Tall, Dark, and Medieval

by Barbara Devlin

  Brynn just stared at the empty bed, thinking how cold and lonely it would be sleeping by herself on her wedding night.

  “My lady, if you don’t mind me saying - you seem to be saddened by the outcome. I would have thought you’d be delighted.”

  Brynn raised her arms as Birdie helped her off with her undergarments and unbound her wound, dabbing at the fresh blood with a rag.

  “I would have thought so too, Birdie. But for some reason I cannot help but wonder what it would have been like had I coupled with Drake.”

  “Are you saying you have feelings for Lord Thorndale?” Birdie stared with open eyes, and Brynn almost laughed.

  “Well, he is my husband, Birdie. A woman is supposed to couple with her husband on her wedding night.”

  “Then you do care for him,” she said, sitting down on the bed. Brynn followed suit and joined her.

  “I know ’tis evil,” she said, “to want a man like Drake.”

  “He killed your parents,” she reminded him. “You cannot mean to want to lie with their murderer?”

  “I don’t believe he did, Birdie, although I cannot prove it. He told me he didn’t, and deep inside I feel ’tis true. He said my father ordered an attack on them and he ordered his men to defend themselves. But he said the Klarens were the ones who killed my parents.”

  Birdie shook her head, grabbing Brynn’s hands in her own. “You did the right thing by sending him away,” she reassured her.

  Brynn was about to correct her, telling her it was Drake’s decision to leave, but stopped herself. If she was to gain respect among the people of Thorndale and someday regain the control that should be hers, ’twas better Birdie and all concerned thought it Brynn’s decision that he leave the room before they’d coupled. After all, she had told him she refused to lay with him, though he could have taken her if he so wanted. Still, if they knew the truth that he didn’t want her until she was willing, it would only make her seem weaker and Drake seem stronger.

  A knock came at the door, and the voice of Juturna from beyond it.

  “My lady, I have brought more poultices and new bindings to wrap your wound.”

  Brynn looked at Birdie at smiled slightly. “Please do not mention to anyone that I’ve banished my husband from our room this night.”

  “Of course not, my lady. I would never say a word.”

  Brynn nodded her head in acceptance. She knew Birdie well enough never to trust her with a secret. By tomorrow morning, everyone in Thorndale Castle would know what happened this eve. Brynn would be seen as the woman who controlled her husband’s actions. She was on her way to being the next and only ruler of Thorndale. This should please her immensely, so why did she have such an aching in her heart?

  * * *

  Brynn lay in bed that night, not able to sleep. Birdie and Juturna had tended to her needs, then left her in that cold, empty bed by herself. By now, the whole castle knew she hadn’t consummated her marriage. Though she felt guilty for letting Birdie think she was the one to throw Drake out of the bedchamber, she had to do it. She needed the respect of the people. She needed to change her feared nature of being a witch to one of a woman with power enough to even control the actions of a man. If she could prove to her people she was worthy of their allegiance instead of Drake, she just may be able to claim Thorndale as her own. Thorndale belonged to her, not Drake. She deserved her father’s land, not the man who stole it.

  Still, deep down she felt as if she had betrayed her husband. Drake told her he had come to Thorndale in peace, with no thought to lay siege. If this were true, then it changed her opinion of him immensely. He had come to the castle looking for her. Had she been inside the castle walls at the time, mayhap things would have been different.

  If she could have seen he meant no harm, she could have convinced her father. Together they could have joined forces and went up against the Klarens. If so, there would be a good chance her parents would still be alive today. But no matter what actually happened, the fact was her parents were dead and Drake did nothing to save them.

  Thoughts of the dragon ran rampant in her head. She couldn’t believe Drake had offered himself to Dracus, trying to stop the dragon’s attacks on the village. That should have told her right then and there that Drake was a man willing to die for what he believed. There was some good in him, though it was taking her a while to see it.

  She lay back on the pillow, watching the full moon spill its bright beams into her room. She felt an attraction to Drake that she didn’t understand. She wanted to talk to someone about it, but couldn’t. She had almost told Birdie about them tonight, but something stopped her. She was no longer sure whom she could trust.

  Her mother would have understood had she still been alive. Her mother had always been there for her when she needed to ask about feelings or dreamwalking or walking through fire. But now her mother was dead, and Brynn was all alone.

  She longed to ask her why Drake knew he was dreamwalking, as most people are not aware when they are in this state. He mentioned the fact he knew they both were on the dreamwalking plane. Would he remember it in waking life? If he knew she’d left her body and he had thought to follow, then did this mean he could command his spirit to leave his physical shell at will, just like she was capable of doing? Just like her mother before her had also had the capability of doing?

  It took someone special to dreamwalk at will. It took someone magickal, powerful and enchanting. Drake was all those things to her. She wondered about his past. She wondered just who he was. She had so many questions she longed to ask him to have her curiosity sufficed. She knew virtually nothing about this man who was now her husband. She missed him deeply for some odd reason and wanted to know as to where he would be spending the night.

