Sharon Ashwood: Enchanted Guardian

“What could another woman give me that you cannot?” Lancelot whispered. It was more like a groan.

She sat back on her heels, looking down at him from under slitted lids. “Safety. She would bind your life around with the garlands of comfort and surety. She would keep your hearth and home and fill it with kindness. Your future would be known and beloved, a tale well told and filled with love and laughter. I foresaw this future for you in my gazing crystal, long before you went into the stone sleep. I had hoped you would have found her instead. Perhaps you still can.”

“She sounds marvelous. A paragon. Undoubtedly a good wife and mother.”

“Many long for a crumb of such happiness as she could give.”

“Well,” said Lancelot, “when we find her we should introduce her to Beaumains. She sounds like his type.”

Nimueh let out an exasperated breath. “Why not you?”

“I have you.”

SHARON ASHWOODis a novelist, desk jockey and enthusiast for the weird and spooky. She has an English literature degree but works as a finance geek. Interests include growing her to-be-read pile and playing with the toy graveyard on her desk. Sharon is the winner of the 2011 RITA ®Award for Best Paranormal Romance. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and is owned by the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness, conqueror of fuzzy slippers and bane of the computer mouse. Long may your reign of terror continue.

Contents

Cover

Introduction “What could another woman give me that you cannot?” Lancelot whispered. It was more like a groan. She sat back on her heels, looking down at him from under slitted lids. “Safety. She would bind your life around with the garlands of comfort and surety. She would keep your hearth and home and fill it with kindness. Your future would be known and beloved, a tale well told and filled with love and laughter. I foresaw this future for you in my gazing crystal, long before you went into the stone sleep. I had hoped you would have found her instead. Perhaps you still can.” “She sounds marvelous. A paragon. Undoubtedly a good wife and mother.” “Many long for a crumb of such happiness as she could give.” “Well,” said Lancelot, “when we find her we should introduce her to Beaumains. She sounds like his type.” Nimueh let out an exasperated breath. “Why not you?” “I have you.”

About the Author SHARON ASHWOOD is a novelist, desk jockey and enthusiast for the weird and spooky. She has an English literature degree but works as a finance geek. Interests include growing her to-be-read pile and playing with the toy graveyard on her desk. Sharon is the winner of the 2011 RITA ® Award for Best Paranormal Romance. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and is owned by the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness.

Title Page Enchanted Guardian Sharon Ashwood www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dedication For the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness, conqueror of fuzzy slippers and bane of the computer mouse. Long may your reign of terror continue.

Prologue Prologue In case you’re wondering, heroes and villains are real. So is magic, and so are monsters. They’re not just children’s tales or relics of a long-ago past. Take Camelot, for example. It belongs to the present just as much as it did to once upon a time, and its story goes like this: Long ago, King Arthur won a mighty battle against the demons, but what should have been victory quickly turned to Camelot’s doom. Some say it was evil luck and others say it was the enchanter Merlin’s arrogance for, in his desperation to defeat the enemy, Merlin tried magic no one had seen before. The result was disaster. The final spell of the war ripped out the souls of Camelot’s fae allies and reduced them to emotionless shells. The Queen of Faery swore vengeance against Merlin, the king and all the mortal realms. In defiance, the warriors of Camelot sacrificed everything they had, or loved, or ever hoped to be in order to keep us safe. Merlin cast an enchantment, turning the mighty Knights of the Round Table to stone statues upon their empty tombs. There they lie ageless and undying, ready to rise when humanity’s hour of need is greatest. Yes, heroes are real, and so are the villains. The pitiless Morgan LaFaye is ruler of the beautiful and deadly fae. Once allies, now they feed on mortal souls because they’ve lost their own. Now the Queen of Faery is poised to invade. If she has her way, our world is about to end. It’s time for Camelot to rise.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

In case you’re wondering, heroes and villains are real. So is magic, and so are monsters. They’re not just children’s tales or relics of a long-ago past.

Take Camelot, for example. It belongs to the present just as much as it did to once upon a time, and its story goes like this:

Long ago, King Arthur won a mighty battle against the demons, but what should have been victory quickly turned to Camelot’s doom. Some say it was evil luck and others say it was the enchanter Merlin’s arrogance for, in his desperation to defeat the enemy, Merlin tried magic no one had seen before. The result was disaster. The final spell of the war ripped out the souls of Camelot’s fae allies and reduced them to emotionless shells.

The Queen of Faery swore vengeance against Merlin, the king and all the mortal realms. In defiance, the warriors of Camelot sacrificed everything they had, or loved, or ever hoped to be in order to keep us safe. Merlin cast an enchantment, turning the mighty Knights of the Round Table to stone statues upon their empty tombs. There they lie ageless and undying, ready to rise when humanity’s hour of need is greatest.

Yes, heroes are real, and so are the villains. The pitiless Morgan LaFaye is ruler of the beautiful and deadly fae. Once allies, now they feed on mortal souls because they’ve lost their own.

Now the Queen of Faery is poised to invade. If she has her way, our world is about to end.

It’s time for Camelot to rise.

Chapter 1

Run.

Her feet flew over the pavement, swift and all but silent. She ran like a deer, leaping over obstacles and dodging from path to lane, road to filthy alley. She ran like the wind because her death was behind her. She ran like prey.

Hide.

She found cover at last, though it was barely enough. There were two stairs down to a basement door, just enough of a dent in the narrow road for concealment. Crouching low, she made herself as small as she could. When that wasn’t enough, she huddled on the ground, her knees and palms on the dirty concrete.