Secrets of the Highwayman (14 page)

Fear squeezed at her heart, but Melanie refused to let him see. “I doubt it,” she said. “You’re not my type.”

“But I am, Melanie,” he purred. “That’s just it. I am.” He lifted the chain again and swirled it in his fingers. She could see now it wasn’t a medellion but a locket, silver in color and oval in shape. “Do you see this? This is a key.”

“Key, what key?” she asked impatiently. Her heart was thudding. She clenched her hands into fists. Where was Nathaniel? She had to find him. She didn’t have time for this.

“A key to time. But you don’t need a key, do you, Melanie? Don’t you realize how powerful that makes you? I almost feel a sense of familial pride. A shame I’m going to have to kill you eventually, but I have no option.”

“I don’t understand!” she backed away. “Tell me what you’ve done to Nathaniel.”

“The stronger you become, the stronger I will be
come. When you reach your zenith, then I will harvest your essence, my dear. I will take your soul.”

Melanie turned, searching the dark road with wild eyes. “Nathaniel!” When she looked back, Pengorren was fading into the shadows, vanishing before her eyes.

“Why?” she shouted at him. “Why do you want my soul?”

“Because I want to live, Melanie. I want to live forever…”

He was gone, she was all alone. Melanie began to shake. “Nathaniel,” she whispered, “where are you?” What had she done before to find him? She tried to order her thoughts, calm herself. She’d pictured him in her mind. That was what she must do now.

Before it was too late.

It only took a second, and she found him
again. One moment she was on the road, and the next she was clinging to Nathaniel, riding pillion on a horse. Even though she knew she wasn’t really there, it was terrifying. She didn’t even have time to scream.

There was a full moon, and Melanie saw clearly the edge of the cliff and the dizzying drop to the black, heaving waters below. The horse trembled, wild with terror, but he did not stop. A wave crashed against the rock, sending up salt spray and drenching them, stinging her skin.

“Nathaniel,” she shouted. “Stop, you have to stop. You’re going to go over…”

There was something wrong with him. He should have heard her but he made no sign. He was here, or at least his body was, but his mind was still held fast in Pengorren’s grip. In desperation she began to scream at him, pulling at his clothing, pounding her fists against
his back, but he still didn’t acknowledge her. He was going to ride into the sea.

Melanie wondered wildly whether she could jump down to the ground and pull him with her? It was a drastic solution—he might still be killed—but if she couldn’t make him hear her, if she couldn’t make him stop, then that would be his only chance.

“Nathaniel! Please, please…” It turned into a sob. She felt bleak, shattered, desperate. “Listen to me, Nathaniel…”

Nathaniel.

Nathaniel blinked, confused, wondering where the hell he was. He had been on the road with Pengorren and now he was…

“Nathaniel!”

The voice came from behind him. Melanie? She sounded husky, frantic, as if she had been calling his name over and over. Her arms grasped him so tightly he was finding it hard to breathe, and his back was hurting…

They were on the cliff path. His eyes widened. The edge of the cliff was only feet away, and after that the sea.

He felt her grab hold of him and knew instinctively she was preparing to jump and take him with her.

“No!” he shouted, and with a superhuman effort wrenched Neptune away, sending him galloping along the cliff edge rather than over it. Clods of earth and pieces of vegetation scattered into oblivion, but a moment later Neptune’s hooves gained purchase. He began to murmur to the frightened stallion, urging him to be
calm. Neptune was still trembling, his eyes rolling, as Nathaniel eased him to a stop.

He could feel Melanie’s fists clenched in his shirt, feel her body shaking as she tried to regain her own control. He risked turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. “Melanie? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Are you hurt?”

She made a choking sound. Her face was sickly in the half-light, and her eyes were like dark pools, the lashes wet and clumped together, while her hair slicked to her head like an otter’s fur.

“Pengorren,” he said starkly. “He wouldn’t let my mind go. He planned to kill me. Again.”

She shuddered and pressed her cheek against the soaked cloth on his back. “I was trying to make you hear me, but you couldn’t. I hit you…I’m sorry.”

“A few bruises are the least of my worries,” he said. “But how can
you
be here?”

“I can travel in time. Like Pengorren. God help me…” She shivered. “I’m not really here, Nathaniel. This is my essence. The real me is back at Ravenswood.”

“You look real. You feel real,” he said, touching her cheek.

“So did Pengorren. Don’t ask me to explain, I don’t understand it anymore than you.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why did you go off without me? When I got back from Eddie’s you were gone. I thought we agreed we would work together.”

