Sean was forced to throw out an arm to prevent William from charging. The seasoned squire was ready to spear himself a Welshman. Kevin was bleeding heavily, with a broken pike jammed into his thigh, and his face was bloodied where the sharp edge of the broken pitcher had caught him.
But he was still lethal.
As they watched, Kevin ripped the pike from his leg and whirled about in time to see Aeron charging him with part of a broken chair, wielding it like a club. As far as Kevin was concerned, Aeron was now armed. He didn’t hesitate to unsheathe his broadsword, the heavy blade with the de Lara motto etched into the hilt. At this moment, he was the living embodiment of that motto.
Always Vigilant.
His sword arced upwards as Aeron bore down on him, cutting straight into Aeron’s torso and slicing so deep that he cut him all the way through to his spine. Aeron collapsed at his feet, bleeding out all over the floor as he twitched and groaned in the last few moments of his life.
And with that, the fight was over.
In pain and exhausted, Kevin pulled off his dented helm, sheathing his sword before putting a hand over the puncture wound on his thigh to try and stem the bleeding. Alexander walked around him, pushing Aeron over onto his back to survey the damage.
The man was quite dead.
“Let me look at your wound,” Sean said, putting his hands on his brother to steady him. “How is your head? Where’s the damage?”
There was blood smeared all over Kevin’s face, so it was difficult to tell where the damage really was. Before he could answer, they heard a gasp and looked over to see Juliandra standing in the kitchen passage, her eyes wide at the bloody, destroyed room and a dead man lying on her floor. But her gaze flew to Kevin, seeing that he was clearly injured, and she gasped again.
“My God,” she murmured in horror. “How badly did he hurt you?”
She was asking as if she cared, but Kevin wasn’t going to fall into that trap. He wasn’t going to believe that a fight between him and Aeron had suddenly made everything well between them.
No, he wasn’t going to assume that at all.
Slowly, he pushed his brother away, taking a few limping steps in Juliandra’s direction.
“My body will heal,” he said. “But I want to know what he was doing here. What in the hell was going on, Juliandra?”
She looked at him, shocked and hurt by his tone. “What do you mean?”
He pointed to the body on the floor. “Have you been deceivingmethe entire time?” he said. “Did you run off intoAeron’s waiting arms even as you told me that you wanted nothing to do with him?Whyis he here?”
Juliandra put her hand over her mouth when she realized what he was accusing her of. There seemed to be accusations and mistrust flying around, infecting them both.
The tears began to come.
“He was here when I arrived,” she said hoarsely. “Of course I did not run off into his waiting arms. Yours are the only arms that have ever held me and the only arms that ever will. I told you that I hated Aeron and I meant every word of it. Never at any time did I lie to you about it.”
“It’s true!” Megsy said, still weeping at the turmoil that had consumed The Neath. “He came here yesterday and pushed his way inside. He smashed things and told us that this was now his home because m’lady was living with theSaesneg, but when m’lady returned, he attacked her!”
Kevin’s gaze lingered on the crippled maid before returning his focus to Juliandra. Realizing that there had been no deception, at least not on Juliandra’s part, he simply shook his head.
“I came here to tell you once again how sorry I am and to bring your father home,” he said, his voice faint and raspy. “I came to tell you how sorry I am that a decision I made cost me everything– your trust, my happiness. It was never my intention to hurt you, Juliandra, but our association started off on a lie, a decision I made for what I thought was the greater good. Never did I imagine that our lives would somehow be intertwined to the point where I was terrified to tell you the truth. I did not want anything to touch our happiness, but my bad decision has cost me. I came here to beg your forgiveness and for no other reason except to tell you… tell you that I love you. That does not come from a man of desperation. That comes from a man in love.”
Juliandra still had her hand over her mouth, tears coursing down her face at his words. She was calmer now that she had been when she’d first discovered his deception, but not by much. There was still a great deal of hurt and anger there.
“Oh… Kevin,” she whispered. “I love you, too. But what we have… it was all built on a lie.”
He nodded, weary and in pain. “I know,” he said. “I do not know if you can find it in your heart to give me an opportunity to rebuild it, but I hope that, someday, you will give me that chance. I am not asking you to forgive me today, tomorrow, or even next week, but mayhap a day will come when such a thing seems reasonable. When that time comes, if it comes, I will be waiting.”
With that, he stepped aside as his brother and Alexander lifted Aeron’s body and hauled it out of the chamber. Megsy ran after them, giving Kevin a wide berth as she ran around him, telling Sean and Alexander where they could put the body. That left Kevin and Juliandra alone in the hall, a smashed room and a bloodied floor between them.
Juliandra simply stood there, looking at him as the silent tears ran. Kevin was so weak and weary that he could barely stand, but he faced her as proudly as he could. He drank in her vision, wondering if it was going to be the last time he ever did.
“It has been a day of great upheaval,” Juliandra finally whispered, wiping at her face. “I know you are in pain, Kevin. I am in pain, too. I have lost my father and my husband on the same day.”
He was struggling not to weep at her words. “You have not lost me,” he muttered. “You will never lose me. Even if you cannot forgive me, I am still your husband and I shall always be here if you need me. All you need do is call and I shall come. I shall defend you and protect you until the day you die, no matter what. But know this… whatever you decide, I will never loveanother. I have given my heart to you. It is not mine to ever give again.”