  She closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. Her thoughts drifted to Drake. She willed her soul to leave her body and bring her to the place where Drake rested. This worried her at first, as she thought mayhap he’d taken up with one of the kitchen maids as did Asad. But when her etheric form rose into the air and whisked off toward the mews, she knew she was wrong about him.

  Her etheric body walked through the closed door, and she found Drake sleeping in the hay among the falcon’s quarters. The birds knew she was there. Animals were very aware and could even see a Dreamwalker, when people couldn’t. Most the birds were hooded, but those that weren’t watched her with wide eyes in the dark.

  “Hello, Feathers.” She talked to her own pet, a Peregrine falcon. It had been a present from her parents several birthdays ago. She reached out to pet its head, but of course her hand went right through it.

  “I’ll come see you in the morning, I promise. Are you taking good care of Drake?”

  She walked over to where he slept in the hay. Moonlight spewed in from a crack in the wooden slats, bathing his face in a purplish white glow.

  “He looks so different when he sleeps,” she said, bending down to see him better.

  “What’s wrong with the way I look when I’m awake?”

  She spun around and realized the etheric Drake was standing behind her. She looked at his physical form and then back at his spirit.

  “Drake!” He seemed oblivious to the fact his physical body lay sleeping in the hay.

  “So, wife, I see you have come to keep your promise after all.” He laid a hand behind her head and pulled her close to kiss her.

  She pushed away.

  “Still fighting me, I see. Well, what do I have to do to woo you, my lady?”

  “You might try treating me like a lady instead of a whore for starters.”

  “Ah, so you want me to please you though you are not willing to please me?”

  “You know this isn’t real. I mean, our physical bodies are fast asleep.”

  “So let them sleep. I am wide awake and rather enjoying your presence here.”

  He ran his fingers through her hair gently. It was arousing, alluring - so much better than in the physical sense, and she
was very curious to see how making love would feel on another plane.

  “You want me, Brynn, don’t you? You are my wife. All you need to do is say you want me as well, and we could consummate this marriage right now, right here.”

  She reached out and touched him on the chest. He felt so alive, so vibrant, so real.

  “I am not sure ’twill be worth it. Or at least, not for you. You won’t remember it when you wake.”

  “Ah, but you will, won’t you? And that memory may make you want me physically as well. So I would say ’tis definitely worth it.”

  “So that’s your plan,” she said with a smile. He returned the smile, and her heart melted at his antics.

  “Cannot a man try?”

  “I would like to kiss you,” she admitted, and before she knew it, he had her in his arms and his lips pressed against hers.

  “You are delicious, my dear.”

  “And you as well.”

  His hand trailed down her cheek to her chin and he let it wander further this time, to the neckline of her nightgown.

  “Your skin is so soft. Your body is so alluring.”

  She closed her eyes as his lips grazed the skin of her collar bone. His kisses trailed down her neckline and to the top of one breast.

  “I will not take you against your will, Brynn. Not even in this form.”

  She took his hand and guided it into her nightgown without hesitation. “I want you, Drake. I want to fulfill my duty as your wife.”

  In one move he ripped her gown away, leaving her etheric form naked. He then removed his own tunic and hose and pulled her down into the hay, not far from his physical body.

  He hands caressed her breasts, his fingers magic against the tips. A shudder of delight coursed through her body and she almost screamed out in ecstasy when he brought one and then the other to his mouth for a taste. She tingled, vibrated, and arched her back. He had a way of bringing her to life. She felt more like a woman than she ever had before.

  She bravely reached out and ran her own hands down his rippled chest. She could feel every cord of muscled strength within him. He took her hand and placed it lower. She looked up at him curiously, feeling like such a wanton woman.

  “Go ahead and feel me,” he coaxed her. “You told me to have my sword polished for the wedding, did you not?”

  She felt her face blush, if blushing was possible without a physical body. She touched his male strength and knew the same emotions that ran through her ran through him, as he closed his eyes and moaned softly.

  “You are magnificent, my lord,” she commented, running her fingers along his length.

  “And you are driving me mad,” he told her. He removed her hand and placed his own hand between her thighs. She’d been touched by Calais when she so disgustingly gave herself to him, but she had left her body at the time. Physically, she felt nothing.

  Now she was out of her body again, but this time she was feeling things on a different level. Drake wasn’t touching her physical form, but he was making his presence known upon her soul.

  “Drake!” She clutched his shoulders as he laid her back in the hay with one hand, and created magic between her thighs with the other. “This feels so real. So good.”

  “This is what a man and wife are supposed to feel, Brynn. Do not deny my physical form the same pleasures.”

  He leaned over her, his long hair encompassing the two of them. She reached up, no longer able to hold back her emotions, and pulled him closer.

  “I want to know how it feels to make love with you, Drake. I need to feel you within me.”

  He entered her then, and her world exploded. Bright swirling colors of indigo, emerald and orange-blush filled the mews as their etheric bodies joined together. He filled a part of her soul that no other man would. She brought her hips to meet his with every thrust, and they found their release together.

  She wanted it to go on forever. She wanted to try it again and again, but that wasn’t going to happen this night. His physical body stirred and his etheric body swept back into his form immediately, leaving her by herself.

