Chapter 12

T he history of the castle stole through her body, vibrating through her bones. Good God, the things and the people who had lived here—it was beyond words. She stared up at the massive edifice. She and Ajax had been striding around the colossal structure most of the morning. His two brothers and his cousin were off performing antics she could scarce believe. The three of them were absolutely wild.

It had surprised her, but the three men had decided to travel with them, at least as far as this particular destination.

"How does anyone ever contain them?" she asked, turning to Ajax.

"No one does," he said. "It's a miracle that they haven't all been arrested and put in gaol somewhere."

She laughed. "That bad, are they?"

"Oh, yes, and worse," he teased. "Frankly, it's a miracle that I'm standing here before you."

"Well, as your brother said, it's meant to be."

"Yes," he said with a slow smile, leaning down towards her.

"Don't forget," she said, "how I'm dressed."

He laughed. "How true. Forgive me," he said. "I want to marry you right now so I can kiss you wherever I please."

She began to laugh softly at that. Then he leaned back and said, "Why not? I could get a special license. Let's marry immediately. We can go back to London, get all my family together, and—"

Her face tightened at that. "My family," she lamented. "Whatever am I going to tell them?"

The wind was picking up, sweeping through her short wig, and playing with her hat. She'd be happy to be rid of the wig for the rest of her days, but she wouldn't mind keeping the freedom she'd found. She had a sneaking suspicion that as Ajax's wife, she'd have a great deal of freedom. More freedom than she ever could have hoped for.

"Surely your family will be happy about our union," he said.

She shook her head. "I don't know. My mother is quite difficult. My brother, Alfred, of course, will be pleased. He'll be thrilled that I'm escaping."

"I like that," he mused as they walked along. "I am your means of escape."

He waggled his brows.

"You do that an awful lot," she teased, feeling light despite her fears about confessing her plans to her mother.

"Why not?" he queried. "One must revel in the good things of life."

She gazed at the beautiful grounds, trying to truly allow herself to enjoy all of it. "I have reveled so little."

"Prepare to revel constantly," he said.

"I shall," she said. But then she turned to him and asked quite seriously, "Is it not exhausting?"

"No," he replied. "It is invigorating."

Invigorating! Her life had never been that. It had been a series of mistakes, and disappointments, and desperately trying not to get it wrong.

But now… Life was opening up before her.

A shiver traveled through her as she thought of all the people who had walked these grounds. "Can you imagine what it would've been like?" she asked. "To have so much power that you could call up half the country and overthrow a king."

"I can't actually imagine it," Ajax said honestly, his great coat floating easily behind him. "The Briarwoods are one of the most powerful families in the nation, and my brother has a great deal of influence as a duke, but power like it was back then? That was something altogether different, wasn't it? I could hardly imagine what it would be like to watch whole armies cross England and destroy each other."

She nodded. "It must have been brutal," she whispered. "Family against family, friend against friend, all because of a different set of ideas."

"All because of a king who was getting it terribly wrong," Ajax said softly.

For a moment, their own present king, who was unwell and leaving the nation on edge, came to her mind.

She cleared her throat, refusing to believe that England could again be plunged into the chaos of the time of the Kingmaker. "But that king? He didn't really want to be king, I don't think."

"I agree with you," Ajax said. "And unfortunately, he was forced to do his duty. It would've been wonderful if he simply could have stepped down, but he was never going to fill his papa's shoes."

She groaned. "What a way to put it. Could anyone have filled Henry V's shoes?"

"Not likely," he admitted. "I don't think that anyone could have lived up to that. Henry V was one of the greatest kings in the entire history of the world, or at least that's the way we've remembered him. His name is legend."

She smiled. "Yes. Can anyone live in the shadow of a legend and do it well?" she whispered.

He cocked his head to the side. "My family is rather legendary, and we all seem all right."

"But you don't have the fate of a nation in your hands," she pointed out.

He tsked. "My brother would beg to differ. He's not a prince, and he will never be the king, but that man goes through more struggles than anyone I've ever known, trying to make certain that the entire government doesn't lose sight of its duty and that we don't have a rebellion like they're having in France."

Her insides twisted with a dose of fear at that. "I suppose my imagination is not so very far off. Armies could rove the land again. People could rise up. There could be war." She folded her arms across her bound chest. "The very idea…is horrifying"

"It won't happen here, Winifred," he said softly.

She shook her head. "Are you so very certain?"

"I can't be absolutely certain." He drew in a long breath. "Achilles says what's going on over there is volatile, terrible, and that at any moment it could all go up in flames and fury and anger. It's already quite bad. My cousin and his sisters barely escaped with their lives. There's quite a lot of anger against the aristocrats there, and rightly so. The English don't do a wonderful job with the regular people, but at least we haven't been as brutal as the French."

She looked up to the sky and watched the birds wheel overhead, creatures which had no care for the machinations of mankind.

"Why does it take such utter tragedy to change things?" she whispered.

"You don't need a tragedy to change your life, Winifred," he pointed out. "You have changed your life. You chose to seek me out, and you've chosen to marry me."

She nodded and pressed her lips together.

"What is wrong?" he pressed.

"I can't explain it," she admitted. "Here in this place, where history has happened and great warriors have lived and died, I feel…a sense of foreboding. As if you and I have worked out too easily. You've come into my life too easily. It's going to get taken away, Ajax. Something will happen. I've never had so much good fortune in such a short period of time."

"Don't say such things," he rushed. "You wouldn't wish to make those things happen."

Her eyebrows rose. "Are you a believer in such magic?"

