Choose the Sky: A Medieval Romance (Swordcross Knights Book 2) (29 page)

“Mina,” Luc said. “It’s important. If he’s stolen some of your wealth, or in some way cheated you…”

She shook her head, feeling a sickness in the pit of her stomach. “I’ll show you. You’ll hate me, but I’ll show you.”

Domina led Luc down to the base of the castle keep, down a series of spiraling, narrow staircases, designed to make it impossible for an attacking force to swarm the space in numbers. The air was cold, and the torches Domina lit along the way did little to dispel either the darkness or the chill.

Luc followed her silently. Mina sensed his presence behind her, and wondered exactly how he’d react once he saw the truth. The last time he’d discovered a secret—when he saw her father’s sickbed—his next move had been devastating.

Yet now I’m glad he chose to marry me
, she reminded herself. How fitting, she reflected. Just as soon as she wanted to keep Luc, she would lose him for good.

They reached the lowest level where the treasury room was located. Mina looked at it with a stranger’s eyes. It was a small room in the very center of the castle base, surrounded by thick stone walls. The door was massive, constructed of heavy oak, covered with metal bosses that were as much defensive as decorative. A heavy iron lock completed the picture. This was a door nobody opened without the key.

She reached for the key, one she always kept on the ring hanging from the belt at her waist.

Luc took the torch from her and held it up, illuminating the lock. After a silent prayer for mercy, Domina turned the key and pushed the heavy door inward, stepping into the dark.

Torchlight flickered around her as Luc followed. The flare showed the reality of the small room: mostly empty, with only a few small wooden chests, and some carefully wrapped objects Mina hoped she’d not have to sell.

Mina stood in the little room, which was perhaps eight paces wide and deep. She stared at the near-empty shelves with despair. Though he’d claimed he married her in order to protect her, and Trumwell, she was certain that Luc also married her under the impression that the de Warewic family had moveable wealth—an asset that made her worth marrying even when she was politically powerless. What would he say now?

Luc slipped the torch into an iron ring on the wall. He scanned the room, then Domina, taking his time.

She bit her lip, waiting in agony. Whether due to the shadows cast by the guttering torch, or the strangeness of the situation, she couldn’t guess at Luc’s thoughts, though he must be furious.

When he spoke, though, his voice was calm. “Would you like to tell me what happened?”

She flinched at the words, for she’d been expecting to hear something loud and cruel. This reasonable request was somehow worse.

Then Luc stepped closer to her and took her hand. Domina clutched his fingers, desperate for the warmth in them.

“What happened…” she began to explain, picking her words as carefully as she could, “is that shortly after my father’s accident, I came down here to get money to pay the doctors who’d come to examine him.”

“And?”

“This room used to be full. There were chests brought all the way from the Holy Land, chests I had seen open, filled with coins my family had minted especially.”

“The coins marked with the swans,” Luc said intently.

“Yes. There was a smaller chest too, with gold. More gold even than we spoke of, for it’s not always wise to let people know how much money you have.”

“Go on.”

“When I came down here that day, the chests were gone. Not hidden, not moved. Gone. My father would have told me if he had moved them—yet he had said nothing before. After he fell, I couldn’t ask. He was unconscious, and then barely coherent. So I just…pretended. There was a little left, enough to pay expenses for a while. I worked with Ancel to reduce our spending, though I couldn’t tell him of the money’s disappearance, not when I was already asking him to keep the secret of my father’s bad health.”

“Mina, you’re too apt to keep secrets,” Luc said, reaching up to stroke her cheek.

“What could I say? I couldn’t tell you that I was destitute when you were already threatening to expose my other secret to the king.”

“In fact, you didn’t have to tell me,” Luc said.

“What do you mean?” she asked, startled. “You knew all this time?”

“Let’s say I suspected,” he clarified. “The steward praised your frugality, and I don’t doubt the castle benefited from your administration. But there’s frugality, and then there’s wearing the same gown day after day while you’re hosting somewhat important guests. There’s appearing before the king himself wearing not a single jewel besides a plain silver cross.”

