Ever My Love: The Lore of the Lucius Ring (The Legend of the Theodosia Sword Book 2)

by Kathryn Le Veque

  “I’ve got him now, ma’am, please move back,” a stern voice commanded from her left.

  Rin looked up, hardly able to see through the tears in her eyes, and saw a man in a blue uniform shirt kneeling next to them. She quickly glanced around. The police were handcuffing the man who’d held them up and the medics were checking him over.

  There were two other EMTs standing behind her and Roman, waiting for her to move so they could help him.

  The EMT next to her gently pushed her hand away from Roman’s chest and put his own over the hole as soon as hers cleared it. He started barking orders to the men behind her, but Rin didn’t hear any of it. She stood and backed away, clutching the ring to her chest with both hands now, not taking her eyes from Roman’s. The eerie mist continued to swirl around him, but the EMTs didn’t even seem to notice.

  The poem he’d recited to her might as well have come from the depths of her own soul.

  I don’t know you, but I see your face in the clouds.

  I’ve never met you, but your smile fills my soul.

  Some hear words, I only hear you calling to me.

  Time might separate us, but it can’t deny the bond we share.

  With dreams only of you, I close my eyes.

  It was exactly what had been happening in her dreams forever. She couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not after just finding him.

  Rin watched as the EMTs loaded Roman onto a stretcher and carried him to the back of an ambulance, the misty fog rolling right along with them. The doors shut behind them and the vehicle pulled away from the scene, taking the only man she’d ever love with it.

  “Ma’am? I’m Sergeant Wright. I understand you were the other victim here? Is any of that blood yours?”

  Rin looked down at herself. Her hands were covered in Roman’s blood and it was smeared on her beautiful yellow sweater. She shook her head, but didn’t say anything more, couldn’t say anything more through a throat that was so closed off, it was a miracle she was still breathing.

  “Good. I’m glad you weren’t hurt. I need to get your statement. Can you tell me what happened tonight?”

  What happened? Rin knew he wasn’t talking about the miracle of finding her one true love. Knew he didn’t care about how two souls had managed to find each other even though the odds were against them. The police officer didn’t want to know about the fog or poems or rings. She sighed and took a deep breath.

  She needed to get to Roman. And the only way to do that was to tell the officer what she knew. Then she could go to the hospital. All thoughts of her birthday party, sister, and mom were gone. Roman was the only thing that mattered.

  Rin slid the bloody ring she’d been clutching onto her finger and closed her eyes for a moment at the jolt of energy she felt racing down her arm into her chest. Roman. She felt him with her even when he wasn’t physically there.

  She looked down. The poesy ring was still crimson. It gave her hope. Surely if Roman died, the ring would go back to being dark gray again.

  Sometime between them sitting on the bench and now, Rin had realized that the ring was about her. Her and Roman. Not her mom. Not Tina. Maybe not even MacKenzie.

  Somehow her ancestors, going back to the original owner of the ring, Theodosia, had meant for her to have the ring. She’d grown up the way she had, all to make her compatible with Roman. Oh, there were a lot of ways they were different, but the bottom line was that if she had been brought up as Tina had been, she never would’ve appealed to Roman, and vice versa. She would’ve lost out and the ring would’ve stayed dark.

  Rin turned to the cop, wanting to get this over with. She needed to get to the hospital. “We were sitting on the bench talking…”

  Chapter Eight

  Rin sat in a fake leather chair in the emergency waiting room at the best trauma center in the city. She’d washed her hands, but was still wearing her bloody sweater. Her mom had urged her to go home and change, but Rin wasn’t about to leave the hospital.

  The last two hours had been a whirlwind. She’d gone back to the ballroom to grab her purse and keys so she could get to Roman, but had run into her mom, who’d promptly freaked out, rightly so, at the sight of her daughter covered in blood.

  Rin didn’t think they would leave the party, but Cassia caught a glimpse of the ring on her daughter’s finger. It was a brilliant scarlet that couldn’t be missed.

