The Dark Lady (58 page)

She nodded determinedly and decided that she would once more put her trust in Peter. She needed to trust someone and if they were going to make their marriage work it had to be him.

The voices quieted and Van tightened her shoulders. She pulled the door open to an empty hall. Her brow furrowed in irritation.

She knew he had disappeared into the library the night before so she thought that would be the most likely place to start searching. She would find him. Tell him everything and then she would throw herself at his mercy to help her get through it all. To become a wife that he deserved.

She walked carefully down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. Light spilled from around the cracked library door. There were voices behind it, but they were too low to hear. She hesitated. It would not do to start out her new life as a proper wife by bursting in on a meeting.

She stared at the door and fought the urge to peer into the crack. Concern wormed through her that it had something to do with the men. She tightened her grip on her resolve and tried to be patient.

***

Rebeka leaned against the desk in the library and looked up at what had once been her calm and dignified lord. He was now red faced with rage and looked like a madman. It excited her, though she wished he had acted thusly when she was in his life. What had that woman done to him?

“
What do you want?” he asked, looking quickly at the door and then back at her.

“
I just want you, my lord. I heard you were having problems with your new wife. I heard who she is and I came to help you.” With a seductive smile she allowed the silky cloak to slither slowly down her body, the coolness of the library bringing gooseflesh to her bare skin. The cloak pooled at her feet.

Peter moved to step away from her but she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her nude body up against him.

Peter growled, “Do not do this. I am not interested in anyone but my wife. I have enough going wrong right now without need of you to help it along.” He placed his hands on her waist and tried to move her off him.

Rebeka tightened her arms around his thick corded neck, feeling the pulse thundering beneath the surface.

I know what you need.” She pressed her belly into his manhood. Her pride itched in irritation when she realized the only thing she was managing to get a rise out of was his temper.

He pushed back harder on her this time and she fell onto the desk, but refused to release his neck. The oak was cold against her flesh, but she ignored it as she wrapped her pale white legs around his hips, clasping her ankles together.

Anger was beginning to boil beneath her hurt pride. How dare he turn her down, especially in favor of that behemoth?

Peter sneered at her and reached behind her grasping an ankle. She clenched her thighs tightly around him.

Rebeka’s glance shifted to the door as it swung open. There, peering in with wide, dismayed eyes, was the lady of the castle. Oh, this could not get any better, Rebeka thought joyfully.

Rebeka looked back at Peter and moaned seductively. She pressed her breasts into him and caught his lips with hers.

She knew he would break the kiss and ruin the image she was working hard to portray, so she broke it herself before he could.

Looking directly at Vanessa, she gasped in a fair imitation of surprise, “Oh my.”

Rebeka pulled quickly away from him, yet still clung to his neck. She only wanted to move far enough to make sure her audience saw her nakedness.

Peter turned to follow her gaze and his heart stilled, his hands frozen on the legs still around him. There in the door stood a shell of the woman he loved.

A single tear, one that threatened to tear out his very heart, welled up and slid silently down Van’s cheek, cutting through the paleness of the face powder. She turned and fled.

He fought to free himself from the woman who held him tightly with her arms and thighs. “Vanessa!”

“
You do not want her. She cannot be what you need,” she shouted as he tore her entrapping limbs from around his trembling body. She let out a scream as he threw her to the ground.

“
Get out of our home!” He raced from the room and toward the front door sure that Van would run to the stables.

His heart lurched and he slid to a stop when he heard the slamming of a heavy door from the direction of the sleeping chambers.

He took the stairs two at a time and almost fell several times. He fought for balance but did not slow.

What the hell was he going to do now?

As he pounded on her chamber door, he heard the inner door between the two rooms slam. “Damn!” He would make this right for her if it was the last thing he managed to do.

He would hold her and never let her go. He would tell her he didn’t care what or who she had been and that he loved her. Pain and guilt swirled through him.

He pounded twice more and then shook himself. The key, he thought as he berated himself for not thinking of it before he had hurt his fists. He just needed to get the key and then he could make everything right.

Running to his bedside table, he rummaged through the drawers. His struggled to draw breath through the tight band that cinched around him. Pain shot through his chest every time he forced air into his lungs.

He cursed loudly when he found no key. His spirit sank. She had outsmarted him. She must have gone through here while he was pounding on her door and she had taken it.

Without thought he began to pound on the center door. He screamed at her to let him in.

He did not care who heard or what they thought of it. His only thoughts were on removing that horrible look of agony he had seen on her beautiful face.

“
Open this door or I will get an axe and break it down.” He was tempted and he might have if he had not thought the moment a hole was in the door she would throw that dagger through his head.

She had promised the next time it would be through his stubborn skull. He didn’t doubt it, not now.

A thick lump wedged firmly in his throat and he swallowed hard around it. His fists ached from the power he had put behind the blows, but still there was no answer.

He ignored the pain and continued to pound on the door until he realized he could hear sounds from the other side. His fists stilled as he listened.

From the other side of door, muffled as if buried in pillows he could hear her painful sobs. They were raw, ugly, terrifying sounds. He could feel her pain deep inside him. His heart ached for her. His stomach twisted as he attacked the door once more.

“
Vanessa, let me in. Do not do this.” He waited, but there was nothing but more of those hoarse sobs. “Vanessa, it is not what you think.”

