Authors: Once Upon A Kiss
* * *
Aurelia prowled the perimeter of Dunhelm restlessly, fed up with her own company. Two months of missing Baird was enough to make her dread a lifetime alone.
As she had been alone for countless centuries. On this day, it was threatening rain and the air was damp. The shadowed steps of the ritual well beckoned to her, the weather reminding Aurelia all too clearly of the day she had first met Baird.
Aurelia heard Darian murmuring cheerfully to himself as she descended and thought his company might be good tonic.
For twelve hundred years Aurelia had slumbered in this ritual well, she marvelled as she descended the stairs, and ran her fingers along the fitted stone walls. And yet she had never yet returned here since the day that Baird awakened her. She paused in front of a carved stone slab, remembering when many such stones dotted the landscape.
This one evidently had served to seal the well.
“It’s a beauty, isn’t it?” Darian asked pertly, ducking his head out of the well’s shadows. They exchanged greetings, then looked to the stone in unison. Darian demonstrated the mechanism that opened and closed it.
“Remarkably well preserved, probably because it’s been out of the elements. We’ll never figure it out, of course, no hint these days as to what these things meant.” He pursed his lips. “These stones must have been important once, seeing all the work people put into them.”
“Oh, yes,” Aurelia breathed. “They were.”
She stepped closer, ignoring the considering light in Darian’s eyes. This was the stone raised in memory of her. The crescent moon signified her status as priestess, the arrow arched against the curve of the moon showed her mastery of the crossbow. The fact that the arrow was broken signified her passing away.
And the world serpent encircled it all just as he surrounded the world and held it intact, consuming his own tail in an endless cycle of death and birth.
Aurelia ran her fingertips across the relief sculpture of herself, thought of all the men that had put their labor into seeing her safe beyond the days of their own lives, and her heart clenched.
Their efforts had been for nothing in the end. Aurelia had been protected, she had survived, but she had awakened to a barren new life.
Too late, Aurelia realized not only that she could love Baird but that she did love him. Wildly, madly and passionately.
But she had figured out the truth too late to make a difference. If Aurelia had been able to confess love when Baird feared she was manipulating him, would it have made a difference? Her heart ached with weight of that possibility.
But Baird was gone as surely as he had been over the centuries. New York was as remote as the shadowy otherworld of the Dreaming that Aurelia glimpsed. How could she pursue him across the seas, without ship or sail, without Tex’s helicopter, without this coin they all held in such esteem?
Without Baird, Aurelia was alone as she never had been before. Only now she understood the full weight of the solitude he had endured as a child.
Falling in love, if indeed Baird had, would have been a tremendous shock to him. New ground, as it were, instead of the appearance of the trusted and familiar, as it was to Aurelia. That coupled with the dreams, for a man who did not dream, would have challenged all he knew to be true.
In five days.
Aurelia sighed, hindsight showing all too clearly that things had moved overly quickly between them. If only she had known then what she knew now, all might have come differently.
But it was too late. Her pride nudged her with the unwelcome reminder that Baird did not want her, that whatever interest he had had in her had been exhausted in her bed.
“Look at this inscription,” Darian urged and Aurelia shook her head at this reminder of the other man’s presence. “Too bad modern scholarship doesn’t have the key to read these letters any more.”
Aurelia studied the familiar runes and easily read them. “Here lies Aurelia, daughter of Gemma and Hekod, priestess high -”
“Cursed to sleep until her lover is proven true.”
Aurelia’s gaze flew to Darian in surprise. His eyes shone with an odd brightness and she suddenly did not feel safe in his presence. “I thought you could not read that,” she said cautiously.
Darian smiled and there was something in his expression that made Aurelia aware of the damp chill of the old well.
“No, I said modern scholars couldn’t read it. But, I remember many, many things that others have carelessly forgotten.” He winked with confidence. “Must be sign of superiority.”
A lump rose in Aurelia’s throat and she took a step away. “I do not understand.”
Darian grinned. “Of course, you do, Gemdelovely Gemdelee. We both understand and remember a great deal more than everyone else.” He moved quickly to block Aurelia’s path to the stairs. “Maybe that’s why we’re meant to be together.”
