Aurelia waited a few moments, then surreptitiously checked the door. She fully expected it to be secured from the outside.
But it was unlocked.
To Aurelia’s further amazement, the corridor outside was empty. The distant sounds of hammering carried to her ears, but no guard was posted watchfully outside.
Ha! They must think her witless, after all! She propped open the door with her toe and slid Julian’s magic square into the slot, exactly as he had done.
Nothing happened.
But there had been a light when Julian did it. Perhaps she did not know the proper incantation. Who knew what Julian might have muttered under his breath, or whispered in his mind? She stepped out into the corridor, trying to examine the slot in better light.
The door closed with a resolute click.
Aurelia turned the handle, but the door was locked against her! She was trapped in the corridor, of all foolishness! What kind of malicious magic was this?
In desperation, Aurelia shoved Julian’s card into the slot once more, but this time, a red dot glowed thrice.
It was a sign. Three was a powerful number, that much was certain, and red, a color of protection for ages past.
It must be safe to enter the chamber once more.
Aurelia cautiously tried the handle again, and magically, the door was now unlocked. She darted inside, fingering the card, and marveled at Julian’s power. Aurelia fought to make sense of Julian giving her the ability to lock herself outside of the room and could not.
Perhaps his spell had twisted itself backward. Such things happened when magic was wrought in haste.
Or perhaps Julian was less powerful than Aurelia had feared. Now that was an encouraging thought! Aurelia grinned with satisfaction and her mind worked furiously. What should she do? At any moment, Julian could repair his spell and trap her inside the chamber.
This might be her only opportunity to find her sire without observation.
Clearly, her father was either dead or imprisoned. And if Aurelia were in Bard’s place, intending to let Hekod be forgotten, where would she have imprisoned the deposed king? The answer was simple beyond all.
In the sea caves.
Aurelia clutched Julian’s magical talisman, scanned the corridor once more, and then abandoned her room. She darted down the corridor in the opposite direction of the great reception hall. When Aurelia opened the last door at the end of the corridor, she found a flight of stairs markedly less ornate than those she and the priest had climbed.
No one was behind her. Aurelia lunged down the stairs. There was only one door at the bottom, red letters above it declaring: FIRE EXIT.
On the door itself, a sign read: For Emergency Exit Only. If Door Is Opened, Alarm Will Sound.
Aurelia hesitated, then frowned. Who would sound this alarm, if no one saw her open the door? She looked over her shoulder, but she was definitely alone.
Ha! More lies! Aurelia was developing a very low opinion of Bard’s household security. She shoved open the door and a shrill ringing suddenly filled her ears.
Oh no! Julian had laid a spell on the door!
Aurelia muttered something unladylike under her breath. Her heart thundering in her ears, she fled Bard’s hall as fast as she could. Hopefully, there was no witchery left to discern her path.
Baird’s head snapped up from the travertine marble samples when the fire alarm went off. “Is this another test? I thought they were done yesterday.”
“They were,” the job foreman confirmed, then looked worried. “It might be a real fire, sir.”
The intensity of Baird’s response surprised him. He wouldn’t let Dunhelm burn under any terms. He scanned the hall anxiously but, to his relief, saw no flames.
“Well, better safe than sorry.” Baird’s tone was calmly authoritative despite his fears. People immediately turned to do his bidding. “Everybody outside—get all your team out—we’ll meet on the lawn in front of the main entrance and have a head count.”
“Yes, sir.”
Marissa looped her hand through Baird’s arm and her voice dropped to a throaty purr. “You’re so very decisive, darling! I just love a man who takes charge of things…”
“Marissa, there may really be a fire,” Baird interrupted tersely. “Why don’t you go outside with the others?”
“But it’s raining!” Marissa raised a meticulously manicured hand to her cheek. “My hair will be ruined!” She chuckled huskily and wrinkled her nose as she leaned closer. “Why don’t we just stay inside together, darling, and look for that pesky fire ourselves?” She walked her fingers up his arm. “We might start in my room.”
Fortunately, Julian darted down the stairs and across the room, his arrival saving Baird from making a reply. “Is there really a fire?” Julian eyed the departing workmen with concern.
