Damn you, Will!
Months had gone by, and he was still trapped here. If he took off without permission, Will would see him hunted down like a dog. And while he was strong, not even he could fight off an entire army without help.
So here he remained.
Because he’d been stupid enough to believe, for one heartbeat, that family mattered.
What he should have remembered was that there was no worse fate for one such as he than domesticity.
No one could cage a wild animal. The beast inside him was salivating for freedom. It was snarling and howling more and more with every dawning sun, until he feared he’d go mad from the rage of being held back from the only comfort he knew.
Even though he’d routed the Saxon rebels as he’d promised his brother, and sent them to London, where they’d met their final fate under the executioner’s ax, William still refused to grant him a reprieve.
Now, he wished he’d been the one who’d lost his head.
Instead, Valteri was losing his mind. Bit by bit. Day by day. Especially since there were no rebels left to chase now. No scapegoats to vent his fury.
What few remained hid themselves from his wrath and sword, and for the last few weeks, peace had reigned in the valley of Ravenswood.
Damn it to hell.
Valteri despised peace with everything he had. The extra time it brought—time to think.
To remember a life that had begrudged him every breath he’d ever taken.
As if living, itself, wasn’t hell enough. Unlike the men and women around him, he had no purpose in this world.
Other than to make everyone who met him uncomfortable, and to fill their hearts with hatred toward him for doing nothing more than existing.
No one could so much as look at him without cringing or insulting him. With the exception of battle, he was unwelcomed everywhere he went.
Indeed, a leper was treated more humanely. At least with them, they were pitied.
He was demonspawn. Unworthy of anything except their scorn at worst and their avoidance at best.
For God’s sake, Will, let me go.He needed to find another war with which to occupy himself so that he had no time for thought, but William steadfastly refused to free him from his duties.
Bloody bastard.
“Milord?”
Valteri turned away from his men to see his squire running toward him. Barely tall enough to reach his shoulder, the dark-haired youth was fair enough in form to make several maids giggle as he passed them. Lucky for him and even luckier for Wace, the boy had no idea the fairer sex found him so appealing.
Yet.
Pity the poor fool the day Wace realized they were watching him with such interest.
All too soon, some lass would no doubt try and trap the boy with her wiles. Then his life would be an even bigger hell than it’d been when Valteri had found him.
Breathless, Wace reached his side. The blush of youthful exuberance covered his cheeks, mottling them to a bright pink that made his blue eyes all the brighter.
Valteri couldn’t remember ever feeling that excited about anything.
Not even his first battle.
’Course, he’d been praying the whole time for a fatal blow to end this miserable hell known as life.
Lucky him, he’d not only survived the ordeal, he’d been one of the heroes of the day. Praised for the fact that he’d fought bravely while the others who’d wanted to live had scampered away, trying to save their measly hides.
