Page 22 of Chivalry in the Meadow (Hope Runs Deep #2)

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” he spoke low. “From the moment I first saw you, you have filled my dreams.”

“I don’t know what’s real anymore,” she whispered.

“Then let me remind you.”

He bent to kiss her, and his lips brushed hers soft and slow.

For a moment, Mia surrendered to his kiss, closing her eyes.

His mouth masterfully confident, he deepened the kiss, and she fully responded.

But as his lips lingered against hers, something felt off, his energy felt off.

She opened her eyes.

Sir Cedric’s face.

Was it flickering ? A shimmer at his temple, like oil on water.

Who or what was she kissing?

She pulled back, breath sharp. “What was that?”

He tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

But his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes this time. And something in them frightened her.

He could see the fear in her widened eyes, so she hurried to make something up.

“There’s something behind those trees,” she said as she pointed. “Or someone.”

“Never fear milady,” he said with that dimpled smile and suddenly he seemed more solid again. “I shall kill thy foul dragon that stalks thee.”

As soon as he had stepped into the darkness behind the trees, and she could no longer see him, she turned and walked away. She felt like being around people now, but not at the ball. Instead, she would wander through the shops, just for a short while. After that she would head back to the ball.

There was nothing new to shop for. She’d been to all the shops by now. But it was interesting how the shops looked different at night. Most were running masquerade ball specials, with lower prices on select items.

She paused and watched through the tent entrance gap of the fortune tellers’ tent, as a woman sat down to hear her fortune. Then she headed for the knight’s circle, wondering if she would find any knights there.

As she walked, she thought about everything that had occurred since she’d arrived. Running through it all in her head.

Something about Sir Cedric had gnawed at her since the kiss.

She thought of his perfectly timed compliments, the too-precise way he tilted his head.

It was like he was a man performing the idea of affection, instead of feeling it.

The owl’s warning echoed again. Roses without roots .

Sir Cedric had given her a rose.

She paused near his tent, hearing something. Inside, voices murmured. One familiar, one not. Quietly arguing.

“You’re playing too close, Cedric. You’ve been warned.”

“She’s useful,” Sir Cedric said. “The owl’s chosen her. If we play this right…”

Mia’s breath caught. She didn’t hear the rest.

“You forget yourself,” the second voice hissed. “This isn’t courtly games Not your bedroom playground.”

“Come now,” Sir Cedric said. “A dalliance does no harm and gets me closer to the girl.”

“If the girl awakens the bond, she may not be stoppable . That’s not what the Master wants. He would be angry.”

Sir Cedric sighed. “She’s falling for him , anyway. The brooding one.”

“Ha! Sir Alaric? He’s broken. Still mourning that Isolde girl. He’ll fail again. He can’t protect her.”

Mia stepped back, twig snapping underfoot.

Silence.

The tent flap lifted. Sir Cedric’s face emerged, golden, smiling.

Too late, she stuffed the feather into her pouch, as he saw her.

“Mia,” he said smoothly. “Out for a walk? Not going back to the ball?”

She forced a nod. “Just… went shopping to clear my head. But they expect me back.”

“Let me walk with you,” he offered, taking her arm. “We will clear your head together.”

The glamour shimmered around his face, but now she saw it . A faint distortion.

A shimmer like the heat over a fire. A flicker behind the eyes.

She brushed her hand against her pouch. Inside it, the feather hummed.

When she touched it, his smile faltered, just for a breath.

And behind the illusion, she caught a flash of something older. Sharper.

Something not quite human.

And he was now guiding her away from the ball, not toward it.

She pulled away and took a step in the other direction. “Actually… I think I’ll head back to the ball. They expect me and will come looking.”

He watched her with narrowed eyes. “Be careful in the dark, Lady Mia.”

“I always am,” she said.

***

She stumbled back to the party, across twigs and a rock which hurt her feet in the fancy slippers, disturbed by what had happened.

Sir Alaric stood speaking with Sir Elias near the fire pit, their heads bent together as they spoke and nodded.

She stood catching her breath, wondering whether to approach them.

And where is Lilly?

She’d been dancing with Sir Elias the last time Mia had a glimpse of her.

But Sir Alaric had noticed her immediately and was already walking over to her. “Lady Lilly, you are pale. What is wrong?”

Her wide eyes looked at him. “I think Sir Cedric… I, I think he’s not what he seems.”

Sir Alaric glanced back at Sir Elias, who’d now followed him over.

They exchanged a look.

