Then wild candlelight showed a high, painted ceiling. “My boy, my boy! You’re home and with your bride. Praise be to God!”
Martha turned her head and saw a tousled-haired man in a night robe, candle in hand.
“Welcome, my dear, welcome. Oh, happy day. But why such a journey? The poor girl must be chilled through. Bring her up, bring her up. She can lie in my bed for now.”
“No!” Martha cried. Not the father, too.
“No,” Rob Loxsleigh said. “I must take her to the old hall.”
“The old hall? She’ll catch a lung fever.”
“I hope she’ll catch credulity.” Already striding across the entrance hall, he called, “The calendar change. It changed my birthday. We have no time! Bring brandy and water. Rouse the servants to prepare her a bed.”
“Please,” Martha cried. “Please, don’t.”
But he rushed forward into darkness, struggling to open doors, leaving them wide behind him, and all around her a cacophony of voices swelled—high voices, low voices, merry and angry, coaxing and threatening, tangled up in a song. In that song. Her nightmare song.
A man growled, “He plans to rape you. Fight, mortal creature, fight!”
She tried, but was helpless.
Then Loxsleigh stopped. Small-paned windows let in a trace of light and Martha’s eyes were accustomed to the dark. They were in the ancient part of Five Oaks. And the nightmare song and creatures whirled around.
A dream. This had to be a dream!
He put her on her feet, supporting her still.
The lady was there, the one in iridescent robes. She smiled like a Madonna, but with blank eyes. Titania.
The man paced around them like the panther she’d seen in the Tower of London. “He cannot rape you. He’s too puny for that. You have only to resist.”
Titania pressed close in a cloud of woodland perfume. “Dear child, you have only to surrender to Rob, to that which you most desire.” Her hand brushed Martha’s forehead and the dull throb there faded. The room seemed brighter by the moment, and all her senses heightened. The song turned sweet.
“You love Rob Loxsleigh,” whispered the Queen of Faery. “He loves you. You were destined from birth. And the threat is real, dear child. Refuse and my lord will have his way.”
“Then stop him.”
“I have brought you together. Now it lies in your hands.”
“You demand that I sin!”
Titania laughed. “I demand nothing. It will annoy me if my lord wins this little contest, but there are many others.”
Faery, Rob Loxsleigh had said, are not benign.
Martha realized that whether the light came from a magical glow or from the fey folk themselves, she could see. The room was long and low and paneled in dark oak, but held no furniture. Rob stood nearby, wild haired and grim, watching her, but prepared, she understood, to abide by her decision.
Here, now, she could not deny the reality of the threat. It showed in Titania’s heartless smile and in handsome Oberon’s simmering anticipation. He waited to exact revenge for an offence half a millennium old. Others flowed around the room and in and out of the dark walls, watching and chattering. They were enjoying the show, as people watch animals fight to the death simply for amusement.
The unearthly song swelled—sweet, yes, but chanting both love and death.
Martha turned to Rob. “They are vile. We must deny them both.”
He took her hands. “Martha, Martha, they are as wind, wave, and lightning. Deny them if you will, but you will still die. Or rather I will, and my father. My uncle and aunt, my cousins and my cousin Cecilia’s newborn child. Who knows how many others carry Sir Robert Loxsleigh’s blood? Trust me, love. There is only one way. Come to my bed and lie with me. We will be married as soon as may be, but Oberon will be thwarted only if we love each other tonight.”
“It would be wrong,” the dark lord growled in her ear, “and you know it. What good can come from that?”
“We can pledge ourselves now,” Rob argued. “We can say our vows. I will keep them, as will you. There can never be any other for you or me.”
“By your beliefs, it must be in a church,” Oberon argued. “Think of the scandal. Your reputation…”
It was as if all around held their breath, as if the very room, the old house, the one built by Robert Loxsleigh in a faery glade guarded by five oaks, held its breath. Even the song stopped. But Oberon had misplayed his hand. Martha’s morals still quailed, but to let innocents die for her reputation would be vile.
She looked into the man’s eyes. “I will lie with you tonight, Rob Loxsleigh, my husband in all but the ceremony.”
The chorus burst into song again, a song of wild rejoicing that clashed with thunderous rage. Rob took her hand and raced her out of the ancient part of the house, back to the entrance hall, lit now by a branch of candles. The noises faded and then stopped.
Martha knew that the faery had gone. Gone on to other entertainments.
Rob took her into his arms, holding her tight and close, burying his head in her hair.
Her loose hair, Martha realized, as it had never been except between brushing and pinning.
He separated and kissed her, a gentle, reverent kiss. “You will not regret this.”
“No, I don’t believe I will.” But she swallowed before saying, “Do we do it now?”
He smiled. “We have all night. You’re damp in places and wet in others. Come up to your room and be comfortable.”
She went up with him, hand in hand, but still embarrassed. She could hear servants around, woken from sleep and talking softly. About her. They would all know…
But she would not sacrifice hundreds to her discomfort.
He led her to a room where three maidservants worked, still in their nightwear with tied shawls atop. They cast her looks, but smiling ones. Did they know? Did everyone here know?
The room was lit with candles and warmed by the flickering flames of a new-laid fire. Two of the servants were running warming pans through the bed. The other was spreading a nightgown over a rack before the fire.
“I’ll leave you in their care,” Rob said, smiling down at her.
She could do nothing but smile back. “I’m all awhirl.”
“I know. Be comfortable. I’ll return later.”
The subject still embarrassed her too much for speech, but she nodded.
He left and she surrendered to the maids’ care. They gave her small beer to slake her thirst, and stripped off her damp outer clothing. Martha wouldn’t let them strip her naked. She retired behind the screen to take off her shift and put on the nightgown.
The maids toweled dry her hair and then settled her into the warm bed with a cup of chocolate and a sweet cake. There was a plate of fruit as well, but Martha could eat nothing.
The servants left. She sipped the chocolate, which was richer than any she’d tasted. And she waited.
All awareness of faery had gone, making her realize how it had lived in her for days, ever since that encounter in the park. Instead, there was a growing peace, a growing certainty that all was now right, despite the lack of church and clergy.
She was drinking the last of the chocolate when Rob came to her, shining and handsome again, in a rich, blue robe.
“My peacock, I see.”
“At your command,” he said, crossing the room to her. “Always.”
He extinguished the candles until only fire lit the room and came into the bed beside her. “I’m sorry it must be this way, my love, but it will be holy.”
He was naked and she had to look away, even though she said, “I know it.”
Wildly she thought,
He took her hand and she felt his warm lips on her knuckles. “Look at me, Martha.”
She turned her head shyly, but he’d pulled the covers up to his neck. There was nothing to embarrass her
