“Send your men out in groups of four,” Nicholas commanded. “Spread out in every direction until you come to your area’s largest town. Find them. I want answers by tomorrow night. Also, keep some men here to notify me if they return.”

  Hoping…praying that Charlie could be trusted, Nicholas leaned in closer to his ear. “I will be at Old Walter’s. Tell only one of those men. One you trust.”

  “Aye, Sir,” Charlie answered and turned to the men.

  “How is she?” Elia asked him on their way back to the main keep.

  “Keeping herself occupied. She has managed to transform Walter’s crypts into a candlelit haven where she can work. But she is frightened.”

  The thought of her so afraid made his determination to protect her even stronger. “I must go back. I will—”

  “Nicky, you must stay here,” Elia told him, her golden-green gaze so familiar that he almost smiled. “You have an enemy and if he sees that you have abandoned your post, left your castle with almost no protection, he will come here—and I, unfortunately, cannot hold the castle for you while you comfort your wife.”

  Whatever urge he had to smile faded as the realization settled over him that she was likely correct. Let his enemy come here. But not while Elia was here with just a handful of men.

  He remained awake all night, pacing the walls, waiting for some kind of word. It came just before the sun rose.

  One of the guardsmen in the tower called out that riders were approaching. It was one of the groups Charlie had sent out to find the king. There were five riders. Were they his men? They were still too far away to see.

  He waited with the men who were at the castle joining him on the wall.

  “’Tis Charlie,” one of the men called out, peering over the side. “And…the king!”

  Nicholas’ heart pumped wildly in his chest. He looked out over the side. Where was Lizzie?

  Without another thought, he pushed off the wall and sprinted to the outer gate. He tried not to allow terrifying thoughts to creep into his head. He would find out everything soon enough.

  Bursting through the outer gate on foot, his eyes searched the golden landscape for the group. When they saw him, the king broke forth and raced his mount to his commander.

  “Is she here? Did she come back?” Richard called out.

  “Do you speak of Lizzie?”

  “Aye,” the king said, reaching him. “The bitch. She tried to have me delivered to Henry Tudor.”

  Nicholas almost laughed it was so preposterous. Lizzie cared for Richard. She would never—would she? “Sire, where is she?”

  “I had hoped she would be here. I want her found.”

  “You will tell me what happened over some warm mead in my solar. And then we must speak of the accusations against my wife.”

  “Aye. I am aware that she has been accused of being a witch.”

  “Who is her accuser?”

  “I will not tell you that and make you guilty of murder.”

  Nicholas would find out. “Of course, I will kill the bastard who would try to have my wife burned at the stake. The claim is ridiculous.”

  “I would think so.” Richard kicked his horse and the beast galloped up the long, walled pathway to the castle. Nicholas and his men followed behind.

  “She told me that her mother was meeting Henry Tudor in a tavern in Huntington, outside the north wall of York.”

  “So you went alone?” Nicholas asked the king while he stoked the fire in the hearth. The morning was cool with fog rolling in from the north.

  “I didn’t bring any men because that bitch told me it might alert the Tudors.”

  “What did you think to do to him?”

  “Kill him. What else?”

  “And what happened?”

  “We were attacked on the road. I was nearly killed,” Richard told him, sipping his mead. “Do you not have anything stronger?”

  Nicholas asked one of the servants to bring some wine to the solar, and then set his attention on Richard once again. “And Lizzie? What became of her?”

  “She ran off. At first, I did not know what was going on. I was struck and dragged off the road. But then I saw her, standing a few feet away with her mother. She was watching me as stoic as her mother was gleeful. Henry was there watching as well. ’Twas his uncle, that bastard, Jasper who struck me. Henry warned me to come to Bosworth. He said he would be waiting. He did not want to kill me without a battle.”

  For a moment, Nicholas felt pity for Richard, but he’d been a fool to leave the castle without his guard. He was the damned king. Men…and little boys had been killed for the title.

