Archer sprang to his feet and planted himself between Marletta and the queen.
“Pardon the intrusion, Your Highness, but there is someone to see you.”
“Who is it?” This demand came from Archer. His instincts were on full alert and he slid his hand toward the pocket of his jacket that held the blue ball. His other hand moved toward his gazzer.
“It’s … him, Your Highness,” Marletta said with hushed urgency, clearly uncomfortable saying more with Archer so close.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said flatly, “so you might as well say what you’ve got to say.”
“Yes, please, get on with it,” the queen demanded, then winced and rubbed once again at her stomach.
Marletta moved to her bedside and leaned close. “It’s him. Him.”
“I don’t know what you’re—” Then the queen gasped and covered her mouth. “No! Not now. Not after all this time.”
“Yes.” Marletta straightened. “He wishes to see you.”
“Absolutely not.” Both the queen and Archer spoke simultaneously.
Marletta looked between the two of them, but settled on the queen. “You want me to just … turn him away?” She moved closer, her professional demeanor slipping away entirely. “But Cat—”
The queen’s gaze sharpened, cutting Marletta off soundlessly, but very effectively.
Archer had no idea what was going on, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with the current parliamentarian threat or the Dark One. But that didn’t mean a threat didn’t exist. Whoever this person was, it was clear the queen was distressed by his arrival. She and her assistant looked for all the world like two girlfriends in a dither over a man. Uh-oh. His gaze shot to the queen who had both hands protectively covering her belly. He thought he had an idea who had come to call.
“I can’t see him, Marletta. Not after all this time. Not after what happened.”
Archer flexed his fingers, perfectly willing to see the little bastard who had abandoned the young queen.
“He knows,” Marletta answered, apparently having completely forgotten Archer was in the room. “He knows about the baby.”
“Well, of course he knows,” the queen spat. “The whole world knows of my condition.”
“But he’s the only one who knows … well …” Marletta moved closer again. “He has a right.”
“He most certainly does not.” In the next instant the severe, regal mask crumpled, shocking Archer. He’d known, certainly, that she was a young woman. But he’d never seen her lose control and act like one.
“He left me, Marletta,” she whispered. “When I needed him most.” Tears tracked down her wan cheeks. But then she dashed them away. “And he is not going to just waltz back in here after all this time because he’s changed his mind.”
“I never changed my mind, Cat.”
Marletta and the queen both gasped. Archer was already running. Three guards were already on him.
“How in the hell did you let him get by—?”
“Cat, don’t let them—”
“You cannot be in here!” Marletta rushed the door, too.
“Stop it!” This came from Catriona. “Stop it right this instant!” She gasped and grabbed at her stomach and everyone froze. “You,” she managed, nodding toward her guards. “Release him.” They immediately did as she commanded.
Archer didn’t hesitate, however, and crossed immediately to him, planting himself between the young intruder and the queen. “Don’t move.”
The young man complied. “I’m not here to hurt her. I’ve done enough of that already.” He looked steadily into Archer’s eyes, which earned the younger man a slight measure of respect. “I’m here to help her.”
He was shorter than Archer, but built ruggedly. He was blond, with startling green eyes and a handsomely carved face. Archer could see how the queen might have lost her head over him.
“Prince Niall,” Marletta said, stepping beside Archer. “You should have waited.”
“Prince?” Archer said. Very interesting. He’d wondered if the queen had perhaps been impregnated by a commoner, thereby giving up her son’s right to the throne if word ever got out. But young and perhaps foolish as she was, she was not stupid.
The young man nodded. “The second son of King Jorik. I’ve known Catriona since we were children.” The young man’s expression hardened. But it was the honest fear Archer saw in his eyes that held him still. “I know she believes I abandoned her, but I have not. We argued when she learned she was ill. We had differing ideas on how she should care for herself. But I never gave up on her. I have spent these past months looking for a cure.” His jaw tightened mutinously. “I will not let her die.” He looked past Archer’s shoulder. “Or our son.”
Niall looked to Archer. “Please allow me to pass. There is much we must discuss. Stay in the room if you must, but I must speak with her before it is too late.”
Archer turned to the queen. She nodded warily. But she also didn’t try and get Archer to leave, either, which calmed him. She was aware of the danger and he silently applauded her resilience, even in the face of this new, emotional twist. To that end, he remained near the door but within easy reach of the young prince.
“I didn’t leave you, Cat,” Niall said softly as he approached the bed. “I told you I was going for help.”
“Just as I told you there was no help. Where I needed you was by my side.”
“To sit by and watch you die?”
Catriona turned her head away and Archer went to remove the young man, but Marletta held his arm. “Please, give them some time.” She tugged at his arm and he bent down. “He brought help with him. I think he has honestly found the miracle we have prayed for.”
Archer went on full alert. “Help? As in a doctor? Or medicine? What?”
“I’m … I’m not sure he’s a doctor.”
“Where is he?” Archer was already pushing past her, heading to the door. Had Chamberlain somehow gotten to the young prince? Had he totally misread the situation?
He was stopped at the door by the queen’s voice. “Archer?”
“I’m going out to talk to the visitor your young prince brought with him.” His tone sent an unmistakable warning.