  Drake - the physical Drake - bolted upward and looked right at her. She didn’t move. She couldn’t have moved if she tried. She almost thought he could see her, until she realized he was scanning the room, looking but not finding. She let out a deep breath. Then she saw his hand go below his waist and grab himself. His physical body was affected from their foreplay and the act of making love.

  “Oh, Brynn,” he moaned and buried his face in the hay. She wanted to go to him and give herself to him so he could find his release physically as well, but couldn’t. She had known the pleasures of coupling with him, and would remember them upon awakening. But he was still frustrated. He would not be as lucky as her to remember it all in the morning.

  She held back the tears as she saw him take his dagger and fling it into the wall in aggravation. The birds fluttered their wings and screeched, startled by his action. She had to get away. She couldn’t watch any more. She found her way back to her own body, opening her eyes to a cold, dark room.

  “Oh, Drake,” she cried into her pillow. What had she done? She was afraid she would never be able to undo the damage she had created this night.

  THE DRAGON AND THE DREAMWALKER

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Drake staggered out of the mews, having had the most miserable night of his life. He kept dreaming of Brynn. Dreams that were more than dreams, in his opinion. He kept thinking of the way she felt, the way she tasted as they made love in the hay. If he hadn’t awakened to find himself alone, he would have sworn she’d really come to couple with him last night.

  But it wasn’t real. His own unsated arousal proved that theory wrong. He clutched a cloak in his hand that he had found in the mews and headed for the stable to find his horse. Gollimer awaited him eagerly, wanting to go for a ride. He jumped atop and headed out to the creek for a bath. Mayhap the cold water would bring him back to his senses where the girl was concerned.

  Brynn fastened her father’s dagger at her side as she made her way outdoors. She felt so alive and vibrant this morning - and satisfied in a strange sense. She hadn’t seen Drake yet, and she was glad. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face him yet after last night. Of course he wouldn’t remember a thing, but she could not forget it. It was so invigorating and wonderful that she wanted to do it again.

  She made her way to the mews, knowing Drake would be long gone by now. The guards no longer followed her everywhere she went and she was pleased to see that Drake trusted her enough to let her wander about the castle and courtyard freely. And to return her father’s dagger to her as well. Or mayhap, he just didn’t care. Either way, it was to her advantage.

  The villagers of Lornoon greeted her in a friendly manner this day, several of the village women rushing to her side.

  “Can we be of any assistance to you, my lady?” asked one.

  “Can I get you some wine or ale, or perhaps some fresh bread from the bakehouse?” asked another.

  “No, no,” she answered with a smile. “I believe I am fine, but many thanks just the same.”

  Several children ran up to her, clinging to her skirt, and one even handed her a crushed flower that had come from one of the vendors. Brynn took the flower and patted the child on the head. They ran off with squeals of delight. She continued on, with Drake’s men bowing their heads to her in passing, looking at her with a new respect. She saw the alewife whispering behind her hand to the butcher, both smiling and waving as she walked on through the courtyard. Everyone was so friendly to her. No one was calling her a witch and backing away. It felt good to be liked and accepted. It felt good, indeed.

  “My lady, my lady, wait up.”

  Brynn turned to see Birdie holding up her skirt, dodging children playing in the courtyard, running to catch up to her.

  “Good morning, Birdie,” Brynn said with a smile. She looked up to the blue sky and took a deep breath and released it. “’Tis a beaut
y of a day, don’t you agree?”

  Birdie dropped the edge of her skirt and grabbed Brynn’s hands in her own. “Oh, my lady I am so sorry. I did not mean to tell anyone, but it slipped out when I supped with the servants early this morning. Please forgive me.”

  So her plan had worked beautifully. Brynn had already seen the results by the friendly acceptance of everyone around her. Birdie had spread the word, and now Brynn was on her way to reclaiming her father’s castle. In no time, she’d have everyone’s respect and support. With the people behind her, she would find a way to take back from Drake what really belonged to her.

  “Whatever do you mean?” she asked, feigning ignorance.

  “Oh, my lady, I have spilled your secret about you turning your husband away on your wedding night and banishing him from your chamber.”

  Brynn just smiled. If only Birdie knew that she hadn’t turned her husband away after all, but rather consummated their marriage in the mews last night - even if it wasn’t in the physical sense.

  “I understand, Birdie, and I forgive you. I know it must have been an accident.”

  “Oh thank you, thank you, my lady. But I am not so sure Lord Thorndale will be so forgiving. I am so frightened that he will punish me. So frightened that I cannot think straight.”

  Brynn laid an arm around the girl’s shoulder, smoothing down a lock of her hair. “Don’t you worry about him, Birdie. I will make certain he doesn’t raise a finger to you.”

  “But my lady - ”

  “Hush now,” she told her, giving her a slight squeeze. “Now haven’t we been friends for a long time?”

  “Aye.”

  “And haven’t I always taken care of you?”

  “Of course, my lady.”

  “Then be on your way and try to enjoy the day.” Brynn pushed the girl gently toward the great hall. “After all, I am enjoying it immensely.” Birdie hurried on her way and Brynn continued on to the mews.

  Once there, she pulled open the door, meeting the falconer on his way out.