by Donna Grant
Dressing was extremely difficult. She threw the gown aside and reached for another, one that she might manage on her own. It was while she was buttoning the gown that Theresa walked into her chamber without knocking.
It was the norm, but today it irritated Mina more than usual. She bit her tongue and refused to look at her sister as she continued fastening the gown.
Theresa’s tongue could flay a person alive. Mina had a sneaking suspicion she had come to rile her this morning before they went down to the great hall. But Mina wasn’t a fool. She could control her temper when need be.
Her sister laughed as she walked around Mina. “Are we dressing to impress our guests, because there is nothing that you could put on that would make you look any better. You are ugly, Mina. You’ve only to look in the mirror for confirmation.”
Mina didn’t even bother to raise her eyes to her sister. Theresa’s words used to cut deep, but they had become so constant that Mina rarely paid attention to them anymore. She used to gaze upon Theresa’s light blonde hair, blue eyes, and angelic features with admiration, but, despite Theresa’s beauty, her attitude made her hideous in Mina’s eyes.
“I know what I am,” Mina said evenly. “I am simply getting dressed.”
“Ah, but you are wearing one of your nicer gowns.”
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Mina’s gaze rose to her sister’s this time. In an instant, she knew today would be worse than what Bernard had done last eve. By the time the sun set on this day, Mina knew Theresa would embarrass her royally if she wasn’t careful.
After a moment, she said, “I don’t want to humiliate you or Bernard by wearing my man’s attire.”
“Your presence embarrasses us,” Theresa spat, her red lips pursed tightly. “Do us all a favor and stay in your chamber.”
Mina didn’t let out her breath until the door had closed behind Theresa. The urge to slap her still raced through Mina. It was going to take some doing to calm down, and she knew Theresa had planned it all very carefully. Mina had hoped to reach the hall before her sister met their guests, but she had been too slow. Now there was no reason to go down unless she could control herself around Theresa.
Mina sank slowly to the bed, her thoughts of adventure flying out the window like her hopes of a happy life. A tapping at her door brought her to her feet. No one begged entrance into her chamber, so it was more curiosity than anything that made her open the door.
To her surprise, Hugh stood before her. Last eve she had been at first in pain and then too angry and embarrassed to notice anything but the dirt on her shoes. But now she was able to see him in the light of day.
He stood tall and proud before her, in a tunic of blood-red. It was not decorated, but the material looked costly. His dark brown hair fell in soft waves to his shoulder. He had a square chin and wide, thin lips. His forehead was high and his nose straight. Dark brows arched ever so slightly above golden brown orbs that stared at her.
“Good morn,” he said softly. “How fares your arm?”
“There isn’t much pain.”
“Gabriel does have the touch when it comes to healing. Did you sleep well?”
She blinked and leaned forward to look down the hall. “I slept fine. And you?”
“Are you looking for someone?” he asked as he glanced down the hall.
“How did you find my chamber?”
He shrugged his massive shoulder. “I asked. Is something amiss?”
She shook her head. “I was just on my way down to the hall.”
“Then
allow
me.”
An arm clad in the deepest red extended toward her. She accepted his arm and noted the pliability of his tunic beneath her fingers. It wasn’t the fine silk a lord might wear, yet it wasn’t the coarse wool of a lowly knight. She had never touched anything so soft.
“There is more to you than you show,” she said as they descended the stairs.
He tensed slightly at her words. “Have you the sight?” he asked softly.
“Nay. I can simply tell that what you show the world and what is inside you is completely different.”
“That can be said of many people. Including yourself.”
His words halted her steps as she gazed up at him. “Aye, that is the truth. There is great evil here. I would see you and your men leave this village today.”
“We
cannot.”
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“There is nothing holding you,” she said urgently. “Leave before ‘tis too late.”
He gave her a small smile. “Thank you for your warning, my lady, but we knew what was here when we came. I wasn’t lying to your brother when I said we’ve been sent to kill the creature.”
“By
whom?”
“It
doesn’t
matter.”
She stared into his dark brown eyes and saw the truth of it. “Too many good men and women have died fighting the creature. Most were just about their daily lives when it came upon them.”
He smiled gently. “Then we shall have to be sure to kill it quickly.”
“I want no more deaths on my conscience.”
“This isn’t the first creature we have encountered, and I doubt it will be the last.
We will eradicate it.”
They resumed walking, and when they reached the hall there was a smile on her lips, thoughts of Theresa and their encounter long forgotten. Until she spotted her sister amidst Hugh’s men. Theresa laughed and smiled at the men as they gazed upon her beauty.
