“Well, I will see you both again…eh…with discretion. Right now, I have a lock to pick and a diamond necklace to steal.” Simeon didn’t wait for their reply but disappeared before their eyes.
“Nothing is safe with him,” Kes shook her head looking at the empty space.
“There was no shimmer,” Nicholas noted.
“No,” she agreed and started back for the house to retrieve what few possessions she had. Mostly, her two dresses. “Do you think it’s a good idea to go back to the castle?”
“Aye. ’Tis a good idea,” he said as though he had no concerns whatsoever.
“Goodness,” she smirked then laughed a little. “What exactly did Elia tell you?”
“She mentioned that you missed me, and something about suffocating. I cannot remember.”
She gave his arm a little slap. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in close.
“I feel the same way, Kestrel,” he said against her lips, “’Tis as if I’m dying of thirst and there is no water for my parched throat.”
He ran his fingers over her temple, her cheek. He looked into her eyes as if something vital to him was there. He kissed her, softly at first, breathing her in. As his kiss grew deeper, his arms closed around her.
Oh, if there was any magic at work here, it was his touch, his kiss, his embrace. She never wanted to leave him, and maybe she was never going to.
The brooch was gone. She didn’t want to take a chance and use just any old vessel to get home. She might step into a nightmare. She was most likely going to live out the rest of her life here.
She broke away from his kiss, his steel embrace with just a gentle shove.
“What is it?” he asked.
“My father. My friends. The people I work with. I probably won’t ever see them again.”
He said nothing but looked down.
This wasn’t his fault. She smiled and took his arm as they stepped inside Walter’s house. “I’m glad you’re here with me, Nicholas. You’ve eased the shock and drew my attention to you. You’re the only thing that could keep me from going mad at all I’ve lost.”
“After you mourn,” he said in a low voice when they saw Walter coming down the corridor to greet them, “maybe you will find room in your heart for a new family.”
Did he mean him and the children he wanted to give her? Or him and the people in the castle? Maybe it didn’t matter.
“My lord,” Old Walter greeted. “’Tis good to see you back so soon.”
Soon? Kes thought. It had been days!
“Thank you, Walter. I will be seeing to Miss Locksley now.”
“Of course, my lord,” the old man said with a smile. “It was a pleasure having her stay here. She is welcome anytime. Anytime at all.”
After she gathered her dresses, she set them all down again to hug Walter. “I’ll come back and visit.”
“I would enjoy that!” he exclaimed when she withdrew. “I will have a feast made in your honor!”
She laughed. “Who am I that I should be honored?”
The old merchant smiled looking at her. “A very dear friend to us all.” He turned to Nicholas with a slight sigh. “She informed all the servants that they should have two or threebreaksa day, where they could roam the grounds and do as they pleased—”
“Without damage, of course,” she interrupted.
“Because they live here.”
“Yes.” She widened her smile on her new dear friend. “If they learn to rest and play here as well as work, they will love it here more.” She turned to Nicholas, who was watching and listening, and smiling with them. “And if they love it here, they will give it their best care.”