Tapestries 04 - Threads of Destiny (15 page)

She let them chew on that fact for a moment. The fight seemed to go out of them and many of them lowered their swords, some even sheathing them. Marc eased his sword back to his side but she sensed he was still poised and ready to use it. “When did you find this?” he whispered in her ear.

She sensed the hurt underlying his words and she felt an overwhelming need to assure him that she wasn’t keeping things from him. Although why she should feel that way, she wasn’t quite sure. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling. “Just before Christina came and got me,” she whispered back, under her breath.

His fingers shifted, tightening against her belly. Immediately, heat shot between her thighs and she closed her eyes, swallowing heavily. Now was not the time or the place but that didn’t seem to matter. When it came to Marc, her body had a mind of its own.

The quicker this was done, the sooner she could retire to her room. She felt dusty and lightheaded. She’d hardly eaten anything these past two days. That coupled with the emotional overload and the physical strain of the afternoon, it was a wonder she was still on her feet.

Clearing her throat, she continued to address the crowd. “If a woman is brought to a particular family, then that is where she was meant to be. Taking her elsewhere will only ensure that she leaves. If there is a chance she will stay, then she needs to stay with the family she was brought to and given the chance to know those men.” She tried to think of a way to help them understand more fully the challenge these women faced. “Imagine if your sisters or daughters were ripped from all they knew and deposited in a strange world. Furthermore, they were told that they had to sleep with men they’d never met and pick a husband. Plus, this all had to happen in three days, and if they couldn’t make a decision, the tapestry would do it for them.” Several of the men in front of her appeared more thoughtful. “Think if you were ripped from all that you know and sent to a world where everything was different.” Marc shifted behind her and she felt the rumble of his voice against her back as he began to speak. “You all know that the tapestry took me from here.” Once again the crowd rumbled and many of the men nodded.

“I did not see much of Kathryn’s world but there were weapons that were unknown to me. Powerful things that could kill a man without even having to get close 79

to him.” Marc sucked in a large breath, letting it out slowly. “My skills were all but useless there. If not for the element of surprise, I would probably be dead.” She heard Jarek’s cry of denial, even as she knew Marc spoke the truth. The thought of him injured or dead was almost too much for her to bear. She bit her lip to keep from crying. She longed to wrap her arms around his waist and bury her face against his chest. But now was not the time.

“Marc speaks the truth.” Kathryn slowly turned her head so she could see Tienan as he spoke. “Guns, they’re called. For some reason they didn’t come with us when the tapestry brought us here and that isn’t a bad thing. In our world, there are weapons that could blow a hole in the side of the castle in a matter of seconds. It’s a brutal place.” Tienan paused. “Yet there is much good there too.” Reaching out, he stroked the side of her face.

Kathryn stretched her hand up to touch his, their fingers entwining. She hadn’t forgotten that their world was still in turmoil, waiting for them to return. Sighing, she forced herself to move, knowing she had to finish this.

There were women and children in the crowd now, drawn by the drama of what was unfolding. She saw Christina was beside Jarek and the Bakra wives had joined their husbands.

“I know that the laws of your land are for the protection and happiness of all, but the tapestry is magic, it does not recognize your laws. The tapestry is what it is and you must accept the decisions it makes.”

“And if we don’t,” one man countered.

“Then I can make certain that the tapestry never returns here.” Kathryn waited for the explosion, which wasn’t long coming.

Men yelled and protested but underneath it all she sensed panic and fear. It was then that she realized that these were mostly good men who only wanted wives and children. Families of their own.

She started to step away from Marc but his arm tightened around her. He wasn’t hurting her but she was locked in his embrace. “I have to do this,” she murmured. She felt his reluctance as his muscles slowly uncoiled and his forearm fell back to his side.

“Thank you.”

Kathryn took the five steps that led her up to the large stone landing in front of the heavy oak castle door. Stuffing the journal in her pocket, she faced the west where the sun was a blinding ball of orange in the sky. The afternoon was half gone and it would begin its descent behind the mountains in the distance within a few short hours.

