Page 23 of The Thorn and the Rose

“I won’t go away, and I will help you. I swear it.”

He stared down at her. She gazed up at him, her eyes searching his, as if she wished to see into his soul. There was such undisguised longing there, it took his breath away. What she saw in his eyes he could not tell, but the fight seemed to go out of her.

“Come,” he said. “The park is just here. It’s a pretty place. Let us find a place to sit.”

She neither agreed nor protested but allowed him to guide her until he found a quiet spot with a bench in the shade of a towering beech tree.

“Now then,” he said, his voice firm. “Tell me what has happened. Why did you write that letter?”

She shook her head, her eyes glittering with tears, and he wondered if anyone in the world had ever looked so bleak, so shrouded in sadness. Somehow, it did not detract from her beauty, but only heightened it. Odd, that. Perhaps it was the fierce need to protect her from whatever put that look there that made him feel so wild with the desire to save her and keep her safe, to make her happy.

“Marie, I cannot help you if you do not confide in me.”

She took a deep breath and then let it out again and he watched as she squared her shoulders. “I know. I beg your pardon. I am being tiresome. My mother would accuse me of putting on airs to be interesting,” she added with a sudden quirk of her lips.

He smiled at that. “Your mother still lives, then? I know you said your father died.”

She nodded, her expression far off, staring out into some distant place he could not see. “She lives, though I sometimes wonder if we inhabit the same world.”

“Oh?”

“Mama lives in something of a dream. I envy her that a good deal,” she admitted. “But you cannot live in a dream when reality keeps nipping at your heels, Mr Barry.”

“I am not Mr Barry,” he said, suddenly hating that name, hating the pretence. “I didn’t wish to tell you the truth, Marie. I hope you will forgive me, but the whole situation was so odd, and I worried about telling you who my father is. The truth is—”

Marie shot to her feet with such suddenness he started.

“No!” she said, shaking her head, breathless with anxiety. “Don’t tell me.”

Thorn stared at her in confusion. “Don’t tell you my real name?”

“No. Don’t. Please don’t. You are Mr Barry, and I am Marie. That’s all.”

The panic in her voice was audible and though he did not understand it, he feared upsetting her, she was clearly living on the edge of her nerves, and he did not wish to add to her unease.

“Very well,” he said. “But I shall tell you if you ask, Marie, I don’t wish to have secrets from you.”

She gave a helpless little laugh at his words, but he reached for her hand and guided her back to the seat.

“I just want you to be safe, Marie. I could ask my mother or my sister to come to you. Then you could have a safe place and we could—”

“No.”

Thorn let out a huff of frustration.

“I want nothing to do with your family,” she said fiercely. “It is bad enough you are involved in this. I don’t want to know who they are. I don’t wish to know anything about you.”

He tried not to feel hurt by the passion of her words, especially when he wanted to know every single thing about her. He took a breath and let it out slowly, shaking his head in bewilderment. “I feel like I’m stuck in a maze Involved in what, Marie? Was it your brother who attacked me? Is that it? Is it him that seeks revenge on us, on the Sons of Hades?”

Her already pale complexion turned stark white and, with a sinking sensation in his guts, he knew Pip had been right. Not that it came as a surprise. It really had been the only explanation, and that did not mean she was guilty of doing anything but acting under duress. Moderating his tone, he kept on, trying not to sound as if he was accusing her, though that was exactly what he was doing.

“He arranged for you to find me, didn’t he?”

Her breath caught in her throat, and he knew he had struck true. Thorn took her hand, squeezing her fingers gently.

“I do not blame you for this, for what he has done and forced you to do, but can you not tell me why he is doing this?”

Marie’s gaze flickered to his, something like longing behind her eyes.