Part 31
Elizabeth paced the length of the chamber, glared at the heavy oak door, then turned and marched back towards the far wall. She had stopped wringing her hands hours ago, dreading when Kyle would appear to confront her. Now she was simply angry, was looking forward to it.
She was trying not to think about what might be happening to Michael and nursing her outrage was helping her with that. She knew that his accommodations in Nottingham Castle were surely not as comfortable as her own. He could even be dead by now.
If Michael was dead, she would never forgive herself.
She had enjoyed the time that they had spent together on the journey to find the Queen. Max's brother had a dry sense of humour of which she had been unaware. He had even reassured her that Max would forgive her for disobeying him.
"He'll simply blame it entirely on me, as usual, and everything will return to normal." Michael had joked, not sounding the least bit intimidated by this fact. Elizabeth had begun to recognize that while the relationship between Michael and Max was complicated, the brothers would never stay permanently angry at one another. They depended on and trusted each other more than any others she had ever known.
It was right around this time that they had become aware of the sound of horses approaching. They had been hidden in the Forest near the Convent of Saint Mary, where Elizabeth had known that the Queen would stop to rest and refresh herself before entering Nottingham, as she always did.
Still, they had waited until the cortège had appeared fully and Elizabeth had actually laid eyes on the Queen before they stepped out of their hiding places.
Elizabeth had approached Eleanor tentatively. None of the guards had tried to stop her, most of them apparently recognizing her. "Your Grace?" She had known that Michael was immediately behind her, his hand resting casually on the sword at his belt, although Elizabeth had surmised that his sword was not the weapon he would use if her life was truly endangered. He had not been as completely convinced as she that Eleanor would not be angry at her, and so had told her that he was ready to defend her with his life.
Elizabeth had laughed at that. "Michael, two days ago, you would have cheerfully killed me yourself."
"Two days ago you were not my Queen." Michael had snapped back.
It was when Eleanor had raised her head to look at Elizabeth that Liz had first realized that something was wrong. The Queen's eyes had been missing the spark that made her who she was - the most intelligent and powerful woman in Europe. "Your Grace?" Elizabeth had repeated, trying to understand what was wrong.
It was then that all hell broke loose. One minute Elizabeth was looking at her guardian, the next the elderly woman was gone, had disappeared right in front of Liz, as though she had never existed.
"What the..." Michael's gasp behind her was so shocked, she whirled to look at him. "Oh my God! It's a mindwarp!"
The guards were already advancing on she and Michael. The arms on the tabliers over their mail were suddenly those of the Sheriff of Nottingham, not those of King Richard.
"What is a mindwarp?" Elizabeth had shrieked, but Michael ignored her, had already thrust her behind him, his sword in his hand.
"There are too many of them. I'm going to have to blast them." He sounded resigned.
And he had. Elizabeth had clutched at her brother-in-law's cloak as he had raised his arm. She had watched in amazement as his had started to glow, had felt the despair coming off Michael in waves as he swept the clearing, knocking guard after guard to the ground in uncontrolled blazes of light.
Somehow though, Elizabeth was still unsure how, one of the guards had snuck up behind them. One moment she had been safely protected behind Michael's back, the next she had felt the cold blade at her throat.
"Put your arm down you demon, or the wench dies." The guard had snarled.
Michael had turned, took in the sight of Elizabeth threatened and lowered his arm. Elizabeth had felt her heart break when he sighed heavily and said a single name. "Tess."
"I am sorry!" She had sobbed. "We've failed." And they had. Max and Michael's sister was lost to them for certain now.
But Michael had not heard her for the two other guards had descended upon him in a fury, knocking him out and chaining his arms behind his back in case he should awaken. Elizabeth had been able to tell that they had been completely terrified by the display to which her brother-in-law had treated them.
Elizabeth almost didn't blame them. If she had not known the truth about Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess, she too might have wondered if Michael's power was not from the Devil. The destruction of which he was capable... It was the complete antithesis to the healing gift possessed by Max. For the first time Elizabeth recognized the balanced unit the four visitors created.
