Belial hovered in the shadows of the stable, his body translucent as he floated around the rafters. At last he could again convert to his demonic form on his own. He threw his head back and laughed, reveling in his growing power.
A flash of brown caught his eye.
Drifting to the top of the stable so that he could peer more closely out the crack between the chinks, he spied Edred crossing the yard. The fat little friar cast a furtive glance around as if seeking someone, or mayhap avoiding someone.
Belial frowned, an uneasy twinge settling in his belly. Something was amiss.
“What are you up to…”
He lowered himself to the floor, returned to his human body, and nonchalantly made his way outside.
“Lord Belial!” the friar called.
Stifling his smile, Belial walked over to him. “Greetings, brother. What duties have you this day?”
The friar seized his arm and quickly pulled him off to the small garden beside the hall. He scanned the garden like a fearful mouse looking for a cat.
Belial longed to claw the tight grip from his elbow, but he tolerated it, knowing that eventually he’d find out what had the little man so distraught.
“I’ve just spoken with your sister.” Edred kept his tone low.
Belial cocked his brow in expectation. Could the fat little mouse have fondled the wrong piece of cheese? “Did you now?”
“Aye, milord.” His eyes grew large and round in fear. “And she spoke of demons among us!”
Belial gave him a patient, chiding smile. “Of course. Lord Valteri—”
“Nay. She said ’twas another. That we must be vigilant!”
“Another?” He gasped, feigning fright as he leaned nearer. “Did she name the beast?”
Edred shook his head, his gaze wistful. He wrung his pudgy hands. “I’d give aught if she had, but alas, she said only that she’d seen signs.”
Belial tsked. “Oh dear.”
“Indeed.”
He patted the man’s arm.
So Ariel was learning to play subterfuge. Damn her. She was good at it, too. She had the friar won over.
Who’d have thought?
He had to stifle a smile at her resourcefulness. Clever little Arel. He’d have to watch her more closely. Ariel was learning his job and ways a little faster than she should have. No doubt Shadow and Thorn were tutoring her.
Bastards!
He admired a quick learner and worthy adversary. But even so, she could not outthink him, and her little ploy with the friar could certainly be turned against her.
“’Twould appear Lord Valteri is gathering his minions. Unleashing more unholy terror here.”
The friar crossed himself, his entire body trembling.
Belial breathed in the sweet bouquet of the man’s fear, nourishing his starved soul on it.
“Do you really think demons are gathering among us?”
“Aye,” Belial said gravely. “I know they are for a fact. We must expose Valteri. Fetch the Saxon nobles. Together we may yet outsmart the devil’s mind and his mistress.”
Valteri left the hall, but before he took three steps outside, Brother Edred ran up to him and slung water in his face.
Irritated, he cursed, wiping at his chin.
Glaring at the small, little man, he fought his urge to beat him. “What is the matter with you?”
“Forgive me, milord … I-I-I didn’t see your approach. I beg you humbly for forgiveness.” The friar stepped back.
Still wanting to thrash him, Valteri narrowed his eyes. From what he’d seen, it’d been no accident.
Rather, deliberate.
And irritating.
The friar had intentionally doused him.
With a sinister growl, Valteri pushed the man aside. “Pay attention where you walk. You could have hurt someone, mayhap even yourself.”
Drying his face, he continued on toward the stable.
Belial pulled Ethbert down behind the large shrub as Valteri walked by with a furious countenance. “See! I told you.”
Ethbert clenched his teeth. Aye, Belial had been right. Valteri possessed such power that not even the friar’s holy water had blemished his evil flesh.
He’d walked away as if nothing had happened.
Over and over, he remembered his dream of hell, of the demons bowing down before Valteri as their evil overlord.
Hatred seeped through his veins. If only Harold had survived, then these beasts would not be feasting on his good, Saxon people.
Brother Edred joined them, his wise old eyes troubled. “Whatever are we to do?”
