by Gill, Tamara
The ship would have to be the Royal Family of Atharia's and the one that would take Alessa hundreds of miles across the sea from him.
He deserved what he got. Hell, he deserved far more than a broken heart. That Alessa had let him go, had not allowed her sister or the London Runners to mete out their punishment was more than he deserved. He ought to hang for the crimes he'd dealt out to others. People, now he could not help but wonder who were as innocent as Alessa had been.
He cringed, hoping that was not the case.
A shadowy movement near a stacked group of wooden crates caught his eye, and he watched, wondering if Delenzo had finally made his appearance.
He would not allow anything to happen to Alessa or her sister. They would depart on the ship, safe and whole, and no bastard madman would halt their journey.
The docks were quiet and still at this hour of the night, well past midnight, although some candles were burning in windows and ship hulls. A watchman paced the deck of the royal ship, a saber in his hand, but from his relaxed stance, he had not seen the assailant lurking near the crates.
It did not matter, for Rowan had seen him, and he would not succeed in his mission, no matter what it was. If Rowan could do one honorable thing for Alessa before he watched her sail away, it was this. Remove the last vestiges, the last of their troubles in Atharia and here in England once and for all.
* * *
Alessa pulled the dark cloak about her farther as she sat in the carriage, listening to the wheels roll over cobbles and wood as they made their way out onto the London docks.
The scent of sea air caught her attention and, with it, the realization that soon they would be on their way home. Hundreds of miles from Rowan. Where would he go after what had happened here? She doubted he would stay in England. He had mentioned the Americas. Would he travel there? Would he marry another?
She clutched at her stomach, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat at the thought of such a thing. The muffled talk of her sister to her husband caught her attention, and she looked over at Holly and Drew. They were as close and loving as the day they married.
She had hoped that she, too, had found such a love. Disappointment stabbed at her that she had not. Her love affair with Rowan had been a lie. A plan concocted by him to merely get near her person to kill her. She shivered, still unable to comprehend such a heinous act.
How could he have made such sweet love to her, declared his feelings, and have been working for Delenzo the entire time? She had been fooled, but never again. Never again would she ever allow a man to get close to her, to trick her in such a way.
She would never marry now.
The carriage rocked to a halt before the door opened, and one of their trusted guards helped her step down. Alessa followed Holly and Drew, all of them flanked by multiple guards as they made their way to the ship.
A commotion to her left made her glance that way, and she caught the sight of a bloodied knife finding its purpose in one of their guard's necks.
What happened next was a blur. Shots fired into the quiet night, men dropped as the bullets met their mark, and then she saw him. Roberto Delenzo stood not a few feet from her, his crazed, bloodshot eyes pinning her to the spot.
She heard her sister scream for her to run, and she glanced over her shoulder to find Holly and Drew being hoisted toward the ship. But she was not. She stood, flanked by two guards, but Delenzo stood before her, breathing deep with his maddening, unhinged hatred of her.
"Now, I shall get at your sister where it will most hurt her. By killing you, Princess, she will know she has failed as queen. That she failed you."
A cold chill stole down Alessa's spine, and she moved back, allowing her guards to stand before her.
Delenzo laughed, the sound crazed before her guards clasped her arms, hoisting her toward him. She screamed, kicking out at them as best she could in her traveling gown and cloak. "What are you doing?" she demanded, her voice high-pitched with panic.
In the distance, she heard Holly shout orders, her sister's voice as panicked as hers.
She stole a look at the two guards in cohorts with Delenzo, noting their glee. Was everyone working for her dead uncle? This could not be true. "You will not win, Delenzo. Kill me here, and you will die here too. I can promise you that."
He shrugged, walking up to her, the large, bowed knife coming to rest on her throat. She stilled, feeling the sting as the mere touch of the knife cut her flesh. "What is life anyway, but days and nights of nothing in particular. You and your family do not deserve your privilege. I will take yours and make your sister suffer until the day she dies. That will be satisfying enough for me."
"You're mad," she spat, glaring. If she were to die, she would not go down simmering and swooning like a delicate flower. That was not who she was, nor ever had been.
Footsteps on wooden planks sounded behind her, and Delenzo's attention snapped toward the ship. "Move another inch, and her head comes off. Do you understand?"
The footsteps stopped, and Alessa wondered if he would really act so barbaric. Was she going to be killed in such a way? She had always hoped her death would occur in her sleep, late in her life when she had children and grandchildren surrounding her.
Not here on the cold, London docks with the stench of rotting garbage and fish guts stinging her nose.
Delenzo smirked. "Now, where was I?" he asked, meeting her gaze.
"She was supposed to be my kill," a familiar voice sounded from a nearby warehouse before the sight of Rowan came into view. He strode toward them without a care, and her heart stopped in her chest.
He did not mean what he said. He could not.
