Page 45

His voice was a mocking caress, teasing, coaxing, a trap waiting to be sprung. Bria closed her mouth defiantly. She met Terran’s gaze evenly and could have sworn she saw hell’s fire burning deep in his black eyes. But despite his heated glare, she would never tell her father she was the Midnight Shadow.

“Tell him your secret,” Terran urged softly.

Bria straightened away from her father’s embrace, bravely facing Terran’s vindictive gaze, refusing to relinquish her secret.

“Tell us how you’ve been secretly meeting with the Midnight Shadow,” Terran finished.

For a long moment, she couldn’t move. She thought she’d misheard him.

But he continued in a dark, dangerous voice. “Tell your father how he tasted your charms before I was anywhere near you,” Terran all but purred.

She wanted to laugh out loud as relief swept her body. He didn’t know! He didn’t know she was the Midnight Shadow!

She swung her relieved gaze to her father, but he wore no smile on his lips. Her eyes shifted to her grandfather. He wasn’t smiling, either. Her happiness died within her.

“Have you been meeting this Midnight Shadow?” her father asked.

Bria’s desperate gaze swung to her only ally. Harry stared at her, and she realized the seriousness of Terran’s accusation. But how could she deny it? If she told the truth, she’d be locked up as a thief. If she didn’t, she’d be labeled a harlot.

Terran crumpled the mask in his hand. “If Lady Bria does not marry me, she will spend the rest of her life in my dungeons for aiding a criminal.”

Silence filled the room. Terran’s threat hung in the air.

Bria opened her mouth to object, to deny his accusation, but she knew whatever she could say would only get her deeper into trouble. She closed her mouth and her gaze swiveled to her father. He wouldn’t allow Terran to throw her in the dungeon. He’d protect her, as he always had.

But the silence stretched and her father’s face remained as still as stone. He turned his gaze from Terran to Bria, and for just a moment Bria thought she saw disappointment shimmer in his eyes. Then he looked away from her, rubbing his left arm.

Complete and utter dread welled up from the very depths of Bria’s soul.

Lord Delaney nodded. “We will work out the details.”

Bria stepped toward her father, her hands stretched out beseechingly, her heart pounding in her chest. “Father, you can’t!”

Terran seized her arm and glared into her eyes. “You will not share your virtue with any other man.” He shoved the mask at her.

Bria began to shake her head and deny his accusations, but Terran turned from her and followed her father from her room, brushing past Harry.

Bria’s desolate gaze fell to the black mask in her hand. “What have I done, Grandfather?” she whispered.

Harry placed a hand on her shoulder.

Bria found no comfort in his touch. If she were living in Castle Knowles as Terran’s wife, how could she continue to be the people’s defender? How could she continue to sneak out in the middle of the night to defy her husband?

How could she marry her enemy?

The next morning, Terran sat in a chair at a table in the Great Hall, still simmering, still fiercely angry from the night before. Bria was sleeping with his enemy. His damned enemy! Where Garret was a rival, the Midnight Shadow was a criminal, stealing what little was left in his coffers. He’d kill the man with his own hands.

Kenric slid onto the bench beside him. “Congratulations on your betrothal,” he said, motioning to a maid for an ale.

Terran grunted.

“So my plan worked,” Kenric said gleefully. “Did you have to restrain her?”

Terran cast Kenric a hard glare. Kenric’s insatiable desire to overpower the weak was repulsive, but it made him a good sheriff. People were afraid of him. They didn’t defy him. There had been no refusals to give up their tithe. “It didn’t go as planned,” Terran said.

“You raped her?” Kenric asked joyfully.

Terran’s open palm hit the table hard, causing a few heads to turn. “God’s blood, man!” he thundered. “I do not rape women.”