Chapter 20 A Beautiful Path
A BEAUTIFUL PATH
Hair red, nose pert, eyes set farther apart so she seemed not simply innocent but na?ve.
Diana no longer looked like herself. She could likely walk through Hyde Park and no one would recognize her.
Not even Apollo. She could change her appearance all she wanted to, though, and it would not change her name.
Although… she could make herself a bit mysterious. Tell everyone that she only acknowledged her husband’s last name because life had not started until she’d married him.
No. She did not think she could do that. But she had to do something to soothe Temple’s fears. Or she was soothing her own fears. She knew it was time to leave their little Bloomsbury haven, but that didn’t make it easy.
She let the glamour fall and slumped onto the bed. “Be clever, Diana.” No idea supplied itself. “Be cleverer!”
The dog started barking, and she gave up entirely. It was too late to be clever, and the day had been longer. And the dog too loud. And… the barking sounded closer this time, as if someone had let the beast outside.
She opened the window and stuck half of her body out. “Oh, do be quiet,” she hissed into the night.
The barking only intensified, and she heard scratching at the wall below her.
She peered into the dark beneath the window.
What sort of dog made those giant bellowing noises?
It had not been so loud or so deep earlier in the day.
She’d have imagined a small sort of dog, the kind that sat on laps.
But hearing it now, it must be a big dog.
“Please, love, do quit barking and I’ll leave a nice piece of meat for you outside our door.”
“In my experience a slab of meat is the only thing this animal answers to.”
She knew that voice, the silky exasperation that seemed a part of the night. “Temple! Is that you? Of course it’s you.” She knew her husband’s voice as much from the anticipation racing up her spine and the warmth of the ring on her finger as she did from the tenor and tone of it.
“Yes, it’s me. And I brought you a present.”
“You’re rather late. I expected you hours ago. I was considering laying siege to his majesty’s residences.”
A dark chuckle. “Glad you remained safely abed. Come downstairs and open the door. The damn dog won’t leave the window now that he’s seen you. But if he hears you around the corner, he’ll follow your voice.”
The air must have changed into molasses.
It was that difficult to move through. Or her limbs had become stone, and they were more difficult to move.
As she made her slow way down the stairs, she had that sticky, dream feeling she always hated that made her glad to wake up.
The one where she could barely move no matter how hard she tried.
But somehow she made it downstairs, opened the front door, and stepped outside.
“Doggy,” she said, then louder, “Doggy!”
She heard the scuff of claws across the ground, then the faster scrape of running paws. And then she was knocked flat on her backside. She screamed, and a wet tongue dragged up the length of her face. In the pale light of the nearby fairy lamp, a shadow approached.
Through gritted teeth and barely moving lips, she called out for Temple. “I’m being attacked! Oh God, his tongue is everywhere!”
But the dog did not appear to be mauling her. He was simply overly excited to meet her.
“Merlin,” Temple said with a stern voice. “Sit.”
The dog did not sit, but he did stop slobbering over her, wagging his tail with wild abandon.
Had Temple said… Merlin?
Diana had enough space to sit upright, and she clutched at the dog’s furry neck. “Is that really you, Merlin?”
The dog licked her lips.
“Yuck.” She dragged her hand across the back of her mouth.
Temple’s hand appeared in her vision, and she took it, letting him tug her to standing.
“Where did you find him?” she asked, resting her hand on Merlin’s head.
“I stole him.” Said as if he were denoting the time of day.
Diana sank back down to pet his big bony head and to hug his big furry neck and to hide her tears in that warm fur. “But how?”
“Quite easily. I think the dog wanted to be stolen. All it took was a bit of cooked chicken. Nico’s wife supplied it.
Brought Nico along in case I needed him.
I did not. Nico was upset things turned out so simply.
You did not tell me Merlin was so big. When you were speaking of him this morning, I imagined a small thing, a lapdog.
Or some hunting dog, fast and sleek. But Merlin is a monster. ”
“He’s a little sweetheart.” Diana rubbed her cheek against the Saint Bernard’s face.
“Well, your little sweetheart is much too trusting of strangers. He followed me all the way into the carriage with only the promise of chicken.”
“He probably smelled me on you. Didn’t you, Merlin?”
