De Wolfe Pack 05 - Walls of Babylon (42 page)

But not unscathed. Many were wounded, including Kenton. He was moving very slowly on his injured leg and Nicola couldn’t help but notice. She inspected him closely from head to toe.

“Although I am grateful you have returned, it is not without injury,” she said. “What happened?”

He was quite casual about it. “A broadsword cut me down the length of my thigh. An impressive wound if you have the stomach for it.”

He meant is as a jest but Nicola looked at him with some horror. “I suppose I must have the stomach for it if I am to tend to it,” she said, watching him grin. Reaching up, she touched that grinning mouth as he kissed her fingers. “What of your knights? Where are Conor and Wellesbourne and de Russe?”

Kenton’s attempt at humor faded somewhat. “Conor was badly injured,” he said. “Matt and Gaston took him to Wellesbourne Castle to be tended, which was closer to the scene of the battle. Gerik, however, did not survive the battle.”

Nicola grunted in sorrow, thinking of the fine knights who had sustained injury and death in the midst of such a cataclysmic turning point in the history of the country. “I am so sorry to hear that,” she said. “Will Conor survive?”

Kenton nodded. “I hope so,” he said, looking up as the great gatehouse of Babylon finally came into view. He sighed with satisfaction at the sight. “He kept speaking of a Lady Katryne and how he wanted to recover well enough to marry her. He was speaking of St. John’s sister, you know. He met her at Warwick’s camp when he was there. I am not entirely sure how St. John is going to take his sister marrying one of my knights. It would make us all family, I should think, and I am not entirely sure he wants to be related to the man who married the woman who rejected him.”

Nicola couldn’t help but giggle. It was so good to have him returned and, already, it was as if he had never left. His humor was back, his manner calm and rational, and she was so happy that tears of joy were in her eyes.

Nicola clung to him, holding him tightly, as they approached the gatehouse, but before they could cross the threshold, Kenton suddenly came to a halt. When Nicola looked up at him, curiously, she saw that he was looking up to the great walls, studying them with satisfaction.

“What is it, my love?” she asked softly.

A smile crossed his lips as he studied the great stone fortress, now becoming increasingly visible as the mist lifted.

“I was thinking,” he said, clutching her tightly, “that I have never in my life felt as if I had a home, one place to go to above all others. I fostered at an early age and spent my adult life at several different castles, serving different lords, but I never considered any of those places my home. But now, as I look at Babylon, I feel as if I have truly come home. You are here and it was within these walls that we first met. Home is where my heart is and you are my heart.
You
are here. I finally feel as if I have come home.”

Nicola smiled at him, leaning up to kiss him on his stubbled cheeks. “You
are
home,” she murmured. “This is where you are loved most, Kenton. This is where you belong.”

He agreed completely. Carefully, they resumed their walk, allowing the great gatehouse of Babylon to swallow them up as the massive gates slowly cranked closed behind them. Finally, they were both home, both where they belonged, inside the warm, wonderful, sometimes hectic, but always protective walls of Babylon.

Kenton, indeed, had come home.

Present time

Yorkshire, UK, East of Huddersfield

Babylon Castle

When the wife got back to the car, she didn’t notice that her husband was sitting there, looking rather odd. He wasn’t looking at her, either, so he didn’t realize she was looking rather strange, too. They both sat there for a moment until the wife realized the car wasn’t on. Her husband was simply sitting there, gazing through the windshield.

“Nice try,” he said, unhappy.

She had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?”

He sighed sharply and looked at her. “The ghost voice,” he said, mocking it. “The one you yelled from inside the castle. Nice try in your attempt to scare me.”

She blinked, startled. “You heard, that too?”

He frowned and rolled his eyes, turning on the car. “Oh, brother,” he said. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Where are we going next?”

“Wait,” the wife said urgently, putting her hand on his arm. “Don’t go yet. What do you mean you heard a voice? I heard a voice, too. At first I thought it was you just being a jerk, but then I realized… well, it was a woman’s voice. It sounded as if she were calling a name – something like Clinton, I think. Did you really hear it, too?”

He was impatient. “Honey, you’re cute, but I’m not that gullible,” he said. “Nice attempt at trying to get back at me for being a dick, though. I’ll give you that. It was a good voice, nice and scary.”

