Page 32 of Bound By The Christmastide Moon

“Your resemblance to your sibling is also remarkable,” Slade crowed before turning and rushing toward the hedge maze.

“Wait!” she shouted. “You know my brother?”

“I may owe him a quid…or five hundred,” Slade threw over his shoulder with a shrug as he disappeared into the maze.

Mallory stood silently at Silas’s side long after his twin had disappeared from sight, the fog of their warm breaths mingling in the cold December air. At some point, the evening chill had fled, and a heat now surrounded her.

It finally hit her then, Silas had touched her face, held her gaze, and no vision had invaded. She’d sensed it coming, waited for it to slam into her conscious, but something in his stare had kept her grounded in the present, not some alternate future.

“Tell me of these visions…”

Mallory kept her eyes trained on the maze when she spoke for fear his interest would quickly turn to disgust, and he draw away from her. “When I come into contact with people—skin-to-skin—or touch objects, I see things. Things that have yet to happen, but will in the future.”

“And you saw this moment with Slade?” he asked.

“Yes, when you and I touched that first day at Tetbery—”

“Your eyes?” It was a question he did not wait for her to answer. “They cloud, turn a deep grey as if a storm rolls over your sight.”

“You noticed?” It was then she turned to him. His spoke with near reverence, not the sickened tones others used when speaking of her skill, not that more than a handful of people had been trusted with their family affliction. “My father begged me not to speak of it until after we were wed.” She turned away from him then, ashamed she’d agreed to dupe Silas. “I understand if my curse is—”

Silas lifted his hand, caressing her arm before pushing back her hood. “It is not a curse. It is a gift…a very special, awe-inspiring gift.”

“Not according to my family,” she confessed.

“Then they are not looking upon the situation with open eyes.” His finger lifted her chin until their eyes met. “What have you seen of our future?”

She knew her eyes clouded with his question—not with a coming vision but sorrow, defeat.

“Come now, tell me.” His thumb lightly caressed her cheek.

“In every vision of my future, which I see only through touching those close to me, I am alone.” It was gut-wrenching to admit. “But our betrothal gave me hope for a different outcome.”

“And who says you’re destined to continue down the path those have envisioned for you?”

“My visions have never proven false before tonight. And even with that, it was not completely inaccurate,” Mallory said, shrugging. She could not let Silas know how much she prayed the visions would not come true.

“Then I think it is up to us to change the path fate has set for you.” He drew her close, their bodies pressed together, melding as if she belonged there, in Silas’s embrace. “Would you like to know what I think on the matter?”

“I think I would,” she whispered into the night, her stare holding his. If she looked away, perhaps this moment would disappear as if it had never come to pass. She could not stand to live with that.

“I think,” he started, pausing to place a kiss on her forehead, “we are bound by far more than our betrothal agreement. We will not be held apart by someone else’s vision of our future. With only the Christmastide moon above, and you and I below, I promise to give you the future you seek. I can promise you a home—several homes, if that’s what you wish—a family, and me. If that is enough…”

“More than enough.” It was as if he’d read her mind, knew the things she longed for most, and promised to give all he possessed to make her not just content in their marriage but happy.

“That is, if you can look past Slade’s rakehell ways and are fond of troublesome young girls who ask too many questions,” he continued in a rush.

“You need not convince me, my lord,” she said with a smile. “Even without the signed betrothal, I believe you are correct. We are bound under the Christmastide moon.”

“My family is not extensive—” he paused, glancing toward the castle. “—well, until recently, I haven’t thought my family larger than my siblings and mother, which is not much to offer, but they are kind people. Loving and caring. They will support you—us, in whatever future we decide to embark on. I may not have unlimited funds as most men of the ton, but we shall live comfortably—in London, or at Ditchley Hall, if you prefer.”

It was more than she’d ever dreamed possible for her future.

Above them, a sudden glow caught her notice—the moon, it was as if it had brightened, acknowledging the truth Silas spoke and binding them together ever the more.

It was then it hit her…with more force than any vision had.

“My home, our home, will be wherever we are together, be it London or your country estate.” There was no fear with Silas at her side. If he deemed London was where they needed to be, then she would be there with him. If he preferred a quiet existence in Hampshire, so be it. He would never allow any harm to come to her, and she’d already promised herself to care and watch over him. “I will follow you anywhere.”