“Obstacles do not frighten me, Camelee,” he assured her.
From where they were about leave the room, Genevra tossed Alric a knowing smile.
Wolf saw the exchange. He knew it exposed his weakness. Her. He could not stop it. He didn’t care who saw it.
“Where is my brother?” he called out to them.
“He insisted he was well enough to see the king,” Genevra told him, smiling. “He also insisted on bathing in the stream outside. He was shivering!”
“It is good for a man to shiver occasionally,” Wolf said, leaving the bed. “It keeps him humble.”
Genevra stopped and smiled at him. “I like your notions, my lord. A humble man is difficult to find. If that trait is important to you, then you are a good man.”
He smiled, finding himself doing it more and more. He scowled. Alric must have thought Wolf was scowling at him, for he looked anxious.
“I am pleased to have you back with us, Alric,” Wolf told him as the boy passed him.
“For her sake,” he heard the boy mutter under his breath.
“And yours,” Wolf called back. “You are brave. She needs brave people in her life to protect her from men like Ivar.”
“She needed no protection from me,” Alric let him know. “She almost had him down on his knees. She might have been able to outrun him.”
“Or she might not have been able to. You saved her,” Wolf said sternly. He hoped the boy listened to him. “No one will come against you. Yes?”
Alric nodded. “Aye.”
“I want you to be her protector. But if you want to cook,” Wolf continued, “that can be arranged, too.”
Alric smiled and nodded again.
When everyone left but Camelee and Hild, he turned to them and smiled. He didn’t realize how hard he was smiling until Camelee asked him if he was ill.
Yes. He was ill, and it was too late to be saved.
Chapter Fifteen
Tomorrow night wasChristmas Eve of twenty nineteen in NYC. How many parties would she miss? How many men’s meaningless advances would she have had to fight off? Only to go home drunk and alone with no messages on her phone?
“After we sweep the great hall and straighten the holly and the ivy, we will help in the kitchen.” After a moment, Genevra stared at Camelee curiously. “I was not expecting to see you smiling at the day’s activities.”
“Oh, it’s not that—believe me. You said the holly and the ivy. It is the name of a beloved Christmas carol in my time, well, before my time as a matter of fact.”
“Who will you miss tomorrow eve, Child?” Genevra asked her lovingly.
“I—okay, well, there’s—” She thought about it another second. There was no one. She looked down at the nearest chair and sat down in it. The sad realization hit her. There was no one she would miss. No one who missed her right now. Maybe Karen.
“What is it, Camelee?”
“Oh, Genevra, my life has been so empty. I haven’t had a genuine friend…or anyone in my life for so long I’ve forgotten what it’s like. I’ve pretended my way around relationships, faked contentment, happiness, and I did it well—or no one really cared if I was faking it. That might be even worse.”
“Surely the parents who adopted you—”
“No. They don’t. Didn’t.”
“Poor darling,” Genevra soothed and wiped her eyes. “I wish I could have been there for you.”
Camelee believed her and let the older woman comfort her. No one ever had before. Wolf had offered, too.
