Once Upon an Autumn Eve Read Online Free PDF Page A

about his neck a silver chain, leading down to a blue gemstone in a silver setting lying upon his chest. He did not waken.
    “Did you give him a sleeping draught?” asked Zoé.
    “Oh, non, ” said Margaux. “He received a rather severe blow to the head. Natural sleep should restore him, but we must make certain that he is not slipping into a dark realm beyond recovery, and so we’ll rouse him every now and again to make certain that he responds.—In fact, we were just about to do so.”
    “I would question him,” said Liaze.
    Margaux frowned. “Oh, my lady, I think you should wait until the morrow, for he is likely to be addled, and whatever he says, we should take it with a grain of salt.”
    Liaze pursed her lips and said, “Very well. On the morrow, then.” She canted her head toward the knight and said, “Proceed.”
    Margaux glanced from princess to chevalier and back and smiled and said, “Perhaps you should call to him, Princess.”
    “Has he given you his name?” asked Liaze.
    “Non,” said Margaux. “And he had nothing upon him to identify just who he is.”
    “ ’Tis likely to be on his horse,” said Liaze. “Perhaps in the saddlebags or bedroll. Still . . .”
    “His clothing, however,” said Josette, one of the women standing by, “is of luxurious cloth and sewn with a fine hand. I would think he comes from wealth.”
    “Still, that does not identify him,” said Margaux, “and if there is nought borne upon his horse to say, I believe we’ll need him to tell us just who he is.” She stepped aside and gestured to Liaze.
    The princess leaned down and softly said, “Awaken, sir knight.”
    The man stirred faintly.
    “Awaken, sir knight,” said Liaze again. “I would thank you for alerting my holt.” She gently touched him on the shoulder. “Awaken.”
    The chevalier’s eyes opened, and they were a deep blue beyond blue. Even as a thrill flooded Liaze’s entire being, the knight’s eyes locked with hers and he said, “Mon ange. Mon bel ange.”
    Liaze flushed, her heart leaping, while all ’round the women sighed and one whispered, “So handsome.” A murmur of beau and élégant came in agreement.
    Zoé laughed and twirled about and clapped her hands.
    Rémy frowned and looked at Zacharie in puzzlement, and Zacharie merely shrugged.
    With a faint smile on his lips, the chevalier closed his eyes and sank back into sleep.
    Her face yet ablush, Liaze straightened and looked at the women standing nearby, yet they all had expressions of innocence upon their features. Liaze sighed in exasperation and turned to Zacharie. “Would you please see if there is ought in the knight’s saddlebags or upon the trappings of his steed to let us know just who he might be?”
    As Zacharie nodded, Liaze frowned a moment and turned back to the chevalier and said, “Perhaps on the pendant there is engraved a name.”
    In spite of the fact that the cloak she wore gaped open a bit, Liaze reached out toward the silver-clasped jewel, and the moment she did so the women drew a collective gasp and Margaux cried, “Oh my lady, do not touch the—”
    The princess’s fingers came into contact with the—
    “Oh!” she cried and jerked back, cupping her fingers in her other hand, her cloak gaping wide and revealing even more, and Zacharie and Rémy looked away.
    Amid a babble, “—amulet,” finished Margaux, too late, then added, “It stings.” She reached out to take Liaze’s hand.
    “I saw a spark,” declared Zacharie, stepping forward, yet looking elsewhere but at the princess. “It leapt out from the gem.”
    Rémy, a dagger in hand, interposed himself between the knight and Liaze and glared down at the unconscious man.
    Zoé cried out, “Oh, are you hurt, my lady? Are you hurt?” as the princess turned her back to the men.
    With women babbling and Rémy glowering and Zacharie now glancing back and forth between Liaze and the pendant, the princess shook her hand as if to throw off the