gulping, she shook her head. "No. But though my body might not die, I think my heart would." Again she shook her head in denial. "I can't think of that. Please don't make me think of that. We will grow old and die together in bed." She said it like a spell, hoped the entity of Celta listened.

Barton's lips quirked. "Having sex."

She closed her eyes at the embarrassment of that particular scenario.

"We wouldn't be around to be humiliated," he pointed out, issuing her through the doors of the wing between two of the Clover Compound blocks.

They traversed the short corridor in silence. As they reached the door to the next courtyard, Enata saw through the window that the area was populated. This was the original square of houses built by the Clovers, the main outside living space of Clover Compound.