“There might be. Where’s the princess?”
Julian shrugged. “In her room, I guess.” He glanced over his shoulder and coughed. “You know, fires can move through a building this size with remarkable speed, making our liability quite considerable. The greater weight of our insurance coverage, as you know, does not begin in earnest until the grand opening of the resort. We should think about getting everyone out as quickly as possible and minimizing our risk in this.”
“Oooh, Julian, darling, you don’t say?” Marissa batted her lashes at Baird. “We could be in dire peril at this very moment!”
Baird shook himself free, his mind on other concerns. The hall was emptying quickly, but Aurelia had made no appearance at the top of the stairs, despite the insistence of the alarm. What if she had fallen asleep? Or hadn’t heard the alarm?
Or didn’t know what it meant?
“I have to go check on Aurelia.”
“Fourth room on the left,” Julian supplied.
“But Baird, darling!” Marissa wailed. “You can’t abandon me here in the midst of this chaos!”
Baird looked pointedly around the nearly deserted foyer. It was far from a disorganized scene. He looked at Julian and the man winced, as though he guessed what Baird would say.
“Julian, could you make sure Marissa gets outside with the others? I’ll be right there. I just want to check that our princess isn’t left in her room.”
Marissa inhaled dangerously, but Baird was already striding away. He scrutinized the hall as he went, fearful his renovation would be lost to flames even before it was done.
But he couldn’t catch even a hint of smoke in the air. There was no evidence of fire at all in the hall upstairs.
Baird knocked on the fourth door, but no one answered.
He knocked again, more insistently, but there was still no response. Baird leaned closer and listened.
There wasn’t a sound from inside. Baird knocked again, more forcefully this time.
Where was she?
When his fourth heavy knock brought no answer, Baird hauled his passkey from his pocket and opened the door.
Not only was there no sign of fire, there was no sign of Princess Aurelia.
In fact, it was as though she had never even been in the room. A primal panic swept over Baird and a single thought echoed in his mind with startling clarity.
He had lost her again.
An odd sense of loss swept over him, one greater than anything Baird had ever felt before. He felt bereft, as though a part of himself had been torn away.
And he knew without a doubt he had felt this way many times before.
Great. Baird shook his head savagely. Now she was making him nuts.
But Baird couldn’t completely dismiss his fear, even knowing it was irrational. What if something had happened to Aurelia? What if she was lost in the hotel and this wasn’t a false alarm?
Baird lunged for the stairs, fighting for his usual calm as the alarm rang insistently. He met Julian halfway down the stairs.
“The fourth room?” Baird demanded.
“Yeah. But one of the guys saw a woman leaving from the back fire exit.” Julian’s sober gaze locked with Baird’s. “Blond hair, wearing only a sweater. Looks like your princess set off the alarm when she ran away from here.”
Baird exhaled in a relieved rush and shoved one hand through his hair. “Where did she go?”
Julian shrugged. “He said she ran toward the sea.”
Baird caught his breath. One false step could send anyone plunging to their death. And it would be all too easy to slip in this weather.
Aurelia wasn’t safe, after all.
“I tell you, Baird, this woman is a lot of trouble and I really think you should reconsider the wisdom of your offer.” Julian coughed into his hand. “If anything happens to her, we could be found liable since you invited her to stay. Having her here as an unpaying guest clouds the assignment of responsibility…”
Baird pushed past Julian and bolted down the stairs.
Aurelia raced along the uneven rocks, the path she had known now obscured. Her certainty that Bard had deliberately hidden this way grew with every moment—it could not have changed so drastically otherwise!
The wind whipped her hair around her face and the cold rain splashed on her face. Bard’s sweater was little protection against the bite of the cold, her feet were freezing, but she thought only of her sire.
Her heart twisted as she imagined him trapped in the wretched prison of a sea cell. Though Hekod was strong, he was no longer a young man—he could already have caught a deathly chill.
Aurelia paused on the lip of the cliff and scanned the rocks below. This was the spot. Aurelia could fairly taste the despair.