“Did I offend the king?” she asked.

“Oh, no. You looked modest and pious—no one would have thought you poor. It wasn’t any one thing you did. It was all of them together. When I learned the truth about your father, it became the obvious conclusion.”

“What, that I managed to lose my family legacy?” she asked, sneering at herself.

“You said you discovered the treasury empty.”

“You only have my word on that.”

“I take you at your word.”

“You do?” Mina was, frankly, astonished. She’d just revealed she was not the heiress she was thought to be. Where was his outrage at being cheated?

“Mina.” He put a finger on her neck, just below her ear. He traced a line only he could see all the way to her shoulder, where the edge of the dress began.

“What is it?” she asked, rather nervously. “Is there something amiss with my gown?”

“No,” he said, his gaze lingering on the neckline. “In fact, I believe this cut is the only one you should wear.” He touched her neck again, just at her collarbone. “This place,” he said, musingly, “is where I want to kiss you first and last. And your shoulders. I’ve never seen more beautiful shoulders. You’re so well-made, Mina.”

“If I please you, that is enough,” she whispered.

“I can’t decide whether I want to drape you in necklaces to draw attention to your particular beauty, or if you should go unadorned so nothing mars what nature has given. What is your thought?”

“How can you ask me that, knowing I have sold all my jewelry?”

“If it’s jewels you want, I’ll cover you in them.”

“That’s not what I want.”

“Then what?” he asked, his eyes on her.

“You,” she whispered, “but this is not the time.”

“We could make time.”

“Nor is this the place.”

“I’ll take you anywhere you like,” he said. “But in fact, this is as fine and private a place as you could ask for.”

He kissed her collarbone, in a trail like a strand of precious stones. His single-mindedness was exciting, but also unnerving. “We must not, not here,” she protested.

In response, Luc pulled her closer to him, and then pressed her hard against the wall. Mina gasped, and he lost no time in covering her with demanding, desperate kisses.

His hands cupped her breasts, pushing them up, dangerously close to the neckline of the gown.

“Luc, please…” she began to say in warning, but then his mouth found one hard bud just exposed, and she inhaled raggedly.

“Just like that, Mina,” he growled. “Breathe.”

She shuddered with desire, even as she realized that every breath pushed her breasts directly at him, as if she were begging for it, demanding his attention.

Maybe she was. Heat poured into her veins, and her body grew heavy. She felt a sudden wash of moisture between her legs. “Oh,” she moaned.

“Tell me to go on,” he hissed between kisses.

“Go on,” she whispered.

“Why? Do you like it?”

“Yes. I need you.”

He laughed once, a low sound that shook her to the core. Then he ran his hands over her breasts and up to her shoulders and back again, looking like he intended to eat her. “Your body, Mina. You’ll drive me insane. I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you.”

She took another breath, inadvertently giving him more of what he wanted. Then his mouth was on her breast again, giving her exactly what
she
wanted. She made a sound she never had before, one of pure lust.

He stopped, pulling away from her.

Mina gasped once in bitter disappointment. “No.”

“Tell me what you want,” he hissed.

“You,” she gasped. “Now.”

“Here?” he asked.

Anywhere. Just so she could feel that tantalizing shimmer when his tongue touched her skin.

Luc’s eyes were dark with desire as he knelt in front of her, his head on a level with her waist.

“Lift your skirts for me,” he said. “Hold them up, or I swear I’ll rip this dress off if I have to.”

“You won’t have to,” she whispered, gathering the thick fabric in her hands.

“No?” He smiled, a crooked grin that left her breathless.

The hem of the dress crept higher, higher. “What will you do?” she asked, pausing when fabric barely covered her hips.

“Taste you,” he promised.

He ran his hands up her legs, right to where they met. Mina leaned back against the wall when he slipped a finger into her center, parting the folds of her flesh. His breathing changed, became heavier. He leaned forward and flicked his tongue along the most sensitive part of her body.