  Her mom grabbed hold of the ring and looked into Rin’s eyes. “It’s red.”

  She’d nodded.

  “Tina?” Cassia asked, turning to her other daughter.

  Tina had merely shaken her head, telling her mom that it wasn’t red because of any feeling she’d had with any of the men she’d met that night.

  Without another word, Cassia and Tina had insisted on coming to the hospital with her.

  Rin wasn’t surprised her mom immediately figured out Roman was the man she’d been hoping to find for Tina her entire life. She was a woman who’d grown up hearing stories about instant loves through the ages, so hearing Rin say she loved a man she’d met for the first time that night wasn’t even a blip on her weird-o-meter. It was almost as if she wasn’t surprised at all, but Rin knew her mom’s head had to be reeling, learning that it wasn’t Tina who was the key to breaking the curse, but Rin.

  They’d raced to the hospital, only to find out that Roman’s family had already been called. None of the staff would talk to Rin, since she wasn’t a relative. She had to wait until his family got there, and since they had to drive over from Pennsylvania, it would be a few hours.

  Roman’s brothers arrived first, surprisingly quickly considering where they’d had to travel from. Rin would’ve been able to point them out as being related to Roman in a heartbeat if she didn’t already know they were going to be showing up. They were both tall and handsome with dark hair, just like their brother. They had the same noses and seriously looked alike enough to almost be triplets.

  They burst through the doors like their Roman namesakes might have done when entering into battle. Mouths drawn into tight lines, worry furrowing their brows. Rin didn’t move, feeling awkward for the first time. She didn’t know these men, they didn’t know her.

  Luckily, Cassia didn’t have any reservations.

  She approached the two men, introducing herself as the mother of Roman’s girlfriend, and telling them that anything they could find out from the hospital staff would be appreciated, since they wouldn’t tell them anything because they weren’t related to Roman. The two men were obviously stressed out and devastated after hearing their big brother had been shot, but after they’d glanced over to where Cassia indicated, and saw Rin, they merely nodded in agreement before heading to the counter to speak to the employee sitting there.

  Rin knew she looked like hell, but she couldn’t imagine leaving the hospital for even a moment to go home and change. She glanced down at the ring, which she’d been obsessively turning on her finger over and over. Still crimson. Thank God. It gave her the small spark of hope she needed to know that Roman was still alive.

  After speaking with the nurse, Roman’s brothers came over to the corner of the room where Rin and her family were waiting.

  “You’re with Roman?” one of them asked, holding out his hand.

  “Yes. I’m Varinia. I’m guessing you’re his youngest brother, Gus?”

  He nodded. Pleasantries taken care of, he got down to business. “Can you tell us what happened? All we have are sketchy details.”

  Rin swallowed. The last thing she wanted to do was get into it all again, especially before knowing how Roman was. She wished she was meeting his brothers under different circumstances. “Of course. But first, please…can you tell me what you found out about Roman? They wouldn’t talk to us.”

  “He’s in surgery,” the other man told them. “The nurse said the bullet went into the top of his lung and bounced around inside his chest cavity. Her words, not mine.”

  Rin swayed in her seat as the imagery his words ev
oked raced inside her head.

  “Easy, Varinia,” Max told her, obviously seeing the impact his words had on her. He knelt in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. “You’re as pale as the tiles on the floor. Take a deep breath.”

  Rin did as Roman’s brother suggested, feeling the blackness at the sides of her eyes recede. “He’s going to live though, right?” Her words were whispered to Max, a question, but more like a plea.

  “He’s going to live,” Gus confirmed from above them in a voice of steel. “My big brother isn’t a quitter.”

  Rin nodded. “He was protecting me. The guy was threatening to kill us both if we didn’t give him all our money and valuables. When the guy wouldn’t back off, and looked like he was about to shoot us, Roman rushed him.”

  It was as if Gus expected her words. “I figured as much.”

  Max held out a hand. “It’s good to meet you, Varinia.”

