She sat up, her laughter dismissed. She hugged knees to her chest and acknowledged the ache within herheart.
If nothing else, she and Yves had had each other these last two years. Now she was alone again, as she had been for most of her life. Tears welled up in Annelise’s eyes and she looked for her discardedveil.
That was when she remembered thebook.
As befit her experience of the day, it had vanished as surely as if it had never been. It was not on the table where she had seen it last, nor even in the bed chamber. It was not in the courtyard, so Annelise embarked on another hunt through the entire palace for the cursedbook.
It must be her husband’s will that it be hidden from her, although Annelise could not understand why he no longer wished for her to break thecurse.
* * *
One day in the forest,still burdened with the curse of being a wolf, was enough to make Rolfe’s angerfade.
Indeed, it was sufficient to make him question his choice to leave thepalace.
And hiswife.
Annelise had not left the palace during the day, although he had heard sounds of activity within thewalls.
He was curious beyond all to know what she wasdoing.
He knew she was not taking her leisure. That was not the lady’sinclination.
No, she had a scheme of some kind. He knew her well enough to guess that. Rolfe could not help but wonder what itwas.
Still, he retreated to the tower that night, wanting to be certain of his choice. He could not even see the palace from the high windows, which he had found vexing. The rustle of the wind irritated him as never before, let alone the wail of it in the stairwell of the tower. Rolfe hated that no human sound carried to his ears once he moved away from the palace gates at sunset. He ached to hear Annelise’s laughter or the tread of her foot upon thestair.
He spent that night pacing the floor of the abandoned tower, instead of finding peace in hisrefuge.
All through that night, Rolfe was aware of what he had denied himself. He recalled the smooth, warm satin of Annelise’s skin beneath his hand. When he closed his eyes, Rolfe could smell the honeyed perfume of her skin. It was all too easy to remember the taste of her kiss—and long to sample itagain.
It was more than the pleasure that he and Annelise found abed that Rolfe missed, though. In his memory, he saw her eyes sparkle, her lips curve and part as they did before she laughedaloud.
He missed her company, her conviction that his cause should be defended, and her faith that she could be the one to doit.
As the moon crossed the sky, it became increasingly difficult to recall why he was denying himself the pleasure of hercompany.
In hindsight, Rolfe knew he should have anticipated that Annelise would try to look upon him. She was curious. Indeed, that was one trait he admired about her. She solved matters for herself, apparently having learned no expectation that any other soul would show a care for her needs. She had asked him repeatedly to show his face to her, and he haddeclined.
So, she had found asolution.
It was not that much of a crime, or even that much of abetrayal.
Rolfe stared over the snowy forest and admitted that both hiding himself from her and retreating from the palace had been mistakes. Annelise had not recognized him. He should have anticipated as much. Her years in the convent probably meant that she would not recognize his name,either.
Just before the dawn, he had a troubling idea. What if the bottle offered his dream come true, but he was too fool to takeit?
What if love was not merelyphysical?
What if there were women who, unlike Rosalinde, did not demand concrete gains for the surrender of theirfavors?
What if he was wed to one? Annelise had declared herself unwilling to marry a man who did not love her. She had seemed confused when Rolfe talked about material comforts in the same breath as love. Was it possible that Annelise was not likeRosalinde?
Could he have misjudged hiswife?
Could destiny have brought the one woman to him who could hold his heart captive for all his days and nights? Annelise might be his dream come true, albeit a dream he had not known hepossessed.
He hated being without her,though.
