Ariel smiled and once more he felt his control wane under the beauty of her features, the happy glint beneath the sapphire hue. When she looked back at him, his stomach wrenched as if someone had struck a fierce blow just below his heart. “And what of you, milord. Do you have a name?”
“Valteri.” He waited for the familiar mockery to darken her gaze, given that he was named for a demon lord. One who was known for his ferocity and command of legions of demons. The brothers in the monastery where he’d been tortured as a boy had proclaimed that his namesake had begun every day by eating the entrails of unbaptized infants.
Why his mother had chosen to name him such, he could only imagine.
Her smile widened. “It suits you.”
His gut twisted. Her face may not show it, but she did mock him and his cursed looks. Why else would she say such a thing?
With a gasp, she set Cecile on the bed, then took a step forward with her hand raised as if to touch him. “I meant no offense to you, milord.”
He moved away from her reach, his lips curled. “You cannot offend me, milady. ’Twould seem fate itself has already done so.”
And his bitchtress mother when she’d saddled him with a moniker that was second only to Lucifer’s when it came to unholy deeds that were used to frighten small children and make grown men tremble.
His anger raging inside, he turned around and left her, taking care toslam the door behind him to vent some of his fury before he abused a more sentient creature. He was done with this world.
Damn them all.
And damn God above for giving him eyes of two different colors to be feared by everyone who looked upon him.
Ariel stepped forward, then stopped as Cecile meowed. She looked to the kitten. “You think I should leave him alone?”
Cecile cocked her head slightly before she rushed from the bed and collided with the small chest under the window.
Deciding Cecile might be right about Valteri and his mood, Ariel picked the kitten up and helped her find her food bowl.
The poor little creature’s eyes were so badly crossed, it couldn’t walk straight.
Stroking the kitten’s neck, she watched Cecile eat the carefully cubed meat left on the floor. What a pair the two of them made—Cecile couldn’t find what she needed any more than Ariel could.
She sighed in complete frustration. Why couldn’t she remember anything? She knew her name. How to talk… how to do everything except recall her past.
How can I not know who am I?
Where had she come from?
How had she gotten here?
Why was she alone?
Nothing made sense, and honestly, it was terrifying.
The fleeting images that kept passing before her eyes were impossible. She saw hundreds of strange people and places that seemed completely unrelated, and yet how could that be?
Some of them didn’t even appear to be of this earth.
“Why do I know how to use a sword?”
She could make no sense of it. Still, she knew deep inside that if she could just find her way back to her memory it would all make sense again. She would know who she was and why she was here.
Why she had such disturbing images and thoughts…
After finishing her meal, Cecile set about cleaning herself.
Unable to rest while she was so confused and unsure, Ariel pushed herself up from the floor and walked to the window, where she saw Valteri crossing the yard, dressed in his chain mail and black surcoat emblazoned with a per bar sinister argent and gules and a lion salient or—his coat of arms. The lion and colors seemed highly fitting for such a proud warrior.
Yet he stood out from the other knights around him. And not justbecause he chose to wear his blond hair long while theirs was sheared to their ears.
