The Castle: Prequel to the Guardian Angel Series

by Melissa Johnson

  ***

  Robert gently tucked the blankets around his sleeping son. Moonlight bathed the nursery in a gentle glow while his son slept, sprawled on his stomach with his arms flung wide in the peaceful abandon of the very young. He was no doubt dreaming of his adventure today as he toddled after his sister. Who knew what tomorrow would bring.

  A few steps down the hallway, Heather was putting Ariana to bed. They were likely playing their game, a nightly ritual. Both were expecting him to join them, but he could not. How could he face them and act as if everything were normal?

  “Quite the close call today wasn't it?”

  Robert didn‘t have to turn around to know a figure in black robes stepped from the shadows. He’d been expecting him. The man had introduced himself as Heather’s former brother-in-law. He was much older than Robert would have thought he would be, but since he never told Heather of these meetings, he couldn’t ask her about him. All he knew was there had been some sort of falling out about the time Thaddeus’ brother, Heather’s first husband, had died. He didn’t like the man, but he couldn’t get rid of him either. Thaddeus was wearing him down with his nightly visits.

  “No need to repeat your offer,” Robert said. “I told you no last night and I'll tell you no again on this night.”

  “Poor Heather. She's like a mother bird with clipped wings trying to follow a baby who has just learned to fly.”

  “Leave.”

  No matter what he said, the man didn’t stop talking and talking.

  “The child needs to be with others like herself.”

  And that was the problem. Robert agreed with him. He ran his hand over his face and exhaled a heavy sigh that did nothing to relieve his tension. Nearly three years ago, when he’d met Heather, he’d been introduced to the impossible. Heather had been a Guardian, a member of an Order of time travelers.

  It had boggled his mind, but when she’d left that incomprehensible life it became an unspoken part of her past. She never talked about it. He would have gladly left it unspoken if he could, but Ariana started to show signs of her unique, apparently inherited, abilities.

  Robert rubbed Harry's back, feeling each ridge of his spine, each rise and fall of his little body as he breathed. Harry had been hanging on Ariana’s gown when she teleported from the nursery window.

  “Who knows where the child will take your son next time.”

  Thaddeus’ words echoed his thoughts. This time, instead of telling him to leave, he said something else. “How long would you keep her?”

  He glanced over his shoulder. Thaddeus stroked his white beard. "It’s difficult to say. A couple of weeks at the outset I imagine."

  A fortnight. It wasn't long. Heather would balk at even one day, but if this was what it would take.

  “Then Ariana can come home?”

  "Absolutely. I'll even assign a Guardian to her care. To all appearances she will be an ordinary nursemaid."

  Robert felt a ray of hope. “Can't we do that now? Is it necessary to send her away?”

  Thaddeus' eyes narrowed. Robert suspected he wasn't accustomed to being questioned. “I'm afraid so. Her training cannot be done here. It has to be at the Castle.”

  Hope for a simple solution faded. Today his son had nearly drowned. "I'll discuss this with Heather. After what happened today, I'm certain I can make her understand.”

  He was far from certain he could.

  Thaddeus' breath escaped on a hiss, like a snake preying on his uncertainty. “Of course. If you think Heather will be reasonable then you must speak with her.”

  His son smiled in his sleep and Robert brushed back a blond curl. Harry had just begun to walk and he followed his sister everywhere. Something had to be done.

  Thaddeus made his final push. “The next time Ariana disappears you might not find her—or Harry.”

  Oh, God. Robert couldn’t bear the thought.

  “You will care for her?” He could not look at Thaddeus. If he didn't look into those black eyes, perhaps he could do this.

  “She's family.” Thaddeus answered immediately. “The only family I have left.”

  For Harry's sake, his only recourse was to make this decision for his wife.

  “Do I have your permission, Robert?”

  Before he could reconsider, the words were out of his mouth.

  “Take her.”

  “It will be done tonight.”

  Tonight? “Wait --”

  He turned, but saw only the shadows where Thaddeus had stood. He was gone. Robert loosened his cravat. He’d done the right thing.