  She shook his hand solemnly. “Where are your kids? And wives?”

  “They’re on their way. We chartered a plane to get here as soon as we could. It only had two seats, so we grabbed ’em. Our parents, and the others, will be here as soon as they can. They’re driving out.”

  Rin nodded, relieved that she didn’t have to meet the whole Reese clan right this second. As kind and patient as his brothers were being, this wasn’t the way she really wanted to meet his family. “This is my mom, Cassia, and sister, Tina,” she told Max and Gus, gesturing to them.

  They all nodded at each other.

  Gus pulled a chair over from nearby and Max did the same. They sat huddled in the corner of the room, chatting somewhat awkwardly, getting to know each other.

  “Augustina?” Gus asked.

  “Augustus?” Tina returned with a smile.

  Cassia smirked and commented, “I see I’m not the only one enthralled with Roman history.”

  Everyone chuckled, glad the tension in the air had been broken, at least for the moment.

  It wasn’t until Gus said, “That’s a beautiful ring, is it an heirloom?” that Rin realized she hadn’t talked about it with her mom or sister. They’d seen it in the ballroom when she’d shown up, bloody and freaked out and needing a ride to the hospital, but hadn’t discussed it further.

  “It’s still red, Mom,” Rin said in a soft voice, holding out her hand so her relatives could see it up close.

  “I can’t believe it,” Tina said, turning her sister’s hand right and left so the brilliant crimson sparkled in the fluorescent lights of the waiting room.

  “I take it that’s unusual?” Max asked, confused at the reactions of the women.

  “It’s a miracle,” Cassia breathed.

  For the first time in a long time, Rin saw her mom cry. She threw herself into Cassia’s arms and felt Tina’s arms wrap around them as well. The three of them sniffled for a bit before Rin finally pulled back and turned to Max and Gus with an explanation. She sat between them and held out her hand so they could clearly see the ring on her finger.

  “The legend of the ring states, in a nutshell, that if the daughter doesn’t find true love before she turns twenty-five, then she’ll be doomed to a life of loneliness. No one in my family has found the man meant to be hers in decades. This is the first time we’ve ever known the ring to be anything but gray.”

  “Roman,” Gus stated. It wasn’t a question.

  “Roman,” Rin agreed with a small smile.

  Gus put a hand on Rin’s knee, and Max put his on the other. “Welcome to the family, Varinia. I have a feeling there’s an interesting story behind your relationship with my brother, but I couldn’t be happier he’s finally found the princess he’s been looking for all his life.”

  Rin smiled at Gus and tried not to cry. She thought Roman’s family might balk at their quick courtship—hell, quick was an understatement. But it looked like she just might be welcomed after all.

  “Family of Roman Reese,” a no-nonsense voice said from the doorway.

  They all turned to see a doctor, still in surgical scrubs, standing at the other end of the room. Gus and Max stood—but all Rin could do was stare at the surgeon.

  A mist was hovering around his legs.

  As soon as Rin looked at him, it slowly disentangled itself from the man she had no doubt had saved Roman’s life, and rolled across the floor.

  As Rin watched, wide-eyed, it made its way over to her and enveloped her, wrapping the now-familiar scent of smoke, peppermint and a crisp fall day around her. She inhaled deeply, bringing it into her lungs and her very being.

  “Come on, Rin, you’re a part of this family now, let’s go see what the doctor has to say about Roman.”

  Rin took hold of the hand Max held out to her and headed across the room toward her future. She had no doubt whatsoever that the doctor had good news for them. The misty fog, and the bright crimson ring on her finger, told her everything she needed to know.

  Chapter Nine

  Rin snuggled into Roman’s side a couple of months later. She’d moved to Pennsylvania as soon as Roman had been released from the hospital, not willing to spend even one night away from him if she could help it. Her twenty-fifth birthday had come and gone without any fanfare, which was more than okay with Rin. She’d found her true love; it was the best present she ever could’ve received.