It was a desolate and lonely place, isolated on the northernmost crag of Dunhelm. In broad sunlight, it gave a person gooseflesh, no doubt because the torment of countless prisoners had left its mark.
From the crest of the cliff, the slope of rock looked as though it continued unbroken to the edge of the cliff, where it dropped straight down to the sea far below.
But Aurelia knew better. Halfway down the ragged descent to the cliff edge, there was a black and jagged opening in the rock. That hole was the only entry to the dreaded sea cells. Aurelia glanced back and thought she discerned figures erupting from the castle.
She did not have much time. She scrambled down the steep rock face, scratching her bare feet in the process but continuing undaunted. She tasted the salt of the sea spray and her mouth went dry at the proximity of the crashing waves.
The wet rocks gleamed like jet and were slick with moss—one false step and she could slide to the edge of the cliff, then straight down into the sea. There would be no easy landing on the rough rocks below. Aurelia concentrated on finding a secure footing on each rock, telling herself to ignore the hypnotic pounding of the sea.
The opening to the sea cells was closer to the cliff edge than she recalled. Aurelia gripped the rocks and leaned over the hole, closing her eyes at the dizzy drop to the cell’s wet floor.
There was no escape from these dismal cells. It was here the worst criminals had always been abandoned to die. Aurelia was certain the repetitive crash of the sea would drive them to madness first. Or the crush of bones beneath one’s feet, a tangible reminder of the fate of previous occupants, and a fate ultimately to be their own.
Aurelia could see no movement in the fathomless shadows below. She peered into the darkness and shivered when she thought she saw the glimmer of a pale bone.
“Father?” she called, but there was no response.
Her voice echoed slightly in the cavern below and made a lonely sound. She raised her voice and called again.
The sea rushed and withdrew, the wind whistled over the rocks. Gulls cried far overhead, but Aurelia strained to see some sign of life below.
“Father! Father, answer me! Father, are you here?”
“There is no one here, Gemdelovely Gemdelee, no one but you and now there’s me.”
Aurelia jumped at the gently spoken words. She spun to find an ancient crone behind her.
The woman leaned heavily on a cane to survey Aurelia with twinkling eyes. Her face was wreathed in wrinkles, her hands gnarled, but she exuded a good-humored charm and a strength unexpected.
Her bright pink dress flapped around her knees and danced with large blossoms. Her silver-gray hair was pulled back and pinned, but seemed to have a wavy defiance. Quite a lot of it blew freely around her face.
She must have been a beauty when she was young.
There was something familiar about the woman, but Aurelia knew they had never met before. She would have remembered those eyes, she was certain of it. All the same, she found herself returning the woman’s smile and felt oddly comforted by her presence.
“Who are you?” Aurelia asked. “I did not hear you come near.”
The woman’s smile broadened. “Oh, I know well enough who I am and who you might be, Gemdelovely Gemdelee. The question is only—what do you seek, pretty you, pretty me?” The woman’s voice was delightfully musical in cadence.
“My father. King Hekod the Fifth.”
“Ah!” The woman’s eyes lit up, as though she laughed at a secret joke, then she turned to walk away. Her cane tapped on the wet rocks, but she climbed the slope with the assurance of one who knew her way well.
Aurelia guessed from her expression the woman knew something she was not prepared to tell. She rose to her feet and anxiously gave chase. “Do you know where he is? Have you seen him?”
The woman slanted a glance Aurelia’s way. “I have seen many come and many go, Gemdelovely Gemdelee. Some call themselves kings, some merely believe themselves to be.”
Hope rose within Aurelia. Could this woman have aided her sire? “But have you seen my father? Was he imprisoned here? Did you help him escape?”
The woman climbed, apparently untroubled by either Aurelia’s questions or her concern. “No one can escape their fate, Gemdelovely Gemdelee. Any task left unfinished must be done, any debt settled and balance paid.” She fired a piercing glance to Aurelia. “There was a time when you understood such things.”
Aurelia had a sudden recollection of her dame giving her just such a look when she had forgotten a vital lesson. She gaped at the old woman, and realized belatedly the woman’s eyes were the same silver-gray as her dame’s had been.
