It was a strange procession that made its way back to Brody’s camp. Brody led Freyr, who by animal instinct had decided Brody was trustworthy and continually nuzzled his shoulder as he walked docilely behind him.
Veris sat upon Freyr with Taylor in his lap. They drew stares, for Taylor still wore the tunic with Brody’s shield upon it and Veris wore Selkirk’s colors, now bloodied and covered in gore. Brody’s tunic was slashed with blood where he had wiped his sword after dealing with Davina’s body. Both men were streaked with dirt, for they had buried what was left of Davina beneath a rocky outcrop, moving silently in the dark. They had placed the rocks back as they had been. Brody had done most of the work for Veris was still healing—all except the moving of the larger rocks. But the rocks were big enough that no human would be able to move them and they left the place looking undisturbed.
Despite the speculative glances sent their way as they walked back to Brody’s tent, they offered no explanations. No one asked for them, either.
As they progressed down the line of the western encampments, the activity around the campfires did not die down as it should have at that late hour. Every camp was buzzing, with shadowing figures moving around the firelight, carrying their own torches, or the camp blazing with lanterns.
“Something is amiss,” Veris said softly. “No captain would waste firewood hauled over such distances this way without good cause.”
“There must have been a change of orders since we left to find you,” Brody called back, just as softly. “We’re nearly there. We’ll find out in a moment or two.”
They slipped into their camp to find it in chaos. Brody’s captain was bawling orders, but seemed on the verge of hysterics. He turned to Brody in deep relief. “My lord, thank heavens! They’ve changed orders! We’re rolling the siege engines up to the walls in the wee hours, in time for first light.”
Brody glanced at Veris, who grinned back.
“When are the engines to begin moving?” Brody asked calmly.
“As soon as they will get to the wall in time for sunrise!” the captain replied, wringing his hands.
Brody held up his in a ‘stop’ position. “That is at least nine hours away. Even moving slowly, the engines will take three hours to roll up to the walls from here. We could all get five hours’ sleep, an hour to eat and still meet our required deadline. Please explain the reason for the panic?”
The captain licked his lips. “I don’t rightly know, my lord,” he said at last. “I guess…I didn’t know the sun was that far away.”
Brody nodded. “Pass the word along, would you? Have someone start an hour candle so we know the time here, instead of waiting for the time crier. And have water and food sent to my tent.” He indicated Veris. “This is Sir William. He will be joining the household as my advisor and knight at arms.”
The captain nodded and held out his hand. “Sir William. I’ll have someone take care of your horse for you.”
Veris handed over the reins. “His name is Freyr and he’s worked hard tonight.”
The captain nodded. “We have some oats tucked away somewhere. I’ll spare a handful.”
“That would be appreciated.”
Brody held the tent open for Veris and Taylor. “See to the food and water,” he told the captain. “And see that we’re not disturbed. This panic is meaningless. Everyone needs a decent rest. They’ll need it for the morrow.”
“Yes, my lord!” the captain replied, deep relief in his voice.
* * * * *
CANDLES WERE STILL burning from the few short minutes they had spent in the tent before going in search of Veris, making the tent seem even warmer to Taylor than the still air outside. She tried to ignore the heat. In here was a precious, hard-to-find privacy.
All three of them stood in a loose circle, staring at each other.
“You’re a mess,” Brody told Veris.
Veris laughed.
Taylor plucked at Veris’ Selkirk tunic. “You should take this off,” she said firmly. “I’m sure Brody’s tunics would fit you well enough for now. They’re all so oversized, anyway.”
Veris glanced at Brody, who nodded. “She’s right. Take it off. Go naked for all I care, or wear mine. It’s up to you. Tomorrow, you’ll have to wear the Norwich shield. Tonight, do what you will. You’ve earned it.”
“I didn’t earn anything,” Veris replied, dropping his hands to his belt buckle. “Taylor did it all.” He glanced at her, his blue eyes searing her in one sweeping glance. “What did bring you to that spot just then, at such a perfect moment?”
