B00CGOH3US EBOK (53 page)
Authors: Lori Dillon
Jill shuffled over to an empty bench and sat down, clutching the tapestry to her chest, hugging it to her like a child seeking comfort from a stuffed animal. She held it for the longest time, afraid to look at it. Afraid of what she might find woven within its magical threads.
But she knew she had to look, because it was the only way she would know for sure.
With trembling fingers, she unrolled it on her lap and just as she knew she would find, the tapestry had changed. The knight in the tapestry now wore no helm and his face was clear to see. A face so dear to her heart, she sobbed at the sight of it.
Baelin.
The dragon was still in the tapestry too, only now it lay dead at Baelin's feet, the knight's sword piercing its heart.
Overwhelming joy drew the breath from her lungs. He was alive! Sweet Jesus, he was alive.
But one thing was missing. There was no sign of Jill in the tapestry anymore. A ragged edge ran from top to bottom, separating the knight from where the maiden's figure should be. Her throat grew tight, constricted by the pain of losing him all over again.
"No!" she cried. "It's not fair!"
She wanted to damn whatever unseen force had torn them apart as surely as it had rent the threads of the weaving.
Her tears fell on the tapestry, dampening the ancient threads. She felt a sense of loss so acute she wanted to scream from the agony of it all. She knew in her heart Baelin was alive and free from the curse that had held him for so long. The tapestry told her so.
But he was living eight hundred years in the past without her.
How could she have gone through everything she had only to lose him in the end? She would gladly go back and endure it all again if she could just hold him in her arms one more time.
Lost in her misery, she paid little attention to the blare of car horns and people shouting around her until the commotion became too loud to ignore. When she looked up through bleary eyes, she could barely make out a tall form coming down the middle of the street, causing a major traffic jam. When the moving object came into focus, Jill's heart soared.
A knight, dressed in full chain mail, strode down the middle of Cary Street, brandishing his sword at the veering cars attempting to swerve around him.
Baelin.
She stood and clutched the tapestry to her chest.
"Hey, nut case. Get out of the damn street!" someone shouted behind her.
Baelin turned his head her way and their eyes locked. She was afraid to move, afraid if she so much as blinked he would disappear again before her eyes.
But he didn't. He sheathed his sword and charged toward her, one car nearly hitting him before he vaulted over its hood, the links of his mail carving deep scratches in the shiny red paint.
Before she could draw breath, he snatched her up and crushed her in his arms. When she finally pulled back, her fingers caressed his handsome face as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"You're here. I can't believe you're here."
"Aye, wherever here 'tis." He touched his forehead to hers and drew in a shaky breath. "When you faded away before my eyes, I knew I was dying. I never thought to see you again. Then I awoke to find myself surrounded by these strange metal beasts and angry people shouting at me."
Jill chuckled. "Welcome to my world."
Then she sobered, taking in every angle of his face, every inch of his tall, strong form. "Your dragon wings are gone."
"Aye. The curse is broken. I am a man whole now." He wiped away her tears before crushing her to him again, and commencing a kiss that was probably against the law to display in public in at least twenty states.
"A-hem."
At the soft clearing of a throat next to her, Jill reluctantly broke the kiss. She looked down and gasped, surprised to find the strange munchkin lady from the vintage clothing store standing next to them, grinning with a self-satisfied smile.
"I hope you enjoyed your trip, Jill." She grinned wider, deepening the wrinkles creasing her weathered face, and turned her attention to Baelin. "And Sir Baelin, it's so good to see you looking more yourself these days."
Jill and Baelin exchanged confused glances.
Clo held out her hand. "I'll need that tapestry back now, if you don't mind."
Jill gripped the tapestry tighter. Strange, it'd been such a burden to carry for the past four weeks, but now it seemed so much a part of her she was reluctant to let it go.
As if reading her mind, the tiny woman shook her head. "Don't worry, you won't be needing it anymore."
She eased the tapestry from Jill's hand and held it up, the weaving now almost as large as the munchkin lady herself.
Jill's breath caught. Since the last time she'd looked at it, only moments before Baelin had appeared on the street, it had changed. Now the maid was back in the weaving, standing next to her knight.
"I don't understand. We never passed the final test. How can the curse be broken?"
"Oh, but you did, my dear. By giving his life for the woman he loves, Baelin ended the witch's power over him. And when you offered your heart for his, well… Suffice it to say, there's more than one way to slay a dragon. In the end you both displayed bravery, honor, sacrifice, and unconditional love—virtues no curse could ever withstand."
Clo heaved a heavy sigh, a smile of pride on her cherubic face.
"The tapestry is finished, this part of the story now complete." She started rolling up the weaving with more ease than it should take for someone who looked so small and frail. "Now, a new tapestry has begun for you both. Mind you, there will still be plenty of tests and challenges to pass, as there are for each and every one of us who draw breath in this world. But like all who have come before you and all who will come after, you must face them as they present themselves, on your own. You won't need to see them woven in threads to guide you through the rest of your lives."
"But what about Roderick and Owen? What happened to them?" Jill asked.
"Oh, they're where they should be." She tucked the tapestry under her arm and gave it a little pat. "Besides, they have tapestries of their own to weave and there is yet plenty of thread left to tell their stories."
The strange old woman smiled once more before she turned and walked away, leaving the knight and his lady standing on the crowded sidewalk to stare after her.
"I'm not sure I understand what just happened."
"Nor I, my lady."
She turned to Baelin, searching his eyes. "But one thing I do know is that you died in my arms."
"But I did not." He brushed her hair away from her face with gentle fingers and tucked it behind her ears. "For the first time in over two centuries, I am truly alive."
"But how? You killed the other dragon. You stabbed it through your human heart."
"I do not know. Mayhap my heart was never in the dragon's breast at all, but captured within the magical threads of the tapestry all along." He shook his head. "We will probably never know."
He gazed into her eyes and she saw herself reflected in their warm chocolate depths. The dragon's fire that once danced within them was gone, replaced by the warmth and love of the man with her now.
"All I do know is that I have my own heart back."
Baelin placed her hand on his chest, where she felt his human heart beating within, strong and sure.
"And now I give it to you."
Coming Soon
Roderick's story
Book Two of the Bestiary Series
Out of the Ashes
2013 EPIC Award Winner for
Best Paranormal Romance
Theirs was a love destined to be — torn apart by the wrath of Vesuvius
Pompeii, AD 79
David and Sera are soul mates meant to be together, if only their bumbling guardian angels could do their job right...
First united in Pompeii as a privileged merchant's daughter and a slave gladiator, their young love is cut short when Vesuvius unexpectedly erupts. After several botched attempts, their angels get one final chance to bring the couple together and personally escort them back to war-torn Italy, nearly two thousand years later.
WWII, 1943
Sera is now an archeologist excavating the ruins of Pompeii. David is an American soldier masquerading as an Italian, sent to spy on the Germans camped near the ruins. With the help of their earth-bound angels, they soon find each other again as they excavate the ruins.
But will deception, the horrors of war, and the forgotten tragedy of their past lives, prevent them from unearthing the love of a lifetime?
In a previous life, Lori was a graphic designer for fourteen years. In her current existence, she lives in Virginia with her engineering geek/hero husband, two kids who test her sanity on a daily basis, a dog named Hokie (named after the Virginia Tech Hokies, of course), and various other critters of the furred and finned variety.
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