And they twinkled with the same vigor.
As Aurelia fought to make sense of this, the woman smiled and turned back to her climbing. “You are not afraid of me, Gemdelovely Gemdelee. Can you tell me why that might be?”
Aurelia exhaled slowly. “You remind me of someone.” A lump rose in Aurelia’s throat. “Someone I loved very much.”
“Do I that and can that be, Gemdelovely Gemdelee?” The woman seemed to find this amusing, though Aurelia could not guess why.
Aurelia climbed behind the woman, hoping neither of them would stumble and fall. “I think you may have me confused with another. My name is not Gemdelovely Gemdelee.”
The woman gained a rise near the summit and turned, her brief flash of a smile almost mischievous. “And I think I know what it is that I do see, Gemdelovely Gemdelee.” Her lips twitched as though she would laugh out loud were she alone, and Aurelia was again reminded of a trait of her mother’s.
Aurelia’s dame had often stifled her laughter in Hekod’s presence precisely thus, especially when it was something Hekod had done she found amusing. The remembered bellow of her sire when he thought himself mocked echoed through Aurelia’s ears, followed by her mother’s lilting laughter.
They typically had retired to their chambers after such exchanges. Much laughter had carried from those rooms throughout the night, as well as various mysterious thumps and bumps.
Of course, all that had changed when Gemma died.
Tears blurred Aurelia’s vision and she suddenly felt very much alone. She folded her arms around herself, unable to deny the chilly fingers of the wind any longer.
“Do not cry, Gemdelovely Gemdelee,” the old crone advised with a gentle tap on Aurelia’s arm. “What you seek is closer than you might see.”
She knew something, that much Aurelia could read in the eyes so disconcertingly like her dame’s. “Will you not tell me whether you have seen my father? Was he brought to the caves? Did he escape the new king’s vengeful hand?”
The woman shook her head slowly, then turned away to finish her ascent. “Do you not already know the answer, Gemdelovely Gemdelee? It lies before you, as clearly as can be.”
Ha! Aurelia’s heart skipped a beat. The woman had helped Hekod escape! It was only natural she was circumspect, for the new king would not be amused by this development.
“Then, he has not died!” Aurelia whispered with delight. “He escaped! Do you know where I might find him?”
The woman reached the summit and turned to watch Aurelia scramble impatiently in her wake. The wind lifted a strand of her silver hair free and the lock waved over her head like an unruly ribbon. She took the pose of a warrior, her ancient hands braced on the cane like a man’s on the hilt of a blade, her shoulders square and her stare unflinching.
She arched a silver brow. “Oh, you will find him, Gemdelovely Gemdelee, of that I am certain as can be. Though you will find nothing as you believe it should be—’tis always thus for the seeker and for thee.”
“Then, where shall I find him?”
The crone smiled. She looked toward Bard’s castle and lifted her cane to point in that direction. “The seeker comes for you, Gemdelovely Gemdelee. Mind he sees what you want him to see.”
Aurelia pivoted just as Bard’s outraged cry rang out across Dunhelm.
“Princess! What in the hell are you doing out here?”
Aurelia glanced back but the crone was already a goodly distance away, the sound of her tapping cane swallowed by the bellow of the sea. The woman’s words echoed in her mind.
Bard must not realize her father had escaped!
Well, Aurelia was no witless fool who would betray her own sire’s plans to regain his holding! She had to intercept Bard before he drew near the sea cells and guessed where she had been.
Aurelia recalled suddenly how Bard had turned in revulsion when she had kissed him in the well. And he had beaten a retreat out of that place, without looking back.
Aurelia squared her shoulders and strode toward the self-proclaimed king, knowing exactly what she had to do.
“Are you out of your mind?” Baird stalked across the wet green turf, stunned to find Aurelia on the edge of the cliff. She wore no more than his sweater and was obviously soaked to the skin, but her expression was mild as she walked toward him.
They might have been meeting for tea on the lawn, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, not braving the elements on the edge of a damn cliff! Baird was more angry than he could ever remember being, though he was sure that was because Julian’s dreaded liability had been narrowly averted.