Nathaniel glanced at her over his shoulder, his smile rueful. “I thought I could handle it on my own. I know what Pengorren’s capable of, and when you told me how
he seemed to be following you through time, I just wanted to end it.”

“So you set off to play the hero again,” she said, her voice not quite steady. “I can’t keep saving you, Nathaniel.”

He laughed angrily.

“She’s right. Have you learned nothing in two hundred years, my Raven?”

The voice was harsh, and Nathaniel jerked his head around in surprise. Standing in front of Neptune was the queen of the between-worlds, wrapped in her scarlet cloak, with her hair like licks of flame against the sullen sky. He’d forgotten how intimidating she was, especially when she was angry, but now it came back to him full force.

“Your Majesty.”

“You have disobeyed me. I warned you against such a thing, and yet you went ahead anyway. You tricked Teth into taking you through the door.”

Tricked Teth? Nathaniel opened his mouth to dispute that, and then wisely decided to keep quiet. He deserved to face her anger; Teth didn’t.

“Well, have you nothing to say? No excuses? No charming denials?”

“No, Your Majesty. I wouldn’t insult you with anything other than the truth. I know I acted impetuously. I thought I could strike quickly and save—”

“Impetuously?” she snorted. Her scarlet cloak flapped about her, catching the wind like wings. “You are a fool, Nathaniel. You have learned nothing. Why do I bother
with you? I may as well return you to the between-worlds right now and save myself further trouble.”

Melanie had been quiet until now, but Nathaniel heard her draw breath. “Your Majesty, he did it for me. He believes Pengorren wants me for some reason of his own, and just now…well, Pengorren admitted it. He spoke of you, too, as if you know each other. Do you?”

“You presume too much, mortal,” the queen said stiffly, and the air about her crackled.

“Please, Your Majesty, forgive me,” Nathaniel spoke with quiet and bitter sincerity. “It’s true I wanted to save Melanie and that Pengorren is threatening her. I was rash and stupid. I won’t do it again. But if you know anything that can help us defeat him, I beg you to tell us.”

The queen fixed him with a stern look, and he forced himself to meet her eyes. His head began to swim, his stomach felt queasy, and his hands shook. Beneath him, Neptune shivered as if he had a fever, but he stood perfectly still, as if he was afraid to move while the queen blocked his path.

She spoke at last, and now she sounded considering rather than angry. “Pengorren is not a man you will defeat easily, my Raven. Yes, you have courage and daring, but it will need more than that. Patience, consideration, planning. Do you understand at last? Will you listen to me now? Or must I take away your chance to rewrite your history?”

“Please, don’t do that. I understand…”

“Then do not travel through time again without my permission. I will not allow it. As it is, you have made
changes that will affect your sister’s life, although fortunately they are minor in comparison to the harm Pengorren has wrought.”

“What do you mean? What will happen to Sophie?”

“You have compounded her misery,” the queen replied. “She believes your ghost is haunting her, seeking retribution because of what she did. After her son is born she loses her mind completely and is locked away in a prison for the insane. You see what your interference has done?”

“Oh dear God.” Sophie, in one of those dreadful places. He could hardly bear it, felt sick and furious at the thought that he had caused this. “I’m sorry,” he whispered wretchedly.

Melanie’s warm hand squeezed his arm. “We will fix it,” she murmured for him alone.

“How?” he said bitterly, and shook his head. “I wish I had killed him the first time I saw him instead of making him my friend.”

At that moment Teth appeared, bounding up to the queen and wagging his tail. She gave the hound a fond look. “Ah, Teth, there you are. Nathaniel, I gave you Teth as your companion because he wishes to attain a higher level, and I thought you would be a good teacher. Was I mistaken? Will you trick him and lead him astray again?”

Nathaniel tried to concentrate. “No, I won’t do that.” A quick glance at Teth showed a suspiciously innocent expression in the black hound’s eyes. “I’ll certainly be more respectful of Teth’s abilities in the future, Your Majesty.”

The queen smiled her cold smile. “One day, when I think he’s ready, Teth will become a mortal.”

The black whiskery face beamed.

“I look forward to it,” Nathaniel murmured.

“As you have Neptune, I will allow you to keep him in the present. For now. Once you have completed your task, he can return with you to the past. But if you fail, he will fail with you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

She sighed. “Now I will return you to the present, where you are meant to be. This is your last warning, my Raven.”

Hastily, Melanie cleared her throat. “Your Majesty, Pengorren was wearing something he called a key to time. What is it? How does it help him? He said I didn’t need one to travel. How can that be?”

The queen gave an impatient sigh, tapping one of her talons on the ground. “So many questions, mortal.”

“But how else are we to defeat him if we don’t understand?”

“I am not here to do your task for you.”

