Aurora watched the interplay in confusion. She placed a hand on her father’s arm.
“Didn’t you tell her?” Roke asked.
In desperation, Gabriel turned to face Aurora. His eyes held such sorrow, such guilt that Aurora clutched his hands in comfort.
“Aurora,” Gabriel said softly. “Remember when I told you that everything happens for a reason? That Damien might have killed your mother to save other lives?”
“Justifying murder?” Roke mused, delighted. “I will have to remember that.”
“I wanted Margaret away from you. But she was your mother. I could not take you from her. You would not let me and I could deny you nothing.”
Aurora tried to make sense of her father’s words. She didn’t like the strain she heard in his tone. She didn’t like the way his eyes suddenly looked old, suddenly looked remorseful.
“Lord help me,” Gabriel said softly, “I never wanted you to be hurt. I never expected…”
Aurora shook her head. “What are you saying?”
“Damien was hired by someone,” Gabriel said desperately. “He never would have killed Margaret if he wasn’t commanded to do so. By someone dark and horribly, horribly evil.”
Aurora swiveled her head to Roke. “By his master,” she whispered in contempt. “You did it. You had her killed. Just like you would have had me killed.”
Roke smiled at her. There was something sinister in his grin, something powerful and confident. It sent shivers across Aurora’s shoulders. “You don’t have to tell her,” Roke suggested to Gabriel.
“It was the night she had that little boy whipped for dashing out in front of her horse when she was in the village,” Gabriel began. “I heard her tell you that no peasant, man, woman, or child, should dare to cross before the path of a noble. It was horrible. That child barely survived. I knew he was crippled for life. And Roke was here. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t leave you under her influence. I didn’t want you…” His shoulders drooped. “… to become like her.”
Aurora stared at her father in confusion. She shook her head. “What did you do?”
“Roke told me that it would be quick and painless. He promised you would not see it. You would not be affected by it.”
Roke shrugged, nonchalantly. “A slight miscalculation on my part.”
“I still hesitated. I didn’t think it was right. I didn’t think killing Margaret was the answer.”
Dread churned in Aurora’s stomach, filling her body.
“I had to persuade you,” Roke reminded with amusement. “I had to remind you of how good Aurora was. How compassionate. I knew first hand how people changed in the face of darkness, under the constant influence of evil. That is why I am so drawn to Aurora. She is everything I am not. She is a danger to me and my men. If I possessed such a creature…” His eyes filled with rapture. “Goodness doing what I commanded...” He grinned, his eyes seeing his future. “Imagine the power I would wield.”
Aurora stepped toward her father, shaking her head. “Father…” she pleaded.
“Aurora, I did it for you,” Gabriel said, falling to his knees in repentance before her. “I never intended to harm you.”
Aurora stared at him, the horror of understanding filtering into her mind. He hired Roke to kill her mother. And Roke ordered Damien to do it. Her father let Roke corrupt him. She clenched her fists. “Both of you are mad,” Aurora whispered, repulsed. “I am not this angel you see me as. I have wicked, horrible thoughts the same as anyone. But the difference is that I control those thoughts, those impulses, where you have not. I would never have been like mother because I had you to look up to.” She shook her head and stepped away from him. “But now… How could you have, Father? How could you have let him talk you into something so terrible?”
Her father bowed his head beneath her accusation.
“Because he is weak,” Roke answered viciously. “He allowed me to persuade him that killing your mother was the right thing to do. I found it deliciously enticing.”
Aurora took another step away from her father. Her own father! She looked up to him all these years, wanted to be like him. She thought he was so good, so kind. But like Damien, she had been wrong about him, too. Damien was right. There was evil in everyone.
“Of course, in the end, it was because of you,” Roke said slyly. “To protect you.” He placed his hands reverently on her shoulders, turning her to face him. “Your life was worth more than your mother’s.”
