Chapter Five
“No. I came here to—” he couldn’t finish and say he came here to escape the noose for killing the Viscount of Sutton right in front of the new lawman of Croydon. “I came here to start my life over. To take my second chance.”
He looked up at Noelle when she still hadn’t sat. “Don’t go.”
He couldn’t believe he was here with her. Trying to keep her from leaving. How long should he pursue her? He’d never gone through this before. No woman had ever sparked the flames of desire and need like she did.
“Aren’t you curious about all this?” he asked her.
“But you must swear not to go public with any of this,” Lancaster commanded like an emperor to his subject.
Noelle hesitated for a moment, which worried Sebastian, and then agreed. Her cheeks were alabaster white and the tip of her nose was red beneath her reindeer hat. Looking at her ravished his heart.
So he turned to Lancaster. Who was this guy? This had stopped being about a stolen brooch. This was about something much bigger, something magical.
“So, what is this all about?” he put to the older man. “How did you keep us hidden, and who are the men, for starters?”
“It was a simple incantation. You should have never seen it.”
“But we did,” Noelle pointed out.
“And now I am at a road I had tried to avoid. With someone I fear may be who I am hiding from.”
The door opened and a cool gust of air swished inside, bringing with it a man Sebastian had seen before.
Two months ago. In seventeen twenty-four.
He was Pendridge’s friend. Simeon was his name—or as the two horsemen had believed, Merlin.
What was he doing here, and right after the horsemen left?
When Sebastian realized he was coming over, he stood up.
“Yes,” said Lancaster. “I suppose you two have met.”
“What?” asked Noelle, “What’s going—”
“Surrey, what are you doing here?” Simeon demanded, looking confused and unpleased. “Do you and Lancaster know each other?”
“We just met,” Sebastian told him, returning to his seat. “I gather you know him, too.” He turned to Lancaster, who nodded. This was all too much to be a coincidence.
“He came here with a woman from the past,” Lancaster told Sebastian first. “I ran him over with my car two months ago,” the magician told Simeon.
Sebastian wondered if Lancaster was Merlin.
“The night you arrived,” Simeon deduced.
“Aye. The night the horsemen called you—”
“Okay, everybody just stop!” Noelle demanded. “I’m lost. Someone please explain to me what’s going on.” She turned to Simeon. “Who are you and where do you know Sebastian from?”
“Yes, forgive me,” the stranger gushed. “I am Roldan Simeon, trader extraordinaire. And I know Lord Surrey from…ehm…England.”
“What year?” she asked with a cheeky smile, resting her chin in her hand.
Simeon glanced at him as Sebastian nodded and returned to his seat. Simeon sighed. “From the past.”
“What year?” she asked the trader again.
“Seventeen twenty-four, dear lady.”
She shook her head. “How is this possible?” Her big blue eyes turned to Sebastian. “Are you really from the past?”
“Aye.”
“Roldan can travel through time,” Lancaster informed them as if he were speaking about his own child’s accomplishments.
“Not surprising,” Sebastian muttered.
Noelle held her palm to her forehead. “I’ve never said this before, but I think I’m going to faint.”
Sebastian leaned over the table and rested his hand on her shoulder. “’Tis all right. If you faint, I will guard your sleeping body.”
He smiled. He was joking, calming her, making her smile.
“Does this mean you believe me?” he asked her.
“It seems all the evidence points to you telling the truth.”
He noted her voice was a little shaky. “Do you want me to escort you home? Mr. Lancaster and I can finish our chat some other time.”
“No,” Simeon interjected, holding up his hand to Sebastian. “Leave him out of this. He has nothing to do with you.”
“What?” Sebastian laughed a little, but he was getting angry. “And what does he have to do with you, Merlin?”
Lancaster dropped his coffee to the floor. “What?”
Noelle moved to grab some napkins.
“He heard the two knights suggest it,” Simeon explained. “One of them even suggested he was King Arthur. They were grasping at straws.”
“They are knights,” Lancaster echoed softly. “Sirs Gawaine and Lucan.”
The time traveler gasped. “How do you know them?”
“I didn’t until I saw them. Elia described them to me.”
“Ah, yes,” the trader nodded.
“What else did the knights say?” Lancaster turned to Sebastian.
“They are King Arthur’s knights,” Sebastian whispered, then whistled. “’Tis all real then. Only I would have sworn you were Merlin,” he told Lancaster.
“I can’t believe I don’t have a shred of proof of any of this.” Noelle rested her head in her hands and shook it slowly.
“Miss Upton—” Lancaster began with a worried scowl.
“I know. I know,” she assured him. “I’m just saying. Like, my therapist wouldn’t even believe it.”