Ethbert ignored the question and excused himself. He might not be able to defeat the devil, but maybe he could save Ariel.
While the Norman beast may have brought her back here against her will, with any luck he might be able to thwart this evil and free her once and for all.
“Enter,” Ariel called.
She looked up from her tangled and mangled sewing to see Ethbert entering her chambers. Frowning at the Saxon’s presence, she couldn’t imagine what he might want with her.
Not since he’d first come to their hall had he sought her out. “Milord, what brings you here?”
He moved to her side then paused as he caught sight of Cecile. With a stern frown, he watched the cat’s weaving path as she made her way across the floor.
A strange look crossed his face, and if Ariel didn’t know better, she’d swear the small kitten frightened him. His jaw twitched as if he longed to say something.
She waited for several heartbeats. When it looked as if he might continue his silence, Ariel gave him a patient smile. “Is something troubling you?”
He looked back at her, and she struggled to read him, but his emotions eluded her. “My brothers and I intend to leave within the hour, milady.”
She looked back at her sewing and took a careful stitch that still was a terrible one. “Then I bid you godspeed and safety.”
He knelt before her and took the needle from her hands. Staring up into her eyes, he reminded her of a supplicant seeking divine aid. “Dearest lady, if you wish, we can take you with us.”
Stunned, Ariel stared at him. Why would he say such a thing? “Pardon?”
He took a deep breath and touched her knee. “I know you ran away and that the Norman brought you back. If you still wish to flee him, we can take you. I assure you this time he’ll never find you.”
Was he insane?
“I have no wish to leave.”
He took her hands into his.
Startled by his touch, Ariel stiffened.
“Please, milady. Let me help you.”
Just as she opened her mouth to reply, a loud crash sounded from outside.
A gasp lodging in her throat, she tossed the tunic aside and ran to see what had happened.
As she entered the hall, she stopped, her heart pounding ever more.
Valteri lay in the center of the floor, a large, broken chandelier by his side. Wace stood over him, staring up at the ceiling.
A group of servants stood nearby, none moving. ’Twas as if they were too scared to breathe.
Crying out in fear, Ariel rushed to her husband. “Milord, are you all right?”
“It almost crushed him!” Wace said before Valteri could answer her question. “Never before have I seen such.” He gulped at her. “It just fell. For no reason.”
Ariel scanned the splintered wood and twisted iron that littered the area around Valteri. Wace was right. Another inch, and Valteri would have died instantly.
“Please forgive us, milord!” The servant closest to him wrung his hands in nervousness. “The rope slipped from poor Aldred’s hands while we were trying to replace the candles. ’Twas an accident, I swear it! We meant you no harm!”
Valteri pushed himself up and rubbed debris from his tunic. For a moment, suspicion darkened his eyes, but as he looked from the old man before him to the younger men, Aldred, who was huddled by the wall, terrified Valteri would beat them for the accident, that suspicion lifted and he relaxed. “Fear not. No damage done.”
“No damage!” Ariel gasped. “You could have died.”
As soon as she said the words, she realized what had happened.
The curse.
How could she have been so foolish as to not think of it immediately?
All these last weeks, it’d only remained dormant, lulling them into a false sense of security, waiting for a chance to catch them unawares.
Waiting until it would do the most harm.
Cold rushed over her body, dimming her sight.
She backed away from Valteri as Mildred’s hate-filled words echoed through her head. “You must watch him die.”
Today, she almost had.
Thorn and Shadow were right. There was no way to break a blood curse!
Realizing what was going to happen, she turned around and ran from the hall.
Returning to her chambers, Ariel scanned the room as full-blown panic took root. Her chest burned and her breath came in short, sharp gasps. She felt as though she’d pass out, or die herself.
This was real.
Death was coming.
She was going to lose Valteri.
One of her kin would be here to claim him and there would be nothing she could do to stop it.
