'No ways in which I may offer equal bliss?' she pressed him. 'Did you not say you would teach me? Do not deny me the right to give you the same pleasure that you gave me!'
He smiled ^reassuringly into her distressed face. 'I will teach you how to give delight with touches and kisses, Wynne, but my greatest pleasure does indeed come with your own pleasure. I swear it!'
'But I want to see your happiness even as you saw mine!' she protested.
'That is possible, for sometimes one lover may move more quickly than the other. Then, too, it is also possible to give and take multiple delights in a bout of passion,' he told her.
'Oh, yes! Teach me that, my lord!' She almost wriggled with her excitement, very much like an eager young puppy.
Madoc laughed, charmed with her enthusiasm, which, in all his years of watching over her, he could have never guessed. Perhaps, however, he should have and would have had he not been so entranced with her. Wynne had a great capacity for life and for living. Then he sobered. This
Wynne considered and then shook her head. 'It matters not,' she said, dismissing his query airily. 'I love you, Madoc, and that is what is important to me. What was between us is a time long gone. It is now that I care about.'
'Nay,' he said. 'You must remember, Wynne. If you love me, you must remember for my sake, if not your own.'
'Then help me, Madoc! Help me to remember what I must for both our sakes! For the sakes of the children I will surely bear you!' Then she smiled. 'Perhaps we just need a little more time, Madoc. After all, this is the first time we have made love, at least in this life.' She smiled mischievously at him. 'I think we need to make love again and probably yet again before I will begin to remember.'
He laughed. 'You are a vixen, I vow, my adorable dearling! You may be correct though.' He cupped a small breast within the palm of his hand and fondled it teasingly.
'I will do whatever my lord commands,' she replied in dulcet tones, and turned her face up to his for a kiss.
PART 2
Kahlil Gibran
The Prophet
Chapter 7
In introducing Wynne to lovemaking, Madoc had opened a whole new world for her. It was a world in which she was completely comfortable. It was a world that she enjoyed more fully than he would have thought possible. She was an apt pupil in the arts of Eros. Indeed, she wanted to give him as much pleasure as he was giving her. As each day passed he could see her genuine love for him growing, along with her passion for him. That knowledge tore at Madoc, for despite all Wynne strove to give him, it would not be enough unless she could remember that fatal moment in time that had set the course of their mutual destinies.
January passed. Then February. In mid-March the springtime burst upon them and the hills were bright with colorful blooms. Wynne sensed his rising despair. 'I did not come to Raven's Rock to make you unhappy, Madoc,' she told him one evening as they lay together. 'I came to be your cherished wife. Yet my very presence, for all our passion, breaks your heart. I can bear no more of it, my love!' She pushed back an errant lock of her raven's black hair. Her face was even paler than usual. 'I have tried to remember, but I cannot! It is as if something is preventing me and I know not why. You cannot tell me what it is that binds us together you say; but I must still know if we are to be happy. Help me, Madoc! Help me to remember that other time since I seem so unable to do so myself.
Madoc sighed deeply and then he looked up into her beautiful face. 'I will blend a special packet of herbs for you, dearling. When you are ready to make your journey in time, Wynne, mix them in a goblet of wine and drink it down. You will fall into a deep sleep. The herbs in the wine will free your mind to remember that past which you and I shared. The wine will relax you so that you have no fear.'
'Have we not shared more than one past together, Madoc?' she gently pressed him. Now that her decision was made, some deeper instinct was stirring within her.
He nodded in the affirmative. 'We have.'
'Why now and not before?' she wondered aloud.
'God has a great sense of both justice and humor, Wynne. The timing was never quite right. This is the first time we have been lovers since then.'
She nodded and then asked him, 'How can I be certain that I will remember that particular life which seems to trouble you so greatly?'
'Because that is the life that you wish to remember, dearling,' he told her. 'That is the door which will open for you. It is as simple as that.'
'How long will I sleep, my lord?' She pushed nervously at her hair again.
'A few hours. A few days,' he told her quietly. 'It depends upon how much you choose to remember.'
'I would know everything, Madoc,' she told him resolutely. 'Though I believe the past is best left behind, I can see that the pain of that past will not leave you until I have relived it, though I do not understand why. Still, I will do it for you because I love you! I want us to get on with the lives we now live. There is so much ahead for us to share, my love!'
'Pray God you are right, Wynne!' he cried wholeheartedly and, reaching up, he drew her down into his gentle embrace.
She snuggled against him for a moment and then said, 'I will not get lost in time, Madoc, will I?' It seemed to be her one great fear.
'Nay, darling,' he promised her. 'You will only sleep. Your lovely body will remain precisely where you lay it down. You will awaken when you choose to awaken. You need have no terrors over it.'
'Is there anything else that I need to know?' she fretted.
'Nothing.' He paused and finally said, 'When do you wish to do this thing?'
'Not for a few days' time, but blend your herbs, Madoc, for there will come one moment in which I shall be braver than in any other moment. It is then I will depart on this adventure, so be prepared.'
He seemed relieved by her answer, a fact that Wynne found intriguing. Her curiosity was now more aroused than it had been before. He loved her. Of that Wynne had no doubt. Yet despite his love for her, despite that undeniable fact, Madoc was suddenly showing signs of fear; he obviously wanted her to go upon this journey in
