Page 35 of May Queen: May Day

“Hurry, Belenus,” called out Rosemunda. “Everyone has already left for the caves.”

Flora’s eyes interlocked with her father’s. As angry as she was with him for leaving her mother, a part of her wanted to go with him and get to know the man she’d longed for her entire life. But then she thought of Ricard. If she gave her father the necklace, they would leave. And if she went with him, she would never see Ricard again. Her heart was torn, and she cried out for the guidance of her late mother in her mind to know the right thing to do.

“I can’t. Not now. Not yet,” she told her father, turning and running and mounting her horse. She looked back as she rode out of the camp, but her father, as well as the rest of the Druids and any evidence that they were ever there, was gone.

“I see her,”Ricard called out to his squire, spotting Flora riding her horse right toward them. He wasn’t sure how they’d lost her when they’d been right on her tail, but she’d managed to shake them. Now, she acted as if she wanted them to find her. This girl was confusing him, and he didn’t know what to think. “Flora,” he called out.

Flora stopped her horse in front of them, looking very upset.

“Why are you following me?” she snapped.

“Why are you sneaking away from the castle again, unescorted?” Ricard rallied.

“I wanted to go for a ride to clear my head.”

“Are you sure you weren’t meeting somebody?” asked Ricard.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“He means Druids – the pagans. Weren’t you meeting them?” asked Nash. “And isn’t your father alive and really one of them?”

“What? Why would you even say that?” she asked in surprise.

“I read your lips,” Nash told her with pride. “You were talking about him with your handmaid.”

“Nash, that’s enough,” growled Ricard. “Let me do the talking.”

“You don’t trust me?” asked Flora.

“I worried for your safety,” Ricard explained.

“I see. Well, now that you’re here, you can escort me back to the castle yourself.”

“Not so fast,” said Ricard, looking toward the direction from which she’d come. “Where were you and what’s over there?”

“I got lost riding and I am glad you found me,” she said. “Now, please, I’d like to return to the castle.”

“Mayhap that’s where the Druids are hiding,” said Nash in a half-whisper. “Let’s check it out.”

“I’m feeling ill and would like to return to the castle anon,” said Flora with urgency in her voice.

Ricard wasn’t sure if she was trying to distract him, or if she was really ill. He decided he’d come back later to investigate with more men. Even if the Druids were here, he’d never be able to defeat them with just a squire at his side.

“All right, we’ll go,” he told her, putting her safety before his own personal goal. They rode back to the castle in silence. When they entered the courtyard, Ricard hurried over to help her from her horse. Flora seemed shaken and did not fight him this time. He slipped his hands around her waist. She placed her hands on his shoulders as he lifted her from her horse and gently put her on the ground.

“Thank you,” she said, shyly looking up into his eyes. “I think I’ll go to my chamber and rest now.”

“Flora,” he said, his hands still on her waist. He looked deeply into her bright green eyes, wanting to know the woman he was marrying. He longed to delve past her fortress of a wall that was shutting him out, to find out who Flora was and what she was hiding from him as well. “I thought, perhaps, we could go for a stroll in the castle garden later. Just the two of us.”

“Oh?” she asked. “Whatever for?”

“Just to visit, and get to know each other. It’s relaxing to smell the flowers in the garden. The bluebells, primrose and tulips are in bloom, and the peonies are budding. The lilac bushes smell beautiful this time of year. You do like flowers, don’t you?”

She smiled, her white teeth showing where there had been a previous unsettled frown. “Yes, I do like flowers. Did you know that in Roman mythology, Flora was the goddess of flowers?”

“Nay, I wasn’t aware of that.” He reached out and touched her cheek gently, watching her eyes close partially as she leaned in to his touch. “Then you shall be my flower goddess. My Queen of the May.”

Her eyes snapped open. “What do you know about the Queen of the May?”