[u]Part 41[/u]
Elizabeth opened her eyes, but was instantly made to close them again as a wave of nausea ran through her. She forced herself to take deep breaths, managed to pry her eyes open again. It did not take her long this second time to figure out what was making her ill.
She was lying facedown over the lap of someone wearing very uncomfortable chain mail. It was pressing into her belly, hurting her beyond belief. Not only that, but the steed on which said knight was riding was moving at such a speed that the position was even more uncomfortable than it normally would have been.
Her next thought so terrified her, she flinched despite herself. Her baby! This position certainly could not be conducive to keeping her child safe in her womb. She was not very far along but she did know enough about pregnancy to know that the first few weeks were the most delicate. The very thought of losing Max's son.especially after all she had sacrificed to keep him safe.she reacted, plain and simple, moaning in despair.
It was only after that she realized that she might have stayed safer had she pretended to still be unconscious.
"She's awake."
Elizabeth recognized Sir Kyle's voice immediately, although he sounded strangely distant and monotone. She was trying desperately to figure out exactly how she had ended up in this position, how he had spirited her away from the castle without her even being aware of it, when the sound of the person responding made her blood run cold.
"We are almost there. Just keep her still. Lord Edmund will take care of the slut once and for all."
[I]Tess[/I].
And it was in that instant that Elizabeth finally understood exactly the lengths to which her nemesis would go in order to assure that Maxwell remained hers. Because, in the moment that she heard her voice, one word - one word she knew she had recognized but could not place - returned to the forefront of her mind, explaining so much.
Mind-warp.
An image of Michael standing in front of her, his hand raise in a desperate bid to protect her, his shocked tone reaching her ears as he said it: [I]Oh my God! It's a mind-warp![/I] And, then, before he had been struck down.[I]Tess![/I]
Max's brother had not been mourning the loss of his sister at all. Rather, he had been accusing her. Tess DeHarding had been working with Kyle all along. It was the only explanation.
Elizabeth still did not quite understand exactly what it was that a mind- warp did - her grasp of the visitors' gifts was still hazy at best as she had not spent as much time in their company as she might have wished - but it was clear to her that it involved mind control somehow, involved making people see things that weren't there. It had been done to both she and Michael so that they would expose themselves at the convent, had been obviously been done to the guards at the castle when Tess had liberated she and Michael the day before.
And now it had been used on her again to get her out of the castle. Which could only mean one thing. The castle was exactly where she wanted - where she [I]needed[/I] - to be. Max [I]had[/I] come for her and when he had arrived, he had found her gone. There could be no doubt.
Elizabeth felt tears of despair fill her eyes. She did not understand why Tess had taken her, Kyle obviously working in league with her, but she did realize that if Tess was coming out into the open, it likely meant that she, Elizabeth, was not long for this world.
All of her attempts to protect her child and Max had been for naught. She was doomed to die this day.
[I]Max![/I] Her heart wailed his name as she tried to focus her entire being on his memory. If she was to perish, she wanted to do it with her heart beating for him, just as it had done since the moment she first laid eyes on him - which it had done since even before that. She had always loved him after all, had recognized him as her soul mate in her dreams long before ever meeting him the flesh.
And, it was then, in the moment where Elizabeth DeParkville finally gave up, that it happened.
She felt a tiny tendril of heat begin in the region of her womb. It spread through her to the extremities of her toes, her fingers, warmed her heart.
Her baby was trying to comfort her.
But it was not until she heard the voice distinctly in her head that she understood completely. Her son was not only attempting to give her strength, he was also connecting her to the one person she needed above all others.
[I]Liz! Sweeting! Where are you?[/I]
Her heart stopped beating in shock, then resumed abruptly, pounding so hard, she was light-headed again.
It was Max.
She almost didn't believe it. Yet, she grasped desperately at this last tendril of hope, wondered if she had indeed finally lost her sanity. Perhaps she had been crazy for the past fortnight. Perhaps Max, the visitors, Sir Kyle and all of it were merely figments of her imagination. She would awaken in the bed she shared with Mary, would sigh wearily that he had seemed so real, and, yet he would remain but a dream.
[I]Liz![/I]
This time Elizabeth answered him, finally able to convince herself any that the Lord had actually heard her prayers. [I]Max?[/I] She sent it out tentatively, fully expecting silence in return.
Instead, a great rush of relief ran through her entire body, making her tingle with heat. It did not take her more than a moment to realize that it was not [I]her[/I] relief, but, rather, Max's.
