Time and Tyra Again Read online

  I moved out into a mist that swirled around us with clammy fingers and wished I had picked up my cloak. It was cold enough for me to feel the chill. Mary wrapped her mantle around her and shivered. From deep inside the hood, she looked at me. “You waste your time attempting to dissuade us. Scotland needs to see their surrender to Edward was not unconditional, that some of the old spirit remains.”

  She was not Taylor, yet her stubbornness was Taylor’s, nevertheless. It made my heart sigh. A lock of hair had come loose during the night and lay against her temple. I wanted to tuck the lock back into place. Instead, I clenched my hands to keep them where they were. “Edward has only just sorted out the Scottish succession. If you jeopardize that, if you try to make him look like a fool, his retribution will be ferocious.”

  “And yet, you persist in attempting to dissuade me.” She sighed.

  “Are you promised, yet?” I asked.

  “Why?”

  “I presume your family agreed to your attendance at court because the king held out the promise of a good marriage?”

  She looked confused. “Of course,” she said stiffly.

  “Only, no arrangement was made before Edward secured Scotland.”

  For the first time, Mary showed any doubt or hesitation. She bit her lip, making her look incredibly young and fresh. She really was untouched, then. Now I could see clearly that she was not Taylor, yet it did not seem to matter—my heart was still working hard, resisting my efforts to contain it.

  “You think the King delayed a marriage arrangement to make my family cooperate?” she asked.

  “Your family is close to you—or you would not have slipped away from the castle to tend to your brother and risk the wrath of the King’s army if you were not. Your family cares what happens to you. Edward would know that. He used it.”

  Doubt filled her eyes.

  “Now that Scotland has agreed to the succession, the King will find a marriage arrangement for you that gives him a political alliance and he’ll do it swiftly.”

  “Such an alliance would benefit my family, too,” she pointed out.

  “If you try to steal the crown again, you put that alliance in jeopardy.”

  Mary scowled. “The king does not have to know I was involved…”

  “The only advantage you would gain from the theft is if it is widely known that Scotland took the crown,” I pointed out. “How many Scots ladies linger at court right now? How long before the King determines which of them was involved?”

  Mary’s cheeks seemed to hollow out as her jaw flexed. She did not like what I was saying, yet it was a truth she needed to hear, even if she resented the messenger.

  “Think hard, Mary,” I added. “Weigh your future and your family’s welfare while you decide. Edward has executed more than one woman in his time and for lesser offences than embarrassing the king.”

  She blanched. I had deliberately scared her for I suspected less than wholesale fear would not move her from her choice. I didn’t like doing it and tried to leaven the blow. “Scotland will survive this trouble, as it has countless others. Have faith in your own people.”

  Cameron appeared beside us, moving through the mist. He wrapped a ragged cloak around him. “Ye must return to the castle before morning prayers, when ye’ll be missed,” he told Mary.

  I compared his shabby outfit to Mary’s elegant one. Clearly, the family had poured the last of their resources into outfitting her appropriately for court, with an eye upon a most fortunate marriage to pull them out of their financial woes.

  “I won’t delay you,” I told them both. “Your brother will sleep for most of the day now. When he wakes, he will need food. Broth, if you can acquire it.”

  Cameron dug in his purse, which hung slack and light on his belt. I waved him away. “You do not need to pay me,” I told him. “Keep your coins. You will need them.”

  “We pay our way,” Mary said stiffly. “Take the money.”

  I held out my hand and Cameron put one of the new farthings on my palm. I thanked him and tucked it away and watched them move off into the mist. Behind me, the cottage door swung shut once more and Brody came up beside me. “Did you talk her out of it?” He handed me my cloak, which I donned gratefully.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “She has doubts, now, where she did not before. It might be enough to hold them from a second attempt.”

  “Then you managed more than I,” Brody admitted. “I could not move her. Not by an inch.”