Now, as she remembered, she felt another stab of guilt. By stealing Max from Tess, had she irreparably harmed the effectiveness of their foursome?
Of course, if Tess and Michael died in Nottingham Castle, then the foursome would forever be destroyed. She had to somehow convince Kyle to let them go. She would promise him anything.
She would even promise to leave Max if it meant seeing his sister and brother freed.
Elizabeth clenched her hands together against her stomach at the sick feeling that rose within her at the thought of giving Max up. She couldn't even be sure that he would want her back after the disaster she had rained down upon him ever since he had first laid eyes on her - but to imagine that she might have to be the one to turn from him... It was almost unbearable.
She was so overwrought, it took several moments before she realized that something peculiar was happening to her. A feeling of calm release was settling upon her. It seemed to be originating from her middle and was weaving its way down her limbs and up to her heart.
Glancing down in amazement, it was then that she noticed that her hands were glowing. She lifted them from where they rested against her stomach, stared at them. They looked perfectly normal again.
Elizabeth felt her heart rise into her throat. She carefully lowered one hand again, brought her palm flat against her middle. Beginning slowly, the glow began to regenerate itself, until her hand burned brightly, reminding her of the way Max's hand had glowed when she had witnessed him healing Tess's ankle that day in the Forest - the day she had discovered the truth about him.
Instinctively she closed her eyes, concentrated on what was happening within her body.
FLASH*
A small brown-eyed boy who looked exactly like Max toddled towards her across a field of waving grasses.
Elizabeth gasped, her eyes flying open, caressed her stomach in amazement.
She was carrying Max's son.
She knew it suddenly with such certainty, the joy of it almost overwhelmed her. The despair of moments ago was replaced by the firm knowledge that she could no longer feel regret for what had occurred between she and Max. She could feel sorrow and fear, but hope was the strongest emotion of all.
They would survive this. They had to. Their son would live.
She would see to it with every breath within her.
Elizabeth's head snapped up as the door to the chamber came flying open. She immediately lowered her hands as Sir Kyle came sauntering into the room.
He must not know. The last person who could ever know was Kyle.
"Well, well." He advanced on her, his eyes blazing with some emotion that Elizabeth could not identify. She could tell that he was attempting to pretend that he was not affected by the sight of her, but she could also tell that this was not so. "If it is not my prodigal betrothed, returned to me from her sojourn in the Forest."
"I want you let Michael and Tess of Huntington go." Elizabeth said immediately, not even bothering to greet him.
"What you want is of little to no interest to me Elizabeth." Kyle replied mildly. "They will die, as will their brother when he comes for them."
Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly. "Please Sir Kyle. I know that you are angry with me, but do not take it out on innocents."
"Innocents?" He almost bellowed. Elizabeth's eyes flew open. She could see a vein pulsing in his throat as he struggled to bring his anger under control. "Innocents?" He repeated more calmly. "I think not. I feel that it has been more than proven that at the very least Michael of Huntington is a demon. This would lead me to believe that his siblings are likely so as well."
Elizabeth bit her lip, decided to lie flat out if it would guarantee that Michael and Tess would be released. "I will marry you willingly if you let them go. I will also forget to tell the Queen that any of this ever happened."
Kyle tilted his head to the side, smiled in such a way that it was more of a grimace and said, "Will you indeed?"
Elizabeth crossed her fingers behind her back, hoped that the Holy Mother would forgive her for the lie. "Yes."
Kyle just stared at her for several long moments. "So you would add bigamy to your list of crimes Milady?" He finally asked, sounding disdainful.
She felt her heart stop. "What do you mean?" She whispered, terrified at what this meant. If Kyle knew that she had married Max, they were finished. He would kill her rather than see Max have her.
While she would willingly die to keep Max and his siblings safe, she had to stay alive at all costs. Her son must live. She wanted desperately to bring her hand comfortingly to her womb, but she refrained. Kyle could not know.
"I'm afraid your little secret is out my dear." Kyle was moving towards her again. "Your brother-in-law has a very big mouth." He shrugged. "But it is of little import. I will still marry you. I just need to assure that you are a widow first." He sighed heavily. "I do not enjoy the idea that Maxwell of Huntington has had you first, but we can not have everything we want in life. It will be my sons that you will carry."
