Page 55 of Midnight Shadow

Terran grabbed her hands and removed them from his body. “Before what?”

Kathryn lifted her chin slightly and tried to look hurt. “I want you to love me.”

“What we shared wasn’t love, and you know it.”

Kathryn didn’t flinch. “You did love me. Until you laid eyes on Odella.”

“I never loved you, Kathryn, before or after Odella,” Terran growled. “I always made that clear.”

Kathryn crossed her arms and pouted.

“Why are you here?” Terran demanded.

“Truly, my lord, I came as a friend to comfort you. I know how much Odella meant to you.”

Terran found this hard to believe. There wasn’t an unselfish bone in Kathryn’s body. She did things only when they benefited her. “Why didn’t your father accompany you?”

Kathryn looked away from him, playing with a piece of fabric on the wooden table. “He wanted to, but he was busy.”

Terran grunted. Something must have happened between Kathryn and her father. Last Terran heard, Kathryn was bedding one of her father’s friends.

“So who is this little mouse of a bride you’ve taken on?” Kathryn asked. “You obviously don’t love her.”

“Why do you say that?”

Kathryn lifted her smug eyes to meet his. “If you did, you wouldn’t have left her alone on her arrival to your castle.”

Terran stared at Kathryn, dismayed. He hadn’t thought of that. Instead he’d wasted time seeking the reason for Kathryn’s arrival at Castle Knowles. He hadn’t considered his new bride’s feelings. The memory of her standing so forlornly in the middle of his castle courtyard sent guilt rushing through him. “Damn,” he murmured and started for the door.

He’d no sooner stepped into the hallway when Kenric came running toward him.

“She’s gone!” Kenric exploded.

“What do you mean?” Terran demanded, anxiety prickling the back of his neck. Images of her in the Midnight Shadow’s arms danced mockingly in his mind’s eye.

“She ran away. I can’t find her.”

“Did she leave the castle?”

“By now she could have.”

“Damn it, Randolph,” Terran growled, “find her. She’ll be heading back to Castle Delaney. Send men to search for her.” He stormed off down the hall. “Find her!”

Chapter twenty-five

Bria rode hard through the forest, tears burning her eyes. Terran had left her to be with his mistress on the very day he’d married her. She’d be damned if she’d wait patiently for him to come to her. She wanted nothing to do with Terran Knowles! She didn’t want to live with him, she didn’t want to share his bed, and she certainly didn’t want to be his wife. She wiped aside the tears running over her cheeks. Then why are you crying? a mocking voice inside her asked.

The answer came to her abruptly. Because she’d begun to believe in his kindness. She saw him as something other than a tyrant.

But he’d given her to Kenric, the man who’d killed her friend. Bria had watched with disbelieving eyes as Terran disappeared inside the doors of Castle Knowles with Kathryn. But disbelief quickly left her, replaced by a cold assessment of her situation. Terran had apparently flaunted his lover before his first betrothed, Odella. Why not before her?

When Kenric reached for Bria, his hand wrapping around her arm, Bria had turned confused eyes to him. The eyes starring back at her were from hell itself. He smiled evilly at her, relishing the moment.

Bria lurched forward, catching him off guard. He’d lost his balance and fallen down a stair, losing his grip on her. Bria ran. She’d almost made it to the outer gate when she realized she needed a horse. She mounted one of the guard’s horses that remained in the courtyard and raced for the castle gates. She rode as fast and as hard as she could, fearing that any moment they’d raise the drawbridge and lower the portcullis.

At first she had no idea where she was going. She rode past the eyes of curious peasants, past the inquisitive and even a bit amused gazes of the guards. It wasn’t until she escaped the castle and reached the forest that she understood where she was heading. It wasn’t home.

She was riding to the Midnight Shadow. Ever since Terran had found the mask, she’d left her Midnight Shadow costume hidden with her sword, and it was lucky she did. She needed it now. She needed to be brave, to stand up to those who were doing wrong. She didn’t want to feel the stinging, burning agony swirling in her chest.