“We are not meant to be together!”
Darian’s voice turned hard. “If you’re hoping for Bridei to come back, you’ll have a long, long wait, Aurelia. This time, I’ve really scared him to the core. He won’t be back.”
Aurelia’s mouth went dry. “What do you know about Bridei?”
“More than you, obviously,” Darian said with assurance. “He and I have met here many, many times, but you slept right through it all.”
The breath left Aurelia’s lungs in a rush. “You are Bard!”
A malicious smile launched over Darian’s lips. “None other than the son of Erc himself,” he said cockily.
This was the man at the root of her woes! Fury rolled through Aurelia and she lunged at the other man.
“You murdered my brother!” she bellowed, an ancient part of her bent on taking vengeance out of this man’s hide.
Darian was flattened against the wall by Aurelia’s assault. He swore as she raked her fingernails down the side of his face, then snatched at her wrists.
Aurelia struggled against his grip and hated that he was so much stronger than she. If only she had had her crossbow!
“Temper, temper!” Darian slammed Aurelia’s back against the wall, looming over her as he held her wrists above her head. She fought to free herself, hating how he leaned his chest against her breasts.
“You know, you should have married me when you had the chance, and all of this could have been avoided.”
“I had no chance! That was all a lie to draw Thord into your web of deceit!”
Darian laughed and Aurelia hated him doubly for what he had done. “You do remember everything! Good, then there won’t be any pretending between us.”
“There will be nothing between us!”
“Oh, really?” Darian sobered. “I swore a pledge a long time ago, Aurelia, a pledge that both you and Dunhelm would be mine.” He pressed against her and Aurelia hated the feel of his erection against her belly. “Although I never expected you to show such promise.”
He closed in for a kiss and Aurelia spat in his confident face.
“Bitch!” Darian grimaced and held her wrists with one hand while he wiped away the spittle. He glared at Aurelia. “I could take you now,” he assured her darkly. “But I’d rather wait for you to come willingly to me.”
“Never! I will never surrender to you!”
Darian chuckled and the cold sound sent a shiver over Aurelia’s flesh. “That’s where you’re wrong, Princess Aurelia.”
He slid his free hand down the length of Aurelia, pausing to pinch her breast. “You know, I like a woman with some fight in her...”
If he wanted fight, he would get it from Aurelia. She slammed her knee up into his groin.
Darian howled and loosed his grip. Aurelia squirmed free and dove after the pickaxe he had been using in the excavation. She pivoted as she swung the weapon high, only to find Darian leaning in the doorway. His arms were folded across his chest and a smile played over his lips.
“Go ahead,” he invited.
He thought she would not be able to kill him!
Aurelia stepped forward, not fooled by Darian’s bluff. “You should not be so confident that I will not strike a blow,” she assured him. “It was I who made the first kill for my father’s forces on the day you invaded.” She heard her voice turn cold. “Would that it had been you who took that arrow.”
Darian’s smile broadened and he did not step away from Aurelia’s advance. “Well, it wasn’t then and it won’t be today.”
“You are overly confident!”
“Just imagine what the murder of a society archeologist at Dunhelm would do to Baird’s reputation?” Darian mused. “Especially when it’s already well known that the owner of Beauforte Estates is fighting this historic investigation tooth and nail.”
Aurelia paused. “But Baird has supported your work all along. Indeed, he seems more concerned about details than you!”
“Ah, not according to the reports I’ve been making to the society.” Darian’s smile flashed. “Apparently, he’s been most obstructive, coming within a hair of tossing me off the property.”
“But that’s a lie!”
“And just between you and me, the chairman of the society is this close” - Darian measured an increment between finger and thumb - “to demanding the government seize Dunhelm as an historic site. You know, this place is so historic, a real cultural gem, that it would be irresponsible to let it pass into private hands, especially private hands that have no respect for the past.”
“You cannot do that to Baird! He has invested heavily in restoring Dunhelm! Dunhelm means everything to him!”
