Keeper of the Stone

by Lynn Wood

  “She snuck away one night and left us a note as to her intentions.”

  “How did she get past the guard?”

  Rhiann shrugged.

  “Answer me, wife.” This time Nathan made certain his voice was hard and demanding. If Rhiann took it into her head one day to sneak off into the night, he wanted to know how she planned to accomplish her escape and put a stop to it in advance.

  Rhiann’s eyes widened at his harsh tone and her voice fell even quieter when she confessed, “She left through the secret passage in the old keep. It leads to the sea.”

  Nathan made a mental note to have Rhiann point out this secret passage to him as soon as they arrived at Heaven’s Crest. “This was before your brothers were killed? Why would she leave the safety of the keep to go in search of them?”

  Rhiann shook her head. “My older brothers were already dead when she left. She went looking for Michel.”

  “Michel is another brother?”

  “Yes. Melissa loved him best. They were twins. His body was never returned to us. The men who accompanied him north, some of them returned, but in the fighting they became separated from my brother. They searched for him for many weeks but never found any word of him. They finally returned to bring news to my mother.”

  “They believed your brother perished in the war in the north.”

  “Yes, so did my mother, but Melissa refused to accept his death. She believed if her twin was dead she would know it in her heart. My mother was in no condition to comfort her. Melissa was head strong. She refused to listen to anyone. She was angry at us for giving up hope. She said Michel’s blood was on our hands for abandoning him.”

  Nathan gave her slender shoulders a comforting squeeze. “She didn’t mean it, Rhiann. She was overcome with grief.”

  “No Nathan, she did mean it. She didn’t confide her plan to us. She knew mother would inform the guards and they would stop her.” She added in a meek voice, “I would have told on her, too. I was afraid of losing my sister.”

  “But she didn’t confide in you?”

  “No, she knew I couldn’t be trusted to keep her secret. Isn’t that pitiful? My only sister didn’t trust me and she was right not to.” Rhiann bowed her head at the remembered pain of that morning when she found the note and realized Melissa left the keep, leaving her behind alone with their grieving mother. The news of her husband’s death had robbed their mother of the last of her will to wage any additional battles. Rhiann wasn’t certain her mother even recognized the significance of Melissa’s absence or the great danger her elder daughter was in outside the thick walls of Heaven’s Crest. She believed her mother was lost to them the day their father’s mangled body was returned to his estates. Her physical death weeks later was merely a formality.

  “You believe your sister is dead.”

  Rhiann nodded tiredly, hoping her husband’s endless questions would be satisfied soon. She was trying so hard to be a good wife to him and satisfy his curiosity, though what difference the answers to his questions could possibly make now, she was unable to fathom.

  “Her body was never returned to you?”

  “No. I tried to hold out hope they were both by some miracle still alive, but when my mother died, when she passed the stone to me, I knew both Melissa and Michel were dead.”

  He mulled over her comment and seeing the soft glow of the stone on her breast, he understood. “Because the stone accepted you as its keeper. You concluded your sister must be dead.”

  Rhiann nodded, remembering her last hope being dashed when the stone came to life in her hands. “Both my brother and sister. They were twins. The stone could have passed to Michel from my sister’s hands. It would not be against the rules.”

  “There are rules?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are these rules?”

  Rhiann was too exhausted to continue. She turned back into her husband’s arms, wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. Her eyes slid closed as she reminded him. “I don’t know the rules, Nathan. I didn’t listen to the stories when I was a little girl.”

  She sighed as he stroked her hair, comforted by the tinkle of the bells as his hand wove through them. “Because you never expected the stone to come to you.”

  “Hmmm.”

  Nathan held his wife against his heart and considered all she confided in him, putting all the pieces together and satisfied by the orderly, if unique, manner in which they lined up and fitted together. “Rhiann, how long has the stone been in your mother’s family?” It was a minor detail, just idle curiosity on his part.

  “A thousand years.”

  “A thousand years,” he echoed stunned.

