“Die, demon, die,” Timothy shouted as he raised a bow and arrow. Everything happened in slow motion. Charlotte watched as he pulled back his arm and the arrow took flight, and she stood still. Rooted to the spot, unable to move as the arrow came straight for her heart. As she watched, the piper pulled a knife from his boot and threw it, hitting the big, scary man in the throat. He went down with a gurgle. And somehow, the piper still managed to throw himself in front of her at the last moment. The arrow struck him in the heart. He fell to the floor and Charlotte screamed.
Timothy nocked another arrow and came toward her. Charlotte reached down and pulled the second knife from the piper’s boot. She didn’t know how she did it, but as Timothy got close to her, she lunged forward and thrust upward. He grabbed hold of her; she pulled out the knife and struck again. This time she nailed him in the eye. Her stomach heaved, and Charlotte tried not to throw up as he fell to the floor. She turned and knelt down by the piper.
“You saved my life. I am so sorry. It was my fault for not locking the door.”
He smiled at her. “You, lady, are a warrior in your own right. You saved me from losing my head. I will play for the Thornton women until the end of time.” He coughed and blood trickled out of his mouth. She could hear a rattle in his chest as he whispered, “I swear, I will warn them in times of danger. Throughout time.”
As he passed, Charlotte reached up and closed his eyes. She was blinded by tears, incredibly grateful he had given his own life to save her.
“I swear, I will live the rest of my days being happy and filled with hope.” She made a decision. She could tell the battle was at an end, and she needed Henry. Only he would understand what she had been through.
Chapter Forty-Two
The next week had been difficult. The army routed Hallsey and his men. She found out later Lord Hallsey had been killed by an arrow. So many men lost their lives. From knights to peasants, death did not discriminate.
Charlotte met Henry’s brothers. She found them all good-looking and charming. Her only wish was to have met them for the first time under better circumstances.
When she met James and William, she could understand why her sisters had married them. They promised to take her back to Falconburg to see them both. She still couldn’t believe Melinda was pregnant and due in a week or two. And, of course, William wouldn’t bring Lucy to a battle. They were anxiously waiting for her. And Charlotte was looking forward to finally making the journey.
The new priest was doing well, and busy with the aftermath of the battle. Edward had been saddened by the loss of his favorite piper.
“I’d like to have a statue commissioned and put in the garden. He saved my life, and I would like to remember him always.”
Edward looked touched. “I thank you.”
“He said he would watch over the Thornton women for all time. Warn them of any impending danger.” She smiled. “I can’t be the only Thornton woman. Perhaps it is time for you and your brothers to marry?”
Henry burst out laughing. “Look at the horror upon his face.”
Edward struck him, and then they were rolling in the dirt like two small children. Robert and Christian called out helpful suggestions and insults.
Charlotte laughed in what felt like the first time in years.
The swordsmith beamed at Henry. “My apologies, my lord, for not having the blades completed sooner.” The man held them out, a proud look on his face.
“Fine craftsmanship.” He held the blade with the amethyst up to the light. “Charlotte will love them.”
Henry was excited to give her the daggers. He went in search of his strong wife. He wanted to give them to her before they left this morning on the journey to visit her sisters. He was looking forward to finally meeting the women he’d heard so much about. Women from the future.
Henry found her standing on the battlements looking out over the land. The sound of rebuilding was all around them. The walls would be repaired and reinforced. With the wind blowing her hair around her face, she looked like a warrior goddess come to life.
He held the daggers behind his back. “I wanted to give these to you after we married, but they weren’t completed until today.”
She held out her hands to accept the gift. Henry watched her face as she held the first one up, the one with the sapphire in the hilt. As she turned it to the light, he watched her face fall.
Did she not like them? ’Twas stupid to give a woman blades. He should have given her jewelry.
“The soul is here for its own joy.” She looked afraid.
In a whisper, she read the inscription on the other blade. The one with amethyst in the hilt. “Om. The sound of the universe smiling.”
His wife looked around and it was as if she thought someone was coming for her. Henry tensed, his hand going to the hilt of his sword.
The moment passed. She exhaled and looked around. Her face brightened.
“I love them. They are beautiful.” She slid the first blade into her boot. As she reached down to put the second blade in her boot, her finger touched the point. Three crimson dots appeared.
“You cut yourself.” Before his eyes, Charlotte began to fade. Henry heard the sound of metal screaming, voices buzzing all around them, and lightning tore through the sky.
With complete certainty, he knew she was going back to her own time. Henry lunged forward.
“She is mine. Charlotte belongs here with me. I will not let her go.”
The sky seemed to tear in two as they fell.
Charlotte came to gasping. There was a heavy weight on top of her, and she was finding it hard to breathe. She shoved at the lump. It was her husband.
She looked around, taking in the details. Charlotte’s eyes filled with tears.
“You pulled me back.”
Henry blinked several times and sat up, his hands on his head.