“Exactly!” Darian confirmed with relish. He flicked a glance to the pickaxe that Aurelia had half-lowered to the ground. “So, go ahead, kill me and bring this all to a quick conclusion.” He snapped his fingers. “‘Hotelier’s Lover Murders National Heritage Preservation Society Archeologist. ‘ The government would seize Dunhelm in a flash.”
“It’s all lies!”
Darian smiled coldly. “Well, it’s not my favorite solution, since I’d be deprived of having Dunhelm myself, but it would certainly destroy Baird. Again.” His gaze hardened. “Trust me, Princess Aurelia, I can make it so.”
Aurelia felt sickened by this confession. Too late, Aurelia saw the hate that motivated Darian, a hate that echoed too clearly of the Bard whose deeds she knew too well.
How could she have missed the obvious?
But she would not give Darian the tools to steal Dunhelm away from Baird. Even if Baird had spurned her, she knew how important this place was to him. And she would do what she could to keep Darian from destroying all Baird had built.
The power of her love was far far greater than her need for vengeance. Aurelia cast aside the pickaxe and Darian chuckled.
“You cannot make Dunhelm your own if the government seizes it.” she declared, but her bravado was weak.
“Close enough.” Darian shrugged. “I’ll be in charge of the site and eventually, if all goes according to plan, the society itself will be mine, as well.”
“You cannot do this to Baird,” Aurelia whispered. “It would break his heart to lose Dunhelm.”
“That’s the precisely the point.” Darian moved suddenly and braced his hand above Aurelia’s shoulder, leaning so close to her that she recoiled in distaste. “Although there is still one pesky detail to be resolved.”
Aurelia could barely form the word. “What?”
Darian’s eyes gleamed. “I also vowed to lay claim to Hekod’s lovely daughter.”
“No!” Aurelia pushed past him and ran for the stairs.
Darian’s mocking laughter followed her and Aurelia remembered his assertion that she would come willingly to him. “No! Never!” Aurelia scrambled up the stairs in her desperation to escape.
She had to help Baird!
There was one thing Aurelia could do, one thing she had to do, one thing she had never dared to do before. It was a once in a lifetime solution and she would never be the same afterwards.
But the stakes were high enough to merit the deed. Aurelia had to summon Baird and this time, she had to make him fully understand the threat against him and Dunhelm.
The moon, mercifully, would be full on this night.
Perhaps that was a portent of success.
Aurelia lunged into the hotel and Elizabeth turned in surprise. “Where can I find someone to cut my hair?” she demanded breathlessly.
* * *
It was six o’clock on a Thursday night in May and Baird was staring out the window of his office at the city far below. New York was the same as it always had been, but Baird knew he was different.
The business ran as well as ever, better in fact since Baird had acknowledged the power of his own intuition. He made decisions more quickly now, trusted his gut instead of wasting time chasing supportive statistics. If anything, Beauforte Resorts was a stronger company than it had ever been.
But success had become hollow.
Maybe it always had been, but Baird had needed Aurelia to open his eyes to the facts. He jingled the change in his pockets, not quite ready to admit he needed her more than that.
Baird’s apartment in the Manhattan Beauforte was the same, but its plain functionality no longer pleased him. He found himself rattling restlessly around in it at night.
The apartment was empty, just like his life.
Baird had always been alone, that wasn’t new. What had changed was that he didn’t want to be alone any more. The yawning emptiness that he’d actively chosen now bothered him as it never had before.
He often caught himself staring into space when he should have been working, lost in a vision of blue, blue eyes with a faint rim of silver-gray.
Just like he was now.
The dreams had stopped as soon as Baird left Dunhelm, although that moment in Inverness had proven to be the beginning of something far worse. What had been his dreams now came at any hour of the day, bursting into his mind with a vividness that competed with his own photographic memories.
The slightest thing brought them on - a snippet of William Morris wallpaper reminded him of a Victorian parlor he had abandoned to seek Aurelia, a waft of incense brought memories of a Byzantine church where he had turned back to the Orkney Islands. Each and every one of them was a testament to a time he had proven himself worthy, then gone to seek Aurelia’s hand.