  She nodded against his chest. “Yes, now you understand why I could not refuse. My mother said…”

  He shook her back awake. “Your mother said what?”

  “My mother begged me not to let her fail her own mother’s request of her. I couldn’t refuse her final request of me. You understand, Nathan, surely you understand.” Tears fell from the exhausted eyes she raised to his face.

  He kissed her forehead. “I understand, Rhiann. Of course you could not have refused your mother’s last request of you.”

  Satisfied with his answer, Rhiann sighed relieved, then closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep lulled by the safety and comfort she found against her husband’s broad chest and encircling arm.

  Nathan tightened his hold around his sleeping wife, wondering how she managed to retain her faith amidst her family’s trials and still remain so firmly convinced of the love and mercy of an Almighty God. He became aware of the still silence of the room, audible after the loud conversations and clinking of full mugs of ale, of plates being served and passed, and he wondered how much of Rhiann’s story was heard and being repeated around the room. He met the king’s concerned glance over his wife’s bent head.

  “It pleases me Nathan you remember your promise to me in regards to your wife.”

  Nathan nodded, remembering his assurance he would treat Rhiann kindly.

  “Lady Rhiann has still not recovered from the ordeal of losing her family. You may be excused, Nathan.”

  Nathan nodded, relieved at his lord’s understanding, and stood with his wife in his arms and took his leave. As he passed behind the queen, Matilda reached out and brushed her hand against his arm. “You will take every care Nathan to remind Rhiann of the many reasons she should continue to choose life. She has come to mean a great deal to me in a short time.”

  Nathan replied seriously. “Yes, your highness that is certainly my intent.”

  When he gained the privacy of his rooms, he laid his wife on the bed, taking care not to wake her as he removed her gown and under garments. She barely stirred, and it was a testament to her exhausted state, she was completely naked and tucked beneath the heavy quilts on the bed without once opening her eyes and questioning his intent.

  Once his wife was settled, he stripped out of his own clothes, threw fresh logs on the fire, and then crossed the room to slide between the sheets next to his sleeping wife. He reached for her, curled her slender, soft form against his naked flesh and fought the instant lust springing to his loins. Tonight he would act the gentleman and let his wife dream on undisturbed. He realized, unsurprised, she had come to mean a great deal to him as well.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Rhiann was lost in the forest. She was freezing. And wet. The fury of the storm threw her out of the boat and into the icy sea. She barely managed to swim to shore in the freezing water. The weight of her wet gown seemed intent on dragging her under the surface at every opportunity. She thought she swam the entire distance, but she couldn’t remember reaching dry land and hauling herself out of the surf, fighting the heavy, drenched gown. More likely the sea coughed up her numb, unconscious body onto the shore when she lost the last of her strength and went under the surface for the last time, too exhausted to fight any longer.

  She woke sprawled on
the beach, shivering, starving, and aware of a thirst she had no means to satisfy even when all she could see was water surrounding her from nearly every angle. She struggled into a seated position. Her eyes stung with salt water. She spastically coughed up the fluid she swallowed. Her chest hurt, her hands were blistered and calloused, her shoulders hurt, her eyes stung from the sea water. She considered just lying back down and letting the sea take her.

  She failed. She couldn’t return to Heaven’s Crest and now there was no means for her to use to reach the north. It was a foolish attempt anyway. She knew that going in, but she couldn’t just sit there in the keep, watching her mother die a little more each day, waiting for the final loss to shatter a heart already more dead than alive. She couldn’t confide in Rhiann. She was still more child than woman. She was so hopelessly spoiled by their father, so sheltered from the evils of life.

  Even in her sleep Rhiann felt her brow furrow in confusion. How could she have left herself behind? Why was she referring to herself as if she was someone else? She let the tiny puzzle simmer in her mind as she glanced back at the sea, wondering what to do next. It wasn’t in her to just lay down and die.