[I]Liz! Thank God! Are you all right? Where are you?[/I]
[I]Max, I don't understand! What is this? How is this possible?[/I]
There was a long pause and then, [I]I'm not sure Liz, but I don't care at the moment. You have to help me sweeting. We're coming but the trail is not easy to follow.[/I]
Elizabeth closed her eyes, tried desperately to accept that this was really happening. [I]I don't know Max. I'm lying face down. I can't see anything.[/I] She paused, took a deep breath, steeled her courage. [I]I'm going to try and make Kyle let me sit up.[/I]
She struggled to block out the fury that ran through Max, and consequentially her, at the news of her present position. She prepared to again attempt to play on Sir Kyle's lingering feelings for her.
"Sir Kyle." Her throat was so dry, it was barely recognizable as a word, let alone a name. Elizabeth licked her lips, tried again, her heart pounding. "Kyle!"
"She's talking!" Kyle exclaimed, sounding frightened. In spite of herself, Liz felt her heart go out to him. Sir Kyle DeValence was obviously in over his head at this point. He was apparently more terrified than she was at the moment.
"We're almost there!" Tess retorted, sounding annoyed. "Just hold her."
"Kyle, please! Can I not sit up? I'm going to be ill." Elizabeth made one last effort to get the information that Max needed. She whispered, hoped Tess would not hear, "Kyle, I may be carrying your child." She grimaced at the falsehood, hoped that God would forgive her. She was not proud of the fact that lies rolled off her tongue so easily these days.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt Kyle's knees move beneath her as he brought them together to slow the horse's movement. "I'm going to let her sit up," Kyle said, trying to sound braver than Elizabeth suspected he felt.
Tess sighed in irritation, but finally said, "Fine. But if she gets away Kyle, you are going to die far sooner than I promised you earlier."
It took Elizabeth a moment to acclimatize herself to actually being right side up again. She closed her eyes, forced her head to stop spinning. When she opened them, she was not surprised to see they were in the forest. Now the question was, where in the forest?
Elizabeth raised her chin, attempted not to flinch when her eyes came to rest on Tess, who was staring at her, a smirk on her face. "I hope you had a good sleep slut. It will be your last before you take your eternal rest."
Elizabeth pressed her lips together, forced herself not to reply. She merely shifted her eyes away.
But now that Tess had started, she seemed unable to stop herself from gloating a bit further, her glee in her triumph too much for her. "You thought you had won, didn't you Elizabeth? I played your little game, made Kyle think that you had bedded him, tried to make Max see you for what you really are, but none of it was enough to make you let go of him. I know now that you have truly bewitched him. It is almost poetic that I, the supposed unnatural monster, am the one to expose you."
"I am no witch Tess," Elizabeth replied calmly when Tess seemed to be waiting for an answer. "Max loves me. It is as simple as that. It is a blessing I know that I do not deserve, but one that I now see I was foolish to throw away. It is a gift from God and the reason that we have both been made to suffer so is that neither of us felt worthy of it. But I must accept it. In fact, I have - and so has he now I think." She smiled despite herself, thinking of Max. "If it were not the case, then he would not have come for me."
Tess smirked again. "Oh he came and he [I]saw[/I] you in Kyle's arms. As I said Elizabeth, I kept my end of the bargain. You are a fool if you think he will come for you now."
Liz felt her blood run cold, remembered the request that she had made of Tess - that she make Max fall out of love with her. What had Tess made him see? Would he believe that it had not been her?
In the next moment she was ashamed. Had she just been spouting words to Tess not minutes ago? Of course not. Max was already coming for her. He had not believed it. He recognized the great gift they shared as much as she did. Elizabeth felt tears fill her eyes as love for him swelled in her heart. He had never doubted it, unlike her. If she was unworthy of him in any way, it was because of that.
He had not forsaken her, in spite of everything, and she would not longer forsake him - not even to protect him.
"Only death will part us," she replied quietly. "Whatever you made Max see, he did not believe it. And you know it Tess. It is why you have brought me with you." She raised her chin again, stared Tess down.
"It is not the only reason milady. Whatever Tess has told you , it is not guaranteed that you will die this day. "
Elizabeth wrenched her head around to stare at the figure melting from the trees. It was an older man with graying hair and fine clothes. He stared up at her with dark, emotionless eyes. They were eyes that sent a shiver down Liz's spine. Those were merciless eyes. They were even worse than Tess's because they were perfectly sane too. Tess's blue eyes could no longer hide the glint of madness that burned within them, but this man..he was in no way crazy and that was more frightening than anything Elizabeth had yet seen.
"You have caused us much trouble Lady Elizabeth," the man said, almost amused. "But, in the end, you will serve your purpose."
