She snorted. “Valteri, please. You must know something of your father.”
“Only that he dishonored my mother and fled. She refuses to speak a word of him, and I know nothing other than the monastery where I was raised after she dumped me on their less than caring shoulders.”
So much pain. She could feel it as if it were her own. “Why didn’t you join the order where you were raised?”
His nostrils flared. “Do you know the reason Will locked me here?”
She shook her head.
“His fear that if I ever lay eyes upon that place I’ll raze it to the ground and evoke the wrath of God against him.”
“Again, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m the monster they made me, and if I weren’t I’d have been skewered long ago. Trust me, milady. The monks did me a service. Had theynot raised me with their all-out hatred, I’d have never survived the scorn of everyone else.” With those words spoken, he got up and left the room.
Ariel sat there, torn between going after him and knowing that her presence wouldn’t soothe him. He was a hard man. But given what little he’d shared with her, she understood why.
Wace had told her that he never spoke to others. She was an exception, and she valued that.
And as every day passed, and she witnessed more of his kindness when he had no reason to give it to anyone, she valued it all the more. Honestly? She liked him a great deal in spite of his prickly nature.
A lily among the thorns.
It was the best way to describe him. Yet with every day that passed, she knew this couldn’t last. As Valteri was so quick to point out, there was most likely someone searching for her.
But who?
Valteri paused outside as he saw the sun setting. Strangely beautiful, it reminded him of Ariel. A quiet sheen of color across a dismal landscape. That was her.
Maybe her past is as tragic as yours and that’s why she’s chosen to not remember.
It was a thought, and would explain much. If he had a chance to forget, even for a day, he’d gladly take it.
And still his doubts and suspicions plagued him. She seemed too sweet to be real.
Too sincere.
Having known no kindness, he wasn’t sure what to do with hers. It left him unprepared and unsure.
Every day she was here, he grew more attracted to her.
Don’t be stupid. Wife and hearth had never been his destiny. She was a conquered prize, and such creatures were even more dangerous than others.
Let down your guard and you’ll have a knife in your back. That had been the only thing in his life that he could trust in. People were treacherous. They were snakes.
And yet he sensed the same vulnerability in her that he’d found in Wace.
Maybe she had been as abused as the lad. Though how anyone could harm so fair a beauty he’d never understand.The same way they beat down a child.
Aye. There were soulless assholes aplenty who preyed on any and everyone around them. He’d known more than his share of those animals.
Wincing, he wished he knew the truth of Ariel. Because every day she remained was one more where he was falling under her spell.
If she didn’t leave soon, she just might be the death of him.
CHAPTER4
A week later, Ariel had just finished changing for dinner when the door to her room swung open, without a knock.
