He stroked my cheek with the tips of his fingers. “Your eyes are so blue right now. I want to make love to you. Feel you against me...”
“Um, boys?” Nim said.
We’d both forgotten her. I coughed and stepped back from my bonded companion, feeling breathless.
“We are remaining here and we will be helping him,” I said to Nim. “What do we do?”
“We don’t know, to be honest. His body is straining to make the change. If you are right and this is the dragon within him you need to promote the more fey part of his mind. The bit you know,” she said. “You have to talk to him.”
“How do we find him in this bleak place?” asked Galahad.
“I don’t –” she broke off and looked over her shoulder. “I’m being called back – Morgan –”
Nim folded into the space around her and I don’t know it if it was my imagination or not but I could have sworn I heard a pop.
“Damn it,” Galahad said.
“That’s bad,” I said.
“What do we do now?”
The ground under our feet shivered, making us both stumble. We balanced separately waiting for the world around us to stop shaking but it didn’t, the ground started to crack under our feet.
“Shit,” Galahad yelled, jumping toward me when a hole opened up under his feet. “The bastard is trying to kill me!”
“Do you blame him?” I asked, backing away from the edge of the hole and the vast amount of heat washing up from under the ground. How was this Torvec’s mind? He was the most gentle, loving, poetic soul I knew. He dreamed of soaring spires and heroic deeds.
“Please, Torvec, we have to talk, help me,” I called out. The quaking began to grow worse.
“I don’t think that helped,” Galahad said.
We started to try to run over the bucking ground, trying to outstrip the rippling motions chasing us. Galahad stumbled beside me and I couldn’t stop quickly enough to grab him. The ground split under him and I watched in horror, his body vanishing without a sound.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“No!” I bellowed, already backtracking. I hit the ground and stared into Galahad’s upturned face, about two yards below me. He hung from a crevice and was slowly searching for footholds with his toes. We were both sweating heavily from the heat rushing up from the vent.
“Don’t let go,” I said slowly.
“Wasn’t planning to,” he said, panting slightly. His eyes were very wide.
I leaned perilously over the edge and stretched down. “Can you reach my arm?” I asked him.
“If I do I’m pulling you over, you daft sod,” he said. “I’m going to have to climb. You’ll never lift me, I’m far too heavy.”
“Galahad...”
He looked up at me and nodded briefly. “I know, Holt.”
I remained where I was, watching him while he fought to remain on the surface of the rock, built inside Torvec’s mind. Just because our bodies remained on the Echo didn’t make this feel any less real. I knew, somewhere deep inside, that if one of us died here that was it – our minds or souls would not be returning home. I didn’t understand how this could happen, how we were trapped inside Torvec’s unhappy mind or how we’d find a way out. I just knew I had to find a path to Torvec’s fey side and reason with him about Galahad. I also had to keep Galahad alive.
Galahad shifted quickly and my heart pounded in response to his sudden move. His fingers found a crevice in the rock and he remained stuck to the surface. Using fingertips and toes he slowly made his way toward me. When I knew I could reach his clothes, I gently took hold so I didn’t startle him. I didn’t try to lift him, the heat from the crevice was too intense for such a feat of strength, but I could reassure us both through the physical contact.
He managed to climb another few hand spans before his forehead hit the wall. “I can’t,” he whispered. I felt his entire body quivering with effort and his shirt was soaked with sweat.
I knew this moment would come. “Galahad, you have to. I can’t pull you up from here.”
“I can’t, Holt,” he breathed.
I took a deep breath. “Galahad du Lac, you made me a promise. You told me you loved me, you would protect me and if you fall into this hole, you will die and so will I because we are now one. One being, Galahad. I know you are young, I know you only did this because you wanted to stop my life draining out of me, but you can’t give up, you can never give up again.”
“I’ve done nothing but fight since I was a child, I can’t.”