  By unspoken agreement, we began walking, heading back to the warm room and comfortable chairs we had left last night. The chill of the morning was enough to make us hurry.

  “Is Mary so very much like her?” Brody asked, with a touch of diffidence.

  I understood his wariness. She was not Taylor, yet in Brody’s mind, if she was close enough in appearance, then he was for the first time able to picture Taylor in his mind. That would give him a solid, real person to go with the name and the electrifying facts from the four days he did not remember. He didn’t want to grasp that until he was certain Mary was the replica he needed.

  “She is alike enough that…” I hesitated. Brody and Veris and even Taylor were broad-minded to the point of immorality, depending upon who was judging them. I had ceased making such judgement a long time ago, yet I hesitated now because I did not know how tolerant Brody could be. Not in this.

  “…that you could easily fall in love with her, too,” Brody finished.

  A tight band squeezed my chest, making breathing difficult. “Then I have hidden nothing from you, at all.”

  Brody patted my shoulder. “Not a thing,” he assured me.

  “You…do not mind?”

  “I envy you,” he said flatly. “You knew her. You remember her. I do not. That you loved her, too…it tells me she was an extraordinary woman. You would not love anyone less worthy.”

  The pressure around my chest lessened. “Of course, if Taylor were standing before us both, I would not presume…”

  “Of course not,” Brody said. “But Mary is not Taylor, is she?”

  “Which is exactly why I should not pursue anything with her. It could only lead to disappointment because she is not Taylor, after all.”

  “You’re too honorable, Alex.” Brody shook his head. “There are times when it is perfectly acceptable to douse the fire in your blood and move on with your life, as long as both parties understand the arrangement.”

  “She is a maid awaiting the king’s pleasure,” I pointed out. “I am a foreigner with an absence of antecedents. If her brothers did not instantly run me through with their swords, she would laugh herself into illness at the suggestion and she would be right to do so.”

  “As I said, you’re too honorable.” Brody pushed open the inn door and we stepped inside. Warmth and the smell of stale ale greeted us. The common room was empty of everything but a dog sleeping by the hearth.

  We climbed the stairs to the room Brody had been given. Up here, the smell of baking bread was stronger and I sniffed appreciatively. I had never tasted western food and never would, although the aromas were intriguing and the good scent of well-risen, crusty loaves was one of the most appealing.

  “People will be up and about for the day, quite soon,” I judged as Brody shut the door behind us. “Mary and her clan are not stupid enough to attempt to take the crown in broad daylight. It will give her the day to consider her choice.”

  Brody shook his head. “Not that one. Doubt won’t stop her.”

  “How can you know?”

  “I spoke to her at length. I gained the measure of her. It’s more than stubbornness.” He dropped his cloak and sword into the chair that had been his. “You made her doubt, but that is all. She is the sort to hew to the action that is right, whether it is prudent or not, regardless of risk or fear. She will see it through because it is the right choice.”

  “It isn’t the right choice,” I protested. Although, even as I disputed him, I knew he was rig
ht. The sinking coldness in my gut told me so. “Edward is capricious and cruel. I’ve learned that much living here for two seasons. His reprisals will not be measured or appropriate. He will slaughter the Scots for their role in his humiliation.” I tossed my cloak and weapons aside, with an impatient thrust. “We have to stop them,” I finished.

  “We?” Brody tilted his head curiously.

  “Help me, Brody. Tonight. They will surely act tonight, if they act at all. You and I…between us, with our strength and speed, we can contain her.”

  “You mean ‘them’, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” I said impatiently. “Of course I mean them.”

  Brody drew closer and lowered his voice, for the walls of the room were thin daub. “You know as well as I we should not interfere with the run of human affairs. This is dangerously close to doing just that, Alex.”

  “As close as you came, when you warned King Richard in Acre that the Saracens were about to attack?”

  Brody grinned. It was an unexpected expression. “Touché, Doctor.” His amusement faded. “Very well, I will help you. For a price.”