Aurora yanked away from Roke, freeing herself. Her world crumbled about her. Everything she believed was a lie. Everything she thought was wrong. People were not inherently good. Her body trembled with sorrow, with remorse. Even her. She wasn’t good. Roke saw her kindness. Her father loved her compassion. Her people adored her fairness. But she was not good. Because someone so good could never have been the cause of so much agony.
Roke pulled out a piece of parchment. “Even now, my dear, he still seeks to protect you.”
Aurora stared at the parchment in dread.
“Come now, my child,” Roke said, responding to the dark look on her face. “I promised to find your mother’s killer, and that is exactly what I have done. My word is always good.” Roke grinned a terrible grin.
Gabriel shook his head.
“Don’t fear, Gabriel. I’ll call the assassins off. I’ll call them all off.” Roke smiled victoriously. “I can’t have my wife killed by my own assassins.”
Gabriel slumped into a chair in defeat. His head slowly raised and then lowered.
Roke turned to Aurora, his eyes glimmering with triumph as he held the parchment tightly in his hand. “You are mine. We ride to Castle Roke within the hour.”
Chapter Thirty Six
Damien rode hard to escape Castle Acquitaine. He traveled for one day straight, finally resting just outside of an inn. He knew time was of the essence, but he also knew he could never fight Roke and his minions without being well-rested. He would need every ounce of physical energy and every shred of mental sharpness to face them in battle. He made camp near a small stream in the thick forest. Even now, his soul demanded he return to Acquitaine, but he knew he could never return. Aurora saw him as a monster, the murderer of her mother.
Damien rolled onto his side, pulling a blanket over him, trying to shield himself from his thoughts. They would not abate. Aurora, his mind groaned. She was everything he ever wanted. And his darkness overwhelmed her. He gave her nothing but pain.
Despite his embattled mind, sleep came immediately; his body was exhausted.
Suddenly, Aurora was there. Beautiful, glorious. She was an angel. Her hair was wild about her shoulders, her eyes lidded and sultry, her lips full and wet as if he had just kissed them. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She reached out her arms to him, beckoning, calling to him.
“Freedom.” A voice hissed through the sudden darkness that surrounded him.
Damien knew the voice. Roke. He whirled, looking for his master. Roke loomed up behind Aurora, his eyes red like the devil, his fingers clawed as they reached for her. His hands wrapped around her body.
Damien lunged for her, but Roke pulled her back into the darkness. Her light shone for only a moment and then it was gone, consumed by the ultimate blackness of death.
“NO!” Damien shouted.
***
He sat up immediately, panting, sweat drenching his body. Tense and disoriented, his gaze swept the shadowed forest around him. Blackness. The leaves of the trees shuddered above him in a soft breeze. Prickles raced along his skin and Damien reached for his sword.
Someone was out there.
“Good eve, brother,” Gawyn whispered as he stepped from between a cluster of bushes.
Damien relaxed slightly, but did not remove his hand from the hilt of his weapon. “What do you want?” he demanded gruffly.
Gawyn chuckled. “No ‘good eve, brother’?”
Damien settled back against the bark of the tre
e he slept beneath to hear Gawyn prattle on until he was ready to tell him what he came for.
“I didn’t think so,” Gawyn said, stopping two feet away from him. He stared down at him for a long moment. “You left Acquitaine. Why?”
Damien looked away from Gawyn, unaccustomed to speaking with him. “I could not complete my mission.”
Gawyn’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You’ve spent all this time sulking after your freedom and now you simply abandon it?”
Damien clenched his teeth.
“Are you heading back to Castle Roke?”
“Since when do I tell you what I am doing?” Damien demanded.
Gawyn smiled and placed his hands on hips. “It’s just… well, after all this time of protecting her, I find it difficult to believe you’re leaving her to die.”
Damien stiffened. “Her father will protect her.”
“Like he did before?” Gawyn asked with rich sarcasm. “He doesn’t stand a chance against Roke’s assassins and you know it.”
“He’ll have to hold out for just a little longer,” Damien said quietly.
