“So,” Sebastian concluded, “this going berserk of yours pushes you into another realm, and there,thisrealm was vulnerable to you.”
Wolf shrugged his shoulders and reached for Camelee’s hand. Hers was small and damp in his. He wanted to tell her he loved her, and he wanted to stay with her for the rest of his days. He wanted to reassure her that all would be well, but he wasn’t so sure it would be.
“Can you do it again?” Sebastian asked him.
“If I get angry enough,” Wolf replied.
“I would suggest you hold your temper if you wish to live another instant.”
At the sound of Genevra’s friend, Merlin, they all turned to watch him make his way from the other end of the long table and come toward them. “How did you get here, Northman? And why is there a sword hanging from your belt? Do you possess magic?”
“He possesses no magic, Merlin,” Genevra assured him. “He fought like a warrior to get to the woman he loves. That is all.”
The man shook his head as if to clear it. “He fought to get here? What does that mean? And what doyoumean,that is all?” He raised his voice slightly. “The meeting is over. They will all be retuning at any moment. When they see him—”
“Then hide him!” Camelee shouted at him.
“Mr. Simeon, do something!” Kestrel joined in.
“He cannot be hidden,” Merlin said. raising his hands. “He will tell us how he arrived here. And then your father, the king, will tell you their decision.”
Wolf had no idea what was going to happen, and he hated the feeling. He decided he didn’t like magic. It may fashion beautiful objects like the castle, but it held too much power over a man.
“Camelee,” he said as he turned to her while everyone was questioning Merlin. “Forgive me if you do not share my sentiments and I seem like a madman—”
“I do. I do share them,” she vowed, reaching her free hand to his. “I’ll be mad with you.”
He smiled, and meant it, for the first time since she’d left, he felt lighter and kissed both her hands.
They heard the king’s footsteps before he entered the hall. When they did see him, Wolf thought he would have known in a moment who was the king among the servants walking with him, for he carried himself with the same confidence and authority as King Cnut.
He looked more like Kestrel and Michael than he did Camelee. When his blue gaze found Wolf, he stopped dead in his tracks. “Who is this?”
“I am Chief Ulf—”
“How did you come here?” the king demanded, and then without giving Wolf a chance to reply, he called for someone called Viviane.
“Father, wait!” Camelee cried out and clung to Wolf as if she could stop harm from coming to him “I love him! He’s not here to hurt anyone. He wants to be with me. Don’t you take that from me!”
The king immediately stopped and gave her a sorrowful look. Wolf guessed the meeting Merlin had mentioned did not go well. His fears were conformed a moment later when two women entered the hall.
Wolf thought they were almost too beautiful to be real.
“What is this?” one demanded.
“Who are you?” asked the other on a shaky voice.
“I am Ch—”
“How did you get here?”
“Merlin,” they said in unison, “did you bring him?”
“I fought my way here,” Wolf told them on a wave of authority. He was tired of being ignored. “I ripped open the veil with my sword.” He remembered what Genevra had warned him about threatening Avalon, so he controlled his words by ending them there.
The two women were not as pale when they entered the hall as they were now. Wolf could see and sense their fear. Who was this man who could tear through time and other realms to get here? What else could he do? They had no idea. For that matter, neither did he.
“I came for her, and only her.” He reached his hand out to Camelee and hoped he wasn’t struck dead. He couldn’t help but slip his gaze to Genevra for any clue as to how he was doing.
