Ariana waited until the door had banged shut behind them before releasing the breath she had been holding. But her relief at the reprieve was short-lived. Fast on its coattails came a whirlwind of emotions which left her insides churning. So much had happened in one short day. She clutched her hands to her stomach, trying to calm her racing thoughts.
Otto had lied to her, without reason, and just when she had believed them to be on the cusp of something wonderful and new. He had proven himself to be considerate, kind even. They had conversed easily. She’d felt herself warming towards him. Liking him. Believing, readily, that there was more than one side to theFeared One.
And then he had kissed her. And partially disrobed her. And awakened her desires so her body still ached for his touch. Asa crowning moment, he had presented her with this beautiful broach. Her fingers sought it out, proving with their touch that it had been no dream. They had been stumbling together towards real feeling. Realaffection.
Why? Why had he lied?
Unable to sit still, Ariana pushed herself up from the chair and followed her husband’s pacing path to the windows and back again.
Last night, on the stone-flagged floor of the entrance hall, Althalos’s words had affected her hardly at all. She knew him to be a poisonous snake who sought only to cause her pain. But back in her bedchamber, with her curiosity burning like an itch that demanded to be scratched, she had casually enquired of her maid if she knew anything of a Lady Elspeth or a Mistress Lucietta.
Allys had answered her readily enough. Mistress Lucietta was an accomplished horsewoman. The daughter of a knight. Lady Elspeth, she said, was a beautiful lady with golden ringlets and the singing voice of an angel, who had once been a favorite of Lord Otto.
As she uttered those final words, Allys had flushed and grown so nervous that the pins she was extracting from her mistress’s hair had scattered to the floor.
“I’m sorry milady,” she stammered. “’Tis not my place to tell such tales.”
Ariana had waved away her apologies as unwelcome knowledge settled in her stomach with the weight of a stone.
Althalos had been telling the truth. Otto had bedded this Lady Elspeth.
But when the maid had left and Ariana was alone with peace and time to reflect, she’d scolded herself for her naivety. So Otto had a past. What of it? She had never expected the Earl of Darkmoor to be an untouched virgin. Laying in her clean,white sheets, she even smiled at the thought. He was a young, virile man. Of course he had taken lovers. The important thing was that since her arrival in the castle, he had treated her with unfailing kindness.And honesty.Ariana gazed out of the tall window with unseeing eyes. Usually, a couple of deep breaths helped to calm her, but not today. Perhaps not ever again. Otto’s passionate kisses had awakened more than just her desires, leaving her mired in a sticky marsh of unfamiliar emotions. Possessiveness, jealousy, a craving for his touch.
He had undermined her hard-won self-control.And then he had lied to her.
The truth, she could have handled. Even if a flare of jealousy brought warmth to her blood and a series of unwelcome images to her mind.A beautiful lady with golden ringlets and the singing voice of an angel.How could she hope to compare?
But Otto’s needless evasion was so much worse.
With a sigh of frustration, Ariana gripped the sleeves of her gown and forced herself to focus on the present moment. If she concentrated hard, she could discern a far-off clamor of horses’ hooves and shouted instructions. Somewhere beyond the morning room, a door closed, and rapid footsteps sounded on a stone floor. She breathed in the scent of lavender, fixed her gaze upon the gardens, and considered that Otto had made special instructions for this lovely room to be furnished especially for her.
It was no good, her mind refused to be calmed.
What else was the earl keeping from her? she wondered, as a strong breeze lifted the branches of the distant trees. Was this Lady Elspeth still his lover? Was that why he lied?
Although how could she anticipate honesty, given the secret she was hiding herself?
At once, her anger subsided leaving a chill of apprehension in its wake.
What start to married life was this? Lies and deceit, even as they grew closer in mind and body. Otto did not trust Ariana with the truth about his lover. She could never hope to share her intentions to rescue Ysmay from Traitor’s Gate.
Her beloved aunt.
The woman he held responsible for his father’s death.
At once the full weight of their situation fell upon Ariana’s shoulders. It was a burden that threatened to bury her. Her lips parted in fear as she recalled how quickly Otto’s temper had flared when he learned of unrest amongst the squires.
“I shall not tolerate disobedience.”
How then would he react were he ever to find out about her true intentions to rescue Ysmay?
The answer crystalized in her mind.He must never find out.
She gripped her beautiful broach unconsciously as the realization flooded into her veins. With every moment she spent with Otto, she put herself in greater danger. The Earl of Darkmoor had got under her skin. With his smiles, his unanticipated understanding.His kisses.She was forgetting herself and the real reason she had come to Darkmoor.
She was falling in love with him, that was the unwelcome truth of it. But she must never forget that the man her heart increasingly craved was theFeared One.
And she was the traitor in his castle.
