AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d lost sight of her for a moment, in the crowded marketplace, and he’d panicked. And then he’d seen the flash of her dagger in the dark alleyway.
He’d intervened. How could he not? She’d been in grave danger. He hated to think what might have happened to her if he hadn’t followed her that day.
He’d wanted to reveal himself, tell her to be less careless. Instead he’d watched her race away.
It had nearly killed him to let her go, knowing that she could have died.
She gave a little shake of her head. “So that’s why I learned to wield a knife properly. The next time I was accosted, in London again, I successfully fought off the attack. I know I’m not invincible. I try not to take foolish risks. I’ve been given this second chance and I’m going to make something of my life.”
“I understand how you could feel that way.”
“Your bullet wound—did it have a similar effect?”
“More the opposite effect, I’m afraid. My brush with death reaffirmed my belief that life is short and should be lived to the fullest. I’ll ring it like a bell, live fast and hard, and probably die young.”
She removed her hand from his grasp. “Do you truly believe that? Do you believe that your life is worthless?
Not worthless. He served his country. He prevented mass bloodshed. And he pursued his own aim on the side, to clear his father’s name once and for all.
Even though the charges had never been proved and Raven had inherited the title and holdings, his father had been tried in the court of public opinion. They said he’d been sleeping with an enemy agent, a spy with the code name of Le Fleur. They said he’d betrayed his king for the love of one of Napoleon’s spies. It had been harrowing for his mother most of all.
Raven knew his father had been honorable and that he never would have turned traitor.
Raven placed honor and duty above all.
He was a good soldier. When he had to, he put his head down and plowed through the enemy line.
“Raven?” she asked.
“What did you call me?”
“You always call me Indy so why shouldn’t I be allowed to shorten your name? Raven’s what your close friends call you, I believe. We used to be friends.”
We used to be friends. We should have been lovers. Life companions.
“That was a long time ago,” he said. “Another lifetime.”
“Why did you... change?” she asked.
She didn’t ask him why he’d betrayed her. He knew she was too proud to ask. This was as close as she would come to the subject.
He’d relied on her prickly pride all of these years. On her hatred.
It all seemed so wrong, now. He questioned everything. Especially the reasons he’d pushed her away. And the reasons he had to lie to her right now. One more lie to add to the ocean of lies that his profession required.
“I’m ruled by my baser instincts, Indy. The world has accused my father of doing the same. I don’t have the ethical framework that you do. I travel where the warm winds of fame and fortune blow me.” The hedonistic, fortune hunting cover he’d constructed.
“Do you? I hear this cynicism in your voice and I’m not sure whether I believe it fully. I find it so difficult to reconcile my memory of you as a boy with the man you’ve become.”
He gave people what they wanted. He was a glassy surface, reflecting back what the world wanted to see.
“What you see is what you get. All the world loves a rogue.”
“That’s all you show me, that’s all you show the world.”
“I’m all surface, Indy, there’s nothing to find, nothing to uncover.”
What he wanted to do was tell her everything. Just spill it all out and ask her forgiveness. But a man like him never asked for forgiveness. Never admitted to any wrongdoing.