“Step over here with me and we shall speak of this,” Sir Alaric said.

He moved her to a less crowded area, so their conversation could be more private, and Sir Elias joined them.

“Old magic,” Sir Alaric said. “It doesn’t work on everyone. Those with the Sight can see past the glamour.”

“I don’t have the Sight,” Mia said. “That was my grandmother. I’m just… seeing shimmering in the air.”

“You saw through him,” Sir Alaric said gently. “That means you do.”

Sir Elias nodded. “We’ve suspected for days. He’s using something.”

“This place,” she said. “I see shimmers, but that’s all.

I don’t really see anything like people or animals, just the air shimmering with something.

With colors. But tonight, Sir Cedric had a shimmer.

As if he was there and then suddenly not there and then there again.

I had to come back here, away from him.”

Sir Alaric nodded.

“Stay with Sir Alaric,” Sir Elias told her. “I’m going to go get Lady Lilly.”

“Where did she go?” Mia wrinkled her forehead, now worried about her friend.

“Just to the porta potties and there was a line, so I didn’t leave her alone,” Sir Alias said. “She insisted I come back and watch for you. She’ll be relieved to see you.”

“I needed to step away for some quiet,” Mia said.

“Alone in the dark isn’t a good idea here,” Sir Alaric said.

Once Sir Elias stepped away, Mia looked around at the costumes and masks.

Sir Alaric turned to watch the crowd with her.

“I think he followed me there,” she said.

“Very likely,” Sir Alaric said.

“I kissed him,” Mia blurted out. “He seemed real, and then, he didn’t. It no longer felt like kissing him.”

Sir Alaric didn’t look at her but continued watching the crowd. “I know.” He said it softly with no jealousy, as if he already forgave her for kissing his rival.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” she said.

He turned to look at her, his dark eyes now soft with a look of kindness as if he understood, and he was listening.

“You think I’m na?ve,” she said, while telling herself that yes, she had been na?ve.

“I think you wanted to believe in the illusion,” he said. “Everyone does, once.”

They stood in silence as she took that in and decided he was right.

The masquerade continued, all the people in masks dancing, talking, drinking. She watched them and then said, “You’ve never worn one, have you? A mask? The kind that people show to the world when they are really someone else.”

“No.” He shook his head. “It’s not in my nature to play such games. I am who I am,” he said. “For good or for bad. But I have worn regret.”

He reached around to his side, pulled out a small dagger, flipped its point toward him and reached it out to offer it to her.

“Take this,” he said. “You might need it. Glamours can deceive the eyes, but cold iron cuts through. And there are dangers in the night for ladies who insist on walking alone.”

She looked down at the dagger in her hand. “I’ve never had a knife,” she said. “Other than my kitchen knives. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. And I have nowhere to carry it.”

“Many ladies carry one upon a belt, or in a purse,” he said. “Some hide them about their person in their dress.”

“I can’t keep your knife,” she said.

“It’s but one of many,” he said. “I collect knives. And there is an old wives’ tale which may or may not be true. That you must never give someone a knife, but you can allow them to buy it from you.”

“Sir Alaric, may I bestow my favor on you,” she said, touching the ribbon holding her hair back. “It’s only a ribbon, but I would be honored if you would wear it in the lists.”

“I am most honored Lady Mia,” he bowed down on one knee. “And will wear it to honor you.”

She handed him the knife and then reached back and untied her hair ribbon. Then she held it out to him.

Instead of taking it, he held out his arm for her to tie the ribbon around and waited while he did so before rising.

“I will protect you and your honor from this day forth,” he said and then took her hand. “You are under my protection now, and all here will see this and know it.”

Her heart leaped at his words.

Goodness , she thought. I had no idea the giving of favors would be such a serious thing.

“Thank you, milord,” she said.

It was exciting to have her own knight to protect her.

He rose and offered her the knife again. The seriousness in his face made her wonder why he was worried about her.

She took the knife and then held it in her hand, not sure what else to do with it. “Can you,” she paused. “Can you keep it for me for now and may we dance?”

“Of course,” he said with a smile.

She liked him ever so much more when he smiled.

He took the dagger back, placed it in his belt and held out his hand. “Milady, would you care to dance?”

***

That night, in her tent, Mia removed her mask & stared into her own eyes in the mirror.

She wasn’t sure which unsettled her more: the growing danger...

Or how much she wanted to believe in Sir Alaric.

In her sleeping bag, Mia couldn’t sleep. She opened her book to read. But it had changed.