Caleb sat on the grassy plateau, and she sat beside him. Ruth came up and sat with them, too.
They lay back together, and looked up at the sky, and she put her head in his arms. The sky was so blue, unlike any sky she had ever seen, as it began to enter that magical time between day and night.
Caitlin lost track of time as they lay there, quietly, taking in the universe.
Eventually, Caleb slowly sat up. Caitlin did, too.
He looked at her with a seriousness and intensity that scared her, as if he were preparing to say something really important.
He cleared his throat, and she thought for a moment that he even looked a bit nervous.
“Caitlin,” he began. He paused. “I just want to tell you how much you mean to me. I’ve never really had a chance, with just the two of us, to look back and reflect. I just want you to know, that even if it weren’t for all this, even if we hadn’t met the way we had, I still would have fallen just as much in love with you.”
Caitlin felt her heart soar. It felt so good to hear the words, to know that he loved her as much as she loved him. Now, with him at her side, and feeling the same way she did, she felt like they could do anything. Nothing in the world could hold them back.
Caleb cleared his throat again, and she thought he looked even more nervous. She couldn’t understand why.
“Caitlin,” he said, clearing his throat again. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Caitlin wondered why he didn’t just come out and say it, whatever it was. They had known each other long enough. Why was he standing on ceremony? Why was he so nervous?
Caleb opened his mouth to speak again, and at the same time he appeared to be reaching back for something in his pocket.
Suddenly, at just that moment, there was a tremendous screech in the sky, and they both stopped and looked up.
Right overhead, there was a huge falcon, circling them, and diving fast right towards them.
The bird came in so fast, seeming to dive right for their heads, that they had to both duck at the last second to keep from getting clawed. It landed just feet from them, on the grass.
It turned and stared at them with defiant eyes.
Then, after a moment, it suddenly took off again, its huge wings flapping so close to their faces, that Caleb and Caitlin had to duck again.
They both looked at each other in shock, as the huge bird flew off into the horizon.
They then turned and looked back in the grass, where the bird had been, and saw that it had left something.
It was a scroll. A message, Caitlin realized.
And as she looked closely at it, her heart stopped within her.
On the outside, in delicate, feminine handwriting, it read: “For Caleb. My love.”
Chapter Twelve
As Sam walked with Kendra down the marble, gilded halls of Versailles, he was having a hard time concentrating. After the two of them had met, and Polly had rushed off, they had been left alone. Kendra hadn’t said anything else to him, but she had looked at him in such a way, that he felt she was beckoning him to stay with her.
So when she had turned, without a word, and had begun to slowly walk away, he felt like he should accompany her. He hurried to catch up, and had been walking beside her ever since. She hadn’t looked surprised that he had done so, and she had not asked him to leave. At the same time, she had not explicitly invited him, either.
She was a confusing person, hard to read. Sam marveled at how this woman – if he could even call her that at 17 – already had such an effect upon him. After being transfixed by her eyes, a light, mysterious aqua blue, he had fallen hard, and had a hard time thinking of anything else. It was as if she’d had a power to transfix him.
And yet, he could sense, she was not one of his kind. She was a mere human. How could she have this kind of power?
He also could feel the huge sense of entitlement coming off of her. Clearly, she was a member of the royal family. It was apparent in the way she moved, the way she held her chin, the way she carried herself. She was clearly the type of person, he could tell, who was used to giving people orders since birth. He, too, felt that it was hard to do anything but fulfill her command while in her presence.
Not that he minded. His heart had beat faster at his first sight of her, and he didn’t especially want to be anywhere else but by her side. It was literally as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt. He could not understand how she had captured his interest so quickly. He didn’t even know her. And up until now, he had never even believed in love at first sight.
He thought of the first time he had met Samantha, of the feelings he had felt. He had been so attracted to her, too. But it was also different. With Kendra, it was something deeper, stronger.
The timing was so weird, too, because, before he’d met her, he had just been starting to warm up to Polly. Upon first seeing Polly, he had been struck by how pretty she was. But she was not ravishingly beautiful, like Kendra was, nor did she have the same power to hypnotize him. And once Kendra appeared, it was hard for him to think of anything else.
As they walked, their footsteps echoing in the cavernous marble corridors, passing huge floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the formal gardens of Versailles, Sam finally began to come back to his senses. He wondered where they were going. Being around Kendra, he was having a hard time remembering why he was here. He was even having a hard time remembering what his mission was at all, and why he’d come back in time.
A wave of her perfume came his way, and Sam felt even more lightheaded. He willed himself to think. To remember.
Caitlin. He’d wanted to find her. To help her.
Aiden. Polly had brought him here. To meet him.
But as he turned the corner with her, and walked down yet another corridor, it all seemed to fade to the back of his mind. Somehow, none of it seemed so pressing anymore. Strangely enough, he now felt as if he had all the time in the world. And that nothing was more important than being by Kendra’s side.
As the silence between them continued, Sam finally began to wonder if he should say something. He cleared his throat.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
They walked several more feet in silence, and Sam began to wonder if she would even bother to answer him.
“I am going to the court,” she said slowly, haughtily.
Now Sam felt embarrassed. Was he intruding? Had he misread the signs? Should he leave her be, go in another direction?
“Do you want me to come with you?” Sam asked.
He watched her expression, and caught the slightest flicker of a smile at the corner of her lips. “As you will,” she said.
He didn’t know what that meant, but he decided he would take that for a Yes. He wasn’t ready to leave her side so quickly, at least not until she explicitly told him to go.
“So, like, who are you?” he asked.
They walked in silence, she not bothering to answer. Finally, Sam figured he should rephrase the question.
“I mean, like, do you live here? How do you know Polly? I’ve never been here,” he said. He knew that he sounded lame, but he didn’t know what else to say.
“That is obvious,” she said, as she suddenly stopped before a door.
She looked at Sam, waiting there, impatient.
He could not figure out what she was waiting for.
Then he realized. The door. She expected him to open it for her.
Clumsily, he hurried forward and yanked it open.
She turned and walked through the open door, without even a thank you.
Sam rushed through it, hurrying to keep up beside her.
They were now outside, walking through the immaculate, formal gardens. It was a beautiful day, but very sunny and hot.
Sam felt something in his hand, and looked down, and saw her place a long, slim, black parasol into it.
He couldn’t figure why she had handed him an umbrella, since it wasn’t raining, but then, he realized. She expected him to open it for her. To block the sun.