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"I doubt that is the case, Roland,"Eric said

"Doubt all you like There is little else I care to tell, then Leave it"

His clipped tone left no question as to his stand on the topic

Eric&039;s brows rose, but he nodded

"If that&039;s what you bish"

Tamara put one final stitch into Rhiannon&039;s side, tied the knot and set the needle aside Rhiannon sighed loudly"Thank God that is over"

"Lie still until dawn, Rhiannon If you tear theain"

Rhiannon was stunned Was thisher? Her?

Rhiannon? Princess of Egypt?

Then the slip of a thing glanced down at her and winked

"It&039;s late

Ja to bed"

To Rhiannon&039;s surprise, Jalanced toward a chair in a corner, where Freddy already slu in the hearth, behind the protective screen Rhiannon lay still in the oversize bed, and Roland thought even she looked s folds and covers He hadn&039;t seen Tao Tamara and Kathryn Bryant had been friends before Ta one had taken it hard He still saw that pain lingering in her eyes Along with it, he saw her worry for Jaer"

"Most of it aiers in particular,"Roland told her

"It troubles uarded by day Except for Frederick, there is no one to watch over him"

"Well, we can solve that problem, for the moment at least"&039; Roland frowned at Eric&039;s statement

"What on earth do you , a sort of a supercharged a it, I can reht?"Roland was amazed True, he&039;d known of Eric&039;s passion for test tubes and chemicals, but he&039;d never dreamed of results such as this

"No, I need to rehtly only to have Tamara, ever attentive, sit beside her and help her into an upright position As she bent to tuckone said, "There are side effects, Roland Without the benefit of the regenerative sleep, he gets weak, tired, not to mention damned irritable"

"Never ive uard Jauard him myself, Roland Until we think of a better solution"

Roland shook his head quickly

"No It is my responsibility-"

"You can both do it,"Tamara interrupted

"Take turns, for heaven&039;s sake"

Rhiannon sighed hard and shook her head

"A fine solution, but a te the obvious"

Roland moved nearer the bedside Her face still twisted with pain whenever sheher own

"What is it, Rhiannon?"

"Somewhere on the planet, the boy has a father, does he not?"

Her words were a blade in his heart

"A father?"He shot a questioning glance at Tamara

"Kathryn&039;s husband left her before Jaht not even know he has a son His name was James James Adam Knudson"She shook her head

"I wouldn&039;t knohere to begin searching for him"

"Not that it ht to reclaim either one of theue the point And no one again suggested that Jaht be better off with his natural parent

Roland filled his friends in on what had happened at the stadiue man who&039;d attacked her, and his deeons to one of the hidden resting places Roland had at the ready After hours of discussion, Eric had finally agreed to allow Roland to take the drug, and reht hours to watch over Jaiven Roland three vials of fluid, to be taken at four-hour intervals, beginning well before the lethargy began to steal over hi at the bitter taste He tucked the empty vial into a pocket, and climbed the stairs to check in on Jamey and Frederick Pandora lay at the foot of Jamey&039; s bed

Jamey slept peacefully

He returned to his chambers There was still an hour before dawn He found Rhiannon still in his bed, though she&039;d obviously been up briefly Long enough to "borrow"one of his white shirts, and shed the bloodstained ca she&039;d worn She lay on her side, giving hi exposed beneath the shirt&039;s hem"When dawn approaches, I&039;ll take you below"

She rolled onto her back, wincing slightly with the action, and bending one knee

"I&039;ve no desire to rest eon"

"Rhiannon, it isn&039;t safe here"He turned to pace away fro about caution""

"Posh, Roland, this is a perfectly secure place to rest Draw those musty old drapes of yours, bolt the door, and there you are Indulge me just this once I pro your precious solitude"

"With everyonesince been shot to hell, as the expression goes Here,in the foreseeable future I want you where I can be sure you&039;re safe"

She bit her lower lip as if to think it over He knew the tone of command in his voice would rankle her Still, he wouldn&039;t have her in soe overrun with DPI operatives

"It&039;s true thatJaht consider staying here"

"There is nothing to consider You&039;re staying"

"There are conditions, Roland"He lifted his brows

"Conditions?"

"For one, I will sleep here, in the bed If you&039;re so worried about , you can simply climb in beside me Should anyone attack h to summon Pandora, ouldof Eric&039; s works, one of you will be awake, anyway"

Roland shook his head slowly

"I will concede to that request, so long as you will give it up should there be an added threat, or reason to believe DPI can reach us here"

She nodded once

"I&039;m not finished I simply cannot rest in a place that looks like this

So, you will allow , he e of the bed

"Your conditions are piling high Surely you do not envision yourself a chat elaine "I envisionesture

"Surely you cannot mind if I wish to remove a feebs and a bit of dust"

His eyes narrowed

"I know you too well to believe that is all you will do"

She shrugged, lowering her lashes over downcast eyes"Well, I was thinking new drapes ht be of use After all, I want to be sure the sun can&039;t penetrate by day"

He gave her a curt nod

"Drapes and dusting, then i That is the extent of it Agreed?"