“Nay,” she whispered. He couldn’t die. Not when it would be her fault.
How could she have thought for one moment that she might stave the curse and free them?
“Ariel?”
She turned at Valteri’s voice. He pulled her into his arms and she shivered.
“It was just an accident. Nothing more.”
“It was the curse,” she whispered, afraid the next moment might rob the strength from his arms, the breath from his lungs.
An image of the young Saxon boy dying in front of her crept into her mind and she stiffened. Tears gathered in her eyes. She didn’t want to see Valteri like that. To watch his life drain out, his vibrant mismatched eyes turn dull.
Valteri shook his head. “If it was the curse, then I’d be lying dead.” He stepped away from her and held his arms out. “Do I look like a phantom?”
She shook her head, her tears spilling down her cheeks. “’Tis the curse, I say.”
Valteri wiped her tears from her face, his warm hand only making her fear grow. He stared at her with wonderment and she saw the pain lurking in the odd-colored depths. “No tears, Ariel. I’m still here.” He kissed them from her cheeks.
She nodded and he pulled her back into his arms. He held her for several minutes. Each one seemed suspended in time and she savored every beat of his heart.
But this wouldn’t last.
It couldn’t.
She was a threat to him and she knew it.
Heaven help her, but she had to leave him.
A knock sounded on the door an instant before Wace opened it. “Forgive me, milord, milady…” He bowed his head, his cheeks flushing. “I was—”
“I know, Wace.” Valteri sighed. “Wait by the horses.”
Wace nodded and left them alone.
He rubbed his hands down her arms. “No more frets, Ariel. All shall be fine. You’ll see.”
She nodded, her throat too tight for her to speak. With a heavy heart, she watched him strap his sword to his hips.
Never had she hated a sword and what it stood for more.
Ariel followed him through the hall and out into the yard. He swung up onto his saddle, and she admired the handsome form he made there as he placed his helm on his head.
She’d never see him again. That thought ravaged her heart, her soul.
I have to do this.
There’s no choice.
And this time there was no coming back.
For his sake.
So, she committed every line of his body and face to her memory. That memory would be her only comfort in years to come. That and the knowledge that he was safe from her curse.
Safe from Kadar’s slavery.
It didn’t matter to her that she’d spend hollow, empty years wishing for a man she knew she could never have. Aching for a love she’d once known. She couldn’t risk causing him harm. Not over this.
It was the right thing to do.
Yet it was so hard.
Lifting the reins, Valteri gave her one last, tender look.
Ariel waved at him and forced herself to smile. I’m no better than Edred and all the other hypocrites.
The heated look in his eyes stole her breath as he kicked his horse and sped out the gate.
Damn me for hurting him, too.
She clenched her hand into a fist and lowered it to her side. “Take care, my precious Norman,” she whispered.
Closing her eyes, Ariel wished the rota had fallen on her. At least then her misery would be over.
Her heart weary and pained, she turned around and saw Ethbert standing with his brothers.
She approached them with a determined stride, knowing this must be done.
“Have you changed your mind, lady?”
No. The last thing she wanted was to leave.
But sometimes fate forces us to do things we don’t want to do. Life takes us down paths we don’t want to walk.
Not for ourselves, but for those we love.
To protect them.
For the first time, she understood what love really meant. Why Thorn and Shadow were so bitter.
How odd that she’d once judged them over something she thought she knew and yet she’d had no idea what it really meant.
Sacrifice wasn’t just a word. It was an emotion so strong that it ached to the very core of her soul.
It meant choosing to do what was better for someone else than what was better for yourself. Choosing their life and happiness over your own.
A lesson she, a creature of light, had learned from those born in darkness.
“Aye.” She was amazed by the steadiness of her tone. Don’t do this. Her heart and soul begged her to stay.
But that would be selfish.
She couldn’t ask Valteri to pay for her love.
Only her absence could keep him safe.
“I shall go with you.”