“Yes you can. You will. You have to. Your father would never have let down Arthur or Tancred. Never. You want to be a better man than him? Then get your skinny backside up this wall and save our lives,” I barked.
He took a deep, scorching breath and the quivering muscles shifted. He rose. I shouted encouragement and he finally climbed high enough for me to reach under his arms and pull him up. I dragged him over the edge, using my weight to help us by rolling backward. His torso hit mine and we were together on the rough surface.
He breathed in deeply. He trembled and his sweat soaked me. I’d never felt anything so good in my life. I held him and his hot breath felt like a wind from the home of the gods.
“Alright?” I asked when my heartbeat returned to normal.
“Skinny backside?” he asked without moving.
“Whatever I needed to get you motivated.”
He was quiet for a long time. “Is that what you really think? I bonded with you only to save your life?”
I stroked his damp back. “I know how I feel about you. I always have, but I also know you would do anything to save me, so I don’t want presume too much.”
He rose up and stared down at me. “I can feel you, deep inside. I could feel your fear, your misery at the thought of losing me. I can feel your love. How can I deny that? How can I reject that?”
Fear, far sharper than sensations I’d felt when I’d watched him climb the rock, tore through me. I would surrender everything to this man and I’d never know if he really meant the words he used. I didn’t trust the words, his words. Was I so jaded already?
“I...” I tried.
He stopped me talking by kissing me. It was a good kiss and my thoughts began to dissolve in the wave of desire he conjured.
When he pulled back I was breathless but he had a point to make. “Holt, I know I’ve hurt you and I know I am feeling more of you than you are of me, because I am almost full fey and you are not, but believe me when I tell you this – I did not bond with you to save you. I bonded with you because I need to ease the ache in my chest. The place you now live and that ache is gone.”
I managed a smile, staring up into those dark eyes, now they were gentle and at peace. I realised that was what I felt more than anything right now – Galahad’s sense of peace. He lay over me, possessed me and he felt peace for the first time in his life. The smile grew more confident and he grinned in return.
He bobbed down and kissed the tip of my nose. “Right, let’s sort this mess out.”
We stood and looked around. The ground now canted at strange angles and huge holes like the one Galahad fell into littered the area. He peered down into the one he’d just climbed out of and sighed heavily.
“Perhaps we find the sanity of this man down there,” he said, pointing down the hole.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Torvec wouldn’t do that to me. That’s the dragon being angry. Torvec would coax me with something kind and gentle.”
“What then?” Galahad asked.
I looked around and three hundred yards from where we stood I saw a dip in the ground. “Over there,” I said, pointing left.
Galahad didn’t say anything, merely followed, content to trust me. We walked close together, unwilling to make the mistake of being separated, giving something scary the chance to make it permanent. I didn’t doubt he felt more than I did, but I knew a difference swept over me. Stronger, more than whole and oddly content despite the circu
mstances. Almost as if, because I was bonded, I knew I would never face a difficult decision or action alone. It was oddly perfect.
We made it to the dip in the ground and I nodded. “Water,” I said. “That’s just the thing.”
Galahad nodded. “I see. It’s the opposite of the dragon’s hot holes.”
We stood looking down on a large pond. The water reflected the strange dark red sky so it didn’t look very nice and we couldn’t see the bottom but water always took you to other places if you knew how to use it properly. Merlin had explained to me as child the significance of sacred bodies of water, the importance of that barrier between the land and murky liquid depths. The way you could use that union from one elemental force to another to aid your access to other thoughts and worlds. A way to communicate, if you knew the secrets.
He’d taught me to respect these places in Albion, but not how to use them; those secrets weren’t for kings but for those of real power. The union between water and earth was far easier to feel and see than that of the other elements, air and fire. They were harder to understand and use, they moved and were often abstract, but earth and water were static and almost permanent, holding doorways open for long periods of time.
“You must know more about this stuff than me,” I said, turning to Galahad. “It’s water.”
“You don’t think The Lady can control this bit of him, do you?” Galahad asked.
