Page 34 of Forbidden Noble
The man’s wife joined him, her gray hair tucked in a kerchief around her head. Astorre placed his hand on Clara's back. “Good day, sir, ma’am. This is my new wife, Lady Clara.”
The old woman smiled proudly. “Lovely to meet you, my lady.”
Clara offered to shake her hand and the woman stared at her like she was an alien, so Clara lowered her hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”
The couple continued on and they went forward. She stepped on stones that had been there longer than the country of her birth. Clara looked up and saw the perpetual fog that must also offer protection to the walled town from air sightings.
Her imagination recalled the movieAladdinand someone selling a lamp as she walked by a shop with brass offerings including an ancient lamp.
She absorbed everything as they turned toward a jeweler with an outdoor stand, and she picked up an obsidian necklace. Astorre said, “The uprising where your birth parents were murdered reminded our people of the need to protect ourselves.”
Clara put the necklace back but Astorre gave the merchant cash and bought it for her. “Thank you. This is all extremely interesting. I’ll enjoy living here, I think.”
Astorre handed the necklace to her. “Let’s return to the castle.”
She waved at the jeweler who smiled in a friendly manner. Once they turned away, she asked, “Why the sudden change?”
He took a deep breath and then said like they shared a secret, “It’s time to find that letter from my mother.”
Her heart lifted. “Sounds good to me. But what changed your mind?”
In the distance near the gate she swore she recognized Max, a tall man with his collar flipped up. Her hair stood on end as Astorre said, “You. Montelino Bay.”
“Hey--is that Max Fionalli?”
Astorre held her arm a little closer to his body and sped up as they rushed inside the inner castle. “Yes, I think so. I need to find the letter before my sister leaves, if she hasn’t already…and we need to warn her that Max is here.”
Her pulse quickened. “Okay. What should I do?”
He pointed her to the stairs. “You find my sister. I know where I hid the key.”
She stilled for a moment as her heart beat wildly, “It’s not lost?”
He shook his head. “It was to anyone who didn’t know about my hiding place, and I forgot about it until moving back. I’ll get the key. I hope our mother mentioned Olivia too.”
Clara would help. His family was her family and this was now her home too. “I’ll get her and bring her to you.”
He pointed her upstairs on the other side of the great hall and he took a different stairwell. “Thank you, Clara.”
She wanted to kiss him. It wasn’t the time, and probably inappropriate--but she loved him. He glanced at her and she rushed in the direction he'd pointed while she said, “I… I’m on my way.”
Clara's body rushed with adrenaline, helping her run as fast as she could. If Astorre wanted his sister there to read the note, then she’d get her.
Chapter 13
Astorre understood three things. One, men like Max don’t keep popping up unless there was a reason. Two, the target must be either Clara, or Olivia, and at the same time, his sister wanted to leave. So three, he needed a reason for her to stay.
One that wasn’t taking over his responsibility.
With Clara at his side, he would accept his place as a responsible Lord of Montelino Bay.
He went into his old room, and saw the locked closet, his boyhood clothes, and toys.
This was once his sanctuary when he was hiding from his father’s temper and he knew every floor board. And every hole in the wall. He moved back one of the floorboards with his foot that triggered the small tear in the wall paint that held that letter he’d only glanced at as a boy. His fingers were almost too big to grab it now, but he managed to tug his mother’s letter out and tears formed in his eyes.
He opened the letter addressed to him, written in neat penmanship that wasn’t his mother’s. The words on the page made his hard chest break into a trillion little shards of glass as he cried.
Thankfully no one would see him like this--how weak of a commander he’d be.
