The Darkest Knight (Guardians of Camelot #3) - Victoria Sue Page 0,64
the son they speak of, we still need to free him.”
But how? How did Charles know he would feel the magic again? He had ignored it so many times, his real fear for Kay was that they had given up.
“And I need to make sure you remain safe.” Charles lifted his gaze as sudden gratitude rushed to his eyes. “You’re his Tresor. Kay would die.”
Of course. Charles’s death meant Kay’s. How could he have forgotten? Even the realization that Lance wasn’t protecting Charles for Charles but for his friend didn’t hit him as much as the realization they were soul mates.
His heart warmed a little, but then the knowledge that Morgan must know entered his mind. “How does she know?”
“What do you mean?” Mel asked.
“I mean how does she know I’m Kay’s Tresor? I mean before. You’re not telling me it’s a coincidence.”
Gawain looked at Lance. “I suppose in the same way that the Ursus know.”
“Which is what I don’t understand,” Roxy chimed in. “That’s the one part I think is improbable.” She grinned. “Apart from the whole immortality and Merlin thing of course. You said that the Tresor is recognizable as an adult when he has met his or her knight.”
Lance nodded. “Yes.”
“So you’re happy this is just a coincidence? That Charles, who she has had for hundreds of years, suddenly is a Tresor? I don’t buy it.” Roxy frowned and looked at Mel. “How does she know where the Tresors are? It makes no sense that she is powerful enough to find half a dozen people out of a population of what, seven billion, but she can’t even appear in her body?”
Ali opened her mouth, then closed it and looked at Mel. “She has a point.”
“She does,” Mel agreed. “But I don’t have the answer.”
“It’s not something we’ve ever questioned before,” Gawain admitted. “Perhaps there will be some clue in the books.”
“What does equo cantuariorum mean?” Ali asked out of the blue, staring at the computer screen.
“The white horse of Kent,” Gawain replied.
Charles walked over to the computer, glad for the distraction, desperate for anything to rid his mind of the horror. “What are you looking at?”
“The history of the kings of Britain,” Ali read out. “It was supposed to be the first book about King Arthur, but there is a note about an anonymous foreword to the book that predates the writing. Something to do with a nursery tale or a children’s book.”
“That’s impossible,” Gawain said immediately. “You’re talking about Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century, and there certainly weren’t any children’s stories in there.”
“So what’s that, then?” Ali said a little defensively and pointed to the screen.
“The Tale of the Gray Horse,” Gawain translated in astonishment. “But that’s impossible. I’ve read that book from cover to cover, and there is no added story.”
“Who was the author?”
“I have no idea,” Ali said and moved so Gawain could sit and read. Roxy came to look over her shoulder.
“I did two years of high school Spanish, and that sure isn’t going to help me here.”
“But this makes no sense,” Gawain repeated in bewilderment. “I’ve read that book many times.”
“It also refers to the Celtic tradition of using the white horse as a symbol in Cantium,” Charles murmured.
Gawain shook his head in complete disbelief. “Cantium is the pre-Roman invasion name of Kent in England. The capital is now called Canterbury. The white horse is on everything. I even think their fire service has it painted on their trucks.”
Charles glanced over at Mel, who was sitting quietly with a small smile tugging at his lips. “You know something.”
Everyone turned to look at Mel, who shrugged. “You told me Galahad cautioned you not to change history. Before you went back in time, this story didn’t exist; after you came back, it did. If Charles doesn’t know anything about a gray horse, I’m betting Kay does.”
“The Saxon Steed and the White Horse of Kent,” Roxy read in English. “There’s a Google article here mentioning it. Something to do with why Kent, a county in England, uses a white horse on its emblems. No one knows why it started, but this reporter sometime in 1933 thinks it has something to do with the story of the gray horse in the first book of King Arthur.” She read on. “Apparently the horse’s owner died saving a servant, and then the servant took the horse away from the battle and it became famous.” Roxy grinned. “Sounds like a kids’ book and probably has nothing to