Of course, he had never felt so relieved at avoiding liability before.
“Are you nuts or what?” Baird planted his feet against the mud when they were only a few steps apart. “No, don’t answer that.” He flung out his hands, more than ready to vent his frustration. But Aurelia walked toward him silently, the mud sliding between her bare toes. Baird caught his breath at the sight.
“You could catch your death of cold out here in that sweater!” he raged. “Why couldn’t you just stay warm and dry in your room?”
His arguments fell silent when Aurelia came to a halt directly before him. The rain beat down on him with newfound intensity, the sea churned and he thought he could see the ruddy pink of her nipples through the lattice stitches of his sodden sweater.
Her eyes were so very blue a man could drown in their depths. As Baird stared at her, his heart clenched.
Aurelia reached up and cupped his face in the delicacy of her hands. Her fingers were light against his jaw, her room key pressed wetly against one cheek, and Baird was powerless to step away from her. One pale toe landed on Baird’s boot, and he tried to swallow the lump that rose in his throat.
If she kissed him again, Baird wouldn’t be able to stop so easily this time.
“Did you desire me after all, King Bard?” she whispered, then stretched against him without waiting for his response.
Baird closed his eyes as her breasts pressed against his chest for the second time in short order. An achingly long moment later, the soft sweetness of her lips landed on his.
And desire took the reins, kicking anger out in the cold.
She tasted so good. Baird tried to resist her siren’s call and failed so quickly he knew resistance was futile. He made a sound in the back of his throat halfway between a groan and a growl, then slanted his lips possessively over Aurelia’s. She arched against him, as though helpless against an answering tide of passion, and Baird hauled her even closer.
Vaguely, he heard her room key clatter to the ground.
The sea spray mingled with the sweetness of her own taste, the combination intoxicating. Baird wanted more, he wanted all she could give. He wanted to meld their bodies together, right here and now.
It felt so right and for once, Baird Beauforte didn’t question his instincts. He cupped Aurelia’s tight buttocks in his hands and lifted her closer as he slid his tongue between her teeth.
Aurelia sighed and arched her back bewitchingly, the sound of her pleasure firing Baird’s need as nothing else could have done. Her tongue danced boldly with his, and her fingers latched into his hair to pull him closer. They kissed hungrily, greedily, as though they had both awakened from a long slumber to find the world brighter and better than imagined. The fever between them was all-consuming, as though they had found a treasure long lost.
The cold rain sluiced over them and Baird’s hand slid beneath Aurelia’s sweater. His fingers cupped the ripe perfection of her breast and he marveled at the softness of her skin.
Her nipple instantly became a hard bead beneath his caressing thumb. Baird ducked his head and nudged the neck of the sweater aside, running a row of kisses across her flesh and capturing the nipple between his teeth.
Aurelia moaned. She slid her foot up his leg and Baird’s blood fired. He suckled her until the nipple was taut, then Aurelia rolled her hips against his raging erection in a silent demand. Baird captured her lips beneath his own once more, sampling her deeply and leisurely, trying to tell her with his kiss what he could not explain in words.
This was not lust. This was something more, some connection on a deeper level, some recognition of a passion that had been between them before. A legendary passion, a desire for which he sensed he had paid a heavy price not once, but many times.
A passion Baird could not remember.
When Baird lifted his head, Aurelia’s azure eyes were drowsy with desire and her lips were softened. Baird cupped her head in his heads as he caught his breath, knowing he had come within a hair of making love to this stranger in the rain.
He was still thinking about it.
But she couldn’t really be a stranger. It would be crazy to feel such a strong attraction to someone he had never met. They must have been together before, even though Baird couldn’t remember it.
But he never forgot anything or anyone. Baird’s photographic memory was legendary.
It made no sense. How could Aurelia turn him inside out, remind him they had been together, yet slip out of his memory as elusively as a ghost? Baird stared down into Aurelia’s fathomless eyes as though he would will the truth out of her.
“Who are you?” His voice was unexpectedly hoarse, even to his own ears. “Who are you really?”