“So strong that it might be unbreakable,” Celine finished for her.
Gaston stared at Brynna, unable to move, unable to speak, shaken to his core by what she had said—that it might be him holding Celine in this time. That his love might cause her death.
But Celine seemed strangely calm.
“Celine?” He finally moved, drawing her in, tilting her face to his with one hand. Mayhap she was dazed with shock.
“It’s all right, Gaston.” She gazed at him, her eyes clear, her voice steady. “I’m fine.”
“Milord, there is still hope,” Brynna said helplessly. “It may hold her here ... or it may not.”
“We’ll find out in four days.” Celine slid her arms around his ribs and hugged him. “One way or the other.”
Gaston felt like shaking her. How could she be so calm, with her life hanging in the balance? “Brynna, if you would excuse us,” he said, fighting to keep his voice even, “I would speak to my wife alone.”
“Aye, milord.” Brynna walked around them, still gazing at them with a look of awe. “I am late in attending to Etienne—I promised that I would make an herbal for him, to help him regain his strength more quickly. Milady? We will speak again on the morrow?”
“Yes. Thank you for all your help, Brynna.”
The mystic woman curtsied and went to the door. As it closed behind her, Gaston took a deep breath before he could speak.
“Help?” he said sarcastically. “Celine, do you not understand what she has told us? What it means? If you cannot return home, you will—”
“I know,” she said calmly. “But I’m not afraid.”
He could not voice his reply to that.
I am.
He released her and turned away, battling an emotion unlike any he had felt before. Not in all the times he had nearly lost his own life in battle had he known the cold, bitter taste of fear on his tongue. But he knew it now.
“By nails and blood, I will not accept it so easily,” he growled. “I will fight. We will find a solution. We shall stay away from one another. Bury our feelings.”
“Shut down all the emotions we have for each other? Pretend there’s nothing between us? Like we were blowing out a candle?”
He jerked around. “Aye! And I will leave here. Ride as far as Pharaon can last. In four days at a fast gallop, I—”
“Gaston.” Her lashes dusted her cheeks, then lifted. “Do you really think that would work?” she asked softly.
He clenched his jaw, fought for breath against the iron bands of fear closing around his chest. He knew the truth of it: once, weeks ago, such pretense might have succeeded. But not now.
“Nay,” he choked out in agony.
She moved toward him, her lips touched by a gentle smile. “We’ll know whether the eclipse will work when the eclipse happens. In four days. Until then there’s no sense in worrying about it. Worrying won’t change anything.”
He watched her draw closer, her movements strong and graceful, her slender form showing not even the smallest whit of a tremor. He could not help feeling a surge of love and pride at her courage. “You truly feel no fear, my brave lady?”
“You’ve taught me a lot, my brave knight.”
They came together in a tender embrace, not speaking for a long moment.
“You really have taught me a lot, Gaston,” she whispered after a time. “I was just thinking this morning that I haven’t had a panic attack in weeks—and it’s not just your breathing techniques that have helped me. It’s something else.”
“Pray tell, what great wisdom have I imparted?” he asked with a pained laugh.
“That when you have something important to do, you should simply do it. Because fear is a useless emotion that doesn’t change anything.” She rested her cheek against his chest. “And life is too short and too precious to spend any of it being afraid.”
He found it difficult to speak past the lump in his throat.
“Gaston, we only have four days left, and I don’t want to spend them being afraid.”
He tilted her chin up on the edge of his fist. “Then we shall feel no fear, my lady of fire. We shall take this time and seize it with both hands and make it ours.”
“Pretend that we have all the rest of our lives.”
“With naught to keep us apart.”
“No bullet,” she whispered. “No eclipse. No Lady R.”
“Naught but the two of us.” He slowly lowered his head. “Forever.”
His mouth closed over hers and she responded with a hungry sigh, and they melded and became one in a deep, gentle joining. Not breaking the kiss, he bent and scooped her into his arms.