  “I am a simple doctor,” I pointed out.

  “You’re anything but simple,” Brody replied. “My price isn’t money.”

  “Oh?”

  “I will help you save Mary and her clan from idiocy tonight. In return, I want you to tell me about Taylor.”

  “What about her?”

  “Everything. Anything. Why you loved her. Why I did. What she said. All of it. Every breath she took.”

  I stared at him. Fear was sitting on my shoulder, the product of human superstition. “Is that wise?” I asked, my voice weak. “Veris refuses to give you the information. What would I be setting in motion if I do?”

  “I already know what she looks like, now,” Brody pointed out, his voice dropping lower just as mine had done. It was as if we both recognized we were meddling in things that should be left alone. “I only ask that you make her move and live for me.”

  I recognized the need in him to know her. I could easily put myself in his boots and imagine what it would be like, to be told about a woman so wonderful an entire army mourned her passing, to be told at the same time I had loved her above all others, yet know nothing of her at all. The mystery, the need to understand such a pivotal event, had been driving Brody through two centuries, so far.

  I admired Veris’ restraint. He had resisted Brody’s demands for hundreds of years. That gave me my answer.

  “Yes, I’ll tell you about her,” I said.

  Brody’s lips pressed against mine. Belatedly, dazedly, I realized he was kissing me.

  I froze. My thoughts solidified, too. For the time his lips pressed against mine, I could only listen to my heart throwing itself wildly against my chest.

  At the very last second, before he pulled away, a tiny voice whispered in my mind that a man’s kiss—this man’s kiss, at least—was not as objectionable as I had thought it would be.

  Brody and I were of equal height, so his gaze was direct. Steady.

  I cleared my throat. “Why…did you do that?”

  “I think it was meant as a thank you,” Brody said. His voice was still low, but there was an additional quality to it that I recognized. Arousal. “It doesn’t just have to be for thanks,” he added.

  I understood what he was offering. “You flatter me,” I told him honestly. “I know the quality of the man who awaits you when you return. You did not kiss me even as a thank-you, Brody and for that reason, I must decline.” I moved away from him, deliberately putting distance between us.

  Brody did, too. He picked up the weapons and cloak on his chair and dumped them on the floor, then sat down. He did not look upset at my refusal. “What reason?” he asked curiously.

  “Taylor,” I said simply. “I knew her. You do not. Seducing me would bring you closer to her, at least in your mind.”

  Brody considered me for a long moment, his black eyes unreadable. “You would object to a time of pleasure because the reason for it is not to your taste?”

  “I will not pursue Mary. I won’t agree to this for the same reason. I don’t love you, Brody. Not in that way. Besides, there is no room in your life for me. Veris does love you. In all ways and more deeply than I think he has revealed even to you.”

  “So you will only dally with those who will consent to stay?” Brody asked curiously.

  “I know that is an anathema to the long, long lives we live, yet it is a part of my faith. It is a part of me that existed before I was turned. I won’t give that up.”

  Brody smiled. “Nor should you. Hold on to your principals, Alex. They appear to give you comfort and guidance, while I flail around like a beached fish with a tortured soul and no answers.” He pushed at the other big chair with his foot, shoving it a few inches. “Sit.”

  “Why?”

  “We have all the hours of daylight to pass before rescuing your Mary. You have time to tell me everything you know about Taylor.”

  Chapter Three

  The night was as dark as it was possible to get. Few windows showed light, for it was very late. That afternoon, while Brody and I talked—well, I suppose I was the one who spoke—and while I relived my memories of Taylor and shared them with Brody, the rain clouds of the day before had lifted, the sun had burned off the last of the mist and the day had grown bright around us. Now the night sky was lit by stars. It was as cold as I had ever experienced.

  Brody was unmoved by the bone-sapping chill. “This is summer in Greenland,” he said dismissively. “When steel sticks to your fingers because the moisture in the air freezes when you touch it…then you know it is cold.”

