“Perhaps,” he said. “But best to be safe, no? If only you’d taken the same precaution for Helena.”
That stung like a dagger driving itself into Alaric’s chest. He winced and looked away with shame. “So be it.”
“Tomorrow morning,” his uncle said. “I will bring her here. Come as you please, hear the truth for yourself, and then please, Alaric, I hope you admit this to be the right path. The only path. The one best for everyone.”
“Tomorrow?” Alaric said. “Yes, tomorrow…”
He felt nervous suddenly, the weight of the world seeming to rest on his shoulders.Am I wrong for doing this? Hopeful, where hope should not exist?Yet he reasoned that he had no choice, which saw him bid his uncle farewell and call for his horse.
However, it was as he climbed atop his horse and bade his uncle farewell that he noticed something… strange. A few things, in fact. One was his uncle’s boots, caked in mud and grime.If he has just been to see Clara, why the mess? Surely she is being kept in a place of comfort, the city, I would have thought.Second, his uncle was sweating. Not under his armpits or the folds of his potbelly, but on his brow. And finally, there was the look on his face as he stared ahead, part anger, part worry, and part resignation.
Alaric rode slowly down the drive, contemplating now on his uncle and their conversation. Is what he told him true? Or was his uncle lying through his teeth? And if so… what would his uncle be willing to do to keep the lie from being found out?
Twenty-Two
It was the boredom that Clara found the most challenging. She had no books to read. Nothing to write with either. Dammit, she would have been happy with a needle and thread to keep herself busy. But Lord Wolfe seemed not to care for her state of mind, happy to leave her abandoned in this little cabin until he deemed it time to do… whatever it was he meant to do next.
He will take me somewhere else. Somewhere, I can live the rest of my life without threatening him or his family’s name. I have to believe that…
Yet it was because she had so much time on her hands, nothing to do but sit about and think of all that had happened, that Clara could not stop returning to Alaric and that which had brought her here in the first place. When Lord Wolfe had come to her and told her what Alaric had said, she had believed it, for why would he lie? And with how guarded Alaric was emotionally, how determined he seemed to keep her at arm’s length, it feltto her that this was a natural consequence of his ever-troubled battle against demons that she still did not fully understand.
Did he really kill his wife? And was he really doing this to protect her? It made less sense to her now than it did. And if that was the case…is there a chance that Alaric still cares for me? That if I were to see him one more time, things might be different.
She toiled with these thoughts for an entire day and night. She felt sick with grief. Tormented with guilt. And wrecked by the sense that she had made a terrible mistake…
Needless to say, when she heard the sound of an approaching horse two days after being left her, she jumped to her feet and raced outside. By then, she had come to a decision on what she wanted to do. And regardless of what Lord Wolfe might want, she would not be dissuaded.
“Lord Wolfe!” she called to him as he appeared from the forest. “Thank God you have returned.”
He pulled the horse up by where she stood and then climbed down from it without acknowledging her. He was red in the face and nervous looking…something is wrong.
“I am glad that you have returned,” she said, despite how he was acting. “For I have been thinking about what you said.” She waited for him to speak, but he had turned his back on her, fiddling now with a bag strapped to the horse’s saddle. “I understand well enough why you think it best that Alaric and I do not see each other again. And believe me, I have no intentionof disrupting things for you. But surely you must agree that if my marriage to Alaric was to flourish, the result would be to your favor.” She waited for him to say something – anything! Yet still, he was on that back, cursing under his breath. “And flourish it will,” she pressed, her nervousness growing as she eyed Lord Wolfe. “Alaric cares for me, Lord Wolfe. I know he does. Just as I care for him. There is no reason that…” She bit into her lip, her stomach twisting when she spied Lord Wolfe snatch something from the bag, although she could not see what it was. “That you need fear. Take me to see Alaric. Let him decide what is to be done. Please.”
Lord Wolfe sighed and shook his head. “Did you really think that was an option? After everything that I told you.”
“I have to believe it.”
“Your Grace…” His back was still to her, and she saw his shoulders slump in defeat. For a second, she allowed herself hope, thinking that he was giving in. Only then, he turned around.
Her eyes widened, and her heart leapt through her mouth. “What… what are you doing?”
“The only thing I can, I am afraid.” He held a pistol in his hand, and it was pointed right at her. “Not the outcome that I was hoping for, but the only possible one to take. Believe me when I say this, Your Grace, I did not want things to go this far.”
“You… Lord Wolfe…” Her voice cracked, and she took a step back. “I do not understand…” Eyes on that pistol, she could hardly breathe. “If you are that concerned about what I might say or do, I promise you that –”
“You can make all the promises you like,” he said to her. “They will do you no good. The simple fact is that I cannot risk you and Alaric seeing one another again. My hand has been forced, as it is.”
“You cannot…” She dared to glance up from the pistol. “But why? What do you mean by that?” Her mind raced with possibilities.Was I right all along? Had Alaric changed his mind?
“It does not matter.”
“Of course it does!”
“No.” He raised the pistol slightly, his finger balanced on the trigger. “It does not. This needs to be done, and that is all there is to it. Please know that I am sorry, Your Grace. I had hoped it would not come to this.”
“You do not have to –”
“And do not try that nonsense with me,” he sighed, almost looking regretful. “If you knew half of what I have done to clean up after my nephew, you would know that shooting you here and now, where regrettable, is not something I will lose sleep over.”