“I have no idea, but I doubt it because I don’t think she thinks enough of Torvec to assume he’s this powerful. Do you really not understand any of this?”
He frowned and looked away from me, studying the water. “She said I have no fey gifts. I cannot heal, use fire or anything. I am just a soldier. A well educated one, but that’s all I’m good for.”
I studied him for a moment. “She’s stunted you the way she stunted Torvec,” I said. “Your mother was powerful and Lancelot had the Black Wolf in his veins. You are not just a killing machine, Galahad. We simply need to find someone to help you understand what you really are.”
He looked very sad for a moment. “It would be good to think of myself as something other than a warrior. To train in something other than ways to kill other men.”
“But you’ve turned it into an art form. You are beautiful to watch.”
He grinned suddenly. “And you do like to watch.”
“Yes, I do.” We both smiled, drew in a strong breath and without another word we walked into the pool of water.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The water was warm and the descent sharp. When it hit us both at the hips I pulled on Galahad’s arm to stop us from going any further.
“We need to dive into Torvec’s mind,” I said.
“That’s a scary thought for me, he doesn’t like me,” Galahad said.
“You’re going to have to trust me,” I said.
“I trust you, it’s Torvec I’m worried about,” he said.
We turned away from each other and as one unit we dived into the brackish pool and my world became dark, suffocating and dark. I pushed down, expecting to feel the earth my feet knew, but I touched nothing. Only slightly surprised I pushed deeper and felt Galahad’s arms move water next to me. We pushed down again and along. My lungs began to burn with the effort of holding my breath, so I doubled the effort my legs made, kicked hard and prayed I’d find a way through the water and into Torvec’s mind.
The pain in my chest from old air and the exhaustion in my legs made the swimming turn into an endurance test. I realised I’d not felt Galahad move next to me for more than one stroke. I stopped pushing down and tried to see through the dark water, looking for my companion. Nothing. Panic ensued.
I glanced upward, the water appeared lighter but by this time my lungs were screaming for release. I couldn’t save Galahad if I died from drowning.
I pushed up for the light. My natural buoyancy began to work with me and I rose quickly, bubbles streaming out of my mouth and nose on the way because my lungs wouldn’t hold the air in my chest any longer. I hit the surface and took the deepest breath of my life. The moment the air cleared my mouth and I realised I wouldn’t die I twisted around trying to see if Galahad had surfaced before me.
That’s when I saw land and on the land stood Torvec, with a knife to Galahad’s throat. I spat water out of my mouth. Galahad stared at me with a look of panic on his face but also relief at my appearance. I slowly moved toward the shore. Soft looking green grass led up from the edge of the water, no mud, and tall trees swayed in a gentle breeze behind the men who remained still.
“That’s far enough, King of Camelot,” Torvec said.
I stopped, the water hitting me mid-thigh, making it impossible for me to run for the shore.
Galahad’s shirt stuck to every muscle covering his chest and arms. His back was slightly bowed and Torvec held him by his hair. I didn’t think Torvec was hurting Galahad but the knife was small and sharp, a thin trickle of blood marred the soft skin of his throat and Galahad wasn’t taking any chances.
Torvec appeared exactly as he did outside his mind. Tall and full of grace. His long fingers wrapped around the wooden hilt without a tremor of hesitation. I was struck by his handsome face, twisted with such pain and unhappiness he looked half out of his mind.
“Hello, Torvec,” I said gently. “It’s good to see you, to find you.”
“You betrayed me,” he cried out, the knife digging into Galahad’s neck just a little too far. Galahad drew in a sharp breath but didn’t cry out.
“If you put the weapon down we can explain. We had to do what we did because I’m not fey and you were killing me. You were draining me of life,” I said in my most reasonable tone considering the amount of blood I could see staining Galahad’s skin.
“I love you,” he cried out.
“He knows, Torvec,” Galahad exclaimed, the knife slicing just a little more.