"This is Lord Edmund," Tess interjected. She sounded irritated again. "I told you I'd bring her to you. You did not need to come."
Elizabeth did not quite hear this last bit though. She was still trying to process the news that this was Max's guardian, back from the dead. How was it possible?
"I know it," Lord Edmund replied. "But I found myself unable to wait. I was eager to lay eyes on the girl who has stolen the heart of my king."
"My lord!" Tess whined. "His heart belongs to me."
Lord Edmund chuckled. "All in good time Tess. It will be this girl after all who brings your Max back to you. His love for her will make him yours. I told you that I would take care of you. Have I not always done so sweet child?"
Elizabeth's blood ran cold. She did not know what Lord Edmund was plotting, but she knew that she did not like it. She flinched back against Sir Kyle in spite of herself, for he was, in truth, the closest thing she had to a friend at the moment.
Bringing Max into this would be a mistake. Inherently, Elizabeth knew this. She knew that she should not find out where they were taking her, that she should meet her fate with equanimity, in order to protect her love from whatever his "guardian" had planned for him.
As her doubts assailed her though, the warm glow emanating from her womb returned, reminding her of the promise she had made to herself only minutes ago. She could not forsake Max. No matter what, she had to trust that he would be able to handle this situation.
After all, in the end, was he not their king? What could they possibly threaten that would make him bow to their whim? She knew that she was as good as dead anyway. Max had to be aware that there was no way that Tess would allow her still to be living when he appeared. Tess herself would die before she allowed it.
"What do you mean?" Liz asked, trying to mask her fear. "Tell me, please. Max is one of you! Why are you threatening him?"
Information. She needed information.
Lord Edmund tilted his head, obviously weighing how much to tell her. "We're not threatening him my child. We're merely going to remind Maxwell where his destiny lies. He will accept it, marry Tess according to Antarian law in your presence, thus severing his bond to you, and then he will return to our planet with us. If he does not do this, then you [I]will[/I] die - before his eyes. It is as simple as that."
Elizabeth closed her own eyes, tried to keep her confidence high. This would not happen. Max would come and it would be fixed. somehow. She trusted him. As many times as she had failed him, he had never turned from her. This was merely the final battle and he needed to know what he was coming up against.
"Might I at least know where we are going?" Elizabeth inquired innocently.
To be continued.
Elizabeth opened her eyes, but was instantly made to close them again as a wave of nausea ran through her. She forced herself to take deep breaths, managed to pry her eyes open again. It did not take her long this second time to figure out what was making her ill.
She was lying facedown over the lap of someone wearing very uncomfortable chain mail. It was pressing into her belly, hurting her beyond belief. Not only that, but the steed on which said knight was riding was moving at such a speed that the position was even more uncomfortable than it normally would have been.
Her next thought so terrified her, she flinched despite herself. Her baby! This position certainly could not be conducive to keeping her child safe in her womb. She was not very far along but she did know enough about pregnancy to know that the first few weeks were the most delicate. The very thought of losing Max's son.especially after all she had sacrificed to keep him safe.she reacted, plain and simple, moaning in despair.
It was only after that she realized that she might have stayed safer had she pretended to still be unconscious.
"She's awake."
Elizabeth recognized Sir Kyle's voice immediately, although he sounded strangely distant and monotone. She was trying desperately to figure out exactly how she had ended up in this position, how he had spirited her away from the castle without her even being aware of it, when the sound of the person responding made her blood run cold.
"We are almost there. Just keep her still. Lord Edmund will take care of the slut once and for all."
[I]Tess[/I].
And it was in that instant that Elizabeth finally understood exactly the lengths to which her nemesis would go in order to assure that Maxwell remained hers. Because, in the moment that she heard her voice, one word - one word she knew she had recognized but could not place - returned to the forefront of her mind, explaining so much.
Mind-warp.
An image of Michael standing in front of her, his hand raise in a desperate bid to protect her, his shocked tone reaching her ears as he said it: [I]Oh my God! It's a mind-warp![/I] And, then, before he had been struck down.[I]Tess![/I]
Max's brother had not been mourning the loss of his sister at all. Rather, he had been accusing her. Tess DeHarding had been working with Kyle all along. It was the only explanation.
Elizabeth still did not quite understand exactly what it was that a mind- warp did - her grasp of the visitors' gifts was still hazy at best as she had not spent as much time in their company as she might have wished - but it was clear to her that it involved mind control somehow, involved making people see things that weren't there. It had been done to both she and Michael so that they would expose themselves at the convent, had been obviously been done to the guards at the castle when Tess had liberated she and Michael the day before.