Taylor shook her head. “Guilt. For messing up your life in the first place, back in old Norway. If I hadn’t been there, then you wouldn’t have had to deal with Davina at all tonight. Selkirk wouldn’t have been such an issue for you. I wouldn’t even be here. I thought about that and couldn’t lie on my bed and let you deal with it alone. And Brody wouldn’t let me go to you alone. So we headed out for Selkirk’s camp in the dark, on foot, because that was the stealthiest way we could think of. Then we came upon you and Davina. It was really that simple.”
He shed the filthy tunic and lifted his arm to look underneath. He was checking the wound in his side. The skin showed pink and healthy, like a newborn baby’s might. In a while, she knew, it would look as it always did.
Taylor tugged the bottom of the hauberk. “Take this off, too. You don’t need it here.”
Veris barely paused. He reached for the buckles, but Brody’s hand got there first. “Let me,” Brody said.
Taylor found herself smiling. But there was a roiling in her gut that was fast becoming familiar. She swallowed as coppery-tasting spit filled her mouth and clutched at her stomach. Not here. Not now. Please. She had already done this once today. Wasn’t that enough? She breathed through her nose. In. Out. Slow and steady.
Moving shakily, she eased herself into Brody’s chair, still breathing to stay on top of it.
“Taylor?” Brody said sharply.
She shook her head, trying to tell him she wasn’t able to answer right now. But that made the world tilt and roll. She clutched at the chair and moaned.
“My lord Norwich?” came a call from outside the tent.
“Come!” Brody bellowed.
Three pages hurried into the tent, carrying pitches and platters, which they sat upon the table in front of Taylor. With a nervous nod at the air between Brody and Veris, they hurried out again, pushing at each other’s backs in their haste to leave.
Brody picked up a hunk of bread, tore off a piece and handed it to Taylor. “Here. Quickly.”
She chewed it and swallowed, forcing down as much of the bread as possible, as fast as possible. Brody handed her a cup of water to follow.
After a few minutes the nausea began to ease and she relaxed.
“I thought morning sickness came…well, just in the morning,” Brody said in English.
“It can come at any time.” She rubbed her temple with a shaky hand. “Some women are sick all day long for the first trimester.” She gave him a weak smile. “I should consider myself lucky it’s just this little bit every now and again, I suppose.”
Brody grimaced. “Will it get worse? Better?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “I know so little about pregnancy. I didn’t have a chance to consult with a doctor before this jump.”
Brody’s eyes widened. “At all?” He sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. “Jesus, Taylor.”
She smiled at him. “Listen to you. The worried father.”
Brody stared at her, startled. Then he grinned. “I guess. Yeah. Feels…odd. After all this time.”
“But you like it.”
His grin changed into a smile. His eyes grew warm. He touched her hand where it rested on the chair. “Yes. It makes me feel human again.”
Veris moved up closer to the big chair. He had been listening to their quick exchange in English. Now he pointed at Taylor, anger touching his features. “You are with child,” he accused.
Taylor straightened up, alarmed. She put the cup of water back on the table. The first reaction, to lie and say “No, I’m not” came and went unborn. She couldn’t do it. Not with Veris.
Brody turned to him. “You heard that much?”
“Your English is close enough to Saxon in places that I heard enough to confirm it. She is sick, then eats and recovers? I have seen enough women with child do that to know the symptoms. She bears a bastard in her belly. And you stand there and smile at her?” Veris’ face darkened with his building fury.
Brody gripped Veris’ arm. “You cannot pre-judge this—”
“What is there to prejudge?” Veris snarled. He turned his back on Taylor. “You are not able to plant the seed in her. Ergo she is a whoring wife.”
Taylor winced. In this day and age, wayward wives were dealt with severely. Veris carried the full prejudices of the period. The double standard was typical. He didn’t mind that she slept with him. But another man…
Brody dropped his hand. “And what do you suggest I do with her?” he asked.
“Behead her and be done with her and the bastard she carries,” Veris replied coldly, crossing his arms.
Taylor drew in a shuddering breath.
Brody nodded, as if he were considering the matter. “Perhaps you would like to do the deed, Veris?”
Veris’ arms loosened. Slipped a little. Brody had surprised him. “I?” he asked.
Brody shrugged. “Certainly. You feel she is of little benefit to either you or I. Why not?”