Gawyn scowled until realization opened his eyes wide. His arms dropped to his side. “You’re going back to face Roke,” he gasped.
“I’m damned tired of being his slave.”
“You won’t make it. He has those two giants with him at all times. You’re good, but not good enough to face those two trained killers and then Roke.”
Damien looked at Gawyn with resolution. “There is nothing else I can do.”
“Damien,” Gawyn pleaded, “think about what you’re planning to do. Roke is not going to lie down and expose his throat to you. You’ll have to fight all three of them. You can’t do it.”
“I have to. I have no other choice.” Damien picked his dagger up from the ground and inspected the sharp blade. How could he expect Gawyn to understand? Aurora was everything to him. And he would make sure she was safe.
Gawyn watched Damien for a speculative moment. “Could it be that you’ve finally found something more important than your freedom?”
Damien ignored his brother, rubbing the flat edge of the blade over his leggings to clean it.
Gawyn squatted before him, leaning in conspiratorially. “Let me go with you. I can watch your back.”
Damien chuckled humorlessly, a reply on his lips. But when he looked at Gawyn, something caught his eye. Hanging about Gawyn’s neck on a thin black string was a golden band. He reached out with his dagger and wrapped the string around the blade. “What’s this?”
Gawyn tried to pull away.
Damien cut the string and caught the necklace in his palm as it slid from his brother’s neck.
Gawyn stood with a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s just a token.”
Damien fingered the gold band etched with a red rose, inspecting it. He knew this ring. Angry heat boiled his blood. He lifted a deadly glare to his brother. “It was you,” he whispered.
Gawyn shook his head as Damien slowly stood before him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I found that ring in Acquitaine.”
Damien’s fingers curled about the band. “Aurora said her captor took her ring. This ring. You son of a bitch,” he ground out. He lashed out with a hard blow to Gawyn’s jaw.
Gawyn flew back onto the leaf-covered ground.
“This is Aurora’s ring,” Damien snarled and grabbed him by the tunic, hauling him to his feet and shoving him back into the trunk of a tree.
“No, no,” Gawyn insisted. “I found it –”
Damien slammed a fist into Gawyn’s stomach. “She could have died in that cave!”
Gawyn doubled over, groaning. “No. I found the ring –”
“That’s why you were wet,” Damien growled, pushing him back into the trunk with enough force to make Gawyn’s head spin. “You weren’t looking for her. You were tying her in that cold cave and leaving a trail for me.”
Gawyn moaned and a tumultuous smile touched his lips. “I was just watching your back.”
Fury swept over Damien. He smashed a tight fist into Gawyn’s jaw and his brother spun to his hands and knees. Damien followed with a kick to his ribs. “Just like you watched my back on the Redemption?”
Gawyn flew over onto his back with a grunt.
Damien pursued him, infuriated. He dared to lay hands on Aurora?! He endangered her life, left her to die! With a wild cry, he lashed out with his foot again, catching Gawyn in the side. Gawyn curled into the blow. When Damien went to punish him again with a savage kick, Gawyn caught his foot and pushed him back.
Gawyn climbed to his feet, spitting out a wad of blood. “That was a long time ago, Damien. I came back for you.”
“A little bit too late,” Damien growled, recovering and approaching his brother again.
Gawyn backed away from Damien, holding his sore side. “I came back as soon as I could.” He ducked behind a tree.
“After Roke bought me. After Roke trained me.” He jerked right, but pulled up as Gawyn kept the tree between them.
“I didn’t hurt her!”
“Didn’t hurt her?” Damien dodged around the tree, reaching for Gawyn. “She was almost dead when I found her!”
Gawyn skirted the trunk, avoiding Damien’s hold. “I didn’t think it would take you so long to find her.”
Damien stopped chasing Gawyn and clenched his teeth. “Why did you take her?”
Gawyn straightened, preparing for Damien’s next lunge.
“What did you want with her?” Damien demanded.
Gawyn sighed. He stepped from behind the tree to face his brother. “I wanted you to realize how much she meant to you.”