"Please Kyle." Elizabeth fell to her knees in front of him, completely desperate and unable to think of any other way to save Tess and Michael other than to beg. "I will annul it. I swear I will. If you release Michael and Tess."
"I wonder if your husband is aware of the ease at which you are willing to cast him aside?" Kyle chuckled. "Well, he will be. I am sure the Lady Tess will be happy to tell him."
Elizabeth glanced up at him hopefully. "Do you mean that you will release her?" She felt her heart lighten marginally. Making sure that at least Tess was safe was the first step. Then she would work on making Michael so.
"I think I might. I would like to see how he reacts to having her back, knowing that you chose to stay with me."
Elizabeth closed her eyes again. She knew how Max would react. He would not rest until he had freed her from Kyle, whether he had Tess back or not.
Unless he no longer wanted her. There was still that worry knawing at the back of her mind, remembering how she had disobeyed him, had gone against his wishes. All of Michael's assurances that he would forgive her... She did not quite believe them. Only she knew how adamant Max had been against this plan.
And he had been right. She had walked right into the arms of the enemy, bringing Michael with her.
But at least Tess would be free. It was a beginning. She would not rest until Michael was as well.
For as long as Kyle believed that she would marry him, her son would be safe. She had absolutely no intention of going through with it, but if she had to, she would.
Elizabeth would protect Max's child at all costs. Even at the cost of the chance to be with her love, were he never to forgive her for what she now realized she had to do. If she could somehow contrive the release of Michael, she could convince him that he had to convince Max to let her go.
She knew one thing with the utmost certainty. Sir Kyle would never allow them to be together. He would hunt them for the rest of his days. He would kill Max and would most likely marry her anyway.
He would kill their son.
She would do anything to keep him alive - even give his father up.
She had to get Max to forget her. And there was only one way to do so.
"So be it." Elizabeth said wearily. "But first I must be allowed to speak with Tess."
Elizabeth paced the length of the chamber, glared at the heavy oak door, then turned and marched back towards the far wall. She had stopped wringing her hands hours ago, dreading when Kyle would appear to confront her. Now she was simply angry, was looking forward to it.
She was trying not to think about what might be happening to Michael and nursing her outrage was helping her with that. She knew that his accommodations in Nottingham Castle were surely not as comfortable as her own. He could even be dead by now.
If Michael was dead, she would never forgive herself.
She had enjoyed the time that they had spent together on the journey to find the Queen. Max's brother had a dry sense of humour of which she had been unaware. He had even reassured her that Max would forgive her for disobeying him.
"He'll simply blame it entirely on me, as usual, and everything will return to normal." Michael had joked, not sounding the least bit intimidated by this fact. Elizabeth had begun to recognize that while the relationship between Michael and Max was complicated, the brothers would never stay permanently angry at one another. They depended on and trusted each other more than any others she had ever known.
It was right around this time that they had become aware of the sound of horses approaching. They had been hidden in the Forest near the Convent of Saint Mary, where Elizabeth had known that the Queen would stop to rest and refresh herself before entering Nottingham, as she always did.
Still, they had waited until the cortège had appeared fully and Elizabeth had actually laid eyes on the Queen before they stepped out of their hiding places.
Elizabeth had approached Eleanor tentatively. None of the guards had tried to stop her, most of them apparently recognizing her. "Your Grace?" She had known that Michael was immediately behind her, his hand resting casually on the sword at his belt, although Elizabeth had surmised that his sword was not the weapon he would use if her life was truly endangered. He had not been as completely convinced as she that Eleanor would not be angry at her, and so had told her that he was ready to defend her with his life.
Elizabeth had laughed at that. "Michael, two days ago, you would have cheerfully killed me yourself."
"Two days ago you were not my Queen." Michael had snapped back.
It was when Eleanor had raised her head to look at Elizabeth that Liz had first realized that something was wrong. The Queen's eyes had been missing the spark that made her who she was - the most intelligent and powerful woman in Europe. "Your Grace?" Elizabeth had repeated, trying to understand what was wrong.