No response. Tears pressed painfully against his the back of his eyes. He blinked hard several times.

“
Vanessa.” His voice was harsh and painful.

He turned his back to the door and sank pitifully to the floor.

He dropped his head against the door and whispered, “I am sorry.” He knew it was not loud enough for her to hear, but he could not tell her through a door.

He would wait until they were face to face. He brought his hands up before him. They stung painfully and, turning them from side to side, he was shocked to see the blood that marred them.

Dropping them into his lap, he closed his eyes and listened to the never ending sobs that seemed to be wrenched from a body unaccustomed to such emotion.

He fought the tears that pressed unrelentingly at him, but he felt several slid down his taunt cheeks despite his efforts to stop them.

This was the breakdown they had all feared. It had come to pass because of him. How was he to face her now? Now that he had betrayed her, even unintentionally, once again.

The night slipped by as her tears chased him into sleep. His head turned in slumber, his ear pressed gently to the door, listening to her sadness even in his dreams.

Dreams that were now changed.

The same lovely face, the same dark black eyes, dagger cut still fresh, hung over him as it always had. The same sweet haunting voice.

But now the deep black hair hung loose around her beautiful face. It brushed against his bare chest erotically.

The drips that hit his injured shoulder were no longer blood as they had once been. They were now her tears. Tears so hot they seemed to burn him.

He reached to stroke the perfect cheek, as he had almost every night since it had happened, but she now was gone.

***

Verges sat in a carriage below Van’s chambers, her sobs drifting down to him. His heart clenched with each tortured cry. He was unsure what Rebeka had done, but he would take his revenge on her. He smiled savagely at the thought of her death.

Edward and Harry Hurtado cringed away from him. Harry sat as far into the wall of the carriage as he could make himself go, as far away from Verges as he could get. Edward sat in the seat facing them.

Both boys avoided eye contact and shuddered every time he moved. Verges smiled about this. His heart drummed with excitement, and the hope that this would soon be over. He wanted Eolian out of Van’s life, wanted her to live happy and free.

He glanced from one brother to next with disgust. He hated boys like this, bullies and tyrants, but they had done their job. The Hurtado brothers had carried out their part of the plan without a hitch. While Rebeka was distracting the household, they had absconded with the little day maid Amy.

Wrapped in a white sheet, Amy writhed on the floor of the carriage between Verges feet. The abduction had gone unnoticed as far as Verges could tell and now they only awaited Rebeka’s return.

The door opened and Verges tensed in caution. It was Rebeka. She slid into the seat across from him with a look of disgust on her face.

“
What are you doing here? You were not part of the plan. I made sure of that.” Her voice was full of venom and anger, and he wondered momentarily if things had not gone as well as she had hoped inside the castle. He was sure it hadn’t and that pleased him.

“
I know you tried to make sure, but things are not always in the control of a whore.” He smiled at her sharp intake of breath.

The carriage jerked to an unsteady start and she gripped the side of the seat. “How dare you.”

Verges ignored her outrage. He did not like her in the least and it was more than just her mistreatment of the woman to whom he had pledged his life and loyalty. He could feel the evil that seemed to wisp from her very being.

He relaxed back against the seat and forced himself to remain patient. He would enjoy her death, but it had to come at the right time and now, unfortunately, would not do.

Verges tensed again as they approached the guard house. His muscles and nerves tingling with readiness. The carriage stopped momentarily, but the guards let them go through without incident. He grinned, one more step toward victory.

He turned his attention back to Rebeka. Her look of fear had disappeared since she had come under the protection of Eolian, but he thought he could change that.

“
You did not tell me why you are here. I do not need you,” she snarled at him, but the arrogant look fell away when he smiled. She recoiled and he could see the fear brimming right beneath the surface of her calm façade.

“
I am here to make sure that you do as you were instructed and to make sure this—” He pushed his foot gently against the, now still, form on the floor. “—is delivered unharmed. I will not allow your hatred of that man and woman in there—” He jerked his thumb back toward the castle. “—to affect what the Knight of Fear wants done.”

Rebeka spun toward him, anger dripping thickly from her words. “How dare you?”

Edward and Harry tried to disappear into the shadowy corners of the carriage. They both stared at the clasped hands that lay trembling in their laps.

Hatred dug at Verges, and he snarled at her.

She flinched away, but did not stop speaking. “Eolian will let me do as I will with this little piece of baggage” She kicked the sheet sharply.

Amy’s muffled cry was barely heard. Verges relaxed some. She had lain still and silent for too long and he was beginning to worry that these two worthless boys had tied her gag too tight and she had smothered.

Rebeka waved her hand dismissively at him. “There is nothing you can do about it. She will die at my hands, just as that meddlesome Dark Knight will die at the hands of my master and lord.”

Verges could feel a cold anger chilling his blood. His chest tightened and he clenched his fists.

Rebeka began to laugh. “That woman is just worthless trash and will die without honor as she should.”

A hot white flash of rage burst across Verges’s thoughts. He lunged across the seat. Agile for his size and massive bulk, it took him half a breath to pin her beneath him.

Her laughter died even before his hand wrapped tightly around her throat. There was a scream from one of the boys, but he did not know, nor care, which.

His anger was barely harnessed as he tightened his fingers. The tips disappeared into her soft skin. “There are a lot of things Van may not have, but honor is not one of them.” He watched in rapture as her eyes began to glaze over.