AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can help her,” he said, his voice low.
“I have no doubt that is true. I do not believe she will feel the same.”
Those shutters of black ice, so adept at hiding Numair from the world, closed once more over his eyes. “I see.”
The rest of their party drew within earshot, leaving Clare no chance to offer pretty soothing words, if indeed any could be found. Numair played his role, for whatever reason, and because he did, the woman he still considered a friend would never accept his help. Would never believe him capable of helping.
He was moody and morose the rest of the afternoon, playing his drunken persona for all it was worth, and his sour mood infected her own. She had to work twice as hard to keep up her own facade of joviality, and couldn’t help but wonder if the role she played among these people would poison her as thoroughly as Numair’s seemed to have poisoned him.
A week ago, she would have said it didn’t matter. What was a little more poison in the wellspring of it that was the world they lived in? But a person seemed to be coalescing inside of her where before there had been only a starving creature hellbent on survival. And that nascent person, it seemed, had objections to a lifetime of emotional misery.
Chapter Forty-Five
Reaper
On her return, Clare cornered Alys in the stable. A feat made easy by the fact Alys had obviously been intent on cornering her the second she returned.
“Did you get it to her?”
Clare waved her bare wrist. “One ribbon delivered.”
“And is she—was she all right?”
“Oh, she was delightful. Practically arm-in-arm with your charming brother. I don’t think she’s thought about you at all.”
Alys just stared at her.
“Your lover is in good health, if poor spirits.”
“She’s not my?—”
“Oh, please.” Clare rolled her eyes. “The jealousy when she thought you’d replaced her with me was palpable. I had to use a very clever demonstration with a horse and an apple to dispel that misunderstanding, I’ll have you know.”
“A horse,” Alys repeated, “and an apple.”
“I even had the horse do a little acting. So, tell me about her.”
“She’s none of your concern.”
“On the contrary, you’ve involved me, so now she is my concern. I can start you off, if it’s helpful. You love her. She loves you. Your brother keeps her because controlling her controls you, which implies he is the very thing you are hiding from. So why don’t you just go home and get her back?”
“If it were that simple, I would have already done it.”
“Is it that wretched thing on her arm that stops you? Because I can take care of that.”
Alys's head jerked up. “Excuse me?”
“I can take care of it,” Clare repeated.
“You don’t even know what it is, but you can take care of it?”
“Tell me a story,” Clare purred, “and I’ll show you I can.”
Alys paced back and forth in short, frustrated steps before turning on Clare and saying, grudgingly, “Her name is Lina. We’ve been friends since we were eight.”
“That’s an excellent start. Tell me more.”
Alys shot her an annoyed look, but did. “My parents knew her parents, though we weren’t in quite the same social circles. So when her family died, my parents took her in. We grew up together. Somewhere along the way we fell in love. Everything was fine until my parents died last year.” Alys paused, fingers curling into fists. “Geoffrey and I never got on well. He hated us both, but I think he hated Lina more, because I was afraid of him and she never was. She used to antagonize him terribly when we were younger. She’d cut the pockets in his coats, or line his shirts with itch-flower.” Alys's face softened as she spoke. “I was never brave enough to stand up to him, but she was.”