Torvec’s immense strength twisted Galahad’s head further, forcing him to his knees. It didn’t stop the young prince from talking.
“Listen to me, please. He loves you. I can feel it and so can you. He can’t. You’re scaring him because he also loves me and while he’s scared your own messages aren’t getting through. Torvec, I did this to save Holt. That’s it. I don’t expect anything from this. I don’t even expect him throw you off the ship, I just want him to live and for you and I to talk. That’s it, that’s all I want. I want to talk to you about how you feel, what you want, and how I can help.”
The entire time Galahad talked I moved forward slowly. When Torvec focused on me again the water hit me mid-calf. Not ideal but I’d reached the point where I stood some kind of chance if I wanted to save Galahad.
“You love him,” Torvec whispered.
“I’ve never lied to you about that,” I said. “I can’t help it. When I thought he wanted me gone from his bed it was easy to turn back to you because I do love you, Torvec. But Galahad is young, so very young and the whole world is out there for him to explore and experience. We can show him that world. Together we can make him a strong leader. One able to take on The Lady. He has made mistakes and apparently surrendering me is one of those mistakes. He doesn’t want to let me go and I don’t want to leave him.”
“I can make you forget him.”
“I know, Torvec. You can fill my head with dreams and wishes but they would be yours, not mine, and if that’s what you really wanted, you’d have done it by now. You want me to love you honestly and I do, but not enough to sacrifice Galahad.”
“I am going lose you.”
“Lose me or kill me, right now you aren’t giving me any other option,” I said.
“I don’t want to lose you, or kill you. I want to love you,” he whispered. His blue eyes were so deep, like endless twilight skies. I began to feel lost.
“Holt!” Galahad’s sharp command of my name and his strength surged through me, snapping the ties Torvec gathered about himself, drawn from my gaze.
I refocused, dropping my
eyes as if speaking with a powerful fey who could snap me like a twig. “Torvec, let Galahad go and we can talk. Let me hold you, show you how I care. Right now you have us all trapped inside your mind and you are slowly losing control of me and yourself. You are trying to turn into the dragon and the shifters think you are draining me to give you the power to do it. It’s because I have broken your heart. You want to escape. I don’t want that.” I risked looking up into his face but I focused on his mouth, the full lips pressed into a thin line. “Please, please, let him go and allow me to hold you. In my embrace you will feel my love, my faith in you. I know you will do the right thing, Torvec, you don’t want to see Galahad dead. Not really.”
A long silence ensued. “You would die too,” he whispered eventually.
“Yes, I would,” I agreed.
His hands relaxed on Galahad’s mane of hair and the knife dropped. Galahad threw himself forward, rolled and rose in one, the knife now in his hand. I rushed from the water and barged into him, knowing he was going to retaliate. I knocked Galahad sideways and rushed into Torvec’s body. I also pushed him backwards slightly with the force of my hug, but I held him and he steadied us both.
“I love you,” I whispered into his ear and he folded into me, clutching me as I’d held Galahad. I cradled his head in my hand and felt him shudder with tears. A strong hand touched my back and I saw Galahad. I moved one arm and pulled him toward us, opening my body just enough to allow him between one side of me and Torvec.
To my great surprise Torvec transferred his hug to Galahad and for a moment I didn’t know who comforted who but suddenly they were kissing. There was nothing graceful or tender between them, in half a breath it turned from a tentative exploration to something akin to a wrestling match. Galahad was winning and Torvec grunted when his back hit a tree. They were pulling at each other’s clothing, the whole thing happening so fast I didn’t know what to do.
Galahad bit Torvec’s neck hard enough to make him cry out, demanding more.
“Enough,” I growled to myself. I didn’t want this to happen now. Not this roughly, or in this strange otherworldly environment. We were not bonding Torvec to us and I didn’t know if that’s what would happen if they made love here in this place.
The Du Lac Legacy (Sons of Camelot Book 2) Page 11
