by Amber Dane
****
Danielle entered the study. The place looked like it had before Thomas had filled it with all his garbage. When he had come here, he had tried to take over her home room by room. He would never have Gravane.
Danielle moved across the room and pulled back the window coverings and opened the wooden shutters. Morning light flooded the room and stone floor. Fresh marsh plant covered one side, scented with rosemary, the aroma filled the room. Her soft slippers crossed over the tapestry she had laid down under the large table and wooden bench. Aric had yet to see the room again.
Something niggled at the back of her neck and turning, Danielle inhaled sharply. Thomas’s thin frame filled the archway, a sneer on his wet lips and those beady eyes full of anger.
She swallowed her scream and backed up a step as he flew at her, his face coloring with his rage. Danielle let out a breath and would have turned but she had backed herself into the corner near the table and he already had his bony fingers wrapped around her throat. Spittle hit her face as he spat over her.
“Did you not think I would find out that you cast away my things, dear cousin? There were things of great import in here, Danielle. Things that your feeble little brain could not comprehend.”
She reached up to pry his fingers away, but that only caused him to press them deeper into her flesh. She coughed and said on a strangled breath. “The room was needed, Thomas.”
“Where did you send my things, Danielle?”
Danielle gagged from his foul breath and his grip on her throat. She pushed at him with one hand while she used her other to try to dislodge his grip. Anger flared in her. “To your home, Thomas. Why, where else would I send them?”
He shook her and slammed her back hard into the wall. Pain shot through her head and neck from his roughness. Her struggles for air finally caused him to loosen his hold somewhat but he did not release her.
His face was red, mottled with his temper as he continued to shout in her face. “Think you I am a fool? They are not there! Now I will ask you but once more and you cannot hide behind your husband this time. He is too busy off sniffing after that whore of his. Aye, he tired sooner of you than even I imagined.” He laughed at the pained look in her eyes she could not hide over his hurtful words that struck too close to home. “Now, where are my things, Danielle?”
His rage was so great and Danielle knew what was coming next.
She watched him draw back his arm with his open palm hovering over her face.
Thomas’s words had cut too close to the truth about Aric and his mistress. Danielle’s feelings gave her the strength she needed to jerk out of his grasp, but not unscathed. His nails raked across her throat.
She shouted back. “That’s where they were sent and should have been kept in the first place. If they are not there, then I suggest you check with the rest of your thieves, cousin!”
He moved so quickly, she barely had time to duck as his hand connected with her cheek. The sound of the crack filled the room and he scrambled after her as she jumped away from him.
Danielle never took her gaze from him as she shoved at the heavy oak desk to free herself. It didn’t budge. Only the wall stood at her back. She would have to crawl over the desk. With her cheek and throat still stinging, she managed to get halfway across it before he yanked her back by her braid.
Danielle let out a yelp as he wrestled with her before throwing her to the stone floor.
He was so enraged; his body shook as though he suffered an apoplexy. His hand was still fisted in her hair and he used it to his advantage and pulled her neck even further back with a painful twist. Danielle cried out. He had his arm raised to strike her yet again.
Thomas was near crazy as he stood over his cousin.
He was losing everything. The bitch’s husband was onto him and it would only be a matter of time before the bastard Norman came hunting for him. After tonight he’d be far gone from this place that had consumed any sanity he had left and never would regain with that Norman as his overlord. But, yea, he would get one thing done before he’d see the inside of this place no more. He’d leave his mark on this fat cow!
Rearing back, he balled his hand into a fist, the large ring on his middle finger turned facing her. He’d wipe that smug look off her face. She would fear him yet again.
He’d see to it.
“Move an inch and I will think naught of severing your head from your body, Balfour.”
Death had come and Thomas’s pale face told Danielle he’d heard it quite well.
Aric’s voice sounded like she’d never heard it sound before. Thomas’s hand dropped from her hair but he was unable to straighten for the tip of Aric’s long sword, pressed into his throat, inches from his jugular. A trickle of blood slid down her cousin’s pale throat.
Danielle spotted Balwain over her husband’s broad shoulder. She rose with the aid of Aric’s free hand. His handsome face was like stone, his dark eyes trained on Thomas as he helped her rise.
He did not look at her but asked. “Are you alright, Danielle?”
“Aye…Yea, I am.”
“Leave us. Now.”
Danielle hesitated at his words when she saw the black rage that held his large body so rigid. Yea, she hated Thomas and had wished him dead several times over the years for his torment and cruelty towards her and her people. But she did not want his death at Aric’s hand or because of her. She just wanted him gone from Gravane.
She looked at Thomas and was shocked to see his eyes were wet. So, the weakling did know how to cry. She knew Aric would not like it, but she could not allow him to kill her tormenter, no matter how despicable his crimes.
“Milord, I said I was well. You can lower your sword now.”
Aric didn’t respond. Danielle knew that he heard for more blood soaked Thomas’s vivid tunic.
She swallowed and sweat broke on her already damp brow. “M-Milord?”
“Leave, milady.”
Danielle winced at the sound of his deadly tone. Still she asked, “Will you promise not to kill Thomas if I do?”
