Page 23 of To Desire

Chapter 12

“Your companion is taking a meal with the abbess,” the monk said to Darien.

Whitley Abbey was one of a few double monasteries remaining in this part of England that housed both monks and nuns. Though they shared land, their buildings and quarters were completely separate. After arriving without further incident, having met few other travelers thus far, Darien had escorted Liana to the nun’s quarters before arriving at the monastery.

Though they’d arrived well after the evening meal, Darien had visited the abbey’s bathhouse and was offered a tray of food, delivered to his modest lodgings.

“Thank you.” He took the tray from a man who appeared to have seen at least fifty summers. “Brother . . ˘?”

“Aldwin.”

He lingered in the doorway long enough that Darien invited him inside. In his experience, while the monks lived and enjoyed a simple life, some also welcomed the opportunity to speak with visitors. And all had something to teach him.

“Would you care to sit with me while I dine?”

“If you do not mind the company.”

Darien pulled out one of two wooden chairs next to the table where he placed the tray.

“Have you stayed with us before?”

Darien offered the monk some of his bread, but he declined, shaking his head. Finished chewing, he nodded. “Aye. Though more often bed at Greystone Manor.”

“You’ve heard the baron passed recently?”

Darien took a sip of the wine he’d been provided. As expected, it was quite good. The monks and nuns, may live simply, but they did not do it with bad wine. “I did not. We’ve come here instead . . .”

He stopped.

The monk, astute, watched Darien, who’d uncharacteristically spoken without thinking. Being on the road all day with Liana, after last eve, had thrown him off-kilter. He’d assumed the bond she had discussed last eve was the one that set them on this path together. But then today . . .

You are an earl’s son. I am the seer’s daughter. A witch, as many of the villagers believe. We are not meant for anything more than the same relationship as our parents.

If he was unsure what she had meant by “anything more,” the way she reacted, and his terror at seeing Liana race downhill, clarified her words.

“You came here instead?” the monk pressed, his eyes thoughtful.

Perhaps it was knowing his words would not leave this bedchamber. Or the kindness, and wisdom, in the man’s expression. Even with his friends, old and new, the recruits he now called brothers at Castle Blackwood, Darien had not been one for confidences. His troubles were his own. The earls of Ellswood were masters of keeping secrets, and he was no exception.

Whatever the reason, though, Darien wanted to share what had been on his mind since he decided to travel this path.

“As a monk, you are bound to discretion, aye?”

Brother Aldwin leaned forward, his brown robe shifting beneath him. “Anything you share in confidence will remain as such.”

Was he really going to tell a stranger something Darien had never uttered aloud to anyone in his life before? He hesitated.

“You have my vow on the God I’ve offered my life to serve, Sir Darien of Ellsworth.”

Startled, Darien thought back, trying to remember if he had offered the monk his name. He had not.

“Aye, I know of you.”

“But,” Darien argued, “you asked if I’d stayed here before?” Had the monk asked a question he already knew the answer to?

“Because I had not seen you at Whitley Abbey before.”

“Then how⁠—”