Chapter Nineteen
“Oh God,” Victoria lay back on her pillows. She felt as drained as if she had climbed over the roof of a longhouse and dragged a two hundred pound man through the chilly night woods on a swollen ankle.
Mr. Magnus smiled. He sat in her bedroom chair reading a book. He didn’t look up but turned a page instead. “Now go rescue Jack, Victoria. We can wait.”
She swallowed. Her last glimpse of Jack was of him hanging from a gibbet.
“Don’t go there, Victoria. I think there is a point before that where you might be more effective.” He lowered the book and looked at her over the rims of his reading glasses. “You are the one with the smarts.” Magnus turned a page and leaned back, making himself more comfortable in her chair. His eyes twinkled. “That’s what you bring to the table, Victoria. You are the smart one.”
She opened her eyes as Maggie. She was in the cottage putting away the breakfast. Outside she heard galloping hoof beats. Instead of running to the door to see who it could be, she deliberately walked across the floor, knelt by the bed and rolled under and behind the chest that held a glittering sword. She would stay there until more hoof beats assured her that Brigayne and his men were gone. Before, she had killed her husband by walking to the door. Now she would save him by hiding under the bed. So simple.
Mr. Magnus closed the book and smiled at her. “Do you feel better?”
Victoria sat up and felt her head with one hand and her chest with the other.
Mr. Magnus laughed. “I meant inside.”
She laughed with him. “I knew what you meant, but I have no pain here either.” She took a deep breath. “And my head feels clear.” She looked around her bedroom. “Where is Jasper?”
Mr. Magnus set the book down and came over to sit on her bed. “He has gone back home. You don’t need him anymore.”
“Are you going to go home?” Victoria felt a twinge of loneliness with this thought. Albert Magnus was the only person on the planet she could talk to about these adventures. If he left her she would be alone with her thoughts and memories. If he left there would be no one to explain what had just happened to her. If he left and took all his books, there might never be an explanation. And without Jasper she would not be able to travel to Marcus or Jack or Torgal. She frowned and reached for his hand. “Don’t. Not yet. I am not ready to be alone, forever.”
His eyes glowed yellow for a brief moment before deepening to a chocolate brown. She watched as the gray hair darkened and the wrinkles disappeared. He grew taller and younger and filled out with muscle. He was Jack, but with Marcus’s expressive eyes and Torgal’s handsome face.
He smiled as he cupped her cheek. “No. Not yet,” he agreed, and he leaned forward. “You will never be alone. Forever.”