Balwain moved closer to them to warn her, but her gaze remained fixed on Aric.
He was not happy and she did not miss the tick jump in his cheek. He would throw a fit later, probably yell, she thought, especially when he saw her face. Pulling her hair around to cover the side of her face, Danielle hoped he would not look at her now, for if he did, Thomas’s head would be at her feet. She waited a breath and after what seemed like an eternity, he answered.
“I promise not to kill your cousin today, milady.” Aric spoke in a controlled manner and continued over Thomas’s gasp of terror. “Now, leave.” Danielle skirted around him but turned back at the door. “Banishment is all I seek. So just that then?”
Aric’s bellow of rage had her fleeing the room headed for the stairs. Just then, a loud commotion broke loose from within the room and the sound of something akin to a pig squealing reached her ears as she ascended the stairs quickly.
Chapter 17
Danielle muttered a curse, wincing from the pain as she lowered the cloth yet again from her stinging cheek. She pressed her fingers lightly to the tender spot. “Oh! Is it truly ugly, Edie?”
Danielle moved over to the basin on the chest, dipping the cloth yet again in the cool water. Her maid walked across the chamber and stood back looking her over, her eyes inspecting the swollen and purple bruise.
“Nay, milady. Just looks painful. Your cousin will be heard begging for mercy all the way to London when milord sees this. And rightly so.” Edie’s words were angry.
Danielle groaned. She wished she could wear something to cover it.
“Leave us.”
She had her back to the chamber door and Aric’s words chilled her. Oh, how was she going to hide the mark now?
Edie left them quickly and Aric closed the chamber door. He started yelling and screaming as he walked across to the window.
Danielle kept her head down, her eyes downcas
t and trained on his feet. She watched them as he walked over and stopped in front of her. Although his tirade had softened a bit, she still heard some of the mumbled curses he said under his breath as he vented over her behavior. She braced herself when silence finally filled the chamber.
He smelled of sweat and she could feel the anger radiating from his towering form.
His fingers touched her chin. She resisted, but he tightened his hold. Danielle stopped breathing as he tilted her face up to his. The loud oath she was sure could be heard by all down in the courtyard below, erupted from his mouth.
Then after a moment, he demanded quietly. “Open your eyes, Danielle.”
She hadn’t realized that she had squeezed them shut. She opened one eye slowly, that move caused Aric to calm slightly.
When both her eyes met his, he let the back of his fingers brush softly across the skin around the bruise on her cheek before sliding them down her throat to touch the raw scratches from Thomas’s fingers there.
“Danielle, I’m so sorry for this. I am sorry I was not there sooner. I would not see any harm come to you.”
To her surprise, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly for a few moments. Then he set her away with his large hands on her shoulders. “I would see your cousin dead for this and his heinous crimes against you. Never again question or ask a boon of me when I am dispensing justice and in such a mood. ‘Tis dangerous.”
Danielle knew she had erred, but in that moment she’d known that she would not have been able to live with herself had he run her cousin through. Tears sprang to her eyes. The week had been quite stressful and today made it all that much worse. Her tears choked her and she managed a nod.
Aric knew her reasoning without her speaking it, but he did not agree. It took everything in him not to leave her side now and go cut that bastard’s head off. Especially now after seeing her face and the painful marks Thomas had left behind.
Swearing an oath again, this time because of the tears in her eyes, he pulled her back into his arms and pressed a light kiss upon the bruise. This caused tears to soak his tunic. He held her as she cried. His hands smoothed over her back. After a moment she quieted and lifted her head to look at him.
“Thomas?’
He released her, his anger rising anew.
He went to the basin, wet the cloth again and came back to wash the stains free of her throat. When she winced, he cursed. Her cousin was very lucky.
“His bruises are far worse, but he still lives. Thomas and his sister will bother you no more. they have returned rather hastily to their holdings as we speak.” A half smile came to his lips. His chance would come again to meet with her cousin very soon.
Danielle slid her hands around his neck. He had sent them packing. She kissed his lips and was surprised when he kissed her back, gently. When he did not deepen the kiss, she felt a moment of disappointment. The ache within her chest grew as he pulled away and returned the cloth to the table.
He went to the chamber door. “Rest now. I will send Edie back in.”
Danielle almost cried again at his abruptness. He was gentle one moment and now he was cold yet again. Would she ever understand that man?
Chapter 18
Danielle did not see Aric again for the rest of the day and she stayed in the chamber sulking over it. She also did not want anyone to see Thomas’s marks upon her skin. Her eyes were still swollen from the tears she had shed after Aric had left their chamber. His weak response to her affection stung and made her think he no longer needed nor desired her now with Lady Ella here.
Now night had fallen and she went out into the gardens for a breath of the night air. No one would be about to see her. She was halfway down the path when a rustling sounded in the bushes to her left. A groan followed.
Moving closer, Danielle listened. She pulled back after a moment as she recognized what she was hearing. A man and a woman. Blushing, she backed away and moved on.
