Magic in His Kiss Read Online Free PDF

her not to interrupt the song he’d chosen with deliberate care.
    She blinked when he finally sang.
    “The journey is upon us.”
    Nicole joined him, in a clear, sweet voice too angelic for his peace of mind.
    “To faithful fellows farewell.”
    His eyes locked with Nicole’s, and he surrendered the lead to provide harmony.
    “Until next we raise an ale.
    All hail! All hail! All hail!”
    Sister Claire’s thunder never rumbled. Tears streaming down her face, she sank back down to her knees and bowed her head. Others softly sobbed while still others worked their prayer beads faster.
    “All hail,” Mother Abbess said, her voice thready and faint, and Rhodri inwardly breathed a sigh of relief that for this woman, at least, he’d chosen his song correctly.
    Nicole’s chin rose, her gaze peering over his shoulder, her stare so intense one would think someone stood behind him. Her lips parted slightly; her eyes welled with tears. With a mixture of sadness and an emotion he couldn’t quite identify, Nicole uncrossed her arms and bent toward the abbess.
    What Nicole urgently whispered into the nun’s ear he couldn’t understand. He merely noted a look of surprise and—concern?—on the old woman’s face.
    “Oh, Nicole,” the abbess whispered.
    Nicole mustered a smile. “’Tis true. You will see.”
    “But how—”
    “You will know all soon. Be at peace, dearest Abbess. Heaven and friends await you.”
    Which didn’t sound like a platitude to him. The confidence in Nicole’s voice said she knew for certain what awaited the nun on the other side of life.
    “Oh, my. Praise… the Lord.” And with the words on her lips, the nun’s eyes closed for what Rhodri was certain was the last time.
    Nicole kissed the abbess’s forehead and arranged the prayer beads around still hands. When satisfied, she turned those beautiful, moist eyes his way. He saw resignation and grief, but there was also peace and, somehow, joy.
    “Pray, one more song, Rhodri,” she requested, then took her place among the kneeling nuns.
    Rhodri swallowed the lump threatening to close his throat and again chose his music carefully. Not for this nun a mournful tune, but one of victory, triumph, and celebration.
    Near the end, he noted the abbess’s chest failed to rise and fall. He played on to the glorious end, then quietly left the room to allow the nuns to mourn privately and prepare the body for burial.
    To his surprise, several of the nuns followed him out, two of them rushing off down a long passageway. Nicole wiped away tears on her wide black sleeve as she approached him. For the briefest of moments he considered spreading his arms to offer her comfort, invite her to cry on his shoulder. But her tears were gone by the time she reached him.
    “My thanks, Rhodri,” she said, her voice steady. “You so impressed Sister Claire she invites you to evening meal and asks if you will play at the burial on the morn.”
    Oddly disappointed Nicole didn’t require the use of his shoulder, Rhodri would far rather have grabbed hold of her hand and removed her from the abbey. But she’d fight him, and as much as he wanted to be away, he reasoned that waiting one more day wouldn’t matter. As a bard, he also knew Sister Claire awarded him a singular honor.
    “I would be most pleased to play at the burial. Is there aught else I can do to be of service?”
    “Nay, I can think of nothing…”
    Her voice trailed off as she stopped to listen to the deep, mournful drone of the chapel bell, announcing the abbey’s sad news to the countryside.
    After a deep breath, she continued, “Let us gather your belongings, and I will point out the priest’s hut, where you may spend the night.”

Chapter Three
    N icole’s knees ached from kneeling on rough, cold stone. The air in the abbey’s chapel had become both stale and odoriferous, a result of Sister Claire’s bad judgment, in Nicole’s opinion.
    Last eve, not long after the tolling of the bell,