The dog groaned and flopped at her feet, and she laughed. He stared up at her with an adoration that likely mirrored her own.
“I understand that dog entirely,” Temple murmured. “Shall we go inside?”
They did and Temple found some old bedding to make the dog a bed in the corner of their bedroom.
Diana sat on the floor beside her old friend as he circled and sniffed and finally made himself at home.
Oh, how she’d missed him. She’d not had time to think about missing him of course, but that didn’t mean the ache wasn’t there.
Alone at night above the potion shop, no thick fur to cling to.
Reading alone in the study when Temple was busy and no fluffy ears to confide in.
It didn’t matter that Merlin could not answer, he’d never failed to give his full attention, to cock his head as if interested.
A little corner of her that she’d not known had been raw and aching healed. And it had been her husband’s doing. Somehow, he’d known exactly what she needed. She hugged Merlin one more time and stood.
Temple was laid out on their bed, propped against the headboard, ankles crossed and hands folded behind his head.
She loved him in this position, not a little because it strained his muscles against the fabric of his shirt.
But also because he seemed so very at ease and rarely seemed that way at other times.
In his forge, he was tight and tense, his work pumping his body bigger.
In public, he scanned every corner, every face, looking for threats.
With his family, ghosts roamed his gaze, and she now knew they were the specters of duty and obligation.
He felt himself responsible for their well-being, and he was inspecting them for any cracks, any weaknesses or wants he could tidy up and make better.
She must do that for him now.
“We should bring in a servant,” Temple said, swinging one foot back and forth in lazy arches, “to help care for Merlin. We’ll need a cook, too, and you’ll likely want a maid.”
Their little peaceful idyl was ending. No more hiding.
“Tell me what happened with the king,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
When he was done, she inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly and tried not to let her fears make her hands tremble.
“You’re scared.” He settled one of his hands over hers.
“I do not blame you. But the king promised he would give us his blessing. And I trust him with that. He’s not been a perfect leader, but he has allowed himself to be towed in the general direction of reform on occasion.
I cannot believe I had not thought of it sooner.
But the king’s blessing protects you. Surely your cousin will not disobey his majesty. ”
Diana was not sure that Apollo was capable of thinking rationally when it came to her and what he thought of as the theft of his birthright.
“And,” Temple said, “word has reached even the king that your cousin is nothing but a sot these days. He has stopped all his old activities, does nothing but drink and smoke opium. That last bit Mr. Squires provided.”
“Poor Apollo.”
Temple snorted. “Hardly. I won’t have you pitying him. I certainly do not.”
“But I do. A little, as foolish as that is, considering.” She’d better not consider it out loud or the vein currently ticking in Temple’s neck might explode.
“It is only that… I begin to think every life has many paths that lead to good or ill or somewhere in between. I used to think there was only one, and we trod our path diligently, dutifully, until the day we died. We had no choice. That path was set the day we were born. But… it’s not.
I chose to buy a potion, and that has transmuted my life into something I’d never been able to imagine before.
Do not look that way, Temple. It is a good transmutation.
Despite the running for my life bit, I’ve done and seen and learned more than I ever thought possible. It is… a thing of beauty.”
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
She laughed. “Not yet. You also made a choice, to share something with the king that you were told not to. And it saved lives and it changed your own.”
“I knew how my life would change, though. I knew, and I still did it.” His foot froze in the middle of one of those lazy arches.
“Yes, you did. And I admire you all the more for it.”
Slowly, his lips curled into a smile. “Now I’m going to kiss you.”
“One more thing.”
He groaned.
“I hope that Apollo’s choices are not done, and that he makes a choice one day that sets him on a beautiful path. That is all.”
“Too forgiving,” he grumbled.
“Shall I tell you what I was doing while you were away for so long?”
“If I let you, can I kiss you?”
“Temple, truly, you are impossible.”
“I prefer to consider myself focused.” He waved a hand. “Yes, tell me, then.”
She stood, tugged the light, and slipped her glamour around her like a cloak.
Temple sat upright, frowning.
“I was practicing,” she said, “wearing a glamour like this in case I might need to. In case pretending to be someone other than myself is the only way you can have me as your wife.”