What he saw was the prince’s hand grasped tightly in the queen’s hand. Tears still wet her cheeks, but from the look in her eyes, he guessed that they were tears of hope.
“Please show Dr. Denby in,” she commanded.
“Your Highness, allow me to just—”
“It may already be too late, Archer. Please, I can’t waste time. If what Niall says is true, I still have a chance.”
Niall took her hand and kissed it. “We. We have a chance, Cat.”
“I must at least talk to him. Hear him out. Please, Marletta, show him in. Archer, you can stay right beside him the entire time.”
Archer swore under his breath. He’d never seen the queen so hopeful. And perhaps he was on instinct overload after listening to all of Baleweg’s mumbo jumbo about dark forces and unknown powers. Still, when the older man stepped into the room, Archer moved to stand directly behind him … and remained less than a hairsbreadth away.
“That’s close enough,” he said, when the man had barely entered the room. Then he remembered the shield Marletta had activated the first time he’d brought Talia here. He turned to Marletta and motioned her close.
She smiled. “Already done.” She opened her hand slightly to reveal the activator.
Archer realized they’d effectively sealed Niall in with Catriona, but he honestly believed the young man to be exactly what he claimed to be. Any fool could see he was completely besotted. He’d have to be blind not to notice that the queen had similar feelings.
The doctor turned to him and put out his hand. “Good day, I’m Dr. Denby. Must you stand so close?”
Archer grinned and ignored the outstretched hand. “Hello. Make one false move and I’m your worst nightmare. And yes, I really must.”
<
br /> The doctor swallowed visibly, then smoothed his white hair. “Yes, well, I suppose you can’t be too careful these days, hmm?”
“No, you can’t.”
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed once again and nodded.
Archer looked closely into the older man’s faded blue eyes, but he saw only what one would expect to see from a slightly rattled guest to the queen’s private quarters.
The doctor turned to the queen and cleared his throat. “Your Highness.” He bowed somewhat awkwardly. “Thank you for allowing my presence. I believe I can help you. In fact, I know I can.”
The queen said nothing and remained regally still. Archer noted that she still held Niall’s hand, rather tightly, but despite the fatigue and pain, she projected her most royal, controlled self.
“Tell me exactly what it is you think you can do for me.”
He glanced nervously at Archer, then took a tentative step forward. Archer moved with him, despite the presence of the shield.
“I … I know of a new technique that can repair the cell damage and reverse the corrosive decay that is ravaging your immune system.”
Catriona’s eyebrows lifted dubiously. “I assure you, Dr. Denby, that I’ve seen every specialist there is. Along with every quack. I have no doubt I have exhausted every possible solution available.”
“But there is a method—”
“I’ve heard of several controversial methods of treatment, all of which place my unborn child in immediate jeopardy. I will not risk him, not even to save myself. If that is what you are here to offer, then you can save your time and mine.”
“You are far enough along to deliver with some degree of hope for his survival, are you not?”
“I am not willing to induce labor early in order to give myself treatment.” She raised her hand to still his rebuttal. “And I will be frank with you, Doctor. At this stage I do not think I’ll survive the delivery to seek treatment afterward.”
Niall looked at her, taking her hand in both of his. “Cat—”
Still the queen, she cut him off, but with honest emotion in her eyes. “Niall. I know this.”
“The method I am talking about should not jeopardize your child,” the doctor explained.
“How is it we have not heard of this procedure?” She turned to Niall. “Did you find him off-Earth? Because I’ve had my consultants look to every plausible advanced society and the only methods they had were extremely questionable.”
“Cat, I know you’re going to find this somewhat hard to believe, but I’ve seen it firsthand.” He looked to the doctor and then to Cat. “He’s from the future.”
As soon as Niall said the words, Archer realized they’d all been set up. There was only one person who could have taken Niall to the future. And it wasn’t Baleweg. But the realization came a split second too late.
The triangle had already opened beside Niall. And it was on the other side of the shield. The doctor smiled then, his blue eyes twinkling. A cold chill shot down Archer’s spine. The disguise had thrown him, but he recognized those blue eyes now, just not the demonic light behind them. Emrys!
“Shut it down! Shut down the shield!” Archer shouted to Marletta, who was already punching at her device.
“I’m trying! The buttons are stuck!”
Archer had already palmed his gazzer and was diving toward the doctor, belatedly remembering to grab for the orb in his pocket.
The doctor walked right through the shield, but it held fast for Archer, his speed bouncing him off it, and knocking the blue stone from his hand. It rolled across the floor, far out of reach. There was no time to go after it. He could only hope he’d held it long enough to signal to Baleweg.
“Call the guards!” he commanded as he rolled to his feet.
Emrys turned and smiled at Archer. “Your worst nightmare?” he taunted, his voice sounding much, much younger, even though he still looked like the elderly doctor. He tipped back his head and laughed. “You haven’t had yours yet. But you’re about to.”
And then it was as if the triangle were sucking them into it, with a force of its own. The Dark One lifted a hand toward Niall as the young man charged him, sending him flying back against the shield. “Don’t waste your time. Join your lady love there. You’re about to take a trip.”
