He was quite casual about it. “A broadsword cut me down the length of my thigh. An impressive wound if you have the stomach for it.”
He meant it as a jest but Nicola looked at him with some horror. “I suppose I must have the stomach for it if I am to tend to it,” she said, watching him grin. Reaching up, she touched that grinning mouth as he kissed her fingers. “What of your knights? Where are Conor and Wellesbourne and de Russe?”
Kenton’s attempt at humor faded somewhat. “Conor was badly injured,” he said. “Matt and Gaston took him to Wellesbourne Castle to be tended, which was closer to the scene of the battle. Gerik, however, did not survive the battle.”
Nicola grunted in sorrow, thinking of the fine knights who had sustained injury and death in the midst of such a cataclysmic turning point in the history of the country. “I am so sorry to hear that,” she said. “Will Conor survive?”
Kenton nodded. “I hope so,” he said, looking up as the great gatehouse of Babylon finally came into view. He sighed with satisfaction at the sight. “He kept speaking of a Lady Katryne and how he wanted to recover well enough to marry her. He was speaking of St. John’s sister, you know. He met her at Warwick’s camp when he was there. I am not entirely sure how St. John is going to take his sister marrying one of my knights. It would make us all family, I should think, and I am not entirely surehe wants to be related to the man who married the woman who rejected him.”
Nicola couldn’t help but giggle. It was so good to have him returned and, already, it was as if he had never left. His humor was back, his manner calm and rational, and she was so happy that tears of joy were in her eyes.
Nicola clung to him, holding him tightly, as they approached the gatehouse, but before they could cross the threshold, Kenton suddenly came to a halt. When Nicola looked up at him, curiously, she saw that he was looking up to the great walls, studying them with satisfaction.
“What is it, my love?” she asked softly.
A smile crossed his lips as he studied the great stone fortress, now becoming increasingly visible as the mist lifted.
“I was thinking,” he said, clutching her tightly, “that I have never in my life felt as if I had a home, one place to go to above all others. I fostered at an early age and spent my adult life at several different castles, serving different lords, but I never considered any of those places my home. But now, as I look at Babylon, I feel as if I have truly come home. You are here and it was within these walls that we first met. Home is where my heart is and you are my heart.Youare here. I finally feel as if I have come home.”
Nicola smiled at him, leaning up to kiss him on his stubbled cheeks. “Youarehome,” she murmured. “This is where you are loved most, Kenton. This is where you belong.”
He agreed completely. Carefully, they resumed their walk, allowing the great gatehouse of Babylon to swallow them up as the massive gates slowly cranked closed behind them. Finally, they were both home, both where they belonged, inside the warm, wonderful, sometimes hectic, but always protective walls of Babylon.
Kenton, indeed, had come home.
EPILOGUE
Present time
Yorkshire, UK, East of Huddersfield
Babylon Castle
When the wifegot back to the car, she didn’t notice that her husband was sitting there, looking rather odd. He wasn’t looking at her, either, so he didn’t realize she was looking rather strange, too. They both sat there for a moment until the wife realized the car wasn’t on. Her husband was simply sitting there, gazing through the windshield.
“Nice try,” he said, unhappy.
She had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?”
He sighed sharply and looked at her. “The ghost voice,” he said, mocking it. “The one you yelled from inside the castle. Nice try in your attempt to scare me.”
She blinked, startled. “You heard, that too?”
He frowned and rolled his eyes, turning on the car. “Oh, brother,” he said. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Where are we going next?”
“Wait,” the wife said urgently, putting her hand on his arm. “Don’t go yet. What do you mean you heard a voice? I heard a voice, too. At first I thought it was you just being a jerk, but then I realized… well, it was a woman’s voice. It sounded as if she were calling a name– something like Clinton, I think. Did you really hear it, too?”
He was impatient. “Honey, you’re cute, but I’m not that gullible,” he said. “Nice attempt at trying to get back at me for being a dick, though. I’ll give you that. It was a good voice, nice and scary.”
The wife’s grip on his arm tightened. “But it wasn’t me!” she insisted. “You know practical jokes aren’t my thing. Why would I do that to you?”
He shook his head. “I don’t believe in that stuff, honey. You know that.”
“But you heard it!”
“I heardyou.”
The wife looked at him, realizing that all of the debating in the world wasn’t going to convince him that they both heard a voice, and it wasn’t a voice from either one of them. It was as if it had come from the very walls of Babylon, for it was everywhere yet nowhere. Like a swift wind, it was there and then it was gone. Still, she was quite rattled by it. It had been such a breathy, sweet tone, the song of a lover calling through the mist. Baffled, and the least bit spooked, she simply shook her head.