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Bria stepped toward the darkness, calling, “Mary.”
“Bria,” Terran said, stepping into her path. He cupped her face in his hands. “Did Kenric hurt you? Are you all right?”
Bria seemed to focus on Terran’s face for the first time. “Oh, Terran,” she whispered and leaned heavily against him, exhaustion overwhelming her.
Instinctively, Terran’s arms went around her, crushing her to him. Relief flooded through him. He brushed a kiss against the top of her head.
Bria looked up at him, her eyes clear despite her fatigue. “Terran, she’s my friend. I can’t leave her in there.”
“Your friend?” Terran echoed.
“Please. You have to let her go.”
Terran held her at arm’s length, searching her face. “She attacked me. I can’t let her go.”
“She thought you were Kenric,” Bria said defensively.
Why was she always taking someone else’s side over his? Anger simmered his blood. “She’s a criminal, or she wouldn’t be in the dungeon. I will not let her go.”
“What did she do?” Bria demanded.
“She murdered a woman,” Terran replied tightly.
“What?” Bria asked in confusion.
“She murdered Widow Anderson, the village herbalist.”
Chapter twenty-nine
Bria’s mouth dropped open at Terran’s accusation. Mary hadn’t killed that woman, Kenric had. But she’d tried to tell Terran that before and he hadn’t listened. She shut her mouth and gritted her teeth.
“She’s a danger to me and to my people. I couldn’t let her roam the streets. She’s lucky to be alive. Only at Kenric’s insistence did I allow her to be locked up instead of beheaded.”
Beheaded? The word sent chills through her body. And why would Kenric save Mary? Why not just kill her and be done with it?
The soft sound of footsteps reached her ears and Bria lifted her head to see the guard moving into the room from the dark hallway. She turned her gaze to Terran, her chin lifted slightly in defiance. “Now what? Do you plan to have me beheaded?”
“You mock me thus after I have saved you?” Terran growled.
“Saved me?” Bria retorted hotly. The fatigue she’d felt burned away. She was very much awake now. “You sent me here!”
Terran opened his mouth as if to argue with her, but then shut it. The muscle of his jaw clenched. “For that I am sorry,” he managed to grind out.
Surprise rocked Bria. Was that an apology from the tyrant? Had she heard him correctly? She stared hard at Terran, trying to see past his closed expression, but his eyes mirrored the flickering torchlight back at her.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, Bria felt a strange stirring in the pit of her stomach. Flustered, she glanced away and found herself looking at the guard. He was staring at her breasts. Bria glanced down, realizing she was still in her chemise. Mortified, she did her best to cover herself, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning toward Terran for cover.
Terran stepped in front of her, his gaze burning into the guard. The guard backed away from Terran, finally turning his back. Terran whirled to Bria, placing his hand on her lower back, and ushered her up the stairs.
They moved quickly through the hallways and Bria kept her head lowered to avoid the curious gazes of the peasants. Terran ushered her into the room she’d occupied before -- their room. Just as she stepped over the threshold, someone called, “Lord Terran!”
Kenric approached them with quick steps. Bria straightened slightly, defiance and hatred sizzling through her.
Terran urged her into the room with a gentle shove and closed the door behind her.
Bria stood in the dark room alone. At first, she didn’t know what to do. She had the strangest impulse to rush out of the room and into Terran’s arms or to plant herself before him and protect him from Kenric. It didn’t seem Terran truly knew just how evil Kenric was.
And then she heard the voices.
