“Go,” he said to his uncle. “Leave before I change my mind.”
Lord Wolfe stammered. “I… I can leave?”
“Go!” Alaric roared.
Lord Wolfe jumped on the spot, cried out, and then scampered from the forest as if his buttocks had caught fire.
Clara beamed; one hand on the duke’s arm, the other around his shoulder. “You did the right thing, Alaric. The only thing.”
“I wanted him dead,” he said softly, looking down at his feet as if in shame. “When I saw him about to shoot you… I wanted to kill him.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I would have, if not for you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I…” Alaric shook his head, taking deep breaths that sounded painful. “I am not the person you think I am, Clara. My uncle is right about me. I am dangerous and you…. You would do better to leave here before it is too late.”
“Alaric…” Her heart broke for him. Even after all he had done for her, he still believed the worst of himself. And where she knew now that he loved her, she also knew that love was fighting against his desire to protect her. “I know you do not want that.”
“It is not about what I want. It is about what you deserve.”
“And what is that?”
“Safety…” He snapped his head up, finally, and looked at her. Pain was written large behind his eyes. Fear. Worry. Shame so deep that it seemed to cut. “I want you to be safe. That is all I have ever wanted.”
“And why can I not be safe with you?”
He grimaced. “You know why.”
“No, actually, I do not.”I cannot believe that he killed his wife and his father. There has to be more to that story. I need there to be more.“What I do know is vague and unfinished. Come from the lips of a man who very nearly killed me.”
He scoffed. “In this, my uncle was not lying.”
“Tell me…” She still held him, and she stepped in close, pressing her body to him so he would know she was not afraid. “Tell me what really happened and then – only then, I will decide what is best for me.”
Alaric sniffed as he looked at her still. “You… want to know the truth?”
“I think I deserve it.”
He nodded. “Yes. I will… I will tell you everything.”
Twenty-Four
Alaric was shaking by the time he and Clara walked back inside the cabin. The adrenaline that had been surging through his body was starting to fade, exhaustion was taking him, and where he wanted nothing more than for this day to end and be forgotten, he knew that the worst was still to come.
She is going to hate me by the time this is through. And she will have every right. Where she might wish to never look at me again, at least she will do so knowing that she is safe.
“Here…” Clara led him to the cot that was pushed into the corner of the shabby cabin. “Sit.”
He did as he was told, his thoughts shattered, his mind addled, this entire day feeling like a dream. The only thing that kept him in the moment was the presence of Clara by his side. She kept a tight hold of his hand as she sat down with him, and she stayed right by his side so that they were touching.
There was a comfort in having her with him. A feeling that while she was with him, nothing else could go wrong.A theory I am about to put to the test.
“You wish to know about Helena…”
“I think I need to,” she said softly, squeezing his hand. “Just as I think you need to speak it out loud. Only then might we move past it.”
