CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

She was waiting by the drych when Gwyar arrived. It was still dark, no sign of the dawn, but Seren started pacing.

'What is it?' Gwyar asked. 'Surely you're not worried? You have done this before.'

Seren continued to pace. 'I just want to know who this is.'

'But you have done so well, Seren. We are so close to the necklace being complete, to the spell being ready.'

'I know, but . . .'

'But what? This is the most important things you have ever done. That we have ever done.'

Seren took a deep breath and then nodded. 'Yes, yes. Can we . . .?' She nodded towards the drych.

Gwyar looked out of the window to where the first fingers of sunlight were creeping over the distant mountains. She nodded.

Seren was mentally chanting, 'Let it be Gwaine. Let it be Gwaine.' Gwyar added the powders and stirred it slowly. The liquid stilled, and then the powders formed a silvery name. Leon.

'Leon?' Seren asked in both shock and disappointment.

'See for yourself,' Gwyar said dismissively. 'Were you hoping for someone else? Oh! You were, weren't you? Who? Or do I really need to ask.'

Seren sighed loudly. 'I just thought . . .'

Gwyar gave her a hug. 'The Goddess has plans for you. She knows what she wants for you. Do not fear, she knows what is right for you. So, Sir Leon.'

She had no choice, it had to be Leon. Seren thought about Leon, probably for the first time. He was one of the quieter knights, but at least she had spent some time with him, unlike Menas, for instance. But she still knew very little about him.

By asking a few oblique questions, she found that Leon was one of the night guards that evening. She waited until the castle was in silence before leaving her room dressed only in her nightgown, drifting through the castle as though still asleep, walking the corridors until she passed where Leon was posted.

She heard him call her name, but ignored him, gliding past. He followed her, calling her softly, afraid to wake her from her sleep walking. She opened the door of a small side room and entered, flashing a spell at the door as he followed her in.

'Lady Seren?' he asked, touching her on the shoulder. 'Lady Seren?'

With a start, she appeared to wake, looking around her in surprise.

'Where am I? Why am I here?'

'You were sleepwalking, my lady.'

'Oh!'

'Let me escort you back to your room.'

'Thank you,' and Seren waited until he tried the door.

'This door will not unlock,' Leon said, rattling the handle.

'Oh! Are we locked in?'

'It would appear so. I could shout but no one will hear us here.'

'They will search for you?'

'Not until the morning, I suspect.'

Seren sat on the one piece of furniture in the room, a bench table. There was only one torch which was producing only a fitful light but little heat. 'I am cold, Sir Leon.'

'Oh.' Leon looked hopefully round the room but there was nothing. Seren was well aware that he was trying not to stare at her, the flimsy nightgown enhancing rather than covering her figure.

Really, she was offering herself to him on a . . . well, table, but it was proving more difficult than she had anticipated to complete the seduction. 'Come hold me and warm me, please,' she said.

'Oh! Yes, my lady Seren.' He sat next to her on the table and she leaned against him, as he wrapped his cloak around her.

'A bit closer?' she requested.

'You're . . . you're sure?'

'Leon, I'm cold and you're here. Now hold me!' He seemed to respond much better to a direct order, putting his arm around her and pulling her closer against him. 'That's better.'

He seemed to relax a little as they sat there together and she moulded herself closer against him.

'I do not think you had this in mind when you joined Arthur, did you?' she asked him. 'More battles and quests than comforting women?' He sniffed his agreement. 'Any woman would be honoured to be . . . comforted by you, my lord.'

'How I wish that were true, Seren.'

Seren turned and looked up at him. 'Surely you do not mean that, Sir Leon?'

He nodded and shrugged. 'It seems to come so naturally to the others, but not to me.'

'The others?'

'Gwaine . . .' Seren knew that would be the first name that was mentioned and her heart clenched, but she put that to one side. 'And Gaheris, and Lucas . . .'

'You have known a woman, though, surely?'

'Yes, my lady. But . . .'

'But?'

'I was unsure what to do.'

'I see. She was not a good teacher?'

'She should not have needed to be.'

'Then she was not fair on you, my lord. She should have been gentle and . . . encouraging. It was not your fault if she was not.'

He was silent for a while, mulling over what she'd said. 'You think that, my lady?'

'Most certainly.'

'But how do I learn?'

'Leon, you are one of the bravest and most noble of the knights.'

'That does not get me a maid in my bed,' he muttered.

She reached up a hand and turned his face towards her and then softly kissed him on the lips. 'You would like to learn?'

As his pupils dilated and she ensnared him, she smiled to herself. She would be the best teacher for Leon and just hoped he would remember at least some of what she would teach him when he was released.