  “So, Henry wants to ridicule you,” Nicholas pointed out.

  “You will not let him.”

  Nicholas shook his head. “And then what happened?”

  “I do not know. I was struck again and left for dead. I woke up when the men came upon me. Thank the Lord you sent them to find me.”

  “Aye. What about my wife?”

  “Ah, your wife. Send for her.”

  “She is not here. I sent her away.”

  “Well, bring her back, Brother. I will give the order that if a hair on her head is touched, whoever touched it will die regretting it.”

  Nicholas breathed. “Thank you, Richard.”

  “You love this woman.”

  “Aye.”

  Richard smiled. “Finally. I began to fear you were incapable of being in love. Go bring her back.”

  Nicholas owed him much. He would explain to Kestrel why he couldn’t allow Henry to belittle the king. She would understand. She would be happy to come home.

  But she wasn’t home. They had only been husband and wife for a day. Did she consider his castle her home? Would she ever? He’d finally stopped worrying about Simeon getting his hands on the brooch and her choosing to return to her time. Now, he couldn’t blame her for wanting to return.

  He rode to Walter’s and slid out of his saddle in a hurry.

  He missed her. He knew it had only been several hours since he saw her last, but it felt as if a hundred years had passed.

  He knocked and then pushed the door open.

  One of Walter’s servants, (Walter was the only merchant wealthy enough to have servants) who was about to do the same thing from his side, was knocked several feet behind the door.

  Nicholas hurried to him and grabbed hold of him before he fell. “My apologies! Have I injured you?”

  The servant shook his head. He looked more shaken by speaking with Nicholas than by almost being trampled by him. The older man was afraid of Nicholas. Most people were. He was big and scarred and he rarely smiled.

  He didn’t smile now but spoke gently while he patted the man’s shoulder. “What is your name?”

  “Jonathan, my lord.”

  “Jonathan, I have no reason to hurt you. You must not fear me, aye?”

  “Aye, my lord,” Jonathan nodded. His shoulders fell from around his ears.

  “My wife,” he finally smiled as he turned to go find her, “would have my head if she thought I went around frightening ser—”

  She stood before him, gazing at him as if he were a feast for her eyes. But it was she who ravished his soul. Garbed in her dusty dress that matched her eyes, her dark mane hanging loose around her beautiful face, she made his legs go a little weak.

  Without saying a word, he went to her and gathered her in his arms. She clung to him with her face buried in his neck.

  “The king has been found. He is denouncing the accusation. ’Tis safe for you to return, my love. Come home.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  It took a bit of time to get going from Walter’s, mainly because Kestrel insisted on saying goodbye to everyone, even the stable hand. Walter doted on her as a grandfather would dote on his darling granddaughter. She had won over everyone, especially him.

  He’d known to bring one horse. They both loved riding this way, with her body relaxed, her back pressed to his chest, his nose and lips buried in her hair.

  “So, Elizabeth orchestrated this entire thing with the king,” she said as they headed off.

  What did orchestrated mean? He shook his head. He didn’t need to know. He liked all her unfamiliar words. “’Twould seem so. She won his trust and then enticed him to follow her into Henry Tudor’s lair.”

  Kestrel shook her head and sighed. “What a badass she turned out to be.”

  He laughed. “Badass? What kind of insult is that.?”

  “It’s not an insult in twenty nineteen. It means impressive, tough and dangerous. She almost got the job done. Richard will probably kill her for treason if he wins, won’t he?”

  “Aye,” he said. Aye, she was correct. He hadn’t even thought of it yet what with Kestrel’s rescue being the only thing on his mind. “She brought him to the camp of his enemy.”

  They both nodded. Elizabeth would not survive Richard’s victory.

  “But…” He didn’t want to say it, to talk about it. He couldn’t stop his own tongue. “I still need to fight for him. She will have to stay away—” he stopped and looked into Kestrel’s eyes. He didn’t want to have this conversation.