“What happened? You cut yourself on the blade and you began to fade. I could see through you to the wall and the fields beyond. There was a most fearsome noise, and I knew I would lose you. I reached out and pulled you to me.” He gathered her in his arms. “I prevented you from going back to your own time. Are you angry?”
“My place is here. With you. My sisters are here.” She stroked his face. “Right here. Right now. This is my time. This is my present.”
She tried to explain to him what had happened, and Henry looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. Surely they would think her a faerie if they saw her disappear in front of their eyes.
“I heard a voice. It was Aunt Pittypat. She told me to trust my heart, trust in my love for you. By doing so, it would hold me where I was meant to be.”
Charlotte reached out a hand to Henry. “Let’s go. I want to talk to my sisters about what happened. See if they had a similar experience.”
“You are a remarkable woman, Charlotte Merriweather Thornton.”
Chapter Forty-Three
It took them three long days to travel to Falconburg Castle. Charlotte was counting down the minutes until she’d finally be reunited with her sisters.
“My sisters used to want to shoot me when I asked, ‘Are we there yet?’”
William and James laughed. “When we cross the next hill, you’ll see Falconburg,” James said.
She was content to listen to Henry talk with them as they traveled. Charlotte had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t been paying attention. When she looked up, there was the castle.
“Wow. That’s impressive.” She looked at Henry and blew him a kiss. “But not as impressive as Ravenskirk.”
As they rode into the courtyard, Charlotte practically jumped off the horse. The doors to the castle opened and Lucy ran out. She paused, kissed William on the mouth, then ran to Charlotte, throwing herself in her arms.
She was laughing and crying at the same time. “I can’t believe you’re here. You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.”
Charlotte couldn’t believe her eyes. “Your hair is
gray!”
“Right. It must be a shock. You have the same look Melinda did.”
“I don’t understand. Why do you look so different?”
At that point, Melinda waddled down the steps and Charlotte clapped a hand over her mouth.
“You’re huge!”
“I’m due any day. Good to see you too, brat. And Lucy looks different because she came through in the year 1307.”
“You’ve been here twenty-three years?” Charlotte turned to Melinda. “Other than being ready to explode, you look the same. How long have you been here?”
“Three years. It was 1327 when I came through. When we heard you were here, we tried to figure out how long you’ve been in the past.”
“Only since the end of May. I left in May of 2016.”
“What?”
James interrupted them. “My darling wife, there are many ears—why don’t you come into the solar and talk there.”
Melinda kissed him on the lips. “Thank you for bringing my sister home. We’ll go inside.” She turned and looked at Henry.
“You must be Lord Ravenskirk. I’d recognize that hair and those eyes anywhere. You Thornton brothers all look alike. I don’t know how to thank you for rescuing Charlotte.”
Lucy added, “I hear congratulations are in order.”
Charlotte started to laugh. “Wait until you hear the tale. Poor Henry. He was forced to marry me.”
William snorted. “The Thornton brothers are all stubborn. None of them will do anything against their will.”
Henry arched a brow. “I hear you know my brother Edward. He is much more stubborn than I. Though I hear you are good with the blade. Care to meet me in the lists?”
James smirked. “And me. We’ll let the women talk while we see what you’re made of, whelp.”
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Come on, they’ll be out here all afternoon.”
Charlotte looked at Melinda’s home as they walked through the hall. It was a beautiful castle, and she could see Melinda’s touch everywhere she looked.
“You know, if you wouldn’t have said you didn’t have a third sister, we might have avoided the whole almost-dying thing.”
Lucy spoke first. “I’m sorry, sis. We were being careful. Both of us have been accused of being witches.”
“If we said we had a sister and no one ever met her, it would raise suspicion,” Mellie added. “We never dreamt it would cause so many problems.”
“At the time it seemed like a good idea.” Lucy hugged Charlotte. “We’re so glad you’re here and we’re all together again.”
Melinda led them into the light-filled solar. She sat down with a groan. “My feet are killing me.”
A woman brought in wine and cookies.
“Are those sugar cookies?” Charlotte picked up two.
Lucy laughed. “We both like to bake. Wait until Henry finds out how much we spend on spices. He’ll hide his gold from you.”
“I have my own gold. I brought gems and coins with me.”
Melinda leaned forward. “Did you get our message?”
“What message?”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “We wrote a note, put it in a bottle, sealed it up, and put it behind a stone at Blackford. With your initials on it. To be sure you would find it.”
“I never made it to Blackford. When I decided to try and find you both, I thought I’d go to Falconburg first. Start at the most recent scene. Only I never made it there.” Both her sisters leaned forward, and Charlotte filled them in on everything that had happened since Melinda disappeared.
“When I get back, I’ll destroy the bottle. Don’t want some stranger finding it in the future and causing problems.” Lucy grinned. “You think Henry’s stubborn? Wait until I tell you about William.”
“I still can’t believe Simon went to so much trouble to see all of us dead. Talk about a Grade A bastard.” Lucy rolled her eyes.
“If he hadn’t, we might not all be here,” Charlotte said. They were all silent for a few moments thinking about what that meant.