She began to chant the words under her breath, having no idea if this would work.

As a woman of science and reason, she felt half foolish thinking that a few spoken words could actually make the tapestry appear. As a woman who’d experienced all she had the past two days, she knew that anything was possible.

Opening her heart and her mind to the magic, she shut out the scene around her and concentrated on the words that had been written in the journal. They were a 80

mishmash of languages—Latin, Arabic, French and some she’d never spoken before.

Yet she knew how to pronounce them and their meaning. That in itself was magic. It also bespoke of the unassailable fact that her ancestor had traveled to many different places, some on Earth and some on unknown planets.

The air began to swirl around her and she could almost hear a voice on the wind.

She began to chant louder and faster, the words blurring together to create more of a rhythm than individual meaning.

Lightning streaked across the pale blue sky. People screamed and yelled but no one moved as the scene unfolded around them all. The hair on her arms and on the back of her neck rose. Power filled Kathryn and she rose up on the tips of her toes as her body jerked.

She heard her name yelled in anguish. She wanted to reassure Marc that she was fine but her lips wouldn’t stop chanting. It poured from her, a river of power.

Kathryn focused on the energy, channeling it the way it was meant to be. Calling on the tapestry to come. There was a blinding flash of light. She blinked to clear her vision and it was then she saw it, drifting as if held by an unseen hand in front of her.

The air all around it hummed with power. Several women screamed and Kathryn knew that the tapestry brides from this generation were frightened. Marc scrambled up the steps with Logan and Tienan hot on his heels. He grabbed her, his hold so tight she could barely breathe.

She pushed at his arm and he loosened his grip but only slightly. She could almost hear his thoughts. And if the tapestry was going to take her, he was determined to go with her.

Shocked, she froze in place. It had never even occurred to her that Marc would leave Javara and return to Earth with her. That wasn’t how it was done. But hadn’t they already broken every rule?

Kathryn needed to think about this.

Instead, she turned to Christina and Jane. “There is no need to fear. You have made your decision and the tapestry would never unmake it.” The tapestry drew her gaze, the design was swirling, never settling. Forests, castles and faces all came into view for a split second before disappearing. “This is the tapestry that was given to this world. It has changed the rules this time. Possibly because I am a descendant of the original sorceress, I have been given knowledge.” A woman’s voice floated on the wind, spilling over the forest and the tall stone castle, swirling around the people where they stood. “This was my gift to you, yet for some of you it is not enough.”

Voices protested and many men and women fell to their knees where they stood as fear overtook them. Kathryn blinked as the vision of a woman’s face appeared in a large cloud. Her hair was white, yet her skin was unlined. Her eyes were sad and kindly at the same time. The cloud grew in size until her entire body was revealed, floating in the air. She appeared ageless, ethereal, her long hair flowing around her simple silver robe.

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Behind her, Christina gasped. “That’s the woman from the shop. The one who sold me the tapestry.”

“She’s the woman from the thrift store.” Kathryn hadn’t been introduced to the woman who spoke but she knew it had to be Jane.

Kathryn knew that this was her ancestor, the original sorceress. The resemblance to her mother was uncanny. Kathryn might not have known her mother but she’d seen pictures and the two women looked enough alike to be sisters.

“She looks like you,” Marc breathed. “If your hair was white, you would be almost identical.”

Now that he’d mentioned it, it made perfect sense. She looked like her mother, so she also bore an uncanny resemblance to the sorceress. The woman looked at her and smiled. “Are you enjoying my gift to you?” Her voice, though soft and melodic, reached to the far edges of the crowd.

“Ah…yes. It’s been interesting.”

Sarainta laughed. “You will make your choice as all tapestry brides do. Go or stay.

It is your choice.” Then she turned toward the crowd. “This was a gift. A thank you to your world for the time I spent here. You will accept the will of the tapestry.” As one, everyone in the crowd nodded.

“Then all is good.” She returned her gaze to Kathryn. “You have one more day.” With that there was another blinding flash. Kathryn barely managed to bring her arm up to shield her eyes. Hands grabbed her, holding on tightly. When she could finally see again, both the woman and the tapestry were gone.