  “He saved you, my love.”

  Tears filled her eyes. She let them fall. “At what cost? You? Let them burn me if it will save you.”

  He stopped the horse and took her face in his hands. “No. Do not speak such things.”

  He lowered his lips to hers, letting his heart pound heavy with the desire to kiss her.

  He waited another moment and then turned his horse left, off the road.

  “Where are we going?” she asked with her cheek pressed to his chest.

  “To be alone.”

  They rode around trees and bramble until they came to a small patch of grass. They’d ridden around long enough to find it and, in that time, they had seen no one.

  This place was private.

  He slipped out of the saddle, light on his feet. He lifted his arms to her, and she fell into them. He kissed her and then carried her to a giant tree and set her under it. “Would you have me out here in the open under the trees?”

  “I’d have you anywhere,” she said, kissing his mouth. “Anywhere you want me.”

  “I want you all the time.”

  She giggled as he softly bit her lip, then her chin. She lay back, pulling him with her.

  “No man has ever treated me the way you do, Nicholas. I’m so glad the brooch sent me back to you.”

  He smiled, parting her lips with his tongue, untying the laces of her dress. He moved his body over hers, loving how she felt under him. He grew harder for her and ran his palms under her skirts…over her arse in her lacy panties.

  He didn’t want to wait. He could not wait much longer. He was hard, stretching his hose to its limit.

  With a flick of his wrist, he untied the laces of his hose and released himself into his hand. He held his velvet tip to the lacy barrier between them.

  He wanted to tear it away. It would have taken nothing, but he pulled them down instead. Slowly, sensually, he took her full rump in his hands while she took him into her body, snugly at first and then sleeker as she molded to him.

  Nicholas looked down into her eyes and his heart melted within him. He wondered how he had ever lived in a world without her before.

  “I feel as if I have been surviving from one battle to the next. Then you appeared and I began to live.”

  She lifted her hips beneath him and gasped softly when the full size of him filled her. She rubbed herself against him and he thrust with more conviction.

  “You made the most terrifying and terrible thing in my life bearable…and then enjoyable. You saved my life and my heart right along with it. You’re a man in full splendor, and I’m never letting you go.”

  She tightened her grip on him and he drove himself deeper and then withdrew. They both held their breath for an instant, until he sank within her again, this time with the evidence of his passion filling her.

  She clung to him and cried out into his shoulder as her passion poured out onto him.

  Nicholas held her in his arms, in the grass, beneath a giant tree. Birdsongs sounded from the branches above. A cool, refreshing breeze rustled the leaves and her hair.

  A perfect day thanks to her. He smiled and swept a tendril of hair away from her eyes. But he didn’t want the king changing his mind because they’d kept him waiting.

  “We should be getting back.” He kissed her and then rose up to pull his hose back on.

  She was sizing him up and smiling when he turned back around to look at her. He did the same while she pulled up her panties and let down her skirts.

  They didn’t talk about the king on the way back. Kestrel was still set on begging him not to fight against Henry. He understood that altering time was forbidden and dangerous, but after what Richard had done this morning, the idea of abandoning him didn’t sit well with Nicholas.

  “Did Elizabeth ever mention Henry to you?” he asked her. Now that the danger to Kestrel was over, Elizabeth bombarded his thoughts. What kind of clever, dangerous enemy to Richard was she? How long had she felt animosity toward him—enough to lure him to his death?

  “She never did,” his wife replied, resting against him. “And she only spoke of the king when she was asked about him. She mostly wanted to know what happened to me, was my memory getting any better? She asked a lot of questions about you.”

  “What kinds of questions?”

  She shrugged and he kissed the top of her head. “Questions like was I responsible for all your smiles.”

  “What did you tell her?” he whispered against her ear.

  “That I wasn’t responsible for all your smiles.”

  “Not true,” he laughed softly. “You are responsible for all of them, all my laughter, all my hopes. Everything. What I do with it all is my choice. You awakened me and now I want it all with you.”