Veris glanced over his shoulder at Taylor. She held her breath, realizing what Brody was setting him up for.
Veris cleared his throat. “If you insist. I can take care of the matter.”
Brody nodded. “Then know this, Veris. When you kill her, you will be killing your own unborn child at the same time.”
Veris whirled to look at Taylor again, shock skittering over his face. “Not possible…” he croaked. But she could see from the expression in his eyes—hope, fear, joy—that he already believed it in his heart even if his mind needed dates, data, explanations.
Taylor nodded. “You aren’t used to thinking about time the way we are, yet. When I was in old Norway with you was six hundred years ago on your personal timeline. It was only six weeks ago for me. Back then, you were human.”
Veris sank down onto his knees in front of her. His big hands hovered over her abdomen, as if he were afraid of hurting her. “Mine?”
Taylor glanced up at Brody. He wore an odd little smile. He had hit Veris over the head with this, but the impact had splashed across Brody, too.
Veris lifted his gaze to her face. “How can I take back what I just said?” he whispered. “Everything you have done since you arrived here has proved over and over that I am a fool to resist opening my life and my arms to you…and now this. Do you know how great a gift this is, Taylor Yates? How much our kind yearn for this after a century or two, if we have a shred of humanity left in us at all?”
She stroked his face. “I love you too, Veris.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Love is too simple for what I feel,” he breathed.
Brody rested his hand on Veris’ shoulder. “Try kissing her instead,” he suggested. “She won’t break.”
Veris laughed and swept Taylor up off the seat in a move that made her dizzy with its speed and power, his arms around her in a bear hug. He held her up easily in his arms. And he kissed her.
This time, Taylor could sense the difference in his kiss. Veris was holding nothing back. Everything was in his kiss. All his emotions. His heart and soul. His love. All that he had to give, that he could not find the words to describe.
It was all there. Breathed into her.
Taylor wrapped her arms around him and clung for dear life. She could feel her body grow warmer as the kiss lengthened and the hunger for Brody and Veris which never seemed to fully slumber wakened to full roaring need.
She moaned and thrust her hand into Veris’ hair and her tongue into his mouth. She brought her leg up around his waist, pressing herself against him.
Veris broke the kiss to look at her. “Now?”
“Is it not the lady’s task to send her men off to war with a proper farewell?”
Brody cupped her chin in his hand and turned her face to his. “Now,” he confirmed and kissed her. His kiss was heated, full of promise and pressure. Taylor gasped when he let her go.
Veris pulled her face back to him. “Yes, now,” he agreed, his voice low and hungry. He kissed her again. This time, his hand held her head steady and his tongue pushed into her mouth, stroking hers. She could feel his canines just above the line of his teeth, slightly lowered.
And pressed between their bodies was his cock, a thick hard line, making the chainmail lift awkwardly.
Brody was unfastening the buckles on Veris’ shoulder as they kissed. Taylor’s mind leapt on to an image of Veris naked and her heart thudded. She pulled her mouth from Veris with a gasp and lowered herself to the ground, bringing her hands to his other shoulder to tackle the buckles there.
“What about you?” Veris asked of Brody.
“I wear no mail,” Brody pointed out. “Nor does Taylor. And we are both wearing far less clothing than you to begin with.”
“I had noticed that habit of yours for wearing less than…normal,” Veris murmured, standing still between them as they swiftly rid him of the hauberk. “It is intriguing.”
They lifted the hauberk away, then the undershirt. Without pausing or speaking, they continued to strip Veris of the remainder of his clothing, until he stood nude between them.
It was patently clear he enjoyed the undivided attention. His cock stood up straight and stiff from between his well-muscled thighs. Taylor stroked it and smiled when Veris hissed and his cock twitched. So she continued to stroke, her fingertips gliding over the soft ridge of tissue, until Veris snatched at her wrist. “Enough,” he warned with a growl. “Or you will have this end before it begins.”
She looked him in the eye. “We have hours yet. You can come more than once before you leave to fight the Fatimids. I want a proper farewell.”
Veris’ eyes widened. He looked at Brody.