The wife’s grip on his arm tightened. “But it wasn’t me!” she insisted. “You know practical jokes aren’t my thing. Why would I do that to you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe in that stuff, honey. You know that.”

“But you heard it!”

“I heard
you
.”

The wife looked at him, realizing that all of the debating in the world wasn’t going to convince him that they both heard a voice, and it wasn’t a voice from either one of them. It was as if it had come from the very walls of Babylon, for it was everywhere yet nowhere. Like a swift wind, it was there and then it was gone. Still, she was quite rattled by it. It had been such a breathy, sweet tone, the song of a lover calling through the mist. Baffled, and the least bit spooked, she simply shook her head.

“Fine,” she said, letting the subject drop. “Hold on, I’ve got mud on my shoes. Let me shake it off.”

She popped open the door and removed her shoes, smacking them on the running boards to remove the mud. She was almost finished with the task when, quite close by, they heard another voice coming through the trees.

“Nicolaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The wife’s head snapped up and even the husband jumped, both of them frozen to the spot as a disembodied voice, quite obviously male this time, blew through the mist, through the trees, as if only spoken by a passing breeze. But that breeze had definitely formed a word.

“Oh, my God,” the wife gasped. “Did you hear that?”

The husband’s eyes were bulging out of his head. “What in the hell
was
that?”

The wife’s mouth popped open, suddenly recalling the legend she had heard.
Two lovers, calling for each other in the mist
. They heard the first voice, the woman, and now the man was answering. Good God, was it even possible? Goosebumps shot up her spine.

“He’s calling to her!” the wife breathed in astonishment. “Did you hear him?”

The husband might not have believed in ghosts but he sure as hell didn’t want to see one. “Close the damn door!” he hissed. “We’re getting the hell out of here!”

The wife threw up a hand to prevent him from moving. “No!” she cried softly. “Wait! The first voice you heard was female, right? The voice you thought was me?”

The husband was already putting the car in reverse. “It
was
you!”

“No, it
wasn’t,”
she insisted.
“
It was the lady calling to her knight and now he’s answering her!”

“Close the door or I’ll shove you out and leave you here!”

The wife shut the door, mostly because she believed him. Already, he was backing out of the car park and onto the road, spraying gravel as he went, but the wife was fixated on the trees where the man’s voice had come from.

She was absolutely stunned and elated by what she’d heard. Yes, elated was the right word. Elated that a love so deep, and evidently so strong, had endured all these centuries. As certain as she had ever been about anything in her life, she knew she’d heard the cry of the lady from the very walls of Babylon, and now she was equally sure that the lady’s love, her enemy knight, was returning that call. The mist had brought them together. Maybe that was why she had been so drawn to Babylon, with its ancient walls and misty secrets. It was because those walls protected something, something that endured until this very day.

Those walls protected a love that not even time could erase.

But there was more, something more the wife saw before the ruins faded from view. She would swear until the day she died that she caught a glimpse of woman rushing from the gatehouse of Babylon, only to disappear before she hit the road. It was a fleeting glimpse of nebulous legs and long, pale hair, but it had been there. The wife was sure of it.

As the car tore down the road and the ruinous old castle faded away, the wife took that memory and tucked it deep into her heart, knowing without a doubt that she had witnessed something few mortals ever experienced. It was a love beyond time.

The legend of the lady and her knight would continue to live on, tucked deeply and safely within the ancient walls of Babylon.

If these walls could talk….

~ THE END ~

ABOUT KATHRYN LE VEQUE

Medieval Just Got Real.

KATHRYN LE VEQUE is a USA Today Bestselling author, an Amazon All-Star author, and a #1 bestselling, award-winning, multi-published author in Medieval Historical Romance and Historical Fiction. She has been featured
in the NEW YORK TIMES and
on USA TODAY's HEA blog along with numerous other publications and blogs.
In September 2014, Kathryn was the 41st MOST READ author on Amazon and now she is finding success on other platforms. She is extremely prolific with over 50 published novels and 37 #1 Hot New Releases in Medieval Historical Romance since May 2012.

You can find Kathryn on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ibooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. Please visit Kathryn Le Veque’s website for a complete list of books and ordering information.

Prequel to WALLS OF BABYLON (Kenton is a secondary character):

The Lion of the North on Amazon

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