Ariel practically ran toward the one person she knew she could trust—Valteri. “I don’t know him!”
Before she could reach the safety of Valteri, the stranger grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to a stop. His rough fingers bit into her flesh, burning her with his cold grasp. “Stop this, this instant!” he growled.
She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it as Valteri stepped forward and removed the steel grip from her elbow.
He placed himself between them. “That’ll be enough of that.” His tone promised violence if the man didn’t back down. “I know not what happened to her, but she no longer remembers herself. Or you, apparently.”
The stranger shifted his horrified gaze from Valteri to her. “You truly don’t know me?”
“Nay, I do not.”
He held his arms out to her, his features a becoming mixture of affection and tolerance. “Ariel, dearest, I’m your brother, Belial.”
CHAPTER5
The name stung Valteri like the acrid bite of an adder. Was this some kind of jest that this man would come in here, and give the name of such a demon to him? As if two supposed Christian mothers would be so cruel to their own spawn?
While his own mother had been sick in the head, he doubted that another would be so cruel.
The demon he’d been named for had commanded the largest infernal force and had been renowned for his merciless battle skills.
Belial…
He was the prince of all evil. The right hand of the king of darkness. Indeed, his very name meant wickedness. Outlaw.
Sin.
Among other things.
Surely this bastard mocked him by claiming such a name as his own. If such mockery was his intent, Valteri would beat him within an inch of hisworthlesslife.
“Belial?” Valteri arched a skeptical brow.
An arrogant, aggravated look crossed the man’s features. ’Twas the same twitchiness he felt whenever someone reacted to his own name. That need to knock some semblance of politeness back into them.
“Aye,Valteri the Godless.” Belial emphasized each syllable of his name, the moniker that also stung a lot more than Valteri wanted to acknowledge. “’Twould seem my pagan father had a similar ill sense of humor as your mother to name us both for demons. And you took your name one step further to make a mockery of the Lord above by denying him with such fervor as to have your own brother, and the rest of the world, decry you as such, eh?”
Valteri snorted. “You’re misinformed, sir. My epithet was earned by the number of men I’ve left gutted, on the battlefield and off. Some of them for no other reason than they simply annoyed me by occupying the same room.” He made a point to lower his gaze to Belial’s abdomen and feet to let him know that he’d be more than willing to add his carcass to that long and impressive list.
But apparently, Belial wasn’t one to be intimidated either. Rather, his eyes darkened to a vivid blue as he raked Valteri with a cold glare Valterimight have found amusing in its audacity had his own anger not raged even higher. “Then again, I would think my father must have thought more of me on my arrival to this realm, as he named me for the fiercest of demons.”
Valteri laughed. “You think so? Unless the monks who raised me were misinformed, your name means ‘worthless.’ At least my mother gave me the name of a commander who ruled the battlefield.”
His open, rude hostility caused several of those around them to suck their breath in sharply.
Indeed, it was ill manners to insult a guest so. His brother would be the first to berate him over it.
If Will wanted a diplomat, he chose the wrong brother.
Belial curled his lip. “At least I can name my father, milord. Can you?”
That sent the onlookers scurrying for cover.
Ariel let out an audible gasp.
Valteri gripped his sword. The smooth, leather-covered hilt bit into his palm, and he yearned to hear the blade sing an exit from its scabbard and watch as the bastard’s head rolled from his shoulders.
It’d been a long time since a man had dared insult him to his face. That reminder of his past, and his despised parentage, did little to curb the roiling heat in his belly, or appease the need in his soul to beat the simpkin before him.