Brody just laughed. “These matters are spoken of more openly in our time.” He moved next to Taylor and she saw that he was naked. While she had been teasing Veris, he had undressed. Veris would have been able to see Brody do that while she had been stroking him.
She hid her smile as an idea occurred to her. Veris was still holding her wrist, keeping her hand away from his cock. So she picked up Brody’s hand with her other hand and brought it to Veris’ cock instead. “As I am not permitted,” she said and stepped back a pace from Veris, breaking his hold on her wrist.
Instead, she took off her clothes, keeping her gaze on Veris’ face. She turned it into the most provocative, sensual striptease she could manage, given that she was wearing medieval menswear. But the leggings were a vague substitute for stockings and her hair was a feminine atomic bomb. While Brody stood behind Veris and slowly stroked his cock, his other arm locked over Veris’ shoulder. Veris bucked and writhed and the two watched her unbraid her hair and run her fingers through it with utter fascination. She let it stream over her shoulders and down her back and heard Brody sigh.
Taylor deliberately ran her hands over her body, staring Veris in the eye. “If I cannot touch you, I guess…” She let her hand creep down toward her clit.
Veris surged toward her with a sound that was half growl, half roar, breaking out of Brody’s grip on him.
Brody gave a half-laugh. “Taylor, take pity on him,” he said as Veris yet again swept her off her feet. “He’s not used to you at full strength.”
Veris pushed aside the curtain that divided the tent and dumped her on her back on the high mattress of her bed. “I will by God get used to you at full strength,” he declared, separating her thighs. He pulled her closer to the edge of the bed, his hands under her butt, his arms flexing. “Do that again,” he said hoarsely. “What you were going to do just then. Do it for me.”
Brody stepped to his side. “And me,” he added, his voice hoarse with arousal. His cock was thick and pulsing.
Taylor cupped her breasts, her heart raging, as she watched them gaze at her with such peculiar intensity. It made her pussy and clit pulse with hot eagerness to know she had such power over them.
She pulled at her nipples and sucked in her breath, her hips lifting, as the little pleasure arrowed straight to her clit.
Then she laid her hand flat on her stomach and pushed it down to her cleft. Even she could feel the heat generated from between her legs. When she slipped her hand between her legs, the slickness and amount of moisture was a surprise to her. She had rarely reached this level of wetness so quickly.
As soon as she pressed her finger up against her clit, she knew she was far too close to coming to do much more than that. Her hips bucked and a shiver ran through her. “Oh God…” she breathed. So much for the great tease.
“I cannot stand it,” Veris muttered. He gripped her hips and pushed his cock into her.
“That is a game two can play,” Brody said. He pushed on Veris’ shoulder, bending him forward and stepped behind him. Veris’ eyes closed and he groaned as Brody’s hand gripped his shoulder.
Taylor knew Brody had taken Veris from behind. Just the mental image, from memories of hundreds of other occasions, was enough to raise her pulse even higher and send a cascade of excitement racing through her. She suddenly wished for a mirror, or her special bedroom back home with its multitude of mirrors for occasions such as this.
“Harder,” she urged Veris. “Faster.” Her climax was starting to wash over her, pushed there by the twin tides of memory and stimulation. She massaged her clit, but the sensitive bud was engorged to the point of painfulness. A gentle touch was all it took.
She arched, crying out her pleasure as her climax broke over her. She felt Veris’ hand on her breast, his cock pounding into her, his gasping shout as he came.
Brody groaned, pumping into Veris in long, hard, pistoning strokes. It took him longer, but he threw his head back and growled, his canines showing, as he came in hard, working thrusts that made Veris gasp and push deeper into Taylor.
Then Brody released Veris and fell upon the bed next to Taylor, one knee up in the air.
Veris lifted Taylor up and placed her more securely on the bed, then sat on her other side. He let his fingers drift over her body in a way that made her nerves twitch and sizzle but not enough to arouse. Not yet, anyway. He seemed fascinated with her body.
But then, Veris always was.
“I will need to feed soon,” he said. “Certainly, before dawn. It has been a busy few days.”
Taylor glanced at Brody, who frowned and shook his head. “Not me. I’m fine. That’s odd. Technically, I should need to feed slightly sooner than Veris. Or slightly later, depending on which timeframe we’re using. But definitely, by now, I should be feeling the call one way or another.”
