Dream of Me/Believe in Me

her awareness drew her up short.
    A man was coming toward her. A very tall man wearing a long, brown cloak that enveloped his head and face. She had a moment to be surprised that any man would approach her so directly when he walked straight past her without slowing. Under his breath, yet with each word distinct, he said, “Come with me, Cymbra.”
    Hawk.
    Disbelief roared through her. She had seen him leave,he could not possibly be here. Yet he was and like this, concealed, come by subterfuge to seek her out and—
    The realization of what her brother had done chilled her to the very marrow of her bones. Not for a moment did she mistake the meaning of his presence. For all her effort and all his seeming acceptance, he did not believe that she was happily wed. He thought the opposite and he had come to correct it.
    Come right into the heavily guarded hill fort, right past the guards, into the very heart of the Wolf's lair to take from it that which the Wolf claimed as his own.
    He would die. She knew it as surely as she breathed. Her brother would die and she would be the cause.
    On legs that scarcely felt able to carry her, fearful that at any moment someone would realize what was happening and raise an outcry, she followed the cloaked man around a corner of the stables and out of sight.
    Concealed from the guards and with no one else to be seen, Hawk tossed back the hood covering his head. His gaze swept over Cymbra, finding her pale, wide-eyed, and trembling. Instinctively, he reached out, taking her into his arms and reassuring her gently.
    “It's all right, there's nothing to fear. I'll get you out of here, I promise.”
    “No!” She pushed free of his arms and stared at him in horror. “Oh, Hawk, what have you done? I thought this was all settled, that you had accepted my marriage. Why come you now like this when you must know how it will anger Wolf?”
    His face darkened. “Aye, that damn Viking mustn't be angered, must he? You'll say anything, do anything, to prevent that.”
    “Yes … No! That isn't what I meant. He is my husband, I love him, of course I don't want him to be angry. But I have told you the truth, Hawk, I swear it!”
    He stared down into her pleading eyes for a longmoment. Slowly, he said, “Speak those same words to me on the deck of my ship, where you are no longer in the Wolf's power, and I will believe you. Until then, I will not.”
    “I cannot go with you! I cannot!”
    He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Then must I remain here, for I will not leave you.”
    What a fool she had been to think he had done exactly that. What a ridiculous, absurd fool! This was the man who had held the child Cymbra in his arms through solid days and nights when she screamed with the pain of others. The man who had wielded his power and authority to create her sanctuary from the world and, by so doing, given her the time and place to grow into the woman she had become. The brother who had also been both parents … and friend … and guardian … and lord—
    And she had believed he would simply sail off and leave her? Fool! Stupid, idiotic fool!
    “You cannot stay here,” she said, her voice thick with tears she dared not shed. “You know what will happen if you are found.”
    He sensed his advantage, her deep and abiding love for him, and pressed it home. “Then come with me, Cymbra. Come right now. This can all be settled before the next hour is done.”
    The enormity of what he demanded did not escape her. She would have to leave the hill fort without Wolf's permission and with no escort save the brother who had violated the rules of hospitality to come by subterfuge into his erstwhile host's domain. If her husband found out—
    She pushed that thought aside. Hawk was right, it would take only a short time. She could yet convince him that all was well and see him depart without anyone else knowing what had happened.
    “Where is your ship?” she asked, anxious not to waste a moment.
    “In a cove not far from here.” He smiled mirthlessly. “All that sailing had its use. I now know this coast as well as I do that of Essex. It was an easy matter to double back and find a concealed anchorage.”
    So he had been planning this all along, probably from the first day he came and heard her claims of marital happiness. Again she silently berated herself for thinking the matter so easily settled.
    Desperation edged her voice. “All right but we must go swiftly. I would prefer Wolf does not