  They were huddled on the huge brown suede couch in his living room. The doctor had told them that it had been touch and go for a while in the operating room, but he’d managed to stop the bleeding from Roman’s kidney, which had been nicked by a bullet fragment. He’d patched up his lung and fixed other small tears as well.

  It hadn’t been hard for her to make the decision to quit her job in Columbus and move to Pennsylvania to be with Roman. She’d interviewed for several jobs and had managed to find a position with a bigger company, with more money and more benefits. She was thrilled with how everything seemed to be falling into place. Including her relationship with Roman.

  The man who’d held them up was in jail. He’d had a warrant out for first-degree murder before his robbery attempt. Apparently, he’d killed his pregnant girlfriend and both his parents before fleeing to the streets to try to get enough money to head to Mexico. The attempted murder of Roman was almost small potatoes compared to the other charges he was facing, but they would both testify if and when it came time, to make sure he never saw the light of day again.

  The entire situation was unbelievable, but Roman was alive and safe. Rin couldn’t ask for any other outcome.

  “Happy birthday, Varinia,” Roman said in a soft voice.

  “Thanks. Although you do realize you’re about a month late, right?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, but I wasn’t really able to help you celebrate on the actual day.”

  “True. But you know what?” Rin sat up in the circle of his arms so she could look him in the eye. “I got the best present this year. I don’t need anything else, ever.”

  “Did the ring get back to England all right?”

  Rin nodded. “Yeah, I heard from MacKenzie yesterday. The courier arrived with it right on time.”

  “You tell her we’ll be out to see her sometime next year?”

  “Of course. She was excited. Oh, and she sends her and James’ prayers that you’ll continue to heal without any problems.”

  “I told you I’m fine,” Roman protested. “Even the doctor was impressed with how fast I’m healing.”

  “I know, I know, but I still worry about you.”

  Roman hugged Rin to his chest, tucking her head in the crook of his shoulder. Her favorite place to be.

  “I love you, Varinia. And I have to say, no matter how many pictures we take in our life, that one,” he gestured to the eleven-by-fourteen print that sat in a heavy silver frame on the bookcase across from them, “will always be my favorite.”

  Rin didn’t pick up her head, but moved it just enough so that she could see the picture he’d gestured to. It was taken the day Roman was dis
charged from the hospital. They were standing next to each other in front of the automatic doors and Rin had one arm around Roman’s back and the other resting on his chest, over his healing wound. One of his arms was around her shoulders and the other was holding her hand to his chest. The sun was hitting them just right and the poesy ring shone bright crimson in the sunlight. They weren’t looking at the camera, but instead at each other. Rin could almost physically see the love between them.

  “Agreed.”

  “Are you sad you had to send the ring back to MacKenzie?” Roman asked, not for the first time.

  “No,” Rin said immediately. “It feels right. It’s where it needs to be. That picture is all the reminder I need. I have you right here with me. It’s enough.”

  “It’s too bad about the smear in the picture though,” Roman said after a moment.

  Rin lifted her head in shock and looked at him. “You can see that?”

  The first time Tina had shown her the picture, she’d seen the mist intertwined around her and Roman’s legs. She’d mentioned it to her sister, but Tina apparently didn’t see it. Just as none of the people that night, none of the hospital staff, and neither of Roman’s brothers had seen the mist when it had enveloped Roman and the doctor. She just assumed that she was the only one who was able to see the light fog.

  “Well, yeah,” Roman said in disbelief. “It’s hard to miss.”

  “Remind me to tell you the story sometime of how that smear relates to that awful night,” Rin told him, snuggling back into him.

  “I will. Have you heard from Tina?”

  Rin smiled. “Yeah. She called from Vegas.”

  “I seriously can’t believe she eloped with Luke.”

  “I know, right? She’d apparently been seeing him behind my mom’s back for months. Given how my mom acted, Tina always thought Mom wanted her to be with someone rich, when all Mom really cared about was her finding her one true love. The fact that Luke was a roofer didn’t faze her at all.”