Nathaniel realized that her cloak was turning into feathers and the feathers into wings. “Pengorren isn’t a mortal,” he said, and it wasn’t a question. “He’s like you.”

“No one is like me,” she shrieked. In the next breath she changed into an eagle, soaring past him. At the same time Neptune came out of his unnatural calm and rose up onto his back legs with a shrill scream. Nathaniel lurched forward to grasp his bridle.

The air fizzed and spluttered, and was split asunder as
time shifted. It was no longer summer and the night was no longer still. As she had said she would, the queen had jumped them forward into the present, into the full raging force of the spring storm.

Melanie felt her body stretching, as if her essence was being pulled violently, and then there was a popping sound in her ears and the two—body and essence—reconnected. She was whole again, but she wasn’t inside Ravenswood; she was here, with Nathaniel, on Neptune.

Lightning splintered the sky, followed instantly by the deafening growl of thunder. The rain was at their backs and the storm directly overhead. It was deafening. Neptune snorted, trying to outrun his own terror, but Nathaniel held him just on the verge of bolting, using all of his skill to keep them safe as they pounded their way toward Ravenswood.

“This is madness!” cried Melanie. “We must be crazy!”

But it was an exhilarating sort of craziness. Adrenaline was pumping through her, and she hardly felt the cold bite of the rain. The horse quivered as another bolt of lightning lit the sky, but Nathaniel held him. He was strong and in control and unafraid. Melanie had never known a man like him.

Ravenswood was visible through the rain, dark and brooding against the threatening sky. Melanie could see the trees in the park waving wildly as the gusting winds ripped through them. They passed Eddie’s grey cottage, huddled in the pounding rain, and she thought she saw his white face through one of the upper windows.

The vegetable garden was flattened, the overgrown plants a sodden mess…

Suddenly there was a terrible rending, like someone in agony. Melanie jerked up her head and saw it through the rain. Rippling like a tidal surge, through the trees in the park, one of the biggest, oldest trees had been struck by lightning and now it was falling. Crashing down. And because of its sheer size, it was taking others with it.

The noise was horrendous. The earth shook.

Melanie stared numbly. It was happening just as she’d known it would, and nothing she’d done to try and ignore it, or lock it out, had made the slightest bit of difference.

They reached the safety of Ravenswood and Nathaniel was off his horse, reaching up for her, rain dripping into his eyes and running down his face. His teeth flashed white as he grinned; he was enjoying every moment.

She wanted to hit him again, she wanted to scream at him, and at the same time she wanted to grab him and never let him go. She’d never felt so confused in her life.

“Melanie,” he said, his hands heavy and warm on her shoulders.

She rubbed a hand over her eyes, and then she put both hands over them, as if to hide herself from him. With surprise he realized she was crying—Melanie, the strong and the stubborn—and didn’t want him to see.

“Melanie,” he whispered, “I know it’s difficult to trust me again, after what just happened, but you must believe me. I won’t let him hurt you. Word of a Raven. I know what he’s capable of now, and I’ll be ready. Whatever the cost to myself, I will not allow Pengorren to harm you.”

“Don’t,” she gasped. “You need to get back to the past to save your family. I don’t expect you to put me first, Nathaniel, I don’t want that. We’re working together, remember? If we work together, then maybe we’ll be strong enough to defeat him. Isn’t that the whole point?”

He slid his arms around her and she didn’t even resist. She relaxed into him. It felt so perfect, so right. As if she belonged there. “You saved my life,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

For a moment he just held her, soothing her shivers, murmuring words that made no sense. He could feel her warm breath against his wet shirt and the wetter skin beneath, and despite the situation they were in it felt amazingly sensual. But she was cold, and in the end he held her gently away, and said, “You need to go inside.”

“What about you?” Even when she’d been crying her eyes were a striking blue.

“I’ll see to Neptune. I examined the stable earlier when I was searching for Pengorren’s portrait, and it looked as if it had been repaired not very long ago. He’ll be warm and safe in there.”

“The tree,” she blurted out, giving another violent shiver. “I knew it was going to fall. And I found you, Nathaniel. Twice! I traveled through time and found you. Whatever is inside me is…is opening up. All these years I’ve kept it locked down, and now it’s as if I can’t hold it any more. It’s got too strong for me.”

“Melanie…”

Nathaniel bent his head and gave her a quick, hard kiss, as if he wanted to comfort her and brand her at the same time. Then his mouth gentled, and he held her
away, leaning his forehead against hers so that he could remain connected to her as he spoke. “You know I want you.” It wasn’t a question.

Her breath was warm on his lips. “I want you, too,” she said.