Veris was frowning, too, his lips moving. Then he shook his head. “Am I dead in your time?” he asked.
Taylor’s “No!” was half-formed before Brody squeezed her wrist.
“Why do you ask that?” Brody said.
“Why didn’t I come back with you?” Veris demanded. “The only reason I can think of is that something happened to me to prevent me from coming here. I would have to be the gods’ court jester to voluntarily stay away from the pair of you. Ergo, something happened to keep me away.” He looked grim. “I’d like to think nothing short of death would keep me from you.”
Taylor sought Brody’s hand and held it.
“We can’t tell you about your future,” Brody said, sitting up. Even to Taylor it sounded weak. Brody hated this as much as she did.
Veris shook his head. “Tell me that I will at least live long enough to see my child.”
Brody shook his head. “I can’t,” he said bleakly. “Not because I won’t, but because I don’t know.”
Veris gave a soft, painful sound.
Taylor covered her eyes to hide her tears. “We don’t know how we’re changing the future, Väinä,” she said. “We’ve tried to minimize it. Fix it. But we don’t know what we’ve done while we’ve undone the damage we’ve known about. We don’t know what we’re going to find when we get back. For us the future is just as blank as for you, now.”
She reached for Veris’ hand. “And I’m scared.”
He squeezed it.
Brody cleared his throat. “If…when we go, Taylor will be here no longer.”
Veris looked up, his eyes narrowing. “We’ve spoken of this already. You won’t remember me. Not like this.”
“Yes, I know. What I haven’t told you about is that there’s a letter in my chest over there. A letter from me, to me. There’s details in it that only I could possibly know about. Give it to me. When I read it, I’ll know that only I could have written it. It will help you convince me of these days.”
Veris lifted Taylor’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “You two are preparing to leave.”
“We’re trying to minimize the damage our departure will make,” Taylor told him. “Last time, when I left, I scarred your life in a way that six hundred years later, it was still affecting you. We’re trying to make sure that doesn’t happen again. We’re trying to make sure you—and Brody, who will have no memory of the time we were here—can deal with the aftereffects.”
“We don’t know when we get to leave,” Brody added. “But we’ve never lingered in a time not our own for this long. We think it will be soon and we have to work on the assumption that it will happen at any time.”
Veris frowned again, staring down at the white coverlet on the bed. His lips were moving again. “Can you hear that music?” he asked. He lifted his gaze to meet theirs.
Brody shook his head. “What music?”
Veris’ frown deepened. “Listen!” He cocked his head, narrowing his eyes to hear better. “And words…” he murmured. “Strange ones.”
Taylor strained to listen, but all she could hear beyond the tent was snoring and the crackle of campfires and the odd murmur of men. Horses snorting. And far off, the night winds of the desert. Strange cries of night prayers from the eastern religions.
No music.
“Can you sing the words?” Brody asked.
“You are the singer,” Veris muttered.
“As well as you can, then,” Brody coaxed.
“They’re a language I don’t know.” Veris closed his eyes, concentrating. The frown smoothed out. His lips moved as he listened to the far off music. Taylor realized that with his vampire senses he would be able to detect something far out of her range. So she lay as silently as she could and waited.
Finally, he sang-chanted softly in English, the words ill-formed and stilted: “…I can take you higher…I’m on fire…”
“Fuck me!” Brody said, sitting bolt upright.
“That’s Bruce Springsteen,” Taylor whispered.
Veris opened his eyes, looking at them. “What is it?”
Taylor licked her lips. She didn’t know what to say. So she settled for the truth. “I don’t know how you can be hearing that music, Veris. It’s impossible. You simply can’t be. It hasn’t been written yet. It’s from our time.”
“If it’s impossible, then why am I hearing it, then?” Brody asked softly. He was breathing hard. He reached for Veris’ hand. “I think…”
Taylor reached for Veris, fright tearing through her, as the distinct beat of Springsteen’s ‘80s hit echoed in her mind. “No! Not yet!”
Veris gathered her up against his chest, his lips against hers. “Stay with me. Stay forever. Please… Brody!”