The straw mattress. The blankets. It had been a trap. “Why?”
Gawyn bridled. “Because… because, damn it, you want her. And she wants you. The two of you belong together and I wanted you to be happy. For once, I wanted you to have what you wanted.”
Damien jerked toward him, angry. “How would you know what I want?”
Gawyn didn’t flinch away from him. “Because you couldn’t kill her. And because you’re my brother.”
They stood for a long moment, face to face.
Damien’s jaw tightened furiously; his eyes narrowed.
Finally, Gawyn backed down, nodding. He rubbed a hand across his mouth, wiping away a trickle of blood. “I’ve watched your back for a long time now. I killed a man in the castle who knew who you were to help you.”
“I never asked for your help.”
Gawyn shook his head. “Don’t give her up. I’ve seen the way she looks at you. Don’t abandon her. She needs you now.”
“I would never abandon Aurora. I’m not like you. I’m not some young scared brother who leaves his own kin to be whipped so he can escape.”
“No! You’re some stubborn old goat who harbors a debt I can never repay. And who is leaving the woman he loves to die!”
Rage burned in Damien’s veins. His fists clenched tightly at his sides. “I’m doing what I have to do.”
Gawyn nodded, solemnly. “Just like I did.”
Damien shoved closer to Gawyn, wanting to pummel him for daring to compare them. “I’m not like you. I’m doing this to save her. So she has the freedom I never had. The freedom you stole from me.”
Gawyn straightened, his hand falling away from his side. “I made a mistake when I was young and not a day goes by when I don’t regret it. I should have stayed. I should have fought. I never should have left you. But I was young and scared and… stupid! And the brother I left is too arrogant and selfish to ever forgive me. So I don’t ask anymore.”
Damien stared at Gawyn. Damn it. Damn him for making him feel guilty. I won’t feel guilty, Damien raged silently. Gawyn left me. But all this time… has he been trying to atone for it? Bullshit. He is a lying dog. He lied then. He would lie now.
Gawyn backed away from Damien. “Don’t make the same mistake I made because she won’t be around to forgive you.”
Dami
en watched him back away. He cursed silently. Gawyn was his brother. But that didn’t give him the right to abandon him on the Redemption. And it didn’t give him the right to steal Aurora and almost kill her to prove a point. But it did give him the right to make mistakes.
Gawyn hesitated a moment, then turned and moved off into the forest.
It was Damien’s own selfish pride that kept him from calling out to Gawyn, from giving his brother the forgiveness he sought. He glanced down at his clenched fists and slowly uncurled his fingers. The ring was not there. He must have dropped it in the heat of the fight. He glanced about the forest floor. In what little light there was, he saw the ground was littered with thick leaves and brush and churned up dirt from their scuffle. He would never find it. He didn’t have time to waste doing it now. The damned cursed ring that had started it all was finally gone, lost in the woods forever.
Chapter Thirty Seven
There was no way to sneak into Castle Roke. Roke made sure of that. He never trusted anyone enough to build a postern. People might find it and escape. Castle Roke was more a prison than a fortress.
There was only one way into Castle Roke. Straight through the front gate. Damien urged Imp onto the drawbridge. The rounded turrets of Castle Roke glowed red in the setting sun, making them appear bloody and ominous. Cages of death hung from the castle walls. A man, weak from lack of food and water, called out to Damien from inside the cage, stretching his thin hand toward him. Damien did not look at him. He only gave him a silent promise: It will not be long, friend. On the other side of the drawbridge, a cage imprisoned a decaying corpse, a final reminder to the living of the consequences of failure.
Damien urged Imp beneath the raised portcullis with a gentle kick of his heels. The guards on the parapet above recognized him. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if the cry of alarm would sound and a dozen men would swarm out to surround him, but they gave him access to the castle just as they had always done upon his return from a mission. They knew his face, but they did not know the dark thoughts that lay beneath. This single mission was all he thought about. He was focused. Calm. The way he had been taught to kill.
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