Sage grinned. Her smile slowly faded, and she wondered, “Do you visit her?”
“No. It’s best if Rose believes that Emma and her husband are her parents.”
“Are you certain?”
“She’s three. I don’t imagine it matters now,” Marcus said.
“It will. What happened to her mother? Why didn’t she want her?”
Marcus clenched his teeth. Cassandra. “She was spoiled, wealthy, and entitled. She said a child would ruin her chances at a better life. She kept the pregnancy a secret.”
“Did you love her?”
Marcus stared at Sage sitting across from him near the base of a tree. There was something in the tone of her voice, something in the glint of her eyes. He couldn’t place it.
“I don’t think I ever loved her. I loved being envied by other men. I loved being the sole recipient of her attention. Her newest bauble.” He chuckled self-loathingly and shifted his stare to the dark, cold ground. “I should have known. She grew tired of me and moved on. Then she discovered she was with child.”
He remembered when she had accused him of impregnating her on purpose, of spilling his seed inside of her to keep her, to bind her to him. “She threatened to get rid of the child. To drink some concoction and flush it out.”
His lips thinned in disgust. “I think in the end, she was too afraid of Hell to kill the babe. Either way, she was disgusted with me, and I didn’t see her for the entire pregnancy. I didn’t know whether she kept the babe or got rid of it. She wouldn’t see me. Then, one night, she sent a messenger for me. She was lying in this big bed, the poor little baby on the chilly stone floor, not even wrapped in a blanket. Cast aside like refuge.”
Sage was leaning forward, a concerned look on her face. The book was forgotten beside her.
“At first, I didn’t know what to do. The baby was so small. I was afraid to pick her up. I was afraid I would hurt her.” He recalled the dark room, lit only by one candle very far from the baby. A midwife stood in the corner, pacing from Cassandra to the edge of the bed and back as if she wanted to tend to the child. “Her voice was callous and strained with hatred. She told me to take it and get out. And never, ever come back.”
“Marcus,” Sage gasped with sympathy.
Marcus waved her statement away. “It was a long time ago.” But he would never forget the Cassandra’s curled, venomous lips. “I never went back, and I never saw her again. I didn’t want to.” He looked at Sage. He had never told that to anyone. No one had asked. “What she did to Rose, her own flesh and blood, an innocent baby, was...unforgivable.”
Sage’s brow creased as she thought, and she sucked on her lower lip. “What a horrible person. How were you attracted to her in the first place?”
Marcus grinned. “I was young, inexperienced, and naïve. I just knew she was beautiful.”
Sage lifted her eyebrows. “Well, Rose is much better off without her.”
Marcus nodded. He would make sure that his daughter was loved and would never be hungry. He would make sure that she had a good life. “Do you have any children?”
Sage scoffed. “Me?” She shook her head. “No.”
“Ever been in love?” he asked.
She glanced down at the book and picked it up, placing it inside her armor. “No.”
Lord, Marcus wished he were that book. To be so treasured and hidden against her warm flesh. He mentally shook himself and thought of a question to distract himself. “Tell me of your family.”
Her brows rose. “What do you know about them?” she asked.
“Not much. I’ve heard talk.”
“You know they will not rest until I am safe.”
“Youaresafe.”
“I think they would see it differently. You kidnapped me, stabbed Brother Nicolas.” She held up one of her hands in supplication. “Even if it wasn’t your intention to do so. It doesn’t look good for you.”
Marcus shrugged. “It never does.”
Sage touched her stomach where the book rested. “How did you know Christian had the book?”