The moaners came out after she passed and looking back over her shoulder, Danielle saw that it was one of the cross bowmen and a maid. The couple didn’t see her as they giggled back up the path toward the manor. Yearning stirred in Danielle as she turned away.
Further down as she walked, she heard more of the same. She didn’t pay any attention believing it to be another soldier and some maid until the man groaned. She froze.
Nay!
Danielle’s heart sunk. She moved near the tall hedges that led to a clearing patch on the other side. She stepped through and stopped in her tracks.
There stood Aric fully clothed, yet not so the woman that had her lips pressed to his throat. The top of her gown was down around her waist and she was moving against Aric in a seductive fashion. Danielle’s stomach jumped and she felt sick.
Hurt and anger slammed into her. Her suspicions were confirmed. She now had her explanation for why he was not exercising his husbandly rights. He no longer had need.
“Oh, Aric. Please stop teasing me so.”
Danielle cringed at the sound of her husband’s name coming out of Lady Ella’s mouth as she purred up against him. Aric’s hands were holding the upper arms of his mistress in what looked like a caressing manner to Danielle.
She must have made a sound for they both looked in her direction. Lady Ella’s breasts jiggled with the movement. She was smaller all over more so than she was and Danielle trembled with jealousy and betrayal.
Her eyes burned with tears and her chest ached as she glared at the two of them. She wanted to scratch out Lady Ella’s smiling triumphant eyes of victory. And Aric, she could kill him. His fierce gaze met and held hers and Danielle cursed for she knew he saw her tears of humiliation. He was looking at her as if she were intruding. She could stand no more. She turned and bolted before she lost her stomach in front of them.
“Danielle!”
Aric’s call to her sounded so far away as she ran, blinded by her tears and stumbling in her haste to leave the sight of them behind. All the while she swore she heard him call out her name over and over again. But that could not be for he’d be shouting milady, not her name outside their chamber. Her emotions were in an uproar and her thoughts jumbled. Her blood was pounding so hard in her ears that she was dulled to anything other than the sound of her rapidly beating and broken heart.
Danielle felt someone coming behind her and she went in the opposite direction of the hall. She slid into one of the many secret passages her ancestors had built long ago and in which she had played many times as a child. The ancient torches lined the stone walls unlit.
She didn’t need the light for passage.
She knew the passages, four in all, like the back of her hand. She didn’t want light for it would only make everything real and she could not handle that right now.
She soon found a hidden corner and sat down breathless on the stone bench. Energy drained from her body and hot tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. Her heart was broken.
As she sat there sobbing and choking, the memory of Edie’s words came back to her.
Edie had said she’d recognize lust when she saw it and surely she just had. Only problem was it was not lust in Aric’s eyes which he held for her. Nay. It had been stark and painfully readable on his face for his mistress. Edie had told her many things, but failed to tell her about the unbearable ache in her chest that she was feeling now.
Danielle did not need anyone to tell her how to recognize this one for she already knew. She’d done the unthinkable. She’d fallen in love with her husband.
Aric was like a berserker in full rage still hours later when no one claimed to know where Danielle was. He tore into servants, Gravane’s men, and his men like a raging ox until Balwain brought a sleepy eyed Edie before him.
“If you lie for her your last night will be tonight, no matter how much you mean to her.” Aric’s words were clipped.
Balwain stiffened and stood at the shaky maid’s side, but said nothing.
Edie came fully awake taking i
n her lord’s dark face of rage. “Milord. I- I have not seen milady since she sent me away earlier. She said she needed me not this eve. I swear to you.”
The worry in her tone cut some into his anger. “Where would she go?”
“Go? I don’t know what has happened milord. Why would she go? For what reason?” Her suspicious gaze went from him to Bawain then back to him again.
“You forget yourself. Matters not the reason my wife is not present. What matters is where she is, Edie.” The finality for any more than that was in his tone. Surely, this maid as close as she was to his wife, knew something. Aric wanted to shout at someone.
Edie hesitated. Something was afoot. She wanted no harm to come to her mistress and without knowing why her lady had her husband looking for her and with such a fierce look as the one he wore. Why, she had to be sure. Even if it might cause her to be let her go from Gravane or worse. Her lady’s safety was everything. Lifting her chin, Edie swallowed a lump of fear and met her lord’s dark gaze.
“You have every right not to tell me the reason she’s gone. You can send me away or punish me, milord for 'tis your right for my boldness. However I will not tell you where she is unless you promise me that no harm will come to her if you find her.” Edie held her breath.
Balwain saw murder enter his lord’s eyes but knew he would not strike a woman. But Aric did step a hair’s breadth to the maid and Balwain could feel her body trembling and heard the hard swallow she took. No matter what tendre he felt for Edie, she was still a servant and had stepped out of her place speaking to her lord in such a way. Still, he stood by her side.
Aric’s response took long in coming as he breathed fire down on the little woman. “You dare much to make such demands of your lord, woman. Know this, if you dare ever do such again, your time here will cease regardless of your closeness to my wife and my man’s liking for you. Understood?”
Her nod came quickly and Aric continued after a moment. He had to admit he was glad Danielle had such a forthright protector. She would suit Balwain well.