It was then that all hell broke loose. One minute Elizabeth was looking at her guardian, the next the elderly woman was gone, had disappeared right in front of Liz, as though she had never existed.
"What the..." Michael's gasp behind her was so shocked, she whirled to look at him. "Oh my God! It's a mindwarp!"
The guards were already advancing on she and Michael. The arms on the tabliers over their mail were suddenly those of the Sheriff of Nottingham, not those of King Richard.
"What is a mindwarp?" Elizabeth had shrieked, but Michael ignored her, had already thrust her behind him, his sword in his hand.
"There are too many of them. I'm going to have to blast them." He sounded resigned.
And he had. Elizabeth had clutched at her brother-in-law's cloak as he had raised his arm. She had watched in amazement as his had started to glow, had felt the despair coming off Michael in waves as he swept the clearing, knocking guard after guard to the ground in uncontrolled blazes of light.
Somehow though, Elizabeth was still unsure how, one of the guards had snuck up behind them. One moment she had been safely protected behind Michael's back, the next she had felt the cold blade at her throat.
"Put your arm down you demon, or the wench dies." The guard had snarled.
Michael had turned, took in the sight of Elizabeth threatened and lowered his arm. Elizabeth had felt her heart break when he sighed heavily and said a single name. "Tess."
"I am sorry!" She had sobbed. "We've failed." And they had. Max and Michael's sister was lost to them for certain now.
But Michael had not heard her for the two other guards had descended upon him in a fury, knocking him out and chaining his arms behind his back in case he should awaken. Elizabeth had been able to tell that they had been completely terrified by the display to which her brother-in-law had treated them.
Elizabeth almost didn't blame them. If she had not known the truth about Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess, she too might have wondered if Michael's power was not from the Devil. The destruction of which he was capable... It was the complete antithesis to the healing gift possessed by Max. For the first time Elizabeth recognized the balanced unit the four visitors created.
Now, as she remembered, she felt another stab of guilt. By stealing Max from Tess, had she irreparably harmed the effectiveness of their foursome?
Of course, if Tess and Michael died in Nottingham Castle, then the foursome would forever be destroyed. She had to somehow convince Kyle to let them go. She would promise him anything.
She would even promise to leave Max if it meant seeing his sister and brother freed.
Elizabeth clenched her hands together against her stomach at the sick feeling that rose within her at the thought of giving Max up. She couldn't even be sure that he would want her back after the disaster she had rained down upon him ever since he had first laid eyes on her - but to imagine that she might have to be the one to turn from him... It was almost unbearable.
She was so overwrought, it took several moments before she realized that something peculiar was happening to her. A feeling of calm release was settling upon her. It seemed to be originating from her middle and was weaving its way down her limbs and up to her heart.
Glancing down in amazement, it was then that she noticed that her hands were glowing. She lifted them from where they rested against her stomach, stared at them. They looked perfectly normal again.
Elizabeth felt her heart rise into her throat. She carefully lowered one hand again, brought her palm flat against her middle. Beginning slowly, the glow began to regenerate itself, until her hand burned brightly, reminding her of the way Max's hand had glowed when she had witnessed him healing Tess's ankle that day in the Forest - the day she had discovered the truth about him.
Instinctively she closed her eyes, concentrated on what was happening within her body.
FLASH*
A small brown-eyed boy who looked exactly like Max toddled towards her across a field of waving grasses.
Elizabeth gasped, her eyes flying open, caressed her stomach in amazement.
She was carrying Max's son.
She knew it suddenly with such certainty, the joy of it almost overwhelmed her. The despair of moments ago was replaced by the firm knowledge that she could no longer feel regret for what had occurred between she and Max. She could feel sorrow and fear, but hope was the strongest emotion of all.
They would survive this. They had to. Their son would live.
She would see to it with every breath within her.
Elizabeth's head snapped up as the door to the chamber came flying open. She immediately lowered her hands as Sir Kyle came sauntering into the room.
He must not know. The last person who could ever know was Kyle.