He laughed, and yet there was a serious note to him now as the wind picked up and gusted through his golden hair. "No, not exactly, but what my brother said—that we Briarwoods believe in synchronicity—is true. We don't think things happen by coincidence. There's a power greater than us at work. Whether you want to call it God or the universe or—"

She blinked at him. "My goodness! You do play with the questions of this world."

He laughed, though his gaze searched hers as if her opinion mattered greatly. "Do I seem a blasphemer to you?"

"No," she said honestly. "You're full of questions, and you see the world differently than anyone else, and that is wonderful to me. I have been forced to live in such a little space, barely taking up any room."

"And now," he said, "you will grow wild. And I cannot wait to pull back all the shadows so that the sun can fall upon you, and you can become exactly what you're meant to be."

She smiled softly at him. "Truly?"

"I think it's the purpose of my family," he replied. "We help ourselves become exactly who we're meant to be, and then we help others."

She marveled at him. She didn't mind if that was his purpose. For it was a noble one indeed. And yet… "You make me sound like a cause rather than a human."

"You are both," he said simply. "You are the woman who my heart recognized."

"That is so…" She paused. "Romantic and without logic."

"Yes, it is, but logic is often overvalued. Logic is merely trusting the past to dictate the future. And I'm not going to argue with how I feel. At least, not in regard to this."

"You're one of the first men I've ever known who doesn't argue with how he feels. It's a bit of a shock."

"I like to be a shock," he said. "You're shocking to me."

"Me?" she said. "Shocking?"

"Of course," he said softly. "I was half afraid that you would choose everything you've always known over me. I thought you might choose your great aunt and doing as you are told."

She winced.

"What?" he said softly.

"I need to make them understand us."

"You really don't think they'll be pleased?" he breathed.

"No." Her throat burned as wave after wave of emotion traveled through her. "It's not that a marriage to you wouldn't be a great match for someone like me. It'll simply be such a surprise to them that they may not believe me."

"Would you like my mother to go visit yours?" he offered.

"I don't know," she said. "Perhaps. That might be just the thing. After all, my mother might think I've made the whole thing up."

Fury darkened his face, and he ground his teeth at that.

In that moment, she knew, oh dear, she knew! She loved him because he was angry on her behalf, angry at the idea that someone thought she was unworthy of love.

"Oh, Ajax," she said. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For showing me that I can be anyone I want, and I can have anything I want, and I am worthy of anything I want."

"It was always true," he whispered. "Even without me."

She shook her head, her heart full. "No, it is because of you."

Every time he made love to Winifred, his desire for her only increased. How he loved to spend the day with her, but he loved the nights even more. He shared stories with her about his past, his childhood, and the unique life he'd led as a Briarwood.

They spent the hours of moonlight with their bodies entwined, not a hint of clothes between them. The bliss of it, the perfection, transformed him.

He was no longer just Ajax. He was so much more, for with her he felt as if he'd found a part of himself that he had always needed. A part that would make him better, more alive, more at peace.

Ajax kissed her again and again as they lay upon the bed. He could have done nothing but kiss her all night. For with each kiss, he felt drunk. Better than drunk. For there was none of the suffering or pain that came with brandy. No, there was just heaven.

He teased his tongue inside her mouth, then, without thought, he worked his way down her body. He swirled his tongue around her perfect, pink nipples.

She arched against him as she always did, and he smiled to himself. How he loved that. He loved that he could make her feel such bliss.

He skimmed his lips over her ribs and then down her soft stomach.

He closed his eyes and drank in her scent. If he could have kept her in bed for eternity and left the world out, he would. But as impractical as that was, for he loved witnessing her passion for the world too, he was determined to make her his over and over. He wanted her to long for his touch, his kiss, his body.

"Open to me," he growled.

She parted her thighs, ready for him… But he wanted to kiss her first.

Kiss her perfect folds. As he lowered his mouth between her thighs, she jolted against him.

"Ajax—"

"If you find it unpleasant, I'll cease," he assured.

She relaxed then, and he focused on her pleasure. He stroked his tongue over her petals, finding the spot that always sent her over the edge.

As he licked, and circled, and kissed her, she let out an astonished moan.

"Oh, Ajax," she sighed, her voice a soft whisper on the night air.

And then he gently stroked two fingers into her core. He thrust them in and out, finding the other place which caused her such pleasure.

Soon she was tossing her head back and forth on the pillow, racing towards bliss.

And when she reached her peak, he could not stop the sound of satisfaction that rumbled from his throat.

She let out a shuddering sigh and gazed down at him with eyes that were shining with her pleasure.

"Can I do that to you?" she asked.

He groaned and then nodded.

"Show me," she replied.

And he did. Slowly, Ajax rolled onto his back, offering himself up to her.

She studied his sex the same way she had no doubt studied to make her itinerary. Thoroughly. And then she leaned down and kissed the head of his sex.

He moaned, his hands curling into fists.

Slowly, she explored him, licking his length, teasing her lips along him.

"You can take…me in your mouth," he managed.

Her brows shot up and then she did exactly as he hoped.

She took his hard sex between her lips and began the rhythm that he used when rocking into her body.

He slid his hands into her hair and watched her, watched as she transported him to that place that was theirs and theirs alone.

"I want you," he growled.

She lifted her mouth and locked gazes with him. "Then have me," she whispered.

Without hesitating, Ajax pulled her towards him, placed her legs on either side of his hips, then helped her ride him.

Her eyes flared with shock but then, as she did all things, Winifred embraced the position.

She rode him, placing her hands on his chest, tossing her head back.

Her hair bounced along her beautiful body and the sight of her breasts kissed by moonlight as her core wrapped about him was his undoing.

He grabbed her hips and thrust home, and she too cried out, her body tightening around his again.

And as they both soared on the waves of pleasure, he took her in his arms, knowing the Fates had done their work and that nothing could stop their love now.