Page 5 of To Desire

Chapter 4

She was going to die.

And if her mother didn’t kill her for this, she would just as likely punish her by refusing to continue to train her. She’s threatened more than once to do so. Only the knowledge that she was an only child prevented it. The first in many generations to have no siblings, Liana had been trained to read runes at a younger age than most. Without a seer, what would become of the Isle of Ely? Surely it would become a battleground, as much of England had apparently become these past fifteen years.

Her mother needed her, so much that she would not die this night. But with each step away from the cottage, every twig that snapped, Liana’s heart raced. What if he didn’t come?

Or worse, what if he did?

Was she really going to do this?

Unfortunately, it was too late to continue questioning herself. Slowing to a stop, despite never-ending mists rising from the marshes, she spotted a figure in the distance. Unless the trees of Ely had learned to walk, it was a man. One that should not be making his way through the forest on the outskirts of their village at this time of night.

Pulling her cloak closer, the brisk of fall giving way to the start of winter, Liana waited. Never mind the earl’s son was every bit as handsome as she remembered. Even before he stepped foot in their cabin, the legendary golden-brown locks of the next Earl of Ely, now clipped to his shoulders, were second only to his well-known features. Features every woman in the village discussed for days on end, all hoping that his betrothal would never come, as if the earl’s son would actually wed a commoner. Rubbish, such talk was. But Liana could understand the source of such dreams now, having been in his presence earlier.

He commanded a room, just like his father. It was impossible not to stare at him, though Liana had tried her best not to be one more simpering maid in love with the next earl.

With every step he took closer to her, Liana was forced to take deep breaths. Calm herself. There was no backing out now. She’d started this by boldly whispering to him, and now she must finish it.

Though his own cloak hid much of Sir Darien’s face, as he took those final steps toward her, the moonlight confirmed this was, indeed, the earl’s son. She began to bow but he stopped her.

“There is no need, Aeliana,” he said, lowering his hood.

He was no less handsome here than in their small cottage. Somehow, the opposite was true. She’d not known the Countess of Ellswood, but she must have been a beautiful woman indeed.

“Liana,” she blurted, before realizing that she should not be offering her given name. They were not equals, a lesson her mother instilled in her at a young age. “Apologies,” she said. “I am unused to my full name, but you⁠—”

“Will call you Liana. No apologies are needed.”

She pulled her own hood down.

“Ever. Not with me,” he added.

What a beautiful, unusual thing to say, given their stations. Permission to speak her mind was as unexpected as it was welcomed.

“Thank you for meeting me here. I am certain it was not a simple matter to leave the castle grounds undetected.”

“I am certain it was not a simple matter for you to do so either.” His voice, deep and smooth, was like a healing balm. If Liana needed healing.

“My mother,” she began, “is a skilled seer, as you know. I am simply her apprentice.”

“And yet, I sense there is little that is simple about you, Liana.”

Her name, on his lips, felt like a forbidden caress.

“You are mistaken, my lord. But I did not ask you here to discuss me.”

He stepped closer, his eyes lowering to her lips. Though she’d never been with a man in that way, Liana had enough experience being flirted with to discern that particular look. Or not. As quickly as it had come, his face was once again a mask of indifference.

Perhaps she’d only willed his interest in her, despite the futility of such a thing.

“What are we here to discuss?”

There was no turning back if she said the words.

“You asked my mother if she’d ever been wrong about a vision.”

His jaw flexed. “I did.”