Ariel was giddy with the thought. She remembered her family and her home! Her servants and pets, lessons and lectures!
With a happy laugh, she threw her blanket off, scooped up her kirtle, and ran to seek Valteri. She couldn’t wait to tell him her news.
Pausing briefly in the hall, Ariel looked about, but he wasn’t there. She had to find him to tell him.
On trembling legs, she ran out the door and headed for his pallet.
So intent on her quest, she failed to notice the rider rushing from the stable until it was too late to do anything more than scream.
CHAPTER6
Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around Ariel and pulled her back. Her heart pounded in absolute terror as the rider sped past, narrowly missing her. One instant more and she’d have been crushed beneath the hooves of his rushing horse.
“Dammit, woman, what are you trying to do? Kill yourself? I promise you, there are much less painful ways to die!”
Ariel laughed nervously in relief, grateful Valteri had been there to catch her from her folly. “Thank you!” She placed her hand over his arm that he still had wrapped protectively around her waist.
His grip loosened, but he didn’t free her. “You should be more careful,” he said, his voice strangely gentle.
To her complete shock, he leaned his cheek against her head for the briefest moment and then must have realized what he’d done, for he shot away from her so quickly that she actually stumbled.
With a stern glower, he swept his gaze over her body. “I trust you weren’t hurt?”
Though his tone was sharp, she saw the relief in his bicolored eyes and had to force herself not to smile. To have someone that handsome hold her like that again and be this concerned, she’d gladly hurl herself under a hundred horses. “Just my pride, milord. Nothing else.”
He looked away from her as if her gratitude made him uncomfortable. “Pray tell, milady, what was of such great import that you near rushed yourself into death?”
All her fear and uncertainty vanished as her happiness returned. She stepped forward and touched the long blond braid he had draped over his left shoulder. “I wanted to tellyoufirst that I remembered myself! My past! All of it!”
He pulled the braid out of her reach and tossed it over his shoulder, his eyes dull and somehow sorrowful. “’Tis glad news, indeed.”
Odd, he didn’t sound happy.
Rather dismal, point of fact.
“Nay,” Ariel said breathlessly, too relieved and giddy to allow him to dampen her joy. She spun in a small circle, arms outstretched. “’Tis incredible!”
Leaning her head back, she watched the sky spiral in a blue and whitemontage. Her laughter bubbled up through her and she felt as free as the gentle breeze rustling through the bailey. She had a thousand memories of everything! It was the most incredible thing ever!
“Milady, please!” Valteri reached out to stop her dance. “All who watch will think you mad!”
Giggling, she surrendered herself once more to his arms. With one last laugh, she looked up at him, delighting in the feel of his chest against hers. “I care not what they think. I’m too happy to care about their judgment.”
A dark, worried shadow leapt into his oddly colored eyes. There was a peculiar panic to him, but for her life she couldn’t imagine why he was so concerned.
“Why does my happiness sadden you?”
He swallowed hard. “Because those who claim sanity are the ones who are insane and they will attack like mad dogs if they think for one moment you’ve lost your reason. Trust me.” Releasing her, he stepped away again.
His words were underscored with a palpable anger. He spoke from his own memories and that made her want to soothe the ache inside him.
What had they done to him in the past?
Here she was rejoicing the return of her memories when it was obvious that he wanted to banish his own. The irony of that wasn’t lost on her.
“People aren’t all evil, Valteri.”
He scoffed at her. “That hasn’t been my experience.” He glanced around the yard. “They’re selfish. Cruel. Mean.”
