“You did what?” Lady Vivianne squawked, her face turning as red as a turkey’s wattle.<br/><br/>“I made a blood vow with Maric and we consummated our union in the field under the full moon.” Nimue said proudly, tossing her head defiantly. “He loves me. We are married in the sight of the goddess.” Nimue stretched in memory of the luxurious night they had spent and the wonderful morning christening their bed and the sensual breakfast dedicating the kitchen table. \<br/><br/>“Heaven and Earth preserve us,” the Lady of Avalon said, smacking her forehead with the heel of her own hand. “Do you have any idea what you have done? There is a reason that we don’t do blood vows. Those bind across time and space. There will be no rest in the afterlife for either of you now.” The older woman turned to Nimue with outturned palms.<br/><br/>“I don’t care. He loves me. I love him. Nothing can separate us now.” She retorted with a lift of her chin.<br/><br/>“You are a ninny! He can separate from you but you will never be free from him. Should he leave you, through his own will or circumstances or even death,  you will be disquieted in your spirit for all eternity. Your heart will shatter and you will find no peace without him. There would be no closure, no healing. Should he meet the same fate as Daffyd, his ghost would haunt you forever.” The Lady said, as if she were teaching a class to new acolytes.<br/><br/>Nimue was crying now.<br/><br/>“Would that Daffyd’s ghost had haunted me! I would not have been alone. Now I have Maric and he will be with me forever. I will never be desolate again.”<br/><br/>“Did you not hear me?” the Lady shouted at her. “Should he decide to leave you of his own free will, your heart will never heal from the loss of him.”<br/><br/>“I don’t care!” Nimue shouted back and stormed past her, knocking over the reflecting bowls, spilling water on the floor. " Maric loves me and is honorable. He says he will stay for always and I believe him. You are just hateful that no man have ever loved you!"<br/><br/>Had Nimue looked carefully at the puddle of water on the stone floor, she would have seen a woman in knight’s robes riding up the Tor on a white horse, carrying a banner resplendent with a red cross. The guardian did see it and looked after Nimue with a troubled frown.