“Let me show you how to reach the main floor,” she said as she walked from the chamber.
He took her hand and pulled her to a stop then. “Brienne, I will be leaving soon, returning to the king and then on to my lands.”
“You must leave?” she asked. “My father . . .” She did not finish her words then. It was the first time he’d heard her refer to Lord Hugh as simply her father.
“I will not leave without speaking to him first,” he replied. She nodded. “I wish . . .”
He might wish and he might want, but he would not burden her now with the promise or hope of something that was impossible between them. Not now that she was claimed and recognized and would be a great heiress regardless of her illegitimacy. He did not finish the words he’d begun. He just pulled her to him and kissed her gently. A farewell, for he knew he would leave soon after Lady Margaret and her entourage did in the morning.
They walked wordlessly, the silence growing heavy between them. When they reached the stairway that would take him down to the main floor and to the door to the yard, they paused.
“You know that you need only send word if you need me?”
She searched his face. “So, you are leaving?”
“’Tis time, Brienne. You must get on with your life, and I must with mine.”
“Your father? You will seek his acknowledgment now?”
“I am beginning to believe that is not the most important thing.”
“Then what is, William?” she asked as he took the first step that would separate them.
“I think I need to know who I am no matter what others call me.” The smile was both sad and knowing, and the tear that tracked down her cheek was nearly his undoing.
“Ah.” She nodded. “Words of wisdom I have heard as well.”
He left then, turning and forcing his feet to move away, step by infinitely harder step. The door closed behind him, and he continued across the near-empty yard.
As he reached the main keep and entered the side door, William realized that for the first time, it had been just them—just William and Brienne, a man and a woman, with no concern over powers or dangers or threats or positions or others.
He realized that he would miss that most of all when he left.
William reached his chambers and closed the door behind him, never realizing he was being followed.
ChapterNineteen
Brienne knew full well what Lord Hugh was doing.
He’d asked her to make William welcome so that he could persuade him to join their endeavor. If allowing a man access to his unmarried daughter would be that persuasion, Lord Hugh would allow it.
And he had.
As much as she’d like to think that her virtue would be too high a price for his cooperation, men like her father cared little for anything so insignificant as his daughter’s honor. She had no doubt that he thought of her in the same cold and calculating way in which he thought of Adelaide. Her sister’s betrothal would bring him something he wanted or needed, and so she’d be sent off to accomplish his goal.
She watched William walk back to the keep through the crack in the doorframe and knew that no matter what her father intended to offer him, he would turn it down if it meant betraying his king and his honor.
Even if her father offered her as the compensation for breaking his oath to the king.
Lord Hugh had left them alone. He’d sent someone to interrupt at just the most inopportune time, thwarting any attempt to seduce her directly. She also knew with a certainty that he would offer her as bed play to the knight soon. She’d seen the whores who offered their services in the village do the same thing to increase the gold or trinkets that they got in return. Build a man’s lust until he would pay the price. This dinner and Lord Hugh’s timely absence played out just like that.
William was not the only one who would expect to pay the price for his father’s approval. Brienne had entered into this night knowing full well that her father manipulated her. Something so keenly desired would have a dear price, but after years of waiting and wanting, she was now willing to pay it in order to excel at her fire powers. At first she’d decided she would allow this one expense, for there was still so much to learn before she could understand it all.
But there had been a moment during the meal when she’d decided that this night would be for her and not her father or anyone else. William had been watching her throughout the meal—also part of her father’s planning—and she watched him as he described his visit to the west of Scotland. His face lit and the smile softened his features until she wanted to reach out and touch him.
Which she had done, once everyone was gone.
Her body throbbed from his kisses and the strength in his embrace. Her blood heated, from desire not from the power in it. The taste of his mouth and the sweet she’d fed him lingered yet on her tongue. She wanted to feast on him, to touch more than just his hand or his face. She wanted . . .
