Page 53 of Knight of Darkness
“You sound so serious, Wymar. Whatever you have to say, just say it,” Beatrix coaxed as she slid her hand down the front of his tunic before taking a seat. “We have known each other for far too many years to not voice our minds freely and openly with one another.”
“Very well.” He watched her sip from her cup before placing it on a table next to her chair. He went to stand at the hearth, leaning an elbow on the mantle and staring into the flames to collect his thoughts. He might as well plunge right in. “You lied to me… Why?”
A sharp sound escaped her lips before she composed her face, making her eyes go wide and her expression go soft as though she were innocent. ’Twas an expression better suited to a child sneaking a sweet from the kitchen than a grown woman being confronted with a deliberate and damaging falsehood. “I have no idea what you are talking about, my love.”
His patience snapped. Grabbing her arm, he gave her a reckless shake before he remembered himself. He stood tall to peer down upon her before taking the chair opposite the lady. “Do not play games with me, Beatrix. Generally, I have forgiven you much over the years, but you could have cost me all! You know very well the Empress did not send you to me so that we may wed. Why would you tell such a falsehood on a matter of such import? If we had in truth married, the Empress could have had my titles and lands stripped from me once more for having disobeyed her directives.”
Beatrix had the decency to wince and appear apologetic at that. But her sparkling eyes told Wymar that she was not yet willing to give up. She still wished to convince him to marry her after all, even if it meant going against the Empress’s wishes.
The smile that etched its way across her lips was that of a siren on the prowl for her mate. “You can hardly blame a girl for trying, Wymar,” she all but purred. Her voice dripped like the sweetest nectar. “You have known me since I was a small child. Surely you must have been aware that I held hope that we would someday wed.”
“I have never given you any indication that I shared those hopes, Beatrix. I have only thought of you as a sister,” he fumed. “Never at any time have I thought of you as anything else!”
She shook her head whilst her laughter rang out in the room. “Given enough time, we could change that.”
A low growl left him. “We could be waiting for the second coming and the way I feel for you would never change, Beatrix. You must cease pretending there has been any kind of grand romance between us. Up until recently, I was but a lowly mercenary waiting for the opportunity to prove my worth and possibly have my title and lands restored to me. I am certain you never gave me a moment’s thought until I was once more landed nobility.”
Her brow lifted at his words. “You are mistaken, Wymar. I have waited patiently for years whilst you ran about the countryside, hoping and praying for just such an opportunity as this,” she declared waving her hand in the air. “Now, you are home. Your lands and title rightly restored. Now you must needs find yourself a wife. That wife should be the lady sitting here before you and none other.”
A loud laugh escaped him. “I admire your audacity, my lady. However, you forget the Empress has already chosen my bride who should be arriving any day. I cannot gainsay her choice for me even if I wanted to.”
“We could run away together,” she proposed as if this would solve the problem.
“And lose the favor of Empress Matilda when I have just regained all that had been lost? You must be out of your mind,” Wymar snapped. He reached for his cup and downed the contents.
A soft sigh left her lips. “Must I repeat myself, Wymar? I am a woman who knows what she wants and will do all in my power to achieve what I desire. If we must go against the Empress’s instructions, so be it.”
He leaned his head back to stare upwards as though pleading to the heavens to give him strength. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You are proving my point that you know nothing of what this would cost me even if Ididwant to have you as my wife, which I do not.”
“’Tis only because we have been apart these many years,” she coaxed before rising from her chair. She stood over him in indecision before she lowered herself into his lap. “You think of me as a child because you haven’t had the chance to know me as a woman. We can change that now and forget all else.”
“What are you doing?” Wymar asked sharply, holding on to the edges of the arms of his chair as if this could save him from whatever Beatrix planned to do next.
“’Tis obvious I must take the initiative to show you how well we would suit,” she murmured before wrapping her arms around his neck.
“This proves absolutely nothing, Beatrix, and my only response is to think that your brother would kill me if he were to witness what was going on in this room,” Wymar complained whilst she moved even closer into his body. He took hold of her arms and gave her a fierce shake to try to deter her.
A light laugh escaped her. “Let me worry about my brother, my darling, and I will show you exactly how affection will grow between us.”
Trying to pry her arms from around him was no small task and, although Wymar should have expected it, he was still unprepared when she placed her lips upon his own.
He jerked in his chair even whilst she did her best to get him to give her some sort of a romantic response. Pushing her lips and rubbing them against his own got her no further in her endeavors. There was nothing passionate about this encounter between them. If anything, it only reaffirmed that kissing Beatrix was like kissing a sister. It was as if such an act was wrong not only in Wymar’s mind but in the eyes of God Himself!
“Wymar! I am finally here,” a familiar voice whispered across his soul when the door burst open in the woman’s excitement.
Beatrix tore her lips from his and frowned at the beauty standing in the room. “Who the hell is she?” she demanded whilst Wymar hastily pushed Beatrix from his lap. Once she got her footing, she stomped her foot in protest at the interruption and crossed her arms over her heaving bosom. “Well? What is the meaning of this, Wymar?
Wymar ignored her and went to the lady he never thought to see again. “Ceridwen…” Her name hung in the room and her presence was as if God had answered his most heartfelt prayers. His husky tone all but conveyed how much he had missed this lady. How he had longed to see her in his home even though he had never thought such an occurrence would come to pass. Yet even as he felt lit up with joy to see her, her features went from excitement to what looked like disappointment, giving him pause.
“Wymar…” Ceridwen replied as she silently assessed the other woman in the room. A frown marred her perfect features, betraying how annoyed she truly was about the situation she had walked in to. “Am I interrupting something important?” Her words were laced with so much sarcasm even Wymar had to flinch at the tone. Honestly, could he blame Ceridwen for being upset with what she had come upon?
“Aye,” Beatrix shouted.
“Nay!” Wymar interjected at the same time.
Ceridwen’s gaze furiously turned toward Wymar. “Which is it? Because the lady does seem to appear as though she has some claim upon you.”
“I am his betrothed,” Beatrix announced, stepping forward and laying a hand upon Wymar’s arm.
