Page 122 of Dark Rival

WHEN ROYCE FINALLY returned to Blackwood Hall, it was close to dawn. Allie had sat in the hall, waiting for him, chilled by her fear. The moment he came in, she leapt to her feet. He didn’t look at her, striding from the hall and upstairs.

She hugged herself. She hadn’t meant to betray him—she had done what she thought right. Yet she had known he would think her agreeing to a trade, behind his back, a betrayal. But she hadn’t imagined this kind of reaction—as if, in one instant, he could cut her out of his heart and his life without ever looking back.

And then she heard thunder booming.

It was directly above her and she jumped up, crying out, the thunder reverberating again from directly above her. Just as she wondered if they were in the midst of an earthquake and the castle walls were coming down, she felt his rage explode, turning into pain.

Allie ran up the stairs, hearing that terrible sound again. As she came to the small passage leading up to the tower, she realized that there wasn’t a storm and there wasn’t an earthquake. Stone was crashing down.

Aidan seized her from behind. “Ye’ll nay go up unless ye wish to die!”

Allie turned and fought him. “He’s hurt! He needs me!”

“He’s in rage because o’ what ye did.”

Stone sheared off and crashed down. And she saw him vividly, as if she could see through the walls, breaking apart the window embrasures with his bare, bloody hands, heaving slabs of stone onto the floor. She leapt, facing Aidan, terrified for him. “Let me go to him! He’d never hurt me!”

Aidan’s grasp tightened, becoming cruel. “He hates ye now.”

Allie went still, staring at Aidan’s cold, hard face. She realized he was angry with her, too. She watched Royce destroying the stone tower with energy blasts and his bare hands. “I did what I had to do—what I thought was right. Aidan, you of all men should understand!”

“I understand ye broke yer word.”

She inhaled, trying to pull away from him. In the end, he was as medieval as Royce—as ruthless, as uncompromising. He let her go. Allie hesitated, because Royce remained in a furious fit, destroying the tower. “Don’t leave him,” Allie whispered, afraid he might hurt himself. She trembled, tears finally falling. “He will never forgive me, will he?”

“Ye crossed him,” Aidan said. “He’ll never forgive ye.”

ALLIE WENT DOWN to the hall for breakfast, exhausted from a sleepless night. She hadn’t lain down even for a few hours—she had been on her knees, praying for Royce, asking the gods to heal him now. All the while she had been acutely aware of his pain and rage. She had tried to communicate with him telepathically, but he hadn’t tried to speak to her in return, not even once. His power had finally quieted, to seethe softly in the tower above the hall.

She stumbled into the hall. Soon, he would come out of the prison he had chosen for himself, and they would be face-to-face. And then what? He was dead set against her.

She would never forget the way he’d looked at and spoken to her last night. Surely, sooner or later, he would begin to understand why she’d done what she had. Surely his love for her would allow him to reason—even though he was the least reasonable man she knew.

It couldn’t be over. He was the love of her life.

We’re finished.

Allie trembled with dread as Aidan stepped inside. He didn’t smile at her, and he looked tired. But then, he’d undoubtedly sat up for the rest of the night with Royce to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. Eyeing her expression, he said, unsmiling, “I willna ask how ye slept.”

She bowed her head, sitting stiffly on one of the benches at the table, her knees bruised from the hours spent kneeling on stone. Aidan was against her now, too, when he had fast become a treasured friend. “How could I sleep when Royce was so upset? I know you macho guys think if a woman does her own thing, if she acts independently, it means we don’t love you. But you are so wrong.”

Aidan gave her a long look. “I ken ye love him an’ ye always will.” He sat and poured mead into a cup and drained it before glancing at her. “Blackwood has gone to the town of Moffat. A spy has sent him word he wishes to meet. Mayhap there’s news o’ Elasaid.”

Allie started. “Any news would be great.”

A housemaid stepped into the hall. “My lord, my lady?”

Aidan glanced up, noted that she was young and blond, and sent her an automatic smile. “Aye?”

“Kenneth from the village has come to the kitchens. His wife is very ill an’ he has heard Lady Allie is a Healer. I told him I heard no such thing, but he insisted I come to you an’ ask if she can attend his wife.” The blonde shifted nervously.

Allie stood, not having to think about it. “Of course I’ll help.”

Aidan stared thoughtfully. “An’ how would the villager ken that Blackwood’s guest heals?”

“I don’t know, my lord.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Allie said. “If someone is ill, I have to heal them. I took my own vows, Aidan.”