Before Mina could turn away, Theresa’s eyes lit upon her. “Good morn, sister.
You must introduce me to our guest.”
Mina swallowed and glared at her sister for a moment before she plastered a smile on her face and said, “Hugh, this is Theresa of Cloister. Theresa, this is Hugh.”
She bit her tongue as Theresa rose gracefully and extended her slender hand to Hugh who brought it to his lips and placed a kiss upon it.
“I understand that we owe you and your men our gratitude for saving our Mina,”
Theresa said coyly. “She’s always getting into some mischief. She never did know when something is better left for a man to do.”
Mina couldn’t look at Hugh or any of his men in the eye. She should have known that Theresa would throw her barbs even with guests around. It was becoming harder and harder to keep her temper in check.
“’Twas no trouble at all. Actually, Lady Mina was doing well on her own,” Hugh replied and turned toward Mina. He held out her chair, waiting for her to sit.
Mina wanted to refuse because it would place her directly across from Theresa, but to decline would show rudeness and she owed these men much more than that.
“Thank you,” she said and took her seat.
“Cloister?” Hugh said to Theresa as he sat. “Are you married, my lady?”
“I was,” Theresa said and dabbed at her eye. “He was taken by that foul monster Mina let loose.”
Mina wanted to roll her eyes. Instead, her gaze took in Hugh’s men. Of the five, she only knew two by name. Gabriel with his unusual silver eyes had a gift of healing.
And she recognized Val because of the wicked looking scar that cut across his face, but instead of detracting from his looks it only added to them.
As she watched the men, she couldn’t help but notice that each of them was attractive, especially Hugh. The group was a mystery that begged to be deciphered, though she had little doubt anyone, least of all her, would learn more than The Shields A DARK GUARDIAN
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were willing to share.
A man, sitting to Theresa’s right, laughed at something she said. He was the only one who kept a smile on his face and the only one where the smile actually reached his eyes.
She leaned over to Hugh. “The man talking to my
sister. What is his name again?”
Hugh glanced toward Theresa then leaned over and said, “That is Darrick. He is the trickster of us. He keeps everyone’s spirits up.”
So, Gabriel was the healer, Darrick the trickster, Hugh the leader and Val the scarred. Now if she could only recall which one was Roderick and which was Cole.
“Cole has the hair as black as a raven’s wing, and Roderick is the only blonde among us,” Hugh whispered near her ear.
She smothered her laughter, but not before she noticed Theresa narrow her eyes at her. She ignored her sister and turned toward Hugh. “How did you know what I was doing?”
He shrugged. “You were introduced to us in the dead of night while wounded and had quite an ordeal to encounter once we returned here. ‘Tis only natural you wouldn’t have remembered all our names.”
“I suppose so,” she admitted with a smile.
“I would like for you to show me the Druid ruins.”
All talk in the hall halted at Hugh’s words. Mina’s heart burst with excitement at having a man such as he ask her to accompany him. Maybe she would get that adventure after all.
“I would be happy to show you,” Theresa said and gave him a seductive smile.
“Mina has chores to do, but I am free.”
Mina curled her hands into fists beneath the table. It took every ounce of willpower to stay seated and not attack her sister. She shouldn’t have been surprised though. It wasn’t the first time Theresa had done this to a man that talked to her.
“That is very gracious of you,” Hugh said, and Mina’s heart sank like a stone to her feet. Once again beauty had won out.
“However,” Hugh continued, “it looks like rain, and I know you have no wish to dirty your fine gowns as I explore the ruins.”
Mina glanced at Theresa, and for an instant, thought Theresa would shriek with fury as her face mottled with rage. She wasn’t used to men turning her down.
Theresa stood and stared at Hugh. She turned to his men and smiled sweetly.
“Excuse me, gentlemen, I must see to the duties of the castle,” she ended and threw a hate filled look at Mina.
Once Theresa had departed the hall, Mina let out the breath she had held. She reached for her goblet of water and found all six men watching her keenly. “Do I have something on me?” she asked as embarrassment engulfed her. She had never had so many men stare at her before.
“Nay,” Val the scarred said.
Their stares began to unnerve her. She turned toward Hugh. “What is it?”
“We are trying to understand how a brother and sister could detest a sibling so.”
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She sighed and shrugged. “’Tis always been so. What can you expect from two people who are so beautiful to have someone like me in their family?”
“Do you jest, my lady?” Darrick the trickster asked, his usual smile gone.
