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He looked down at her with an arrested expression in his hazel eyes.
They sat on, growing warmer with shared heat. The sunlight dimmed and then disappeared. Darkness descended, with hardly a glimmer of starlight from the cave mouth. The rush of the sea echoed off the rock walls; the air was saturated with its briny scent.
The dark should have made it more frightening, but Sarah found herself feeling almost cozy. She’d never nestled close to another person for such a long time. Not since she was very small, at least. And although he was a man and a stranger, she felt safe and inexplicably connected to this Kenver Pendrennon. Perhaps it came from having saved each other from the terrible power of the sea. Or some shared way of looking at the world. Whatever it was, it had a tender quality, like nothing she’d felt before.
“Do you live nearby?” he asked out of the darkness.
“Yes, down toward Padstow.”
“My home is east of here. So you’ve always lived in Cornwall?”
“Yes. Except when I went off to school.”
“Oh, school.” His tone was flat.
“You didn’t like it?” Sarah asked.
“I never went. I studied at home.” She felt him shrug. “My parents thought that best.”
“Oh, I made my very best friends at school.” Sarah realized that this was not a tactful response. “I liked learning about all sort of things,” she added.
“Like gigantic sea creatures with tentacles.” His tone was lightly teasing.
“Don’t mention them!”
“We have established that they wouldn’t come near shore,” he said.
“I know, but…”
“You think a mention might summon them?”
“No, of course not.” Sarah was severe. “They are animals, not magical beings.”
“And we have no means of calling onthose.”
“I wish we did,” replied Sarah wistfully. “Like Merlin. Haven’t you always wished to meet him?”
“I’m not sure. I might prefer to see him from a distance perhaps.”
“Why?”
“Well, he was rather ruthless,” said her companion. “His actions here at Tintagel were not entirely admirable, for example.”
It was true that Merlin had made Igraine see another man as her husband, Sarah thought. And thus welcome him to her bed. Which was scandalous. She flushed in the darkness. “So Arthur would be born,” she pointed out.
“The end justifying deceitful means,” he said. “And causing more trouble in the end.”
“I suppose.” He’d thought about it. Sarah was impressed. “Arthur was a hero,” she ventured.
“Yes.”
He sounded almost wistful.
“I always wished for a great chivalric quest,” he added.
“Like the grail?”
“No. More like fighting villains and bringing justice.” He gave a short laugh. “I know it sounds daft.”
