Now he was trying to destroy everything she loved.
She wasn’t going to let him do it.
And she wasn’t going to let Creston and the others risk their lives because of her.
“I’m sorry, love,” Creston said, breaking into her thoughts. “I did not mean to be so blunt. Do you feel well?”
She didn’t. She really didn’t. Knowing what she had done, and what she had to do, had her feeling sick to her stomach. She looked at him, at his beautiful face, and tried to smile, but the smile wouldn’t come. Instead, she broke down in tears.
“I am so sorry,” she wept. “I am so sorry he is doing this.”
Creston grunted with sympathy, pulling her into his arms again. “It is not your fault,” he murmured, trying to be of some comfort. “You cannot control a bitter old man. You did not do anything.”
Oh, but I have. I caused this,she wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. He would just argue with her, and she didn’t want his comfort, not now. She’d only brought heartache to the man she loved thanks to her grandfather.
But she was going to do something about it.
She had to think!
“I… I want to rest,” she said, pulling herself out of his embrace. “I want to lie down for a while, please.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” he said, gently helping her to stand and putting his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll help you upstairs.”
“Nay,” she said. “Just… let me go. I will be well, I promise. But I want to go alone.”
He was hurt by her words, trying not to show it. “If you wish,” he said as she walked away. “I truly am sorry to upset you, my love. I did not want to, but you needed to be told.”
“I know,” she said, still walking. “I am not angry. Just… tired.”
Creston was full of sorrow, watching her until she reached the stairs. “I love you, Lia,” he said softly. “Always remember that. You are my living, breathing heart.”
Ophelia paused, looking at him. “And I love you,” she said. “Everything will be all right, Creston. You needn’t worry.”
He watched her mount the stairs until she disappeared from view, feeling just as bad as he possibly could. He’d made her sad and miserable. Frustrated with himself, he marched from the back door, standing there a moment, watching the sky, then watching some servants as they drew water from a nearby well, and finally watching the cats as they lay upon the grass in the morning sun.
He began to second-guess himself.
Maybe he shouldn’t have told her about this. Maybe he should have simply left her out of it like a decent man would have done, protecting his wife. Well, hehadn’tprotected her. He’d let de Lohr create a plan that involved her, and, like an idiot, he went along with it.
Now Ophelia was miserable.
Hewas miserable.
Heading out to a small outbuilding behind the cottage, he found a few bottles of wine he’d stashed there. Sitting down on a three-legged stool to watch the cats play, he drained the bottles.
Needless to say, he didn’t make it to his training class that day.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Something is happening.I can feel it.”
The comment came from an assistant trainer, a man by the name of Rhodes St. James. A man of average height, but bearing enormous shoulders and arms, he’d been pacing around, eyeing the circular keep of Exford Castle in the distance. He’d been up before dawn, as all of the assistant trainers and servants who helped the trainers had, and he’d seen St. Denis, St. Sebastian, and Ming Tang coming from the keep in deep conversation. Amir was there, too, and whenever Amir was with St. Denis, it meant that the man was giving counsel. That was what St. Denis relied on Amir for. All of those things added up to “something” for Rhodes.
His suspicious nature had the better of him.
“Be careful with your speculation,” Bowen de Birmingham, a former assistant trainer, said in a warning tone. “If they want you to know about it, they’ll tell you. Otherwise, do your duty and do not ask any questions. You are too curious for your own good, St. James.”
Rhodes hardly acknowledged that comment. He thought he knew best, so there was no need for him to verbally spar with Bowen, a man he secretly envied. Bowen was a full-fledgedtrainer now, and his duty, aside from instructing his own recruits, was to manage the assistant trainers and give them their assignments. He was good at it and the other trainers didn’t have the time, so he was standing outside the outbuilding next to the kitchen, the building where trainers tended to gather and store things to be used in their classes. The outbuilding was full of swords, spears, shields, and any number of other items.
