Lacybourne Manor (Ghosts and Reincarnation #3)(150)

Sibyl giggled, tickled and was tickled in return and then, for no apparent reason, she stopped abruptly, her head turned and she stared at Colin straight through the window.

Then she smiled at him with all the love of the world shining clearly in her eyes.

He saw it as distinctly as if she had been standing right in front of him.

And he felt it like it was a physical touch.

And then the scene melted back to the present time and Colin found himself shaken so deeply he had to put his hand to the window to steady himself.

He was in love with her.

Christ, he was in love with her.

He had no idea what just happened and he blinked to try and clear the vision from his mind.

But he couldn’t.

He was in love with Sibyl.

He had been in love with her since he saw her that first night under the copse of the trees with Mallory at her side and Bran in her arms.

And he would be in love with her until the day she died.

If he was a different type of man and believed in things like magic or destiny, he might have believed he loved her since before he was born.

For Colin Morgan had been born with a broken heart, the broken heart of a long-dead warrior, a warrior who lost his love and his life at near the same exact time.

Though Colin didn’t know that and wouldn’t believe it if someone told him.

Colin turned from the window and walked into the Great Hall, looking up at the portraits and seeing Royce and Beatrice with new eyes.

He had been avoiding this knowledge for weeks, with the pursuit of Sibyl and then her safety uppermost in his mind. If he had allowed himself to think about how he felt about her, it would have made him vulnerable.

Which he was now.

And he decided, since he’d never felt it before in all of his years, that he absolutely detested the feeling.

There was someone out there who wanted to slit their throats, wanted them to watch while it happened, just like the dream.

Colin stared at Royce and Beatrice, wondering if that was how they died. Bile rose up in his throat as it hit him and he believed, for the first time, that something so vile could live for centuries and curse anyone involved in it.

And he couldn’t, wouldn’t allow it to happen again.

* * * * *

At five forty five, nearly five hundred years earlier, the dark soul let the accomplices into the kitchen at Lacybourne.

Much coin changed hands.

And together, they went over the plan.

* * * * *

And at the same time, in William Godwin’s hall, Royce Morgan’s mother sat next to Beatrice Godwin’s mother.

“I congratulate you, Penelope,” Beatrice’s mother, Mary, stated.

“On what, Mary?” Royce’s mother, Penelope, asked.

“Fine meddling, that.” Mary nodded at the beautiful couple whirling before them, the dark-haired lass smiling so brightly up at her golden-haired warrior, it veritably lit the room.

“I congratulate you in return,” Penelope said generously for she secretly thought it was mostly her doing.

“Thank you,” Mary murmured with humble dignity, even though she wasn’t humble at all, as she thought it was mostly her doing.

“They’ll have fine children,” they said at the very same time, turned to look at each other and then burst out laughing.

Their laughter died when they saw Old Lady Griffin tap her cane none-too-gently on a young lad’s shoulder and said loudly, “I say, I would like to dance.”

Then the two happy mothers burst out laughing again.

* * * * *

It’s not only star-crossed lovers who are reincarnated, you know.

* * * * *

“Food’s ready!” Kyle shouted and the children tore away from Sibyl and rushed down the garden’s terraced steps in such wild abandon, she feared for a moment they’d all end up in a heap of broken bones at the bottom.

Luckily, fate was smiling down on them and this did not happen.

Sibyl followed at a much slower pace and then, as if by magic, she felt Colin’s eyes on her. She actually felt them before she even knew he was there.

And halfway down the steps, she turned and saw him striding out of the backdoor from the kitchen, striding purposefully with all his masculine grace, all the while looking at her.

Without hesitation, she ran down the steps, across the paved slabs and threw herself into his arms. He also didn’t hesitate and those arms closed fiercely around her.

“We’re free!” She smiled as she turned her face up to his. “Rick’s no longer holding us captive in the library, the sun is shining, a bunch of people I love are sitting in the garden and the shish kebabs are ready.”

He was staring down at her, a peculiar look on his face and his hand came up to the side of her neck, his thumb at the soft skin under her chin.

Something in his eyes made her toes curl.

And her stomach pitch.

And, if that wasn’t enough, her heart skipped three beats.

Then it started racing.

“Are you all right?” she whispered.

“I love you,” he said quietly in return.

And then the world fell away and there was only the two of them, alone together, and all time and place faded.

* * * * *

Marian was not the only one to notice the gold shimmer in the air intensify to the point that it seemed as thick as treacle.