Page 32 of Stay with Me

They waited soundlessly for the better part of an hour. Nicholas suspected the guards were well on their way out of the Weald. Even with torches to light their path, the superstitions surrounding the woodland were too numerous. They wouldn’t want to linger any longer than they had to now that darkness had fallen.

Even so, Nicholas didn’t plan to take any chances tonight, lest a remnant had stayed behind.

Finally, he sheathed his dagger. As he did so, Sybil must have taken that as the sign that they were safe, for she slipped her knife into a casing inside her boot.

“We shall remain for now,” he whispered near her ear as he had before.

“Good call.”

He started to push away from her, needing to put the proper distance between them again.

She stopped him with a touch of his arm. “You can keep leaning against me... if that’s more comfortable for your back.”

He should have guessed she’d notice his discomfort. She didn’t seem to miss a single detail.

Was he wise to consider her offer? Surely, the contact for a short while longer wouldn’t compromise his resolve to keep his hands off her.

“Thank you.” He situated himself again so that his shoulder was propped against hers, easing the pressure of having to lean his back against the cave. “Since I have informed you about mybrother, now you must tell me about yours. Did the holy water heal him as you had hoped?”

Her muscles tensed against him as though in protest of the topic.

“Unless you would rather not discuss the matter—”

“He refused to drink it.”

“Then he has no wish to be healed?”

She expelled a sigh, one laced with frustration. “He told me he doesn’t want my help and to leave and never come back.”

“That is why you do not know how long you will stay here?”

“It’s complicated.”

“I should like to know how the visions of you come and go. You claim you are not an angel or saint or witch. But from whence do you hail? From heaven or someplace in between?”

“Neither.” She paused as though trying to figure out how to explain in a way he could understand. “I’m from a different time and place altogether. Drinking a little bit of the holy water allowed me the short visits with you. On the last occasion, I drank more, and now I’m here until I’m called back.”

“The holy water is indeed powerful. ’Tis another reason Simon seeks my death. I inhibited him from having control over the St. Sepulchre wellspring that contains the holy water.”

“Then you believe me that I’m here because the holy water brought me?”

“I have heard of its healing power. But naught of this visiting from another time and place. Nevertheless, I have no reason to doubt you.”

“Thank you.”

He wished he could prevent her from leaving. “Does your brother have the power to call you back to your time and place?”

“Only if he has the holy water to do so, which he doesn’t.”

A kink of tension eased from Nicholas’s shoulders.

“Even if he did have it, he made it clear he doesn’t want me in his life anymore.” Her whisper this time was drenched with despair.

He’d felt much despair in his life and knew platitudes wouldn’t make the feeling disappear. Instead, he gathered her hand in his. She didn’t stiffen as she had the other times he’d held it. Perhaps she was growing accustomed to his hold. Or perhaps she needed the comfort of having someone understand her heartache.

“The distance away will help him realize how valuable you are.”

“Am I valuable?”

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