Chapter Eleven
Luke walked beside Mel through the gardens. Lovely flowers of all colors bloomed around them, but Mel was oblivious to their beauty. She was speaking of one of her ladies in waiting, laughing at the woman because she couldn’t embroider as well as she. Much the same Urien couldn’t fight as well as Luke, but Luke never put him down for it. Still, it was obvious through their fight that it caused Urien to blame Luke for his banishment. “Urien thought you loved him.”
Mel stopped and turned to Luke in confusion. The setting sun bathed her hair in a red tint. She tilted her head coyly. “Many men believe I am in love with them. Are you jealous?”
Luke’s mind was filled with questions, but not jealousy. Something bothered him about the fight with Urien. “Do you remember why Urien was banished?”
“Of course! Urien, Nessa, and I were in the gardens, not far from right here. He hit Nessa.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t very well allow him to hit one of my own family. I told father and he was banished.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “Why are you interested in Urien?”
Luke walked over to a tree, scowling, trying to make sense of it all. “Why would he do that? In front of you? Didn’t he know you would tell? Or Nessa? Did he think he could get away with it?”
Mel shook her head. “I don’t know. I can barely remember.” She took his hand in hers. “It’s not important.”
He resisted. “Mel,” he said, pulling his hand from hers. “Itisimportant.”
“Why is it important?”
“Something doesn’t make sense.”
“Leave it off. It’s not important.” Mel stepped close to him. “I’m all that should be important to you.”
Luke moved away, scowling.
Mel sighed and flicked her hair. “If you don’t want to walk with me, I can find someone who will.”
Luke hardly heard her words. He nodded. If Mel wasn’t going to tell him, maybe Urien would. He started off toward the keep and the dungeon, but suddenly stopped. “Come. I will escort you back to the keep.”
Mel frowned her displeasure at him. She shook her head and walked stiffly before him.
Urien sat in the darkness, chained to the wall by shackles around his wrists. Betrayed. Devastated. Alone. Mel’s refusal to see him crushed his heart. All he wanted to do was please her, make their dreams come true. She had told him of the caves; that must have meant something!
He heard footsteps in the hall and his hope ignited. The door opened and a torch was thrust into the dark cell. Urien blinked and held up his arm to block the bright light. The dark shape that entered was not Melwyn. It was a man. He slowly dropped his arm and turned away with a grimace.
Footsteps announced the man’s approach. They stopped before him. “I’ve come to ask you some questions.”
Urien sneered. Luke of Brackley. He was the one who had put him in this cell.
“Why do you want to kill Nessa?”
Urien grunted. “Why should I tell you anything?”
“You don’t have to. I just want to understand. We were all friends once.”
“And it hurts your pride to know that the woman you are to wed loves another?” Urien knew a moment of triumph when Luke scowled. “She loves me. She has always loved me.”
“Why do you think she loves you? Did she say she did?”
“She told me about the caves. The caves of the lovers.” He smiled, remembering her words. “The caves of St. Agnes. She told me that perhaps one day we would get to put our hands over the stains to seal our love.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. “When did she tell you that?”
Urien smiled in victory. “That’s why I went back. To get her. To take her away from you. To take her to the caves. But that witch, Nessa, deceived me.”
Luke squatted before him, holding the torch above his head. “When did she tell you about the caves?”
Urien cherished the moment, knowing he was twisting the dagger deeper into Luke’s heart. “When we were young. When you brought the sisters to the cave.”
Slowly, Luke stood, a frown of dismay etched into his brow.