  He felt her take in a long, deep breath and then let it out as if all her pain rode on the breath of that wave and left her body. “I love you, Nicholas.”

  “And I love you, Kestrel.”

  When they reached the castle, they dismounted and were on their way to their room when they were stopped by a group of his men.

  “King Richard wishes to see you as soon as you return,” said one of the guards. “Forgive us, my lord, but we are to escort you.”

  “Is something wrong?’ Kestrel asked him, looking up.

  “No, love,” he reassured. He wished he felt the confidence with which he spoke. Had something happened? He didn’t want to alarm Kestrel, so he said nothing.

  They were escorted to Nicholas’ solar, where the king awaited them.

  Sitting in a chair beside the king, with a drink in his hand, was Reg. Why did Nicholas’ blood run cold in his veins? “What is going on?” he asked the king.

  He noticed more guards filing into the solar. Some of them were the men Nicholas had relieved of duty yesterday.

  “Nicholas,” the king said, looking forlorn. “I thought you were on my side.”

  “What are you talking about?” Nicholas growled.

  “How could you take a Lancaster as your bride? And now, she may be a witch!”

  No! Nicholas’ murderous gaze went to Reg as even more guards filled the solar. Five men came at him immediately while four others took hold of Kestrel.

  When they put their hands on her, Nicholas fought against his captors and prevailed, but more men came. Some of his own men, afraid to show disloyalty to the king. He fought them but there were too many holding him back.

  “We will have trial in one hour,” Richard informed him. “Reg tells me there are witnesses already waiting to speak to me.”

  “Richard!” Nicholas shouted at him. “Do not do this! You will die at Bosworth Field without me. I will not fight for you if you do not stop this!”

  “’Tis out of my hands, Nicky. The people want justice. Let us have her trial and if she is found guilty, I will do nothing until Bosworth Field is over and I am safe. Then, I will let her go to you.”

  “Release her now!” Nicholas bellowed, shaking the walls.

  Richard offered Kestrel a pitying look. “Take her away,” he commanded, then departed the solar. The four men holding Kestrel left after him. Reg and fourteen others stayed behind with Nicholas.

  “I am going to kill you,” he warned Reg on a low growl.

  His cousin’s mocking laughter filled his soul. “You are nothing now, Nicholas. Soon, Richard will give this castle to me. You and your witch wife will be dead, and life will be happy without you in it once again. Take him to the great hall!” Reg commanded.

  There were already people in the great hall, waiting to begin the trial. This has been planned, Nicholas realized, his wrath overflowing. He scanned the hall and found Richard sitting at Nicholas’ table with Reg taking Kestrel’s seat. Which one of them would he kill first?

  They brought her in. Another man had replaced one of the original four. Charlie.

  Nicholas stared at him and his fingers around Kestrel’s upper arm. Betrayal hooked him in the guts. He cast Charlie a murderous glance and then met the gaze of his wife.

  She was afraid. He could see it in her eyes. She kept it hidden and he admired her for it. He would get her out of this. She tried to see him through the group of men who subdued him. His heart thrashed against his ribs. There were too many guardsmen, the kings and his own, filling the great hall. He couldn’t take them all.

  The king’s voice tore his attention away from her. Nicholas heard his words as if in a deep fog. Prove…Witch…Witnesses. No. Nicholas closed his eyes then opened them again when Reg motioned to a certain man among them to come forward.

  “Your Majesty, this is John, the smith from the market.”

  John stared, wide-eyed at the king and rolled his cap in his hands.

  “John, tell the king what you saw.”

  “I seen her holding her arms out to the earl. He went to her as if he had no choice in the matter. He was getting ready to kiss her! We all know the earl has not taken a woman in years.”

  Nicholas didn’t care how he knew that. It was something else the fool had said… “I went to her as if I had no choice because I didn’t. I love her. ’Twas no spell involved. ’Twas her kindness and determination to help all of you.”