And now it had been used on her again to get her out of the castle. Which could only mean one thing. The castle was exactly where she wanted - where she [I]needed[/I] - to be. Max [I]had[/I] come for her and when he had arrived, he had found her gone. There could be no doubt.
Elizabeth felt tears of despair fill her eyes. She did not understand why Tess had taken her, Kyle obviously working in league with her, but she did realize that if Tess was coming out into the open, it likely meant that she, Elizabeth, was not long for this world.
All of her attempts to protect her child and Max had been for naught. She was doomed to die this day.
[I]Max![/I] Her heart wailed his name as she tried to focus her entire being on his memory. If she was to perish, she wanted to do it with her heart beating for him, just as it had done since the moment she first laid eyes on him - which it had done since even before that. She had always loved him after all, had recognized him as her soul mate in her dreams long before ever meeting him the flesh.
And, it was then, in the moment where Elizabeth DeParkville finally gave up, that it happened.
She felt a tiny tendril of heat begin in the region of her womb. It spread through her to the extremities of her toes, her fingers, warmed her heart.
Her baby was trying to comfort her.
But it was not until she heard the voice distinctly in her head that she understood completely. Her son was not only attempting to give her strength, he was also connecting her to the one person she needed above all others.
[I]Liz! Sweeting! Where are you?[/I]
Her heart stopped beating in shock, then resumed abruptly, pounding so hard, she was light-headed again.
It was Max.
She almost didn't believe it. Yet, she grasped desperately at this last tendril of hope, wondered if she had indeed finally lost her sanity. Perhaps she had been crazy for the past fortnight. Perhaps Max, the visitors, Sir Kyle and all of it were merely figments of her imagination. She would awaken in the bed she shared with Mary, would sigh wearily that he had seemed so real, and, yet he would remain but a dream.
[I]Liz![/I]
This time Elizabeth answered him, finally able to convince herself any that the Lord had actually heard her prayers. [I]Max?[/I] She sent it out tentatively, fully expecting silence in return.
Instead, a great rush of relief ran through her entire body, making her tingle with heat. It did not take her more than a moment to realize that it was not [I]her[/I] relief, but, rather, Max's.
[I]Liz! Thank God! Are you all right? Where are you?[/I]
[I]Max, I don't understand! What is this? How is this possible?[/I]
There was a long pause and then, [I]I'm not sure Liz, but I don't care at the moment. You have to help me sweeting. We're coming but the trail is not easy to follow.[/I]
Elizabeth closed her eyes, tried desperately to accept that this was really happening. [I]I don't know Max. I'm lying face down. I can't see anything.[/I] She paused, took a deep breath, steeled her courage. [I]I'm going to try and make Kyle let me sit up.[/I]
She struggled to block out the fury that ran through Max, and consequentially her, at the news of her present position. She prepared to again attempt to play on Sir Kyle's lingering feelings for her.
"Sir Kyle." Her throat was so dry, it was barely recognizable as a word, let alone a name. Elizabeth licked her lips, tried again, her heart pounding. "Kyle!"
"She's talking!" Kyle exclaimed, sounding frightened. In spite of herself, Liz felt her heart go out to him. Sir Kyle DeValence was obviously in over his head at this point. He was apparently more terrified than she was at the moment.
"We're almost there!" Tess retorted, sounding annoyed. "Just hold her."
"Kyle, please! Can I not sit up? I'm going to be ill." Elizabeth made one last effort to get the information that Max needed. She whispered, hoped Tess would not hear, "Kyle, I may be carrying your child." She grimaced at the falsehood, hoped that God would forgive her. She was not proud of the fact that lies rolled off her tongue so easily these days.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt Kyle's knees move beneath her as he brought them together to slow the horse's movement. "I'm going to let her sit up," Kyle said, trying to sound braver than Elizabeth suspected he felt.
Tess sighed in irritation, but finally said, "Fine. But if she gets away Kyle, you are going to die far sooner than I promised you earlier."
It took Elizabeth a moment to acclimatize herself to actually being right side up again. She closed her eyes, forced her head to stop spinning. When she opened them, she was not surprised to see they were in the forest. Now the question was, where in the forest?
Elizabeth raised her chin, attempted not to flinch when her eyes came to rest on Tess, who was staring at her, a smirk on her face. "I hope you had a good sleep slut. It will be your last before you take your eternal rest."
Elizabeth pressed her lips together, forced herself not to reply. She merely shifted her eyes away.