Had she made a terrible mistake in letting him go? Had she allowed a liar, a killer a second chance at earning his blunt from her death? She sent up a silent prayer that she had not. She could stand most things, but to think she was fooled a second time by the man she loved, she could not face, not even mere minutes before death.
"Come, Rowan, you may still do the honors." Delenzo chuckled, gesturing for Rowan to join him faster.
Alessa felt herself losing her composure. Rowan would not hurt her. He would not. No matter what had come to pass between them, he would not deceive her in that.
She prayed she was right.
Rowan joined them, taking the knife from Delenzo and twisting and turning it before her face. "What would you like me to do to her?" He chuckled. "Well, what else would you like me to do to her? I've already tupped the wench. She wasn't bad either," he quipped.
The guards holding her chuckled, one being so bold as to lean against her and smell her hair.
"Guv, can we not have her too? Before she's run in?"
Alessa hoped to see some reaction on Rowan's visage, but he did not even flinch at their disgusting words. Merely watched her with cold indifference.
She kicked out, landing a solid blow to Delenzo's chest. He stumbled and righted himself quickly enough. "Bastards," she yelled. "I'll hate you forever if you mean what you say," she said to Rowan.
A muscle worked in his jaw before a blow, startling in its velocity, landed across her cheek. She gasped, having not expected Delenzo to do such a thing. Why, however, she wasn't certain. He was a killer, just as all these men who held her were.
"I have no issue with her being taken," Delenzo said, meeting Rowan's gaze. "Do you want another turn before we gut the bitch?"
She gasped, her vision blurring. She wasn't sure if it was from the blow to her face or the tears that now streamed down her cheeks. She could hear her sister command the guards, but the moment Holly did, the knife was at her neck again, this time at the hand of Rowan.
She met his gaze, begging him to stop, to not hurt her. "Rowan, please do not do this." She would say anything right at this moment if only it concluded this nightmare.
"Close your eyes, Alessa," Rowan commanded, his tone different from before, calm and with an edge of determination. She did as he bade. This was it, her life. Her
heart crumbled in her chest, and she sagged in the arms of the men holding her. What did it matter anymore? Life itself had no meaning. Not now that Rowan had betrayed her a second time, and the last.
* * *
Rowan steeled himself and took a calming breath as he watched Alessa close her eyes. The moment she did, he made his move. With a flick of his wrist, the blade he held to Alessa's neck shot out and sliced across the guard to the right's throat. Blood splattered, and his hold on Alessa ceased. He wrenched her from the other man's hold, using his moment of shock to place himself between them. He pulled out the gun hidden in his trews and shot the bastard between the eyes.
The man fell, shock upon his features. Rowan then turned to Delenzo, a man far savvier and battle-weary than anyone present, himself included. He reached back, ensuring Alessa was behind him, safe and away from the bastard.
Her hand reached out, taking his, and his heart stuttered to a stop in his chest, knowing she was well, so far had been reasonably unharmed.
"I should have known that your delay in killing the princess meant that you had succumbed to her will—you weak bastard. You could have had more money than you knew what to do with, and yet you save her. Allow her to live her life of luxury while you rot away in the East End, fighting for every coin you can get your hands on."
"Better that than be a traitor like you. I have not only fallen under her spell. I love her, and you will have to kill me if you want to touch a hair on her head."
"That is done easily enough," Delenzo said, moving to strike him as quick as the snake that he was. And the dance for life and death began.
Chapter 23
With horror, Alessa watched as Rowan fought Delenzo. The fight she knew would be to the death, but who would win? The sound of flesh hitting flesh, the sight of the blood, the thumping and snapping of blows made her cringe.
The guards who had stood back rushed toward her. One threw her over his shoulder, and she realized that Drew was running with her in his arms toward the ship. Not a guard at all, but her brother-in-law.
She punched his back, wanting to stay with Rowan to ensure he survived. What if he needed her help? What if Delenzo killed him, and she was not there for him in his final moments, just as he was there for her.
"Put me down! Drew, please, put me down," she begged.
"Do not under any circumstances put my sister down, husband," she heard Holly command, and Alessa knew her fight was moot. Drew would never go against his wife and queen, not for anything and especially not to put Alessa's life at risk yet again.
She was dumped on the deck of the boat, and she ran to the handrail, looking back on the docks as the fight between Rowan and Delenzo escalated. "Go and help him," she screamed when Delenzo held Rowan down on the ground, laying punch after punch against his face.
Oh God, he was going to die. "Holly, please, if you do one thing for me, please help Rowan. He saved me. He was loyal to me at the time that I thought I would die. Please, do not let me let him down too."
Holly looked back onto the dock. The gangplank pulled onto the deck of the ship and all their men aboard. She turned to one of the guards who held a musket. He ran over to her, bowing.
"Your Majesty?" he asked, waiting for commands.
