Written in the Stars Read Free

hair back from her high forehead.
    “Shall I stay?” the duke asked in the thoughtful, loving voice Will remembered from
     childhood.
    “Be gone, my lord. You are eager to go hawking.” She laughed softly.
    The duke looked up, and Will met the plea in his eyes. “I swear I will make her rest,”
     he promised.
    “I trust you in all things, Will.” The duke nodded. “I shall return to find Laurel
     well once more.” He placed a gentle kiss on her lips and stalked from the room.
    “My lord cannot bear when I am ill.” Laurel sighed. “Now you must sit by my side.”
     Her smile trembling at the corners, she patted the edge of the satin-draped bed.
    He sat close, as bidden, and held her cool, outstretched hand.
    “Will, tell me your thoughts about Lady Elizabeth.”
    Before this day, he would have sworn he could share all with Laurel. Now sharp unease
     and heavy confusion caused him to choose his words with care.
    “Lady Elizabeth is more beautiful than rumored.”
    “’Tis true!” Laurel sat up straighter. “I’ve never beheld such an abundance of curling,
     shining dark hair, nor eyes as light green as spring buds. I hope she will become
     my friend.”
    He tightened his grip on her hand. “All wish to be your friend, Laurel.”
    “Yes, I saw kindness on her face, yet I felt—” Laurel shook her head. “—such power
     around her. You felt it?”
    From the moment their eyes met, nay, before, watching her walk with pride and strength
     toward them, he knew Elizabeth was coming to him.
    He shook his head to clear it of traitorous thoughts and desires.
    Not to me, to Carlyle.
    “Lady Elizabeth has great pride and knows well how to behave as a future duchess.”
    “I hope she brings much merriment to our court and to our villagers, for they plan
     a fair in her honor.” Laurel coughed and took a long, shuddering breath as if struggling
     to draw air into her lungs.
    Will reached for the goblet of wine. “Drink.”
    “Nay.” She shook her head. “I need it not. What I desire is to see young Stephen on
     the morrow. He is all I need to make me light of heart and health. As all he needs
     is a mother.” Laurel slanted him a familiar worried look.
    Sighing, he smiled, acknowledging her concern. “You know Stephen has his nursemaid,
     and you are a mother to him.”
    “Will, you are the brother I was never blessed to have, and I am a loving aunt to
     Stephen. Yet he needs more. A woman who will catch him when he stumbles. A woman you
     want always by your side.”
    I have found her and she belongs to another.
    “Will, your face! What troubles—”
    Laurel’s sudden spasm of coughing cut his heart. He knew worse could follow.
    “Call my grandfather,” Will commanded the hovering maid.
    “I am here.” His grandfather spoke from the door and moved swiftly to take Will’s
     place.
    “Laurel, drink this potion I’ve prepared for you.” Charles Grey held a cup to her
     pale lips and she clasped it with her palms, swallowing it in great gulps.
    Sighing, she fell back on the pillows. “Truly in your hands, the magic of the old
     gods is good.”
    “There is no magic in the elements of our world. Air. Fire. Earth. Water. They are
     gifts to us to be used wisely.”
    “Your wisdom brings me much peace, Charles Grey,” Laurel whispered, her eyelids drooping.
    “Then rest and find more comfort, sweet Laurel.”
    Will and his grandfather stepped away, watching Laurel close her eyes. When her breathing
     became an even rhythm, his grandfather nodded.
    “The plant I brewed will help her sleep. It grows in a part of the forest seldom visited
     by others.” His grandfather stared deep into Will’s eyes. “There I found signs of
     the old, dark pagan ways. The blood of the sacrifice was fresh upon the altar. Have
     your scouts heard rumors of the dark practices rising again to menace us?”
    Instinctively, Will’s hand went to his sword. He knew of the glade in the deep forest
     where such an altar