"And I wish to keep the fire"

She ain, and the look in her eyes should have warned hi I had when you carded h the forest in your are, Rhiannon"His voice had little force behind it He,"too, was re the feel of her in his arms, and of her lips upon his throat"Oh, but I&039;m not finished yet"She sat up carefully, and took his hand in two of hers, tracing invisible patterns on his palm with her nails until he shuddered

"I want you to tell me about your life before I ht"

"That is not a subject I wish to discuss"She stared so intently he felt her tugging at the curtains that veiled his mind

"Roland, you&039;ve kept your past in side you for a very long ti with it, I believe You&039;ve twisted events until you&039;ve branded yourself a devil Don&039;t you think you h, an urge to tell her everything

But he feared even that Rhiannon ht be repulsed if she knew the entire tale Then he asked hi Let her see the blackness in his soul for herself, and perhaps she would finally understand why he kept hier wanted him Some time later, he wondered how he had capitulated so easily

What was there about her that usurped his will? Still, he found his stretched out over theon his thighs He absently stroked her hair as he spoke

"I was the youngest of four sons It was my parents&039; fondest wish that I enter the er son to do My becoe and influence to the faers left a fiery path

"You, a hable

"I felt the same So, at fourteen, I ran off, deter ht

After teeks of scrounging h to eat, I cae He sat upon a blanket on the grass, while his athered berries nearby None of them saw the wolf

But I did"

"A wolf?"Rhiannon&039;s eyes widened and her hand stilled upon his thigh

"Stalking the child? What did you do?"

"Froze with fear, at first Then the babe looked towardsound and waved his chubby hands in the air"

Roland shook his head

"I don&039;t knohat possessed me, but I drew my knife, the only weapon I had, and I leapt on the wolf as it went for the child It was a fool&039;s errand I was nearly torn to shreds"

She sat up slowly, facing hiainst ain her eyes Her face was so near to his he could feel the quickening of her breaths

"Did you kill this wolf, Roland?"

"Yes, apparently so I don&039;t remember much after the first few bites"She closed her eyes and shuddered visibly Her hair fell over one eye, and without thinking, Roland reached out, and ered on her face, so soft He thought he e, exotically slanted, jet orbs

"When next I woke, I was in a fine bed, being tended by servants The child was the grandson of a great baron, and the son of a knight Sir Gareth of Le Blanc He took me as his squire when I was healed For two years, he treated ht hts in his outer bailey"

"And you, with your stubborn deter with a vengeance You grew stronger and ed

"I did pick up some basic skills"

"Tell ht idly, his fingers still stroking her hair

"I was traveling with Sir Gareth one day There was a tourna, knights and their squires who rode with us A band of knights loyal to a sworn ene in a But she lifted her hand to touch his face, almost as if she could see the pain of the ht fiercely, and killed several of them, but they were outnumbered"He shook his head slowly, and the past resurfaced as if it were yesterday The clang of steel upon steel The shouts and groans of the fallenhooves

"When Gareth fellso happened tohi the helmet and mail coif from his head With his last breath, he pushed his sword into ht on"

"But you were just a boy!"

He shook his head

"Sixteen was near enough to manhood in those times, Rhiannon You know that

I demanded the other squires assist me as I removed Gareth&039;s breastplate and hauberk, and put them on It seemed to take forever, but we accomplished the task in minutes I donned his coif and helauntlets onto rip, and a layer of ice coating ht into the melee I was driven by a force I didn&039;t know It was the demon I&039;ve since discovered in my soul

"I found my master&039;s horse, a massive destrier with a taste for battle, and ht in his place,"she breathed

"More than fought I was enraged I re of the broadsword, and the shattering impact of it when it hit home

I remember the sounds, the screams of the fallen, and my own battle cry I was a man possessed, Rhiannon When the battle ended, I alone remained

Dead azed into Rhiannon&039;s eyes He was shocked to see a single tear roll slowly over her face He leaned forward, for so its salty taste

"I&039;ve never told this story to another living soul, Rhian-non"His lips ainst her daers threaded in his hair

"Nor will I,"she promised

"Not on pain of death"She lowered her head to his shoulder

"What happened next?"

"The squires had scattered, but not far enough that they hadn&039;t witnessed the battle When we returned to the castle of Gareth&039;s father, they told of what they&039;d seen I was treated as so before I was su Louis, as a second cousin to Gareth&039;s father, the baron I was knighted as a reward for what they called valor I had er wanted it I wanted only to return to ain"

"And did you?"

He forced a s Apparently, Eric&039;s potion orking, for he felt no hint of tiredness

"I&039;ll save the rest of the tale for another night, Rhiannon You need to sleep now And heal"

She shook her head as she lifted it from his shoulder"You loved this Gareth It is no wonder you fought as you did Your grief gave you this rage, not some demon"

He closed his eyes, and wished he could believe it were the truth

"Rest, Rhiannon We&039;ll talk more when you wake"&039; She lowered herself into the bed until her head again lay in his lap, and her arht, that he felt comfortable with her there so close, rather than disturbed Moreover, the weight on his heart seehter than it had before