In that instant, she knew exactly what had happened.
Humiliated from his run-in with Kevin at Wybren, Aeron had come straight to The Neath to take his frustrations out on her house and her servants.
A snarl flickered on her lips.
“What are you doing here, Aeron?” she asked in a decidedly unfriendly tone. “You are not welcome in my home.”
But Aeron wasn’t hearing the tone or the words. He was only seeing Juliandra, and nothing more, and his features lit up with joy.
“You have come back,” he said. “I knew you would. I knew theSaesnegbastards were keeping you from me and telling you to say such horrible things.”
Juliandra was unable to stomach his foolery. In fact, she wasn’t able to stomach anything at the moment. There was nothing left inside of her; she was a gutless shell, her insides having been ripped out by Kevin’s deception and her father’s death.
She honestly didn’t know which one was worse.
Her father was dead and the pain she felt was immeasurable. But Kevin’s deceit was agonizing in an entirely different way– his words were rolling around in her head until she could hear or think of nothing else. He’d deliberately lied to her about her father, who had died on the very day he’d refused to pay the toll. Kevin could have told her that, but he didn’t because he wanted to strike a bargain with her– information on the locals in exchange for her father.
Without, of course, mentioning that her father was only a corpse.
She’d entered into the bargain in good faith. But from the beginning, Kevin hadn’t been truthful with her. Even until this very day, when she’d asked him to send word to her father about their marriage, he had continued the deception because he hadagreed to do it. The lie went on, even after he’d married her and they’d shared a night together that surely angels only dreamed of.
Perhaps it was that betrayal that hurt most of all. She loved him and although he told her that he loved her, too, he really didn’t. Perhaps he’d only told her that out of desperation because, clearly, he had betrayed that love.
He had betrayedher.
Therefore, she was in no mood to deal with Aeron. The man was taking his very life in his hands being at The Neath after the idiocy he’d displayed at Wybren. As he looked at her with hope and glee, she took the heavy pike in both hands and raised it.
“Get out of here,” she growled. “I thought I made it very clear that I did not want to see you again.”
Aeron still wasn’t listening. He came away from the table, heading in her direction.
“You needn’t continue the farce,” he said. “You do not mean those words. I forgive you, Juliandra.”
He came too close and she swung at him with the pike, hitting him broadside and sending him toppling. As he stumbled, she went after him, hitting him again and again with the pole until he scampered under the table to avoid being hit again.
“I told you to go away and leave me alone!” Juliandra screamed. “You are a stupid, hateful man!”
Aeron was on the defensive, trying very hard not to get brained by Juliandra’s swinging pole.
“Cease, you foolish wench!” he cried. “Put that pike away before you kill me!”
Juliandra wasn’t listening. In fact, her violence was gaining steam. She began to weep, slamming the pike at the table, the chairs, and anything else she could aim for. Pieces of woodbegan to fly as she beat down the furniture in her attempt to get to Aeron under the table.
“I told you to leave me alone,” she cried. “I told you to go away, and you would not listen. What makes you want a woman who hates you, Aeron? Would anything ever be pleasant between us? Would we ever know affection? Of course we would not and our entire life would be fighting and hatred. There is nothing about you that I want or like, and you will leave my home and never come back. Do you understand me? Getout!”
She punctuated the last two words by slamming the pike so hard that the wood splintered. She ended up with half of a pole in her hand, but it was enough of a break that Aeron darted out from underneath the table.
But he didn’t leave.
In fact, his attitude had changed dramatically. He was no longer happy to see her, but angry and threatening.
“I do not care what you feel,” he growled. “You are mine and I will claim you.”
Although she only had half a weapon in her hands, Juliandra didn’t back down. Everything in her was screaming for release, to vent the emotions that were bubbling up.
“I am another man’swife,” she said, holding the remaining pike like a club. “Body and soul, I belong to him, and you cannot change that.”
That brought him pause, but not for long. In fact, a lewd smile crossed his lips.
