“The Aaron you remembered was as much your imagination as it was a real person,” Gideon said, “you wanted him to be real.”
“But he never was.”
“I must have been a disappointment.”
“No,” Catherine said quickly, “you were frightening. You were and are magnetic. You drew me when I wanted to be repulsed because you were not Sir Aaron Wolfheart.”
“And you no longer want Sir Aaron?”
“I want Gideon. I want the real man, not the one I imagined. I have the real man, the real Duke.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, smoothing it back from his temples.
He is so beautiful. Like a work of art. Hard as marble but also soft and vulnerable. Needing me as much as I need him.
“What about you? You were not seeking a wife when we met. But you needed one to impress Sir Obadiah.”
“I had given thought to a wife that I needn’t see or speak to. A wife in name only. I thought a marriage for love would sap my strength. I thought weakness would infect me like a disease. That is what I was taught. Both by my father and by the unending game he made Aaron and me play. Weakness in that game meant death. It almost killed me.”
“And yet Aaron is so… fragile now.”
“And I am glad that he is near at hand. He will need me. I will protect him as well as I am able. From the gossip-mongers. From the world.”
Catherine looked down at the true knight. She and Aaron had once played games of chivalry, but Gideon was the reality. His urge to defend the defenseless had led to their marriage.
“You could have left me to my Aunt and Uncle. To Stafford. But you came back. You saved me,” she whispered.
“I could not leave you there.”
“And after everything you and Aaron have done to each other, you cannot leave him.Youare Sir Wolfheart,” Catherine smiled.
Gideon actually blushed, putting his face into her lap. She bent over him, holding him tightly, kissing his hair.
“And you are Queen Kate. You were a pale, shivering thing when you came looking for me at Spencer’s. Looking for Aaron.”
“My Aunt and Uncle trained me well. I was afraid of my own shadow. I do not know how I had the courage to go to London by myself like that,” she shuddered.
“You were afraid, but you did so anyway. That is true courage.”
“I did not feel brave.”
“Then you stood up to me. No matter how vile I was to you, you stood your ground. You were and are magnificent.”
Catherine felt the praise as a warm glow inside her. She could see the change that he had noticed. She remembered how her Aunt and Uncle had crushed her under their boots, keeping her in her place. The place they decided for her. It had taken a lot to overcome that conditioning. Even now, it felt strange to assert herself. Good, butstrange.
“Being a Duchess will take some getting used to.”
“You do it magnificently,” Gideon looked up at her with utter devotion in his eyes, “and I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she breathed with tears in her voice.
For a moment, they simply stayed in that position, his head on her lap as she stroked his hair. Then, Catherine felt something distant shift in her chest, something settling into place.
“You know, you remind me of someone…” she said quietly after a moment.
He pulled back to look at her, brow furrowed. “Who?”
“A little boy I thought I saw once. Years ago, when I visited Caerleon as a child. I was exploring where I shouldn’t have been—the lower floors, the servants’ quarters. And I saw him in the shadows. He looked so frightened. So alone.” She paused, trying to grasp the edges of the memory. “I… I wanted to speak to him. But he vanished. I asked Aaron about him later, but he said there was no such boy. That I must have imagined it."