Dear God. Mina’s knees almost buckled. Luc’s hands helped steady her, but his tongue…sinfully, indescribably wonderful. Mina gave a strangled sob, releasing her grip on the dress with one hand to tangle her fingers in Luc’s hair.

He made a sound then too, and his voice reverberated against her in a way that made Mina shake.

He stopped only long enough to say, “Guide me,” and then his mouth was on her again, his tongue against her flesh, but still.

He was waiting for instruction. Mina sighed in delight, then said, “Lick me like before. Except a little…faster. Oh.”

Luc obeyed, and she gloried in it. She put her hand on the back of his head, encouraging him onward.

“Don’t stop,” she begged.

He didn’t stop. He responded to every whispered command she gave, though soon her commands sounded more like pleas, until she cried out in release, the sound trapped by the solid walls of the treasury.

Mina sagged, only to be caught in Luc’s arms as he rose to his feet. She leaned into him, burying her face in his chest.

“Mina,” he asked, his voice more urgent.

She raised her head to look at him. “Tell me what you need.”

“My belt,” he ordered hoarsely. “Take it off.”

She unbuckled the leather as quickly as she could, flinging the belt into a corner. Without being asked, she pushed his leggings down from his waist. She stroked him, marveling in the hardness of him.

Luc groaned, muffling the sound by sinking his teeth into her neck, a half-bite that nearly undid her. “I need you, Mina,” he hissed. “Here, against the wall.”

He slid his hands to cup her bottom, and lifted her up, pushing her back against the stone. He pushed up against her, sheathing himself inside, filling her completely.

She moaned as he pressed into her exquisitely sensitive flesh.

“Put your legs around me,” he ordered.

Mina did, clinging to him desperately, wanting him as close as humanly possible.

He held her steady even as he thrust against her. It wasn’t violent, but it was more base and carnal than ever before. She loved it.

“It’s. Not. Your. Money. Mina,” he managed to get out. “This is what I need. You’re all I want, love. I love you. I need you. You’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” she gasped in agreement. “I’m yours, Luc.”

His grip tightened to near pain as he spent himself within her. “You’re mine,” he repeated. “I want no one else. No other woman. Not ever.”

She put her arms around him. “Luc,” she whispered.

“It’s true, my Mina.”

“I love you,” she confessed. “Not just what you do to me. I love you.”

He sighed, pressing against her for a moment, then reluctantly sliding out of her. He made sure her feet were firmly on the ground before he let her go.

“You drive me to distraction,” he said, kissing her gently on the forehead. “My beautiful wife. I feared you’d never ask for me. Such a proud beauty I married.”

“Pride has kept me safe,” she admitted.

“You have me to keep you safe now, love,” he said.

A glow suffused Mina’s whole being. She almost wanted to weep with joy.

Luc rearranged her gown and helped her restore her hair to something resembling proper. Mina smiled each time she caught his eye. He dressed himself again, and leaned in to kiss her afterward.

“Perhaps my new favorite room in the castle, love,” he said.

“Not our bedroom?”

“I imagine that tonight, our bedchamber will once again be my favorite,” he admitted.

She shook her head. “We have hours before nightfall. And I have work to do.”

Luc watched as she shut and locked the door of the treasury room. “I must at least pretend the money is still there,” she explained in a quiet tone.

“We’ll find where it’s gone,” he said confidently. “Or build a new fortune.”

Mina laughed. “If only it were so easy.”

He walked her up the narrow, winding stairs, and they emerged in the great hall. They hadn’t gone more than a few steps when a young boy of about twelve came skidding in from another door.

“My lady!” the servant nearly shouted. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

“Why? What’s happening? An attack again?”

“My lady, please come. It’s your father. He may be dying.”

At the word, Mina rocked forward. She grabbed the servant boy’s arm. “We go now,” she gasped out.

The boy helped her out of the hall. Everything behind her was forgotten: Luc, the treasury, the shocking act of pleasure, her confession of love, everything.