"Well, well." He advanced on her, his eyes blazing with some emotion that Elizabeth could not identify. She could tell that he was attempting to pretend that he was not affected by the sight of her, but she could also tell that this was not so. "If it is not my prodigal betrothed, returned to me from her sojourn in the Forest."
"I want you let Michael and Tess of Huntington go." Elizabeth said immediately, not even bothering to greet him.
"What you want is of little to no interest to me Elizabeth." Kyle replied mildly. "They will die, as will their brother when he comes for them."
Elizabeth closed her eyes briefly. "Please Sir Kyle. I know that you are angry with me, but do not take it out on innocents."
"Innocents?" He almost bellowed. Elizabeth's eyes flew open. She could see a vein pulsing in his throat as he struggled to bring his anger under control. "Innocents?" He repeated more calmly. "I think not. I feel that it has been more than proven that at the very least Michael of Huntington is a demon. This would lead me to believe that his siblings are likely so as well."
Elizabeth bit her lip, decided to lie flat out if it would guarantee that Michael and Tess would be released. "I will marry you willingly if you let them go. I will also forget to tell the Queen that any of this ever happened."
Kyle tilted his head to the side, smiled in such a way that it was more of a grimace and said, "Will you indeed?"
Elizabeth crossed her fingers behind her back, hoped that the Holy Mother would forgive her for the lie. "Yes."
Kyle just stared at her for several long moments. "So you would add bigamy to your list of crimes Milady?" He finally asked, sounding disdainful.
She felt her heart stop. "What do you mean?" She whispered, terrified at what this meant. If Kyle knew that she had married Max, they were finished. He would kill her rather than see Max have her.
While she would willingly die to keep Max and his siblings safe, she had to stay alive at all costs. Her son must live. She wanted desperately to bring her hand comfortingly to her womb, but she refrained. Kyle could not know.
"I'm afraid your little secret is out my dear." Kyle was moving towards her again. "Your brother-in-law has a very big mouth." He shrugged. "But it is of little import. I will still marry you. I just need to assure that you are a widow first." He sighed heavily. "I do not enjoy the idea that Maxwell of Huntington has had you first, but we can not have everything we want in life. It will be my sons that you will carry."
"Please Kyle." Elizabeth fell to her knees in front of him, completely desperate and unable to think of any other way to save Tess and Michael other than to beg. "I will annul it. I swear I will. If you release Michael and Tess."
"I wonder if your husband is aware of the ease at which you are willing to cast him aside?" Kyle chuckled. "Well, he will be. I am sure the Lady Tess will be happy to tell him."
Elizabeth glanced up at him hopefully. "Do you mean that you will release her?" She felt her heart lighten marginally. Making sure that at least Tess was safe was the first step. Then she would work on making Michael so.
"I think I might. I would like to see how he reacts to having her back, knowing that you chose to stay with me."
Elizabeth closed her eyes again. She knew how Max would react. He would not rest until he had freed her from Kyle, whether he had Tess back or not.
Unless he no longer wanted her. There was still that worry knawing at the back of her mind, remembering how she had disobeyed him, had gone against his wishes. All of Michael's assurances that he would forgive her... She did not quite believe them. Only she knew how adamant Max had been against this plan.
And he had been right. She had walked right into the arms of the enemy, bringing Michael with her.
But at least Tess would be free. It was a beginning. She would not rest until Michael was as well.
For as long as Kyle believed that she would marry him, her son would be safe. She had absolutely no intention of going through with it, but if she had to, she would.
Elizabeth would protect Max's child at all costs. Even at the cost of the chance to be with her love, were he never to forgive her for what she now realized she had to do. If she could somehow contrive the release of Michael, she could convince him that he had to convince Max to let her go.
She knew one thing with the utmost certainty. Sir Kyle would never allow them to be together. He would hunt them for the rest of his days. He would kill Max and would most likely marry her anyway.
He would kill their son.
She would do anything to keep him alive - even give his father up.
She had to get Max to forget her. And there was only one way to do so.
"So be it." Elizabeth said wearily. "But first I must be allowed to speak with Tess."