  I shivered at the thought. “No, thank you,” I said firmly, recalling the warmth of Aragon in summer with a sudden fondness.

  We spoke softly as we moved through the night, along the route the King’s army had taken only a day ago, skirting the castle wall and the shallow moat. As we could both see as clearly as if it was daylight, we knew we were alone. The nominal guards on the wall were missing—probably hunched over briers in the turret rooms, shivering and cursing their captains for assigning them the night watch.

  I felt light and almost carefree. The day of talking had shifted things between Brody and I. I had made no attempt to hide the adoration I felt for Taylor. There was no point. He did not judge me for it or think me foolish, which allowed me to speak freely. I gave him every detail I could remember from the three days in the desert while we searched for water, for I had worked to preserve those human memories, reviewing them often.

  Now, though, as we walked along the rutted road, the sensation of lightness was hard to ignore. It was as if I had done more than simply talk, that day. It felt as if I had passed over to Brody the sum of my feelings and the core of my love. I could think of Taylor now without regret for what could never have been. It was a release.

  The same light happiness seemed to envelope Brody, too. Taylor had been returned to him.

  To me, it felt right to think of her by the name the rest of the world had known her; Tyra. She was Taylor to Veris and Brody, she was Tyra to me.

  Brody touched my arm and pointed.

  To the human world, Mary would have been invisible. To us, she stood like a pillar on a plain, visible from miles away. She was at the base of the wall, looking up, her dark cloak hiding all but her white face.

  We were already moving silently and she had no experience with war or violence. It was easy to come up to her without warning. I slapped my hand over her mouth, to hold in any sounds of alarm she made.

  “It is me, Mary. Alexander. And Brenden,” I added, giving Brody’s current name, for he had returned to that name a decade ago. “Don’t scream. Don’t alert the guards. Nod if you understand.”

  She nodded furiously.

  As soon as I let her go, she turned, her hands on her hips. “How dare you!” Her voice was strident and even though it was low, the light feminine note would carry.

/>   “Where is your brother and his men?” Brody demanded, murmuring rather than whispering. “Are they already over the wall?”

  “The curtain wall you said was unscalable?” she shot back.

  “That would be yes, then,” I judged. I glanced at the nearest guard towers. They were equally as distant. Mary and her gang had chosen the most remote spot along the wall and a perfect night to complete their work.

  Brody folded his cloak back over both shoulders and out of the way. “I’ll go after them. You take care of Mary.”

  “What are you doing?” Mary demanded. “You’re not—” Only Brody had already turned and leapt for the wall, displaying strength and agility he would normally be careful to hide. “How can he do that?” she whispered, this time so softly I barely heard it. Shock was stealing her voice and her anger.

  I took her arm. “Brenden will get your family out undiscovered. I have faith in his abilities. You, we must return to the castle before your absence is discovered. Come along.”

  She shook off my hand. “The queen thinks I am staying with David, that he is ill and I am nursing him.”

  “Which is exactly what you should be doing,” I said. “Understand this, Mary—your quest is over. We are ending it, Brenden and I, for your sake and the sake of your family, your clan and your country. This was foolish. I won’t let you do it.”

  “How dare you!” she said, fury lifting her voice once more. “You…you…Moor!”

  I think I might have frozen again for one dreadful, appalling moment, my heart stuttering to a stand-still. I had forgotten for a while how different I looked to the English. While I was in Brody’s company, the difference was invisible.

  With Taylor, I had just been me. Alexander, her friend.

  I gathered up my jaw, shoved away my shock and adjusted to the truth. I looked at Mary coldly. “I am a Christian,” I said flatly.

  “You’re not even English,” she whispered angrily.

  “I am Iberian.” It was close enough to the truth. I had lived there for decades.

  “Edward got one thing right. He outlawed all of you,” Mary replied.