Ariel stopped dead in her tracks. Unable to believe the sight before her, she went numb for the flicker of a heartbeat, then anger pounded through her.
“Nay!” she roared.
“Holy Mother,” Wace breathed, then crossed himself. “I shall get help!”
Ariel barely understood his words through the horror filling her.
Dazed, she raced toward her husband.
Brother Edred looked up and caught her before she reached Valteri’s side.
“Milady, please!” He held her back. “You must not interfere. ’Tis God’s business we’re about. He must do penance for his evilness, if we’re to save his soul.”
Tempted to beat the imbecile, she twisted out of Edred’s arms. “’Tis you who are evil! Move!” She fell to her knees and reached for Valteri.
He rested on his knees, his entire body soaked in blood. She cupped his face in her hands and raised his head.
His fevered skin burning her, she recoiled in horror. A filthy gag covered his lips.
“Milady, please do not interfere!”
The main doors burst open. She looked up to see Wace with Thorn and Shadow, leading a group of Valteri’s men. They seized the three men with Brother Edred.
The friar was indignant as he fought against them. “You’ve damned his soul with your actions.”
Shadow slapped him. “Just wait until you meet the friends I have waiting for you.”
Ignoring the friar, Ariel pulled the gag from Valteri’s lips. His breath fell in shallow, pain-filled gasps. “I’m so sorry.”
Thorn came forward and sliced the ropes holding Valteri up. He fell into her arms and she held him close, her entire body shaking in fear of losing him.
“He’s the son of Lucifer!” Brother Edred insisted. “I can prove it to you, milady.”
She looked up at him, her rage dulling her sight. She wanted his heart for what he’d done. “You can’t prove what isn’t true!”
“Look beneath his hair and you’ll see the devil’s mark. Why do you think he wears it long while others of his kind wear it cropped?”
Her anger doubling, she grabbed the friar by his sleeve and forced him to kneel beside her. Cradling Valteri’s head against her breast, she pulled his hair back and showed Edred what mark rested there. “’Tis the mark of a cross he bears, brother, not the devil’s mark.”
Brother Edred’s jaw dropped, and shock darkened his eyes.
Thorn grabbed the friar by the scruff of his frock. “’Tis an innocent man you’ve punished, you old fool.”
He exchanged a look with Shadow to let her know that the friar wouldn’t get off so easily.
Her heart aching, Ariel reluctantly released her hold on Valteri and allowed his men to carry him out of the stable. Rising to her feet, she stood before the friar. “Were I you, brother, I’d worry about my own soul… and my hide.”
She left him to Thorn and Shadow, and followed after Valteri.
Hours went by as Ariel tried to stanch the flow of blood and brewed poultices to fight infection.
Valteri remained unconscious. He couldn’t die, not like this.
Long after the hall had settled down to sleep, Ariel left Wace to watch over Valteri, while she went to seek Belial.
During the last hour she’d tended her husband, a new way to break the curse had come to her.
One she’d never thought of.