But now that Tess had started, she seemed unable to stop herself from gloating a bit further, her glee in her triumph too much for her. "You thought you had won, didn't you Elizabeth? I played your little game, made Kyle think that you had bedded him, tried to make Max see you for what you really are, but none of it was enough to make you let go of him. I know now that you have truly bewitched him. It is almost poetic that I, the supposed unnatural monster, am the one to expose you."
"I am no witch Tess," Elizabeth replied calmly when Tess seemed to be waiting for an answer. "Max loves me. It is as simple as that. It is a blessing I know that I do not deserve, but one that I now see I was foolish to throw away. It is a gift from God and the reason that we have both been made to suffer so is that neither of us felt worthy of it. But I must accept it. In fact, I have - and so has he now I think." She smiled despite herself, thinking of Max. "If it were not the case, then he would not have come for me."
Tess smirked again. "Oh he came and he [I]saw[/I] you in Kyle's arms. As I said Elizabeth, I kept my end of the bargain. You are a fool if you think he will come for you now."
Liz felt her blood run cold, remembered the request that she had made of Tess - that she make Max fall out of love with her. What had Tess made him see? Would he believe that it had not been her?
In the next moment she was ashamed. Had she just been spouting words to Tess not minutes ago? Of course not. Max was already coming for her. He had not believed it. He recognized the great gift they shared as much as she did. Elizabeth felt tears fill her eyes as love for him swelled in her heart. He had never doubted it, unlike her. If she was unworthy of him in any way, it was because of that.
He had not forsaken her, in spite of everything, and she would not longer forsake him - not even to protect him.
"Only death will part us," she replied quietly. "Whatever you made Max see, he did not believe it. And you know it Tess. It is why you have brought me with you." She raised her chin again, stared Tess down.
"It is not the only reason milady. Whatever Tess has told you , it is not guaranteed that you will die this day. "
Elizabeth wrenched her head around to stare at the figure melting from the trees. It was an older man with graying hair and fine clothes. He stared up at her with dark, emotionless eyes. They were eyes that sent a shiver down Liz's spine. Those were merciless eyes. They were even worse than Tess's because they were perfectly sane too. Tess's blue eyes could no longer hide the glint of madness that burned within them, but this man..he was in no way crazy and that was more frightening than anything Elizabeth had yet seen.
"You have caused us much trouble Lady Elizabeth," the man said, almost amused. "But, in the end, you will serve your purpose."
"This is Lord Edmund," Tess interjected. She sounded irritated again. "I told you I'd bring her to you. You did not need to come."
Elizabeth did not quite hear this last bit though. She was still trying to process the news that this was Max's guardian, back from the dead. How was it possible?
"I know it," Lord Edmund replied. "But I found myself unable to wait. I was eager to lay eyes on the girl who has stolen the heart of my king."
"My lord!" Tess whined. "His heart belongs to me."
Lord Edmund chuckled. "All in good time Tess. It will be this girl after all who brings your Max back to you. His love for her will make him yours. I told you that I would take care of you. Have I not always done so sweet child?"
Elizabeth's blood ran cold. She did not know what Lord Edmund was plotting, but she knew that she did not like it. She flinched back against Sir Kyle in spite of herself, for he was, in truth, the closest thing she had to a friend at the moment.
Bringing Max into this would be a mistake. Inherently, Elizabeth knew this. She knew that she should not find out where they were taking her, that she should meet her fate with equanimity, in order to protect her love from whatever his "guardian" had planned for him.
As her doubts assailed her though, the warm glow emanating from her womb returned, reminding her of the promise she had made to herself only minutes ago. She could not forsake Max. No matter what, she had to trust that he would be able to handle this situation.
After all, in the end, was he not their king? What could they possibly threaten that would make him bow to their whim? She knew that she was as good as dead anyway. Max had to be aware that there was no way that Tess would allow her still to be living when he appeared. Tess herself would die before she allowed it.
"What do you mean?" Liz asked, trying to mask her fear. "Tell me, please. Max is one of you! Why are you threatening him?"
Information. She needed information.
Lord Edmund tilted his head, obviously weighing how much to tell her. "We're not threatening him my child. We're merely going to remind Maxwell where his destiny lies. He will accept it, marry Tess according to Antarian law in your presence, thus severing his bond to you, and then he will return to our planet with us. If he does not do this, then you [I]will[/I] die - before his eyes. It is as simple as that."
Elizabeth closed her own eyes, tried to keep her confidence high. This would not happen. Max would come and it would be fixed. somehow. She trusted him. As many times as she had failed him, he had never turned from her. This was merely the final battle and he needed to know what he was coming up against.
"Might I at least know where we are going?" Elizabeth inquired innocently.
To be continued.