  She acknowledged she would likely die before this day was through but she was more Salusian than Saxon. She would die fighting death with every ounce of her strength until she drew her last breath, or until, more likely, death came and stole it from her despite the battle she waged against him. Death was a man. On that score she was completely clear.

  Men enjoyed the ultimate contest, the opportunity to test their prowess against other men, beasts, even fate. Wasn’t that the only explanation for the constant wars fought over a strip of land and a silly title? It always puzzled her why the Almighty decided to put men in charge of things. She thought the world would be a lot more peaceful with a woman in charge.

  Her foolish musings were interrupted by the sight of a small craft being lowered from the ship that just appeared on the horizon. Her sluggish brain was still sharp enough to recognize the Norman flag the main ship flew rippling in the brisk wind. She needed to move and now. Perhaps her death was inevitable but she would rather suffer it beneath the sharp teeth and tearing claws of a wild beast who made its home in the forest than allow herself to be captured by the murderous Norman invaders.

  “Melissa!” Rhiann was unaware she shouted her sister’s name as she sat up suddenly in bed. Nathan jumped out of bed at his wife’s scream, sword in hand, but after a quick check of the room, rightfully concluded his wife’s scream emanated from the depths of a nightmare intruding upon her sleep rather than a physical intruder. He set the sword aside, sank back down on the bed and shook his sleeping wife gently awake.

  Rhiann stared up at him with a dazed expression on her face. “What is it, Rhiann? Did you have a nightmare?”

  She leaned gratefully into her husband’s warmth. “Not a nightmare. It was Melissa. I am certain it was not a dream. It must be the stone seeking its rightful keeper. Nathan, I think my sister might still be alive.”

  Nathan comprehended instantly he needed to tread carefully through the maze of the conversation he feared was about to be thrust upon him, else risk insulting a few more of his wife’s sacred family traditions. He smoothed the tousled hair away from her face. “Rhiann, sweetheart, do you remember telling me about your sister tonight while we dined?”

  She nodded, her deep green eyes glued to his.

  “You were upset. She accused you and your mother of having your brother’s blood on your hands. Likely there is still a part of you that carries the burden of guilt for having survived when your family is dead.”

  “No, Nathan, it wasn’t just a dream. It felt as though I was my sister. I kept referring to myself as Rhiann, as if I was someone else, like I was inside Melissa’s head. I was so cold. My boat capsized and I was tossed ashore. I woke up shivering. I knew I was going to die. I was thinking how I couldn’t confide in me, Rhiann. She said I was still a child. That I was hopelessly spoiled by our father and sheltered from all of life’s evils.” Rhiann couldn’t bear the thought of her sister, cold and alone, waiting for death. She shivered in shared despair and was grateful when Nathan pulled her up against his chest.

  “Rhiann you’re freezing.” Nathan rubbed his hands up and down his wife’s arms, which were covered with goose-bumps. The room felt warm to him. The logs still burned briskly in the fireplace. He realized her dream had affected her in a physical way. It was odd hearing her recount her dream, as if she was seeing herself through her sister’s eyes.

  He was unable to deny Melissa’s, if it was Melissa’s view of her sister, was dead on. Rhiann was caught between the innocence of childhood and the harsh reality of acceptance every adult eventually must face. Somehow Rhiann avoided facing hers. He hoped to avoid being the one to hold that particular mirror up to her eyes. “Rhiann, the past few months are all catching up to you. Everything you haven’t had time to come to grips with. Your father and brothers’ deaths, and then your sister’s disappearance followed so closely by your mother’s death. Your dream is your mind’s way of trying to comprehend the loss of your family.”

  It was as if he hadn’t spoken. “There was a Norman ship. She was thinking she would rather be attacked and killed by a wild animal than allow herself to be captured by the murderous Norman invaders. They were heading towards her. Maybe they found her. Maybe they’re bringing her to London. Oh, Nathan, you could have married my sister instead of being stuck with me.”