Marc, Tienan and Logan were holding various parts of her body. “Ah, you can let go now.” Fingers and hands slowly unpeeled from her arms but Marc kept his forearm wrapped around her.

“This is done.” Jarek’s voice rang out authoritatively over the crowd. “You will accept the will of the tapestry and Kathryn’s decision.” One by one the men and women passed her on their way back into the castle. They all nodded, most of their gazes darting away. Great. Now she felt like a freak in this world too. No matter what, she seemed destined to be different.

Abrah paused before her. Bending down, he brushed her cheek with his lips. “I will accept your decision. But, if you get tired of this group…” His eyes twinkled as he made his offer.

Kathryn rather liked the man and his brother, who stood by his side but not enough to leave Marc. “Thanks.”

Marc growled behind her but she ignored him for the moment. She had a feeling he was going to have a lot to say later.

The last to stop and stand before her was Jarek, with Christina by his side. He stared down at her from his great height. “Our home is your home.” Cupping her chin 82

in his large hand, he stroked the line of her jaw. “You have brought much excitement here.”

Kathryn felt her cheeks flush. Excitement, her ass. More like chaos and bloodshed.

“You make Marc happy and that means everything to me. Please consider staying.

Do not let what happened here today taint your decision. Take tonight to…think about things.”

She knew what he really meant was, take tonight to have hot monkey sex with Marc. Her nipples tightened and her sex clenched as if to let her know how much they approved of that idea.

“Tomorrow, tour the castle. Talk to the people here. Get to know us all before you decide.”

“I will,” she promised Jarek.

“That is all I can ask.” He dropped his hand back by his side.

Christina stepped up and threw her arms around Kathryn. Shocked, she patted the other woman’s back with awkward movements. She wasn’t used to public displays of affection. “I hope you stay,” Christina whispered in her ear. “I could use another woman around here, one who understands what I’m going through. Jane and I are friends but I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like.”

“I will make your apologies to our guests.” With that, Jarek draped his arm over his wife’s shoulders and they walked into the castle, leaving the four of them alone on the landing.

“What did Jarek mean?” She turned to face Marc and the undisguised lust and longing in his eyes had her body softening and her limbs shaking. A quick glance down assured her that he was fully aroused. Her mouth went dry at the thought of making love with him once again.

“He meant, sweet Kathryn, that it is time for us to retire to my room.” Bending down, he licked her bottom lip before nipping it with his teeth. She gasped, blood surging through her body. Her core was moist and hot and pulsing to a primal rhythm.

“Umm…” She glanced at Tienan and Logan and wasn’t shocked by the carnal gleam in their eyes. Her gaze fell and, sure enough, they were both fully aroused.

“What do you mean, it’s time for us to retire to your room?” Marc sheathed his sword and swept her into his arms. “Just what I said. It’s time for us to pleasure you. To lick every inch of your delectably soft skin, to touch every satiny curve and hollow and to pleasure you until you scream your release. Then we’ll fuck you until you come again and again and again.” His lips came down hard against hers, claiming her, marking her. She knew she’d never forget the taste of his mouth or the feel of his lips for as long as she lived.

When he pulled back, they were both panting for breath. He raised an eyebrow as he turned to the other two men. “You coming?”

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Although the fight was over, Marc’s body was still poised and ready to react.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he needed an outlet for all the emotions raging within him. Fear, anger, lust and love all vied for dominance.

He’d stood beside Kathryn and watched but he could still hardly credit what he’d seen. The tapestry, the sorceress, the magic and power in the air—it was the stuff of legends. Yet, he didn’t care about any of it. All that mattered was the woman in his arms. He still had a night and a day to convince her to stay with him.

But he also had to give her the choice and not merely the choice between leaving and staying. She’d arrived with Tienan and Logan and it was obvious she had feelings for them. That had to be addressed if any of them were ever going to be satisfied with the outcome. Marc didn’t want to be second best this time. If Kathryn chose him, he wanted it to be because she wanted him and maybe even loved him. Nothing else would do.