Broken Dove (Fantasyland #4)(24)

And she’d just gifted them with some of what lay beneath. Her story of how she got there, running from her husband and why, being found, beaten and Apollo and the witch with the green magic from the other world saving her.

That was the end of her story.

But what she’d shared was enough.

Achilles tore his gaze away from Maddie, feeling his mouth tight, and looked at Derrik. With one glance, he knew Derrik was feeling what he was feeling.

Maybe more.

He turned back to Maddie. “You’re here now, little bug, safe from that.”

She lifted her lovely brown eyes to him, eyes he’d looked in a million times before he’d even met her. Yet not.

And looking in them now, he knew definitely not.

It had been jarring at first, Maddie looking like Ilsa, but they got used to it. And then the Ilsa they saw in Maddie had faded away and it was just her.

Now, after that story, it was only her.

“I know,” she whispered.

She said I know.

She meant, Thank you.

He grinned at her, pushed away from the tree and bent close to kiss the side of her head.

When he pulled away, she tipped her head and grinned back.

“Thank you for trusting that to us,” he said gently.

“Thank you for being trustworthy enough to get it,” she replied.

He winked.

Her eyes twinkled.

“If you lazy cusses are done being lazy, we need to be away,” Remi called from his horse thirty feet away.

Achilles pushed up to gain his feet and when he did, Derrik was there, offering Maddie his hand.

“Let’s get you up,” Derrik muttered, his tone tender.

She took Derrik’s hand and he pulled her up, unnecessarily sliding his other hand partly around her waist to steady her when she gained her feet.

Achilles looked over Maddie’s head and saw Laures. His cousin’s gaze was on Maddie and Derrik. He felt Achilles looking at him, caught Achilles’ eyes and shook his head.

Achilles shook his back and moved behind Derrik and Maddie as Derrik led her to her mount.

* * * * *

Derrik

“I’m a ramblin’ wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluvan engineer,” Maddie sang, swaying her tankard side by side as Derrik and all the other men sat watching and grinning.

Suddenly, she slammed the tankard down and leaned toward them.

“Actually, I’m not. I went to the University of Oregon and I didn’t study engineering.” She shook her head. “Nooooo. I studied medieval history but don’t let that fool you.” She leaned deeper. “It’s hard.” She leaned back and announced, “But it also doesn’t put bread on the table. Thus, I should have listened to my father and studied something that could actually lead to a job.”

Derrik had no idea what she was talking about.

What he did know was that Maddie was so deep in her cups she’d wake up tomorrow and still be swimming in them.

“That said, in my world, you’re supposed to sing that song when you’re drunk,” she went on. Abruptly her eyes rolled up, the irises shot back and forth and Derrik grew alarmed before she looked back at the men and remarked, “Or maybe it’s just me who sings that song when I’m drunk. I hope that doesn’t offend anyone from Georgia Tech.” Suddenly she shrugged and emitted a soft giggle. “Though, it doesn’t matter. It’s safe to say none of them are here.”

At that, she burst out laughing as did all the men, even though they had no earthly clue what she was on about.

Then again, Maddie’s laughter was infectious and it was thus because it was clear she hadn’t done it very often.

Not until the last four months.

And she made it clear in those four months she was grateful to have it back, which was something that heartened every single man at that table.

Derrik included.

It was as if he’d given a gift he didn’t know he was giving, but it was treasured beyond compare. And that was far from a bad feeling.

She pressed her hand flat to the table and looked around, her body swaying in a circle, noting, “Ships rock, like, a lot.”

Thus giving him the sign she was done for the night.

He got up and moved toward her, murmuring, “Let’s get you to your cabin.”

They were through the Vale and had boarded a galleon, halfway through their journey at sea to Lunwyn.

They were also off schedule. Their arrival would be two months later than when Apollo wanted them at the Ulfr stronghold of Karsvall.

But as Maddie took in her new world, and enjoyed every minute of it with abandon, he, nor any of the men including, eventually, Achilles, had the heart to rush her. So they’d stopped at games (and entered), festivals, fayres, cafés, shops, altars, churches, museums and anything else that caught Maddie’s eye, teaching her all they could about her new world as they did.

Apollo, Derrik knew, would not be best pleased.

But experiencing his world through Maddie’s eyes, listening to her stories of her own world as they rode and noting just how significant the differences were, and sharing in her excitement and laughter, he didn’t care.

He’d explain to Apollo and if his friend didn’t understand, it didn’t matter.

It was done.

He helped Maddie off her stool as she looked up at him with her inebriated, but warm and exceedingly beautiful brown eyes, and she declared, “We should play tuble.”