  Nathan didn’t want to be the one to enlighten his innocent wife about her sister’s fate if a ship full of Norman soldiers found a young woman wandering alone in the wilderness. Melissa, if she somehow was communicating with her sister through her dream, apparently did not share his wife’s naivety.

  While he was still trying to figure out how to gently disillusion her, thinking if he were in her sister’s shoes and a choice confronted him between death in the forest or death at the hands of undisciplined enemy soldiers, he would choose the former as well, Rhiann’s last statement penetrated his thoughts. Something about him being stuck with her. She was regarding him so anxiously, with such regret; he couldn’t resist the urge to bend down and kiss her.

  Wonderingly she raised her fingers to her lips. “Why did you do that?”

  “I was not stuck with you wife.”

  “Yes you were.” She had the nerve to contradict him. “If you wanted my father’s estates you had to marry me.”

  He could hardly argue with her reasoning, because naïve as she was, she was still well aware of the reason he married her. He took a different approach. “Rhiann, I would not have chosen your sister over you.”

  “But Nathan, she’s much prettier and more spirited. Though father often called her headstrong and said how she was going to lead some poor man a wild chase one day. Melissa used to laugh and claim no she wouldn’t since she didn’t have any intention of marrying and becoming some stranger’s property. She thought that was an outdated law and she was determined not to subject herself to it.”

  Nathan grinned, thinking Rhiann’s father was right about his older daughter. “What was her plan for her future if not marriage?”

  Rhiann watched the way the firelight danced in her husband’s eyes, turning them an even lighter shade of blue. His evident amusement at her sister’s unusual opinions made them lighter still. He had the most beautiful eyes. His hands were on her back stroking her bare skin. Her brow furrowed in confusion and she spoke the source of her puzzlement out loud. “Nathan I don’t remember taking my clothes off. Why am I naked?” She watched the light in her husband’s eyes darken with desire as his eyes roamed over her bare skin. Her breasts were uncovered and his eyes feasted hungrily on them, before sliding lower to where the sheets covered her hips and legs. She felt her face blush at his intent regard, understood even after their brief marriage the direction of her husband’s thoughts, and forgot to keep breathing.

  Her breath got stuck in her throat at the sight of his
lips curving upward, the amusement sneaking back into his eyes, as he trailed the side of his hand up her belly to brush his knuckles beneath the underside of her heavy breasts, and then slide his thumb across one nipple, which reacted instantly, becoming painfully erect at his touch.

  His other hand slid beneath her hair and rhythmically stroked her back, causing her to release the breath she was holding on a soft sigh. Her lids began to close sleepily and she leaned into her husband’s strong arms and rested her head against his chest. He slid his other arm around her back and continued gently caressing her skin, up and down, in a soothing gesture, his hands stopping every so often to straighten an errant tangle in her hair. She closed her eyes and let herself be lulled back to sleep by the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek and by his soothing touch.

  She felt him shift his weight and push her back down against the sheets. She forced open her eyes to whisper a soft ‘Thank you,’ was confused for a moment at the grin that flashed across her husband’s face, but was too tired to ask him what he found so amusing before her eyelids slipped down over her eyes and she drifted back to sleep.

  Nathan smiled at the sight of his sleeping wife. He swallowed back a bark of laughter at her remembered confusion when she asked him why she was naked. Rather than trying to explain with words he thought to answer her question in a more direct way. She slept on as his hands continued caressing her skin, moving around to the front. They slid over her long legs. She sighed content beneath his tender attention. They drifted higher to her thighs, then propping himself on one elbow, he let his other hand circle her belly, then drift lower, until he found the golden curls shielding her heat from him. He didn’t stop his exploration, but pushed through the curls to the damp opening beneath and stroked the already slick opening, eliciting a moan from his still slumbering wife.

  She moved restlessly beneath his hands at the same time parting her legs in silent invitation for him to continue. He needed no further urging and slid one finger into her moist channel, probing, stroking until her hips began to move in perfect imitation of the rhythm he set. He was soon caught up in his own passion and he dropped his head and circled one erect nipple with his tongue.