She should tell him. She would. Later. She would ask him to take a walk with her and she would tell him exactly how she felt. She thought he felt the same. She hoped he did.
“Nicholas?” she asked, peering through the tree line. “Who is that?”
He stared at the figure approaching. He grew a bit closer and they both said the name at the same time. “Simeon.”
“Clever to land in the trees where no one will see,” Kes remarked.
Nicholas remained silent, watching the traveler coming closer.
“Mr. Simeon,” Kes greeted. “You are unexpected.”
“And unwelcome I am sure.”
Kes smiled. He wasn’t so bad once she got to know him a little better. “Not at all.”
“I didn’t want to take the chance of being seen appearing in the castle. I have news. I think we should—”
“Tell it,” Nicholas demanded.
Kes was sure the time traveler had met many fearsome men and women in the times and places he’d been, so it was surprising that he obeyed without question. “I had hoped to gain some insight on why the knights gave you the brooch.”
Kes’ heart thundered in her chest. “It was my great-great—”
“No, it wasn’t. That’s what they tell you to make you come get the brooch.”
“But why me?”
“I visited Camelot and found the knights discussing you.”
“Camelot is real?” she breathed.
Simeon sighed and looked around. “It’s not what you would consider real. It’s on a different realm.”
Before she had a chance to cast him a look of confusion, he continued.
“They didn’t simply decide to give you the brooch. It had been fashioned for Arthur to wear as a sort of beacon to help Morgan Le Fey and the others find him when he left Avalon. Seems he left with more powers than he first had, but that is another story. He didn’t want to be found so he tossed the brooch away with an enchantment of his own. He overrode the first spell under his, the brooch was to be a beacon for others to find love.”
To find love? Kes looked at Nicholas, who was looking at her.
“But the thing is old and worn down and has been damaged by fire. Because of this, it malfunctions. Sir Kay was quite upset to learn that you landed in the middle—”
“—of a battle. Sir Kay?” Kestrel swallowed then smiled. Was this all a dream?
“Yes. He’s quite the swordsmen,” Mr. Simeon said and turned to look at Nicholas. “I doubt even you could beat him if he came here.”
Nicholas didn’t look ruffled when he asked, “Why would he come here?”
“Because Miss Locksley has told you things about the future that you should not know.”
“How do they know what I’ve told him?”
“They are monitoring you,” Simeon told her. “They must. It’s their fault you are here. They’re responsible if you disrupt time. They will have to send you back or the gap they left in your time will grow”
“Are they going to come here?” Kes asked, instinctively moving closer to Nicholas.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know it was you they were speaking of for a long time. I wasn’t listening to much of what they were saying as I thought it pertained to someone else. But it was you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Perhaps we can speak alone?”
“No,” Nicholas refused. “We will have no secrets between us.”
“You my speak freely, Mr. Simeon,” Kes assured him, not having any idea what he was about to say.
“Very well,” he gave in. “They called you Kestrel Lancaster.”
“What?” Nicholas demanded.
Kes’ heart felt as if it were giving out.
“’Tis a mistake!” Nicholas boomed. “She’s no more a Lancaster than I am.”
The dream just turned into a nightmare.
“Sir Lucan said they checked, and double checked that they had the right person. Miss Kestrel Lancaster. They found you in New York in twenty nineteen. That is you.”
She could feel Nicholas’ eyes on her, but she didn’t look at him. She couldn’t.
“Kestrel?” Nicholas asked.
“Yes?”
“Is it true?”
She couldn’t lie. Not anymore. Somehow, he would find out the truth and she would look worse.
“Are you a Lancaster?”
“Yes.”
Chapter Nineteen
Nicholas stood by the window of his solar the next afternoon and looked outside. The sun shrank away from the thick, charcoal clouds that looked like gloom come to life. Lightning lit up the sky and made the hair on his neck stand up. Thunder shook the castle walls reminding those inside how meager their lives were.
He grabbed his sword and left the solar. He wanted to be out there, in the force of nature, feeling its power coursing through him. He felt the rage and white-hot anger of betrayal. He needed a way to release it before it overcame him.
He headed for the doors above stairs. The doors that led to the wall and the bridge, and ultimately, the coastal village.
He flung open the door and walked out into the rain like a storm unto himself—one even more dangerous than the one he was stepping into.
She’d betrayed him. All this time…all this time knowing how he felt about them. His mortal enemies!
She’d tried to speak to him. She’d even had Elia and Elizabeth try to speak to him for her, but he wasn’t interested. She’d lied to him about something so important. She was his enemy. She tried to say she was afraid to tell him the truth, but no. She didn’t tell him because she came here with a purpose—to convince him not to fight for Richard. Well, he would not only fight, he’d win for the House of York and then he would throw Kestrel Lancaster out.
He strode to one of the practice fields, his hair dripping around his face from the pouring rain, his boots sinking into the soggy earth.
He wanted to fight. He might ride out to battle a few days early. For now, swinging at a post would help.
He wasted no time smashing his blade into the hard red oak post. How could he have allowed himself to fall for her? She seemed so innocent of it all. Who did
