“Thank you for the horse!” Adam piped in.
“You’re welcome, Adam,” Aurora said.
“I can’t thank you enough for sending soldiers to guard us in Auch.”
“I wish you had told me earlier. I do not want any of my people living in fear. I had no idea the Hungars were raiding our land.” Lady Aurora nodded at a noble man with pointy-toed shoes who passed them as she walked down the hallway. “You live with your uncle?”
“Uncle Bruce!” Adam chimed.
“Uncle Bruce takes care of you?”
“Yes,” Justina admitted.
“Where are your parents?”
“Mother died in childbirth a long time ago,” Justina said. She didn’t want to talk about her father, but she felt obliged. “And father is dead, also.”
“He died when I was little,” Adam added.
Aurora stopped and turned to them. “I am sorry. I know how hard it is to lose a parent.”
Justina remembered hearing about the death of Aurora’s father, Lord Gabriel. “I’m sorry about your father.”
Aurora nodded. “Thank you.”
Justina heard the pain in her voice and knew her agony was still fresh. She recalled the heartache of losing her own father and felt an instant kinship with her.
Aurora started down the corridor again. “How did your father die?”
Justina almost tripped. The question shouldn’t have caught her off guard, but somehow it did. “An accident.”
“Someone killed him,” Adam added.
Justina threw him a stern look. She couldn’t blame him, it wasn’t a secret. He didn’t know that their father’s killer was somewhere in the castle. And for a moment, Justina had almost forgotten. She had basked in the honor and prestige of following the lady of the castle and forgotten what darkness lurked around one of these corners. They should not stay. And yet, she wanted to see Gawyn again.
“How horrible!” Aurora exclaimed. “Why would someone do that?”
Adam shrugged, turning to watch a knight in chain mail walk by.
Aurora glanced at Justina, meeting her gaze. “Was the killer ever found?”
“No,” Adam said softly.
Justina looked down at the stone floor, remembering. “He disappeared as quickly as he came.”
“You saw it,” Aurora whispered. She placed a comforting hand on Justina’s arm. “How old were you?”
Justina shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“If I ever see the murderer, I will run my dagger through his heart!” Adam proclaimed.
“You weren’t there,” Justina said softly. “You didn’t see him.”
“I know. But if I did…”
Justina lifted her gaze to see concern wrinkling Aurora’s smooth brow.
“The world can be a dangerous place,” Aurora said. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
Justina could only nod. With the haunting image of the dark eyes of the murderer and her father’s blood on her hands, a tremor coursed through her. The monster was here in Acquitaine, of that she was certain.
