The Darkest Knight (Guardians of Camelot #3) - Victoria Sue Page 0,12
missing all this awesomeness.” He gestured to himself. “Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone.” And he grinned at them both and flounced out.
“Was that one of his movie quotes?” Charles asked faintly.
Gawain smiled. “Anthony Burgess.”
Charles let the silence settle and not because he didn’t know who Gawain was talking about. He supposed he could sleep in the cot next to the office, but what if the other knights shared Mel’s opinion? He had heard the suspicion in Lance’s voice loud and clear.
“What was your sword like?”
Charles focused on Gawain. “What do you mean?” The question seemed odd.
“I’m wondering if I would recognize it.”
Charles tried to think back to the park and shrugged. He had been so focused on the Ursus he hadn’t thought about what he killed it with. “I don’t honestly remember. Why?”
Gawain flushed. “Just a little hobby of mine. I’ve always been fascinated with the swords. They can never be separated from us, and even if they are taken, they always find their way back. But even more interesting”—Charles watched as Gawain warmed to his subject—“I’ve always wondered what happens to them when the knight is killed.”
Charles caught on. “Are you wondering if the sword originally belonged to someone else?”
“Yes. I have done a study of the swords I have seen.” He grimaced. “And have shamefully used Kay’s memory.”
“I imagine you use everyone’s,” Charles said lightly.
Gawain tilted his head and considered Charles. “You don’t know.”
Charles returned the stare. “I don’t know what?”
“Kay has a photographic memory. It’s why everyone believed his story about the girl in the park.”
Charles’s lips parted in astonishment. “I just assumed he had an eye for detail, or that the method of killing this girl made an impression on him.” He’d been so stunned at the time he hadn’t even really been amazed about Kay’s certainty.
“That’s why we’re all a little protective of him.” It was a warning, and Charles sighed, but he understood how closely knit they all were. “Because he remembers every death, every kill.” Gawain pushed the point home, but Charles got it.
“I honestly didn’t even look at the sword. It vanished as soon as the Ursus was gone, and I was too busy making sure Kay was all right.”
Gawain shrugged. “I bet Kay will have done.” Charles shot him a skeptical glance. “He often remembers things afterwards when he’s asked. Things that at the time won’t have registered. But if he saw the sword, he would be able to describe it.”
Gawain seemed so sure.
“And the first room on the left on the next floor is free,” Gawain said carefully.
“I will sleep elsewhere. I have a feeling I won’t be popular tomorrow.”
Gawain eyed him. “You must do as you think fit, but if this was about making friends, you would still be upstairs.”
Charles met Gawain’s intelligent green eyes and wondered if people underestimated him all the time. “It’s more about making promises I can’t keep.”
“Is that how you really feel or how you think you should feel?” Charles let the question settle in his mind. “I guess I’m asking,” Gawain continued, “is how do you know it’s wrong or impossible to be Kay’s Tresor? Unless you don’t have feelings for him of course. I understand the Tresor bond is a very powerful one even when you fight it all the time.”
Charles wasn’t sure how to reply. Kay was nothing like anyone he had ever met. Charles had never doubted his instructions. He hadn’t been completely honest when he had said he woke with the instructions; there was always a voice whispering in his ear that he recognized every time he woke.
Recognized, but had no idea where from.
Chapter 4
“Three down, two to go.”
Gawain watched as Ali sat down in a huff. “Three?”
“Lance, Lucan, and now Kay.”
Gawain nodded but turned his attention back to the screen. “Yes,” he murmured, wondering if it was time he traveled back to the tiny monasteries at Fruška gora and asked the monks if he could visit their restricted section. He hadn’t been there for over a hundred years because he didn’t age, and Artem had started to become suspicious. The books they had were amazing. Then he sighed. There was no way he could leave now, especially with the Ursus coming every night.
“Are you worried?”
Gawain forced his attention back to Ali and at the last minute stopped himself saying the transport in Serbia was more than adequate, and realized she wasn’t talking about old books. “I don’t see any reason for