She shook her head and placed a piece of warm bread in her mouth. “There is no need to be kind. I know I wasn’t blessed with Theresa and Bernard’s good looks. Even my betrothed couldn’t stand the look of me and took Theresa instead.” She scrunched her mouth. “I can’t believe that slipped out.”
“Are you telling us that Theresa took your betrothed?” Hugh asked, disbelief etched on his handsome face.
Mina nodded. “But don’t blame Lord Charles. He had no wish to be bound to one so ugly.”
She jumped as Roderick banged his fist on the table and stood. “I’ll see to the horses,” he said before he walked from the castle.
Mina was ashamed of herself. “I didn’t mean to speak ill of Lord Charles.”
“You didn’t,” Hugh said. “Roderick was raised different than most people. He detests seeing someone treated unfairly.”
The meal quickly grew unbearable with the men staring at her with a mixture pity and sorrow. Not to mention, she wanted to leave before Bernard or Theresa came back.
“If you are ready, we can ride to the ruins now.”
To her surprise, Hugh held out her chair for her. She wasn’t used to having men dote on her as they did with Theresa, and it brought a small smile to her lips.
“Thank you,” she said and couldn’t believe she sounded so breathless, as if she had run to the gatehouse and back. “I’ll just go and change.”
He smiled at her. “There is no threat of rain.”
She stopped and gaped at him. “I’ve never known a man who would intentionally lie to Theresa. Every man I have ever known has fallen over themselves to gain her attention.”
“As I told you last night, my lady, I am not like most men.”
“So I’ve noticed,” she murmured and walked from the hall. When she stepped through the door, she found Roderick standing with John holding the horses. John was grinning like a lad who had been given a king’s ransom.
When she reached the horse John had selected for her, a gray mare that Theresa usually rode, she found Hugh beside her. Before she could open her mouth, he lifted her onto the horse.
His large hands had touched her gently and left a strange tingling running through her. He made her almost feel like a woman, something she had never felt.
Could this be what it was like to be Theresa? To have men doting on her? She knew they were just being kind, but their kindness meant more to her than they would ever realize.
“Aren’t you afraid of meeting the creature during the day?” she asked them.
They exchanged looks before Hugh said, “It only comes out at night.”
She narrowed her eyes at them, suddenly suspicious. “How did you know that?”
“Like I told you, we hunt them.”
And
he
was a hunter. Just to look at Hugh’s chiseled face and rugged features A DARK GUARDIAN
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was to know that this man would conquer anything he set his mind to. He was a warrior, a leader.
With a nudge, her mare turned and cantered through the opened gate. She was a little taken aback to find the men surround her as they rode. She was used to being alone.
Always.
The ride to the ruins was pleasant. Had the circumstances been different, Mina could almost believe she was a beautiful lady being escorted by her faithful knights.
Almost. She wasn’t foolish enough to actually believe in dreams anymore. She was who she was. Nothing would change that.
The ruins came into view as they crested a hill, and she slowed the mare to a walk. Hugh stayed on her right and Darrick on her left. When she would have continued on, Hugh grabbed her reins.
“Hold a moment,” he said and then motioned with his hand.
She watched as Gabriel rode to the ruins and looked around. It was just a few moments later that they heard him whistle.
“Lead on, my lady,” Hugh said and released her reins.
She cleared her throat and nudged the mare, but the closer they came to the ruins the harder the mare fought to turn around.
“I don’t know what is wrong with her,” she said in exasperation. Sasha had never acted like this when they had come.
It wasn’t until she allowed the mare to turn away from the ruins that she quieted, but she still trembled. Mina dismounted and rubbed the mare’s neck.
“Leave the mare,” Hugh said.
“Sasha never acted like this.”
“That is because Sasha was used to this place. I doubt this mare has ever been here before.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Then why aren’t your mounts acting up?”
“They are used to the smell of evil,” Cole said as he dismounted and dropped his horse’s reins.
She watched Cole walk toward the ruins and found it difficult to swallow.
“Evil?” she asked and turned toward Hugh. “There is evil here?”
“Can’t you tell?”
She looked over the ruins. “I’ve come here many time
s over the years. Only once was I frightened, and that was the day the creature came.”
“Show me,” he urged her.
She left the mare with their horses and walked toward the ruins. There wasn’t much left of them. Just a few rocks standing as tall as the trees while others had been knocked over and laid on top of each other.
“A child’s imagination made these ruins into a castle of her own,” Mina said as she reached the first stone.
Hugh watched as she touched the standing stone gently. There was reverence in her touch, but that wasn’t what surprised him. It was the fact that the evil didn’t penetrate her.