“But … but you showed me!” Niall demanded. “I went with you and I saw with my own eyes—”
“Yes, annoying detour. But there is nothing like proof to nudge the undecided. Now move, unless you want her dragged from her bed.”
The bed, Niall, and Catriona all slid toward the triangle, which had opened to its full size. Archer shouted to Marletta who was still wrestling with the shield device even as he tried to see beyond them, into the triangle, for any clue to where they were heading.
“Guards, fire at the walls to the side of the shield.” Archer knew better than to aim anything directly at the shield. It would boomerang off, putting everyone on this side at risk and doing nothing to penetrate. He dove for the floor and slid toward the nearest wall the shield reached to. “Now, now!”
The guards’ collective force blasted the wall. Archer covered his head as bits of stone flew everywhere. “Everyone, again! This wall.” Again they assaulted it and this time the fringe of the shield wavered. Yes! He wedged himself through the narrow gap.
Catriona was in Niall’s arms now as the bed they were on was sucked into the triangle behind the Dark One. The triangle began to shrink, the queen and Niall on the other side. Along with a laughing Emrys.
“Good-bye, Archer. Tell the Old One nice try.”
Archer squeezed harder, forcing his upper body through. All he needed was to free his legs.
The triangle continued to shrink.
And then his legs were through. “Ha!” He rolled to a crouch, aimed, and dove again. “Look out, asshole. Here I come.” His body arrowed right into the heart of the small triangle … and made it to the other side.
Chapter 24
It’s happened.”
Talia looked up from the flowers she’d been admiring in Baleweg’s garden. She didn’t have to ask what he meant. Her heart slammed in her chest. “Do we go back?”
Baleweg shook his head. “They aren’t there.”
“What?” Then she remembered what he’d said. He won’t kill her in her own bed. She gasped. “You mean Emrys has somehow kidnapped Catriona? She’ll never survive that. What about her guards? Marletta?” She covered her mouth. “Archer!”
Baleweg placed his hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know what ruse he used to get to her. The energy flash from Archer was a brief one, ending almost as soon as it began.”
“No!” Her heart shuddered. “You don’t mean—” His hold on her tightened. “I mean they’re all gone. With Emrys. Somewhere. There is no energy source there at all.” He withdrew another blue stone from the depths of his robe. “I felt a ripple in the time continuum.” He looked to her. “I think he’s taken them through time.”
“But how did he get to them?”
Baleweg shook his head. “I couldn’t know.”
“You think he took both Catriona and Archer?”
Baleweg nodded. “It would explain the way the energy ceased so quickly. I would sense Archer if he were still there.”
“What about the orb? Can’t you connect with him through that?”
“It was such a short flash that I don’t believe he could have held it for long. It matters not, as the link would not hold up once the time continuum was crossed.”
“But how can we be sure?” Talia had horrible images of Archer lying in the castle somewhere, in a pool of his own blood. Even at such a distance, surely she would have felt something if he was hurt. She knew he would fight to the death for Catriona, against anyone being wronged. She felt a rush of pride even as terror consumed her.
Only Baleweg’s touch slowed her headlong flight into total panic. “You must calm yourself. They need you right now. Your skills
may be our only hope.”
She whipped her head around. “How can I possibly help? And how is that supposed to calm me down?”
Baleweg allowed a brief smile to crease the corners of his eyes. He framed her face with his hands and she stilled. “It is within you to reach out and touch them, connect with them.” He looked at her steadily. “With their fear, and their pain. It is the only way, Talia. It is why I kept you apart.”
“But if we’d been there—”
“You would be at Emrys’s mercy right now, as I predicted. And I would be left with no way to locate any of you.”
“Surely you could have found a way—”
Baleweg merely shook his head. “My vulnerability would have been too high. He’d have had far too much sway.” He sighed wearily. “That may not change when we find them, but at least I will have the advantage of planning my attack.”
He let her go and she took several stumbling steps backward. “But if you can’t reach them, how can I—?”
“I have many skills, but you can’t learn to be an empath any more than you can learn to be a healer. Only you have an ability to connect with these specific people.”
“What of Emrys? If he can thwart you, surely he can—”
“He could. If he suspected. But he will not. He is toying with me, taking one who is close to you, your family, and therefore dear to me. He will enjoy thinking that I am being tortured with the knowledge that I can do nothing to save your sister’s life, and that you will witness my failing. He will be overconfident, knowing the fate of her entire kingdom rests in his hands. He will never believe we can thwart him, or that we will even try. Instead he’ll be gloating, thinking us resigned to the painful realities of this latest display of his power. That arrogance will be his downfall.”
“What about Chamberlain? Where is he in all this?”
Baleweg shook his head. “He was merely a pawn in this game, led to think he controlled Emrys. Perhaps he’d thought to give Emrys a position of power in the court if he succeeded in his plans with the queen.” Baleweg shook his head. “I doubt he ever knew just who he was dealing with. Not that it matters, as he will get what he wants from this anyway.” He stroked Talia’s arm again. “We cannot concern ourselves with Chamberlain or what he might be doing at this moment. We must focus on your sister. And her child.”
The Royal Hunter Page 27
