Page 52 of The Warrior's Innocent Captive

Katherine went on, blaming Erik for everything, saying that he had been plotting against Borwyn for some time, that he was after Borwyn’s wealth. Linota thought of Erik’s humble dwelling, the beautiful furniture he’d carved himself. There was not one moment she could think of over the last few days that indicated Erik was focused on enlarging his fortune.

‘What about his family?’ she asked. Surely not everything Erik had said to her over the last two days had been a lie.

‘Erik doesn’t have any family,’ said Katherine gently, perhaps realising that Linota was on the verge of tears.

Linota nodded and gazed down at the floor. Had he really not told her the truth about anything? Had the man she had fallen for ever even existed? If she could only speak to him, then she would know.

‘I’m sorry, Linota. I—’

But whatever Katherine was about to say disappeared into the night air because at that moment Borwyn appeared with Emma and Clayborne.

Clayborne had his arms tied behind his back. Emma was unbound, but her wide, anxious eyes broke Linota’s heart.

‘I’m sorry, my lady,’ said Emma as she walked past and the tears Linota had fought hard to keep inside welled up. She turned away from Katherine so that her sister couldn’t see her response.

Emma’s apology had hit her harder than any slap for it confirmed the motherly woman had been hiding something from her all day. And if Emma was guilty, then Erik... She couldn’t even bring herself to form the thought. The man she loved couldn’t have done such terrible things. He was kind and thoughtful and he’d made her feel so precious and cared for.

He could have taken her innocence earlier. She’d been more than willing, but he hadn’t. Surely that showed the goodness of his character.

But as he’d been leaving he’d said she didn’t know him. Was that true? Was he really the traitor her sister seemed to believe he was?

Her mind went completely blank as she trudged through the streets of the town and up to the huge fortress that dominated the surrounding skyline. This internal blankness was something she’d learned how to do whenever her mother went into one of her violent rages. Awful things might be happening outside her body, but if she retreated into herself they couldn’t hurt the centre of her being.

If asked again, she could not describe the journey she took from Emma’s bakery to Borwyn’s guest chamber, high up in the fortress’s keep.

Katherine buzzed around her on the periphery of her consciousness. When Katherine began tugging at her clothes Linota understood she wanted her to have a bath. She climbed in without thinking, but as the warm water swilled over her she felt as if she was washing Erik off her, as if his mouth had never trailed over her skin awakening blissfully intense sensations.

Silent tears dripped into the water as Katherine bustled around the chamber, keeping up a steady stream of words. Linota could hear her, but she could make no sense of what her sister was saying. Katherine didn’t seem to expect a response, though, so perhaps she was just talking to fill the silence. It was what her sister always did after one of their mother’s violent outbursts.

Katherine wrapped her in some clean clothes, which were far too big, and tucked her into a large bed. Katherine curled up next to her and began to sing softly. Linota closed her eyes and wished herself very far away.

Slowly, mercifully, the world turned black and she slept.

Chapter Twelve

Erik leaned against the wall to the left of the keep’s entrance. The night had long since fallen and he needed to get inside and see Jarin, to look at his friend and continue to lie to his face.

He swallowed, but that did nothing to relieve the hard lump in his throat.

He closed his eyes and rested his head against the rough stone of the wall. He hoped, beyond anything, that Katherine wasn’t with Jarin. It would be beyond painful to look at Katherine and see the worry in her eyes about her beloved sister and know that he was partly responsible for putting that haunted look there.

Erik had the power to tell her that Linota was alive and safe, but if he did then he put the life of his young niece at risk and he couldn’t do that to an innocent child.

It was only for one more night and day. Jarin would hand over the ransom and Erik would make a show of returning Linota. Only when Erik had Isabel safely in his custody would he confess all to Jarin.

But at some point this evening he had come to a revelation. He was going to have to reveal to Linota his part in her supposed abduction. It was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done, harder even than facing trained knights on a battlefield, but he knew that he needed to. She said that she loved him. He pressed a hand to his aching chest. He’d wanted to tell her he loved her, too, but he couldn’t. Not when he was lying to her, not when she abhorred liars so greatly.

He would tell her the whole truth tomorrow, as soon as he saw her. He had to have faith that enough had passed between them that she would forgive him or, if that was too much to hope for, she might understandwhyhe had acted in such a way.

His body tightened as memories from earlier crept into his mind.

For the rest of his life he would remember the feel of her skin beneath his lips and the way her fingers had gripped his hair as he’d kissed her. He was sure that was her first experience of pleasure. She had been so unguarded in her response to him, such a joy to be with. His lips twitched—amused even now when he was otherwise feeling so desperate—at the memory of her gasp of surprise as his lips had travelled over her body and brought her to a satisfying climax.

To go from her body to meet de Bevoir had made him sick to his stomach. He’d finalised the details of the exchange, then got away from the vile man as quickly as he could.

Erik stepped away from the wall. It was time to face Jarin, to tell him the next part of the plan to get Linota back. Once this was over he hoped to God that his brother would forgive him for all that he had done, even though he knew that was an improbable dream.

He pushed his hair back from his face. He’d had time today to ponder Jarin’s reaction and his thoughts were doing him no good. Jarin was the first person to treat him as if he had any worth and knowing he would lose that good opinion hurt him more than he’d imagined.

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