"Shoot Delenzo when you have a safe shot at doing so. We will be rid of him once and for all," her sister mumbled under her breath as she turned away from the sight of the two men.
Alessa would thank her later, but she frowned, fear curdling her blood at the darkness of the docks. There was little light. What if their marksman hit Rowan instead of Delenzo?
No, that would not happen. He would not miss. Alessa walked up to the man preparing his shot on the deck of the boat. "Do not miss," she cautioned. "Delenzo only, do you understand?" she affirmed.
The marksman nodded, leaning over his weapon, his eyes narrowing as he took in the target.
Alessa held her breath, watching, praying. The blade of the knife that was held at her neck was lifted by Delenzo.
Oh dear God, Rowan was going to be stabbed.
Just as she was about to scream, a shot rang out, making her start. Delenzo slumped over Rowan before being pushed to the side, and Rowan scuttled out from beneath him.
She sighed, relief pouring through her. He was well. He had survived.
The ship started to move down the Thames, the sails flapping as they caught a breeze, taking them out to sea and back to her home.
Alessa stood on the deck watching Rowan. He walked to the edge of the docks, watching the ship move farther away. She mouthed thank you, the sight of her life, her heart growing ever smaller in the night before the swirl of fog took his form and swallowed it up as if he had never been.
But he had been. Rowan, the love of her life, her soul mate and savior, had been real, and she loved him dearly. She and her family owed him her life, and she would be forever grateful.
Even if she never saw him again, she forgave him his sins and prayed that he found peace. "I love you," she declared to the inky blackness of the Thames, knowing there would be no reply.
There was not.
Chapter 24
Two years later
Alessa stood beside her sister and queen as their sister, Elena, dipped into a regal curtsy before the crown, and was officially out in society in Atharia. Holly stood, kissing Elena's cheeks before Elena curtsied again and moved back out of the room, as was expected of her.
The line of debutantes was a yearly ball that Holly enjoyed growing up and had wanted to resurrect after their uncle's coup attempt halted them for two years. But this year, they had made a choice to resurrect them, and she was pleased for Elena and the other debutantes that they had.
"There are so many foreigners here this evening. Did you see Lord Douglas is here and with his new countess? She's very beautiful," Holly commented, flicking her chin in his lordship's direction.
Alessa glanced out over the sea of heads as the debutante progression ended, and the room became the ballroom for the night's entertainment.
Footmen carried around trays of drinks and food, the house of Atharia preferring to serve small dishes of delicacies to their guests rather than stopping to serve supper as the English had done.
"I'm happy for his lordship. Lord Douglas deserves to be fortunate." And he did. Everyone did, in fact. Her opinion on love had not changed, even though she had not been so successful herself.
To think that it had been two years since she had seen Rowan still left a hollow void inside her chest that Alessa never thought would fill. Even though her sister had two children now who kept Alessa busy being the best aunt she could, it did not make the loss of Rowan any easier to bear.
He had saved her. Had been there for her when she needed him most. Had redeemed himself when she had thought him irredeemable.
Alessa rallied herself to push the thought of him aside. He was gone. He probably lived in the Americas now. Far away from Atharia and the woman he once loved.
Holly clasped her hand, squeezing it a little. "I wish you nothing but to be happy again, Alessa. I hope you will be," she said, throwing her a wistful smile.
Alessa frowned, wondering why her sister would say such a thing. Had her longing for Rowan been obvious to everyone at court? It was a possibility. She often caught herself lost in the memories of her time in England.
A tall gentleman bowed before her, and she turned, ready to accept another dance that would lead nowhere except back to her position beside her sister until another gentleman asked her yet again.
"Waltz with me, Princess?"
The familiar, gravely baritone brought her up short. She gasped, waiting with bated breath as he stood straight, meeting her eyes. Her mind whirled, the room spun, and Holly chuckled at her side.
"Rowan?" she asked, unsure it was him. It looked like Rowan, tall and broad-shouldered, chiseled jaw and striking eyes that she wanted to drown in, and yet it did not look like him.
The man before her was dressed in e
vening attire, silk breeches, and polished knee-high boots. His superfine coat fit him like a second skin, the silver waistcoat and cravat complementing his attire. She had never seen him so well-dressed. He looked like a lord.
"How is it that you're here?" she asked him, her mind unable to comprehend his presence.
"I had him brought to Atharia, Alessa dear," Holly stated, matter-of-fact. "Two years and you were still not happy, and I knew I had to do something about it."
Alessa turned to her sister. "Rowan isn't a gentleman. You told me I could not marry him."
Holly's lips twisted into a wry smile. "I knighted him upon his arrival yesterday for his bravery and duty toward the crown and you, a princess of Atharia." Holly leaned toward her. "You can marry him now, sister. He is Sir Oakley, perfectly acceptable for a princess."
"Shall we?" Rowan asked again, