Written in the Stars (6 page)

The gypsy seated himself across from her. “Give me your hand, my lady.”

Palm up, she placed her right hand before him on the black, cloth-covered table.

Smiling, his gold teeth gleaming in the candlelight, he looked down.

His expression abruptly changed.

“Don’t sit there with your mouth hanging open and your eyes bugging out of your skull.
Say something. What do you see?” Alice demanded to know.

“Life. Death.” The gypsy jumped up so quickly his chair toppled over. “No more.”

“I could have done a better job of it and I don’t have the eye.” Alice snorted.

I saw his eyes and they were full of terror for me.

Elizabeth rose, took a coin from the small silk purse at her wrist, and placed it
on the table.

“Don’t give this charlatan a penny!” Alice lunged for the table but the gypsy was
quicker, snatching the coin and backing deeper into the shadows of the tent.

“Great danger,” he whispered.

The sounds of the fair returned and an instant later they were gone.

Still seething in indignation, Alice stared after him. “Man had an escape route in
the back. No doubt to save himself from dissatisfied customers.”

Elizabeth grabbed her arm to look steadily into her eyes. “Promise you will say nothing
of this.”

Lips pressed in a tight line, Alice nodded.

Emerging from the tent, they found Carlyle looking bored and Tom with an expectant
gleam in his wide eyes.

“No, there will be no telling our secrets to you.” Alice laughed up at him.

Once again Elizabeth took Alice’s arm so they could walk side by side and hoped her
dear friend would not have a bruise from the pressure of her fingers.

Reaching the castle, Elizabeth forced herself to move and act normally and not betray
the growing unease she felt all around her.

Great danger from where? From whom?

At last they reached her chamber door and she quickly turned to bid Carlyle a good
night.

He clasped her hand, carrying it to his lips. “Rest tonight and tomorrow. You are
pale. A ride in the brisk air will return the roses to your cheeks. Ride with me the
day after.”

Knowing she must chart an honorable course for all of them out of this torment, she
nodded. “Yes, Carlyle, I shall ride with you.”

…

Once Tom reported the fairgoers had arrived safely back in the castle, Will walked
to his father’s chambers.

As he did every night, the duke sat in his large carved chair before the fire and
waited for him.

Tonight, Will knew, would be different than all others before.

He took a stance in front of the fire, much as his father had done earlier.

The duke lifted his eyes to meet Will’s steady gaze. “Tell me.”

“I love Elizabeth. I want her for myself.”

The shock of saying aloud what was in his heart and soul instead of what he had intended
to ask, caused him to grip the mantle, his fingers turning white.

“Do you plan to take her up before you on your horse and flee to Europe? Sell your
sword to kings and princes for coin? Disgraced, neither of you would be received by
any but the lowest among us. I wonder if you will think of those you leave behind.
The men, women, and children who will suffer and perhaps die because you put them
in harm’s way without the protection and prosperity of alliances made between leaders.
Can such love flourish in soil tainted by your selfishness and dishonor?”

Stunned by such words spoken in disdain by his father, Will straightened in boiling
anger and disbelief. “Are these the words your father used when he convinced you to
betray and desert my mother?”

Watching his father’s face crumple felt like a kick to his chest, taking away his
power to breathe.

In two steps he was in front of his father and fell on one knee. “I was seized by
madness. I came to ask permission to gather a troop of men to inspect and fortify
our borders. To leave to preserve my honor, not to bring you this pain. Forgive me.”

“How can I forgive when I have never forgiven myself?” With trembling fingers, he
gripped Will’s shoulder. In the firelight the tears drifting down his face sparkled,
starkly revealing his pain. “I would give you my heart to feast upon if it could change
the past. I know well the love you feel and the agony of your choices.”

“Is it right that we must make such choices for others? Should they not be free to
make their own?” Will asked quietly, his chest tight with regret.

“In another time, another place, such ideas may flourish and bear fruit. This is our
time and our place.” The duke rose and Will followed. He looked into cornflower-blue
eyes so much like his own. “Out of my love I grant you free choice, Will, to do what
your honor dictates and your heart can bear. Whatever you choose, I vow I shall do
everything in my power to protect you and Elizabeth from all who might harm you. And
I pledge I shall try to make amends to Wharton Keep to protect the peace between us.”

Knowing his father spoke the truth, the only decision Will could make settled into
his soul.

…

After Alice, still laughing and reliving her dance with Tom, retired, Elizabeth lay
wide-eyed, haunted by waking nightmares.

Her body, awakened to its needs by Will’s touch, ached for him. She craved his strength.
Wanted to bask in the security his arms offered.

Together we are invincible.

The thought came from deep inside her. From the place she was only beginning to know
and still did not fully understand.

She rose and padded to the chest where the celestial girdle slept.

Holding it, running her fingertips over the jewels, the golden crescents of the waxing
moon, she sought answers to the questions plaguing her.

Yes, she knew there was great danger, for she felt the energy of darkness around her.

From where does it come? And what should I do to overcome it?

These were the questions which haunted her. Yet they faded, becoming nothing compared
to the heart of her torment.

How can I change the course of my life to intersect with Will’s?

Feeling the chill of the hours past midnight, she crawled into bed, clasping the jeweled
girdle to her breasts, praying its magic would give her the answers.

Alice found her there in the morning.

“God in heaven, you could have hurt yourself with that thing in your bed while you
slept!”

Having been granted no answers, but rather a sleepless night, Elizabeth sat weakly
on the side of the bed while Alice fussed about, gathering scented water and all Cybil’s
potions to better help her greet the day.

The knock came at the door as Alice finished lacing Elizabeth’s morning robe.

Will, neatly dressed, his hair darkened by water and his skin glowing, stood in the
entry.

My prayers have been answered.

Joy exploded through her blood, evaporating her listlessness, propelling her into
movement.

“Alice, leave us, please.” Surprisingly, she vanished without comment.

Slowly closing the door, Will turned to her.

Not able to wait another moment, she ran to be in the cherished warmth of his arms.

He stood quite still, his hands gripped behind his back.

She swayed to a stop, her eyes searching his closed face. “What has happened?”

“Lady Elizabeth, I have come to tell you I am leaving tomorrow with a troop of my
men to fortify our border with Scotland. This will be our last meeting. When I return
you shall be my brother’s wife.”

The words reached her, but she couldn’t understand their meaning, so foreign was his
face and voice.

When finally they penetrated her confusion she recoiled in disbelief.

“So we are to repeat your mother and father’s tragedy.”

For an instant she marveled at how she had known what weapon to use to drain his skin
of color and bring blue fire to his eyes. To bring life to the hard-controlled muscles
of his face.

I know because I am his soul mate.

“Elizabeth, you must understand I can offer you nothing but dishonor.”

She held back the tears, the need to throw herself into his arms, pleading with him
not to leave her alone. “You can offer me love, can you not, Will?” she asked softly.

His eyes caressed her, giving her the courage to take a step closer.

“Until the end of time, Elizabeth, I shall love you.”

“Then do not throw away our future with both hands. I shall find a way for us to be
together. I promise.”

“At the expense of others? The guilt would destroy both of us.” The harsh weariness
in his voice stopped her. She sensed his decision had been hard-won, but he had chosen
honor, duty.

She would not tell him of the danger she felt gathering around her. She sensed the
burden of his choice was nearly more than he could bear. From deep inside, her love
for him gave her the strength to meet the open plea in his eyes.

“For now I give you leave to go, Will. Yet I promise this is not the end for us.”

She thought he would touch her, willed him to do so, but she saw his shoulders stiffen
in resolve. Recognized the determination in the firm set of his jaw. Ached at the
agony in his eyes.

Only after the door closed behind him, did she sink to the floor, bury her face in
her palms, and weep for what lay ahead for them both.

Dunham Castle, 1601

A dark energy grows heavily around me and I struggle to understand from whence it
comes. I alone must discover the source of the danger. I call on the knowledge and
power within me which grows daily. From it, I gain strength to accept my need for
Will to be by my side for all time and to uncover the path of honor for both of us.

Will believes he must choose honor and duty over our love, and I know I must be patient
with his decision until the moment is right to reveal my choice.

I defy the choice my father made for me and plot how I shall fall at his feet and
beg him to understand I must be free to seize my own destiny. Out of his love for
me I pray he will understand my change of heart. I came here to do my duty and in
doing so I have found my heart’s desire for all time.

In this time and place I choose both love and honor, for neither can exist without
the other. I know my choice will shape your destiny.

Chapter Six

Elizabeth lay awake throughout the long night, counting the hours until Will would
leave her.

Eyes acid-dry from endless weeping, she watched Alice leave the chamber to bid farewell
to Tom before Will led his troops from the castle. She chose to be spared the torment
of that sight for she feared watching him ride away would break even her iron resolve
to find an honorable way for them to be together. If she broke, she would fall to
her knees, begging him to stay.

I cannot burden him with my need until I forge an honorable path for us both to follow.

Sure in the knowledge that she would find the way and that Will would return to her,
she strengthened her resolve to bide her time until all could be as she desired.

“They are safely away?” she asked as Alice entered the room.

“Aye.” Her usual smile wavered and then was gone. “Sorry to see Tom go. Thinking I
might stay for a bit after your wedding to see him return.”

Icy shivers consumed Elizabeth anew as she thought of her upcoming wedding and what
she must do to prevent it. She rose, hurrying to the hot, scented water Alice had
brought. “You know you may stay as long as you wish.”

“Aye, I know. Miss my bossy sister Jane and Granny Cybil. I’ll be full of tales to
tell about this fine court and your grand wedding.” Laying out Elizabeth’s clothes
for riding with Carlyle, Alice slid her a worried look. “Speaking of your groom, you
don’t seem that excited about becoming his countess.”

Swirling to face her, Elizabeth forced a smile. “And you say you don’t have the eye
like your Granny Cybil. No, I do not know Carlyle, nor am I sure I shall like to be
his bride, but I shall try to appear more pleasant to not hurt his feelings.”

Sensible Alice straightened and stared at her in disbelief. “Elizabeth, what can be
done but to do what your father wishes?”

Her heart felt as if it would burst through her bones and skin. She held Alice’s hands
and squeezed. “I do not yet know. Perhaps a ride in the crisp, fresh air will help
clear my head and show me the way.”

Hours later, her words to Alice haunted Elizabeth as Carlyle kissed her wrist before
helping her mount her horse. As always, his touch sent shivers of fear along her skin
and into her heart.

It is not his doing that my heart belongs to another and his touch repulses me. I
must be kind. I do not wish to hurt him.

He led her in a new direction, foreign to her. As they rode, she saw no small, neat
farms, or hailed any of the scouts who guarded the duke’s lands. Where Carlyle led
there was only forest and a strange stillness.

Smiling, she pretended to be interested in his talk of hawking and hunting. His pleasant
companionship, the air cool and fresh on her face, her love of riding, could not quench
her strange unease. She had the oddest feeling that she was being led somewhere she
would not like to reach.

She kept glancing behind her, hoping to see a familiar rider, a beloved face. Someone
who would stay by her side, to make her feel safe on this strange ride into a part
of the forest she had not visited.

Will! Will, if only you were by my side.

Her heart sent the plea while her mind tried to stop wishing for it to be true.

I must make my desire to have Will always by my side come to pass. I must refuse to
marry Carlyle, a man who I do not love, and in truth, fear.

The knowledge of what she must do echoed again and again in her head as she rode beside
him, deeper into thicker brush and tall trees which blocked the sun.

“I want to take you to my special place, Elizabeth.”

Instinct made her hesitate. Duty and a certain guilt at what she planned demanded
she nod in agreement.

…

As they rode into the sun, his men and the supply horses laden with food, casks of
beer, helmets, steel plates, spearheads, and swords at his back, Will laid out to
his lieutenant all his plans to fortify the duke’s border with Scotland and to secure
the newly acquired lands to the east.

The lands Elizabeth will bring to her marriage to Carlyle.

In the cold hours before dawn, Will had paced the courtyard, hoping and dreading she
might appear to bid him farewell. Leaning heavily upon the duke’s strong arm and Will’s
grandfather while holding Stephen, Laurel had sent him off with tears, embraces, and
prayers for a safe and swift return.

His gut clenched again, remembering Alice running into the torch-lit courtyard, believing
for one glorious moment that Elizabeth had followed and he could see her one last
time. He felt again the aching disappointment when he realized Alice was alone, coming
to say good-bye to his smitten lieutenant.

Now, face solemn, Tom rode beside him, Alice’s parcel of ginger and other concoctions
she swore would keep him healthy tucked securely in his saddlebag.

Although Tom had appeared to listen and grasp Will’s plans for the weeks of their
campaign, his unusually grim countenance told another story.

“We shall return before you are forgotten. Stop fretting,” Will coaxed and was rewarded
by a grin.

“Aye, Alice is quite a girl. I hope she stays a bit after the grand wedding.”

The grand wedding of my brother to the woman I love.

Images burned through his mind and seared his heart.

Carlyle’s hands touching the warmth of Elizabeth’s lush, responsive body. Carlyle
pushing his fingers through the glory of her hair, pulling her close to plunder the
sweetness of her lips. Carlyle possessing her.

Pounding jealousy and fear shattered all other feelings, leaving only one at his center.
She had asked what might be greater than honor. He had always known the answer but
been fearful of accepting the truth.

Will! She was calling to him as he had called to her in the courtyard. He could see
her being led into a secluded glade by Carlyle. Her fear poured through him, drowning
his iron resolve. He must make sure she was safe.

No longer able to still his deep-seated fear for her, he held up his arm and his troops
halted behind him. “Tom, take the men back to Dunham Castle. I shall meet you there.”

Wheeling his horse, he raced to find her before it was too late.

…

Patches of sunshine, falling down through the arch of trees above them, played across
Carlyle’s intense face as he led Elizabeth into a quiet glade. Thick, low bushes surrounded
an odd circle of flat grass. In one corner a small pool was fed by an underground
spring. She slid off her horse, allowing it to drink there.

Her defenses weakened by fatigue, she couldn’t step away before Carlyle clasped her
hand, pressing his lips to her birthmark.

“I have chosen you for this. And for this.” With his fingertips he stroked the celestial
girdle around her hips.

His touch and smile froze her with unease and the edge of fear she didn’t understand.

“Your birthmark and girdle represent the old arts of which I know much. As do you,
my beautiful Elizabeth. Here, I brought you to my special place to show you who I
am and what we shall be together.”

He reached into what appeared to be a hollow between felled logs and pulled out a
heavy, black-hooded robe.

Every instinct screamed danger and she backed away one step.

He placed it around his shoulders before he pushed aside the thick brush. There stood
a stone altar stained with blood such as Cybil, had described to her as the worship
place of the dark ways.

Sickened, now realizing why she had instinctively feared Carlyle, Elizabeth retreated
even farther from him. “You practice the dark magic.”

His eyes wide and flickering with emotions which froze Elizabeth, Carlyle, smiling,
moved closer to her. “Ah, Elizabeth, you are a child of such magic. Marked by the
pagan gods. Within you lives both darkness and light. It is the purity of your heart
which shields you from all you are destined to be. When you are joined with me, I
shall release your full dark power. Together we shall conquer time and space.”

“Never!” Rage and defiance swelled in her breast, and she pulled the hidden golden
dagger from her celestial girdle and aimed it at his heart.

Carlyle laughed. “Good. You like your play rough, Elizabeth. As do I.”

He lunged toward her.

Some force within her, like unseen hands, flung him back away from her.

His triumphant face turned her blood to ice. “You are more than I had hoped. By our
wedding day I will have the measure of your magic and match it.”

Frozen in disbelief and terror, she couldn’t move until her birthmark began to tingle,
warming her body, giving her the strength and knowledge to defy him. “You do not match
me this day, my lord.”

Eyes wide, laughing, he again moved toward her. “My bewitching Elizabeth, it is heedless
to struggle. The old gods have decreed this the time and place where we shall join
our powers.”

The force of her revulsion flung him to the ground. “I believe the gods have decreed
this the time and place for me to discover your darkness and reject it.”

His face a mask of disbelief and rage, he leapt to his feet. “You shall not defy me!”

On its own power, her golden dagger left her fingers to hover at his exposed throat.
She sucked air into her hot lungs in awe at the power she felt coursing through her
and with the dagger as if it was a part of her. “Leave now, Carlyle, or I shall destroy
you. I swear it.”

Laughing, he ripped off his robe, hid it once more, and leaped upon his horse. “Follow
the setting sun back to Dunham Castle and ponder what we will soon be together. For
I swear it shall come to pass. There is naught you can do to defy the old gods. You
cannot flee from this destiny. Even if you try, you shall fail.”

Fearing he spoke the truth and, weakened by despair and horror, she fell to her knees
as she returned the dagger to its place in her girdle.

I shall never be a creature of darkness with him. Never. Never. Never.

Hearing the sound of an approaching rider, fearing Carlyle might be returning, she
swayed to her feet, ready to pull the dagger free once again

Will slid off his horse and ran rapidly across the glade to her. “Elizabeth! Love,
I am here.”

Her relief was white-hot, scalding, a blaze too bright to bear.

Instinct, hunger, desire long denied and now free drove her hands into the hair at
the nape of his neck, bringing his face, his lips so close.

Every reservation gone, Will pulled her even closer, parting her lips, tasting her.
His mouth stroked over hers again and again as he dragged her tight against his body.
She breathed in his heat and his scent, craving more.

In burning desire, in full acceptance of what she wanted, she twisted into his body,
throwing back her head, exposing her throat and breasts to his searching kisses.

His hands ran up and down her spine, sending shuddering thrills along her tingling
nerves.

“If Carlyle hurt you, I shall kill him!” His voice sounded hoarse.

Afraid, she held him tighter. “Leave him! He did not harm me, though he’s revealed
himself to be a monster.” She cupped his face with her palms. Every cell in her body
burned for him and against these feelings duty faded to nothing. “Only you have the
power to hurt me, Will.”

Laying his forehead softly against hers, he lifted his hands to stroke her face. “Forgive
me, Elizabeth. I was wrong. I can never let you go. Ever.”

“Nor I you. I pray that out of love my father will release me from my pledge to marry
Carlyle and I will beg him on my knees to bless our union with a dowry. As I pray
the duke’s love for you shall sustain us,” she whispered and kissed him deeply and
tenderly with an intensity which left her weak. “Please take me somewhere safe. Away
from this evil place. Where we can be together as we are meant to be.”

Will hesitated, his heart pounding against her breasts.

She saw the decision in his eyes before, at last, he nodded. “My grandfather’s cottage.
He keeps my old room ready for me.”

Elizabeth clung to Will, resting her cheek against his shoulder, as he cradled her
in his arms before him on his horse.

Leading her stallion, they galloped into the courtyard of a large cottage at the edge
of deep woods.

Purple twilight surrounded them as Will’s grandfather, dressed in a knee-length cloak
for traveling, hurried across the cobblestones toward them. “Will, you have returned.
What has happened?”

“Crucial matters here have brought me home. I found Lady Elizabeth faint from fatigue
while riding. It was closer to bring her here, Grandfather.”

He peered up into both their faces. “I understand. I shall tell the duke and duchess
that Elizabeth should remain here for the night. They need send no servants. My own
shall attend her.”

“Tell Stephen’s nursemaid I, too, shall return on the morrow.” She felt Will’s arm
tighten around her like armor.

She turned her head and unflinchingly met his grandfather’s stare, as she bared her
love for Will openly.

He nodded. “Then it shall be as it should be.”

…

There was little Will had not seen in court, the battlefield, or the bedroom, yet
watching Elizabeth walk to the warm, spring-fed pool at the edge of the woods behind
his grandfather’s cottage filled him with wonder.

He slipped his arm around her waist and her head rested on his shoulder. Freed of
her ribbons, her ebony hair blown by the evening winds flowed across his throat and
chest, filling the air he breathed with the scent of lavender.

At the far side of the pool they came to the limestone rim, which was festooned with
vines and heavy purple blossoms.

Laughing, she slipped off her kid boots, slowly uncoiled her celestial girdle and
placed it carefully on the ground. Wearing only her loose gown with hanging sleeves,
she walked into the shallows.

Turning back to him, her thick, wavy hair cascading over her breasts, her huge eyes
lit by the setting sun, she beckoned to him.