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face shining above him, a safe haven in the dark. Like salvation and redemption and
hope. Hope for the future . . . .
Kathryn is her name, he thought, somewhat coherently as his head lolled back. His
wounded shoulder ached and ached, a steady throb timed to his heartbeat. I'm so tired.
The wolf whined softly. Kathryn all but fell across his body, tangling her fingers
in the soft fur of his neck, hot tears falling on his face. Llewellyn lifted the hatchet from
the wall carefully. He waited and watched for a long moment. Then he smiled to
himself and, unseen, placed the hatchet back over his hearth. Quietly, he sidled out of
his back door to give the young people a moment alone.
The wolf licked Kathryn's cheek gently.
She looked up into his face and sighed. "So, you're back, my lord." She laughed
deeply, bordering on hysteria. Then, though, she wiped her eyes quickly and traced the
line of his scar again. She seized the sides of his face and gave him a tiny shake. "Dolce
ragazzo," she crooned to him in Italian, "don't do that again."
He whimpered softly and nuzzled her cheek with his snout.
She wrapped her arms around him and gently squeezed. "Do not go where I may
not follow you."
Never, never, never, never again. The thought was fierce, vehement. When he
contemplated what he had almost done. If the ropes had snapped . . . . A shudder passed
through him.
"Idiota." Kathryn planted a kiss on his pointed ears. "Don't be a fool. You are a
knight of this land, fur or no fur. You are too honorable to break your oaths. Your vows
of fealty hold you still and always will, no matter what form you take. No less does the
vow you swore to in the forest hold you. You are my champion, Sir Garwaf, and
whether you will or no, harm will not befall me while you yet live. You will not let it."
She stroked his face again, grinning at him. "Now let Llewellyn back in and behave
yourself while he dresses your shoulder. I will wait, then I am for my bed and sleep as
should you be." She turned to seek where the magician had gone, and Llewellyn
approached with fresh ointment and poultices.
Kathryn went to her accustomed bench against the wall and fully meant to watch
the proceedings, but her head kept bowing to her chest over and over again. By the
third time, Llewellyn laughed lightly and said, "Dear lady, I do not require your
supervision for this activity. Stretch out and doze if you like until I am done. Your part
in the evening's affair is at an end."
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She watched the wolf, and he stared at
her with the same look he had given the king on first beholding his liege lord in the
forest. She smiled into his eyes, then looked reluctantly back to the conjurer. "What
happened? You said something about the king's announcement."
"Since we cannot learn his thoughts, the best I can do is to draw my own
conclusions "
"Yes, yes." Kathryn waved that away. "You're brilliant, Llewellyn, and your
suppositions are probably correct. So?" She prompted him with her open palm, giving
him an expectant look.
Llewellyn gave her a lopsided grin. "Unless I do the man a grave injustice, I very
much believe the new husband of Gabriel's wife to be the one who has betrayed him.
The man courted and married Lady Alisoun immediately, when her other suitors
waited out of deference to Gabriel's memory and in fear he might come back and
nullify their marriage. The Earl de Troumper had no such compunction."
"Well, why bother when you already know?" Kathryn said, calling the betraying
beast Reynard all sorts of vile names in her head.
"Precisely. I believe our friend" he patted the wolf's side. The wolf butted his
head against Llewellyn's hand and gave him a look of apology "was entertaining
thoughts that his wife's new husband must be attending the festivities and will be here
in the castle, within his grasp. Those less than charitable thoughts, shall we say, when
coupled with the new moon tonight, served to bring out the worst of his wolfish nature.
His lupine impulses robbed the human half of control. The part of him that is still
human drowned in such a quagmire of bitter emotions that reasonable thought could
not check the violence inherent to a beast. So the wolf triumphed at last. For a time."
Kathryn rose, awake all at once, and went to her beast. She stroked his head as
Llewellyn finished applying the fresh dressing to the shoulder. She continued to gently
knead her fingers through the soft fur of the wolf. The wolf's eyes closed drowsily until
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