“I can’t believe you came back and only three years after me,” Melinda said. “I wonder if it’s because it was close to midsummer? I came through in February and Lucy came through in summer, like you.”
Lucy added, “Let’s not forget the raven. And the blood.”
“And the objects.” Charlotte pulled out the daggers from her boots. She handed one to each sister.
Melinda and Lucy said at the same time, “It’s the same inscription as your tattoos.”
Charlotte nodded. “It was right before we came here. Henry gifted these to me. He’d seen my tattoos and thought I would like the inscriptions on the daggers. I put one in my boot, and when I slid the other one in, it slipped and nicked my finger. That’s when everything went haywire.”
Lucy and Melinda both started talking over each other. “Did the lights turn rainbow?”
“Did you hear the sound of metal ripping?”
“All of that. And I heard Aunt Pittypat talking to me.”
Melinda tapped her chin. “So it seems like one of the first days of the season, our blood, some kind of object, and that huge raven. All of those things have to be in place for us to travel through time.”
“And don’t forget the storm.” Lucy shuddered. “It was terrible.”
“I know. Lightning struck the car and I thought for sure I was dead,” Charlotte said.
Lucy grinned. “I still can’t believe you stole a car and crashed it into the ocean!”
Melinda tapped her chin. “I know you’ll both think I’m crazy, but I’ve given it a lot of thought. I think the raven is some kind of reincarnation of Aunt Pittypat.”
Charlotte thought she must have the same stunned look on her face as Lucy. She slowly nodded.
“I felt like she was with me a lot of the time. It would make sense. She would’ve loved the adventure.”
Lucy ate a cookie. “Let’s hope the Merriweather curses are finally broken. No more bad judgment in men…” Her voice trailed off. “Though I don’t know about both of you, but my sense of direction is still as bad as it ever was.”
They both laughed. “Mine too,” Melinda said. “You know the trouble I had when I arrived.”
“Luckily I met Henry right away, so I didn’t have to try to find my way,” Charlotte said.
They talked for a while, and Melinda said, “What did you do about the house?”
“I gave it to Jake. He’s done so much for all of us, I thought it was for the best.” Charlotte ate another cookie. “These are so good. You’re going to have to show me how you make them here.”
She took a sip of wine. “I took all the money we had left and exchanged it into gems and gold coins. I wasn’t sure what I would need when I got here.” She smiled at her sisters. “Though I found my very own knight and I haven’t spent a cent of it. I’d be happy to share with you both.”
Lucy laughed. “I think all of our husbands are rich.”
“Keep it,” Melinda said. “But what if you couldn’t have come back in time?”
“I put plans in place. Jake wouldn’t get the house until I was declared dead. And I figured I could always resell the gems and the coins.”
“I wish I’d had time to spend with history buffs before I got here.”
“Did you bring the recipes with you?” Lucy looked hopeful. “There are a couple of Aunt Pittypat’s I’ve been dying to make, but I can’t remember exactly how she made some of them.”
Charlotte nodded. “I wrote down the important ones in a journal, along with bits and pieces I thought would be useful. It’s in my trunk. I’ll get it now if you want.”
Melinda waved her down. “No, sit. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”
Charlotte took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry, you guys. I didn’t believe you, Mellie. When you vanished and the authorities said you committed suicide, I knew. You’re too stubborn to kill yourself.”
“Pot. Meet kettle.”
“I’m so glad we’re all together again. As long as we’re together, everything will be all right.” Lucy wiped a tear from her eye.
Charlotte patted her on the shoulder. “It was Memorial weekend when I left for England. Remember the crowds? The heat?”
They reminisced about home and the beach. All the things they missed. Melinda rubbed her back. “Tell us you brought chocolate and music.”
Charlotte shook her head. “I was afraid to bring back any kind of electronics. And as to chocolate, I figured why torture myself? As soon as I ate it, the stuff would be gone with no way to make more.”
Both sisters groaned, and Lucy said, “We were somehow hoping you’d have a stash we could raid.”
“After what you both told me about almost drowning or being burnt at the stake, I’m glad I didn’t bring back anything incriminating. I had a hard enough time. You know, I almost forgot to tell you what the gypsy, Marielle, told me.” Charlotte leaned forward in her seat. She said, “You will find your sisters in England. But not this England.”
“I’ve got chills.” Lucy rubbed her arms.
“She also told me to look out for danger. Can you believe she knew about your unicorn necklace, Mellie? I’m so sorry I lost it down the well.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just glad it found its way to you.” Melinda looked like she wanted to say more, but Charlotte wouldn’t pry. They had plenty of time to be with each other. The rest of their lives.
Chapter Forty-Four
Epilogue
One Year Later
Melinda held Emma Pittypat Rivers on her lap. The door opened and a messenger staggered in. James took the message and called for the healer. Two of his knights took the man to the kitchen. James read the missive, his face turning a grayish color. Alarm spread through her.
Lonely is the Knight (Merriweather Sisters Time Travel Romance Book 3) Page 17
