Waiting until it would do the most harm.
Cold rushed over her body, dimming her sight.
She backed away from Valteri as Mildred’s hate-filled words echoed through her head.“You must watch him die.”
Today, she almost had.
Thorn and Shadow were right. There was no way to break a blood curse!
Realizing what was going to happen, she turned around and ran from the hall.
Returning to her chambers, Ariel scanned the room as full-blown panic took root. Her chest burned and her breath came in short, sharp gasps. She felt as though she’d pass out, or die herself.
This was real.
Death was coming.
She was going to lose Valteri.
One of her kin would be here to claim him and there would be nothing she could do to stop it.
“Nay,” she whispered. He couldn’t die. Not when it would be her fault.
How could she have thought for one moment that she might stave the curse and free them?
“Ariel?”
She turned at Valteri’s voice. He pulled her into his arms and she shivered.
“It was just an accident. Nothing more.”
“It was the curse,” she whispered, afraid the next moment might rob the strength from his arms, the breath from his lungs.
An image of the young Saxon boy dying in front of her crept into her mind and she stiffened. Tears gathered in her eyes. She didn’t want to see Valteri like that. To watch his life drain out, his vibrant mismatched eyes turn dull.
Valteri shook his head. “If it was the curse, then I’d be lying dead.” He stepped away from her and held his arms out. “Do I look like a phantom?”
She shook her head, her tears spilling down her cheeks. “’Tis the curse, I say.”
Valteri wiped her tears from her face, his warm hand only making her fear grow. He stared at her with wonderment and she saw the pain lurking in the odd-colored depths. “No tears, Ariel. I’m still here.” He kissed them from her cheeks.
She nodded and he pulled her back into his arms. He held her for several minutes. Each one seemed suspended in time and she savored every beat of his heart.
But this wouldn’t last.
It couldn’t.
She was a threat to him and she knew it.
Heaven help her, but she had to leave him.
A knock sounded on the door an instant before Wace opened it. “Forgive me, milord, milady…” He bowed his head, his cheeks flushing. “I was—”
“I know, Wace.” Valteri sighed. “Wait by the horses.”
Wace nodded and left them alone.
He rubbed his hands down her arms. “No more frets, Ariel. All shall be fine. You’ll see.”
