Kerry wandered over to the glass case where the torque and matching bracelets were displayed, along with an ancient sword and a handful of beads. She gave him a puzzled look. "I know this sounds crazy, but I swear I've seen jewelry like these somewhere. Maybe on the History Channel?"
He waited in silence to see if she succeeded in teasing the memory free.
Then her face lit up. "I remember. It was all over the news late last year. An international team of archaeologists were excavating a burial dig and uncovered what they thought was the grave of a female warrior. They found her weapons and a set of jewelry very similar to this, but it disappeared between the site and the museum. The thieves were never caught."
When he didn't immediately reply, the dominoes started falling. "Oh my God, it was you. You stole them."
"They had no right to these." He opened the case and lifted out the torque. Tracing the pattern with his fingers, he remembered how it had looked on the woman in the grave.
"But how are we supposed to learn about the past if we don't study the artifacts we find in a cairn?" There was sympathy mixed with simple curiosity in her voice.
He forced his hand to relax to avoid crushing the torque, his memories burning his nerves raw. "Those so-called scientists learn nothing real from their studies. No matter how hard they try, how deeply they dig, they'll never know the sound of her laughter or that her eyes were the color of the summer sky. They might know what they see, but they won't know her. And for the sake of their stupid fairy tales, they desecrated the dead."
His pain washed over Kerry in waves and the truth finally hit her hard. "Oh, dear God, Ranulf!" You knew her, the woman that necklace belonged to."
He closed his eyes against the memories. "She was my wife. The jewelry was my present to her on our wedding day. The sword was her gift to me.
[. . . ]
"Did she ever figure out what you'd done?"
"She was smart, my Berta, and fierce. She forgave me eventually. I think the matching bracelets helped."
Kerry knew better. If his Viking bride had been that strong in her own right, she would have wanted a man whose strength had been a match for her own. Mere trinkets wouldn't have bought the chieftain's daughter's love.
- Dark Warrior Unleashed
Alexis Morgan
"You're quoting Snoopy the Dog, I believe?"
"I'll quote the truth, where I find it, thank you."
- Illusions, the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
Richard Bach
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