“So—” It wasn’t that Sebastian hadn’t heard her and felt bad for her because this was the break of her life and she couldn’t do anything or tell anyone.
He got that. But—“Where is he? Where is King Arthur? That’s who they are looking for, isn’t it.
One of them said the brooch was supposed to help them find King Arthur.
Wait!” He roved his hands over himself, as if he needed to be sure he was still him.
“Am I Arthur? The brooch did bring them to my time—”
“God help us, no,” muttered Simeon. “Lord Surrey, you will not be told another thing about King Arthur from my lips.”
“I’m not Lord Surrey anymore, Mr. Simeon. And you have been on me since Michael and Charlotte’s secret wedding celebration. I’m getting a little fed up with it.”
“Who is this woman Michael married?” Lancaster asked, sounding carefree for a moment. “Is she a good woman?”
“Aye,” Sebastian supplied. “She is one of my dearest friends.”
“You will tell me all about her,” Lancaster ordered.
Who exactly was Detective Pendridge to him? Even more importantly, who was Charles Lancaster?
“Sure. Another time perhaps.”
“Roldan,” Lancaster said, satisfied with Sebastian’s answer. “The knights came looking for him. You’re aware, I’m sure, that Mr. Alexander stole a brooch—”
“He has stolen many things,” the time traveler said, clearly not caring if Sebastian was glaring at him as if he could kill him.
His guilty gaze went to Noelle. He closed his eyes instead of facing her stern look.
“You seem to know much about him, Roldan,” Lancaster said, sitting back in his chair.
“And about the brooch, which was used to take my daughter. Tell me what you know about this spell and why Mr. Alexander came back here. Why I hit him with my car and met up with him again tonight. And why the knights are after him for coming here. Elia came here in Kes’ place and there were no problems.”
“Elia?” Sebastian and Noelle both said at the same time. He’d mentioned her before. He’d said she came from the past.
“Never mind her,” Lancaster said darkly. “My point is that there is another reason they are after you.”
“We can speak of it later, Charles,” Simeon said with an indulgent smile under his sleek, black mustache. “You will have to trust me on this. I will say nothing more in front of him.”
Sebastian stared at Lancaster. He wanted to know what he felt when Lancaster shook his hand. Who and what exactly was Lancaster? What did he have to do with him?
“I was honest with you,” he told the magician. “Now you will not do the same for me?”
For a moment, Sebastian was sure Lancaster would give in, but he shook his head. “I can’t. I think it would be best if you forgot—”
“No!” Sebastian warned him. “I don’t know what you are but don’t try to cast one of your spells on me.”
“What spells?” Simeon asked, now looking as confused as the rest of them. “What is he talking about?”
Sebastian eyed Lancaster. Roldan Simeon was his friend. Let him explain. When Lancaster said nothing, Sebastian turned to him.
“You want to know what else the knights said? They said they were all under a spell and none of them could remember who anyone was. Ingenious, whoever did that.” He winked at Lancaster, guessing he was likely responsible.
Perhaps Lancaster truly was Merlin. “He knows about it.” He pointed to Simeon.
“When they accused him of being Merlin, he said he would know.”
Lancaster stood up slowly. “We should all split up and not communicate—”
“Wait a minute,” Sebastian said, slipping his emerald gaze to Lancaster as something occurred to him. “How did you know Detective Pendridge traveled back?”
Lancaster grew pale and closed his eyes. “We know too much. She’s going to find us.”
“What? Who?” Sebastian looked up then watched Simeon rise, as well. He looked at Noelle, still sitting but looking like she was getting ready to get up…and perhaps run.
“Morgan.”
Simeon covered his face with both hands. “No! Are you…?”
“Merlin,” Sebastian said softly. “Or King Arthur.”
Immediately Lancaster and Simeon scolded him for speaking it out loud.
“We need to get out of here,” Lancaster said to Simeon. “We could be putting these people in danger.”
“I need a phone!” Noelle pleaded. “Someone just give me your phone. Please!”
“Come with me!” Lancaster commanded. He left the table, and then the store. Simeon followed close behind him. And then he wasn’t. He went through the door and he disappeared. Noelle let out a squeak.
Sebastian put his arm around her. “He does that,” he tried to reassure her, remembering the time traveler popping in and out at the keep.
“This is all so insane!” Noelle cried.
“I know.” He leaned down and whispered close to her ear, “Forgive me for dragging you into this. Let me make it up to you. Let me take you to dinner.”
“I don’t think it’s safe for you to be out and about,” Lancaster warned. “We will order in.” He ignored their protests and summoned an Uber on his phone.