Then, magic shafting through time, the two worlds collided.
And for a brief moment, all time stopped.
Chapter Thirty
History Shifts
Royce lifted his head. With great reluctance, he had slid out of Beatrice but he did this with utmost care, not wishing to cause her pain after her pleasure. At the same time he lifted his head, he moved his hand to smooth her lustrous, dark hair.
But his hand arrested for her hair was not dark.
It was blonde. It was the same colour as his own.
“You.” He watched the dazed pleasure fade slowly from her familiarly unfamiliar eyes as she focussed on him.
He knew her.
“Oh my goddess!” She jerked beneath him but he kept his weight firmly on top of her.
He wanted answers and, this time, he was going to get them.
And what Royce Morgan wanted, he found a way to get.
“Where is Beatrice?” he demanded, his hand, instead of smoothing, gently but firmly fisted in her silky, golden locks.
Her eyes turned panicked. “I don’t know,” she answered, blinked, her body shifted slightly under his and then she rapped out a string of quick questions, “What are you doing? What are we doing? What were you doing with Beatrice?”
His voice held an edge. “Bring her back, I want her back.”
“Colin is going to kill me,” she muttered, what he considered absurdly, and she did this as if to herself as she tried to wriggle out from beneath him.
Considering he’d just consummated his union with his beloved bride, he’d done this soundly and with great pleasure for the both of them and now, mere moments later, another being was lying na**d beneath him, Royce lost patience.
Therefore he did not check himself and roared, “I want her back!”
She shook her head, “I can’t… I don’t know how to bring her back.” Then she stated urgently, “Royce, please, you must listen to me, did you just make love to Beatrice?”
“You are a witch,” he declared and started to pull away, to bring them up. He couldn’t have this conversation lying na**d atop her. But she wrapped her soft limbs around him and something in her eyes, her familiar, beloved eyes, halted him.
“Listen to me,” she begged, her words both urgent and panicked. “Did you just make love to Beatrice?”
“Yes,” he snarled.
And to his surprise, her face cleared immediately and she sang, “Hallelujah!” just as tears sprung in her eyes. She tilted her head back and she shouted it again. “Hallelujah!”
He stared at her, everything about her was so familiar, even her sweet touch of lunacy.
“Are you mad?” he asked softly, finding his angry confusion had melted away and he was suddenly concerned.
She pulled her arms from his body, put both her hands to his cheeks and gave him a quick kiss. When she pulled away, he noted she was crying freely but she still went on. “No, I’m not mad.”
She looked at him with love shining in her eyes. Somehow, even though he didn’t know her, she loved him and he felt that knowledge sear straight through his soul.
His hand loosened from her hair and almost against his will, he found himself wrapping a tendril around his finger.
“You have my hair,” he murmured, staring at it.
“And you, in my time, have Beatrice’s hair,” she whispered and his eyes moved to hers at this bizarre pronouncement. “I’m from another time, years from now. Royce, your and Beatrice’s love is so great, you and she come back and become Colin and me. We fall in love all over again.” Her voice lowered in pitch but heightened in intensity. “And you are so like him. And today, he asked me to marry him.” She said this last while a funny, adorable smile played on her lips.