Page 61

Chapter Twenty-Two

Vanni

Ispot him immediately. Even if I hadn’t seen him last night, I would have known him on sight. He stands taller than any of the others, both in height and in bearing. His high cheekbones give him the look of Galfrid.

Apparently Kipp sees us as well. Mid-conversation, he turns from his companions and makes his way toward us. He’s at the back of the great hall, though, and we’ve just entered it. Judging by the people who keep stopping him for a word or a greeting, it may take him a while to reach us. Having greeted our host and hostess, Aedre and I walk toward the gathering crowd, which is perhaps fifty or a bit more in number.

“They are unaccustomed to seeing someone of your ilk here,” she whispers.

Forgetting Aldwine for a moment, I shake my head. “They are looking at you, Aedre. Not me.”

From what I’ve learned of Aedre thus far, she is very much in tune with others’ feelings. Their distress. Their interests. Their passions. But not so much her own.

I would change that.

“He’s coming toward us,” Aedre says.

“I see him.”

A serving girl approaches us with two goblets of wine, which we take with our thanks.

I’m desperately going to need some wine after that ride. For as long as I live, I will remember the feeling of Aedre’s backside pressing against me. Of the way she laid her hand over mine, as if to tell me I wasn’t alone. That she felt and saw my pain.

“Aedre?”

It’s both a question and a warning. Aldwine glares at me as he would an enemy.

“’Tis good to see you again so soon, Kipp,” she says. “May I introduce my escort, Lord Vanni d’Abella?”

“Escort?” he spits out.

Taking exception to his tone, I interject with, “My intentions are honorable, I can assure you.”

I reach out my hand, but Aldwine does not take it.

He is every bit a Voyager. And a warrior, too. Though I suspect the rumors of unprovoked attacks by such men are nothing more than rumors, I understand why so many believe them to be true.

“Your intention is to gain an audience with me.”

His tone is hard. Unforgiving.

I look at Aedre and realize what he’s said to her. He believes I used her to get to him.

“You do not believe that?” I address her, not him.

Aedre takes a sip of wine but does not answer. I wait, ignoring Aldwine.

“Aedre?”

She blinks and lowers her goblet.

“I do not believe that.”

Though she says the words, I can tell the possibility bothers her. And although one of the reasons I originally sought an audience with her was to gain access to Kipp, my feelings for her are very real.

“I cannot say the same,” Aldwine bites out.

So it seems I’ve complicated my mission here by having grown close to a woman he cares for.