Page 54 of To Love

His meaning was clear. Eamon’s warning was more broadly reaching than the risk of Alden being discovered coming here.

As Elara escorted him to the door, the one Alden could never use, he considered the older man’s words. This was a person who fell in love with the wrong woman and, as a consequence, was forced to watch his daughter be raised by another. By a “father” who did not treat her as she should have been treated. Sir Eamon had never married but instead devoted his life to finding ways to insert himself into Evelina’s world.

“You appear thoughtful.”

Elara was back.

She was as wrong for him as Evelina’s mother was wrong for Eamon. Their situation would likely result in more pain than pleasure.

And yet, he could not stay away.

When she came to him, he welcomed her. Kissed her. Embraced her. And wondered how he could ever let her go.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Every evening was the same.

Alden came to her. They discussed everything they had heard. They held each other, pleasured each other. Laughed. Talked and drank. Pretended their nighttime world was a part of the real one even though both she and Alden knew it was not.

Last eve he had left Elara frustrated, though she did not know why precisely. She knew only that this longing for him had grown into something out of her own control. When she mentioned it to him, Alden had simply smiled and said, “I feel it too. I wake, in the middle of the night, dreaming of being buried so deep inside you we are like one person and not two.”

His words had not sated the restlessness in her. The pervasive feeling of being empty when he was not with her. And worse, their plan had uncovered nothing. No whispers of Roland’s brother’s warning or suspicious behavior concerning their campaign in Reading, which was actually in Winchester.

Nothing.

Until now.

“Tell me again,” she said, wanting to hear Alden’s accounting once more.

“The priest was, as has become his custom, making his way through the hall, blessing the recruits to remain safe in their training that day. As he passed the table behind me, I heard Sir Corwin talking of the campaign in Reading. The priest stopped, his robes brushing against my shoulder. When I turned and noticed his expression, it struck me as odd.”

“Odd, how?”

“Surprised. Interested. I cannot define it, precisely. Odd enough that I watched him, and instead of finishing his prayers, he quickly left the hall. Unless he wishes only half the men to remain safe, that information forced his leave.”

“We need eyes on the priest.”

“Aye,” Alden said. “And quickly.”

They both remained silent, thinking.

Alden reached for her. Elara stayed in his arms while she considered what he had revealed. His chest hard, it nonetheless comforted her in a way she’d not felt since . . .

Had Elara ever felt so safe?

Always at court there were undercurrents of danger, especially as the years wore on and the succession question turned into a crisis, with everyone choosing sides. Hers and her father’s beliefs had always been in the shadows, until she had come here. And Castle Blackwood, while comforting in one way, forced Elara back into the shadows in others.

“We need assistance.”

Elara looked up to Alden.

“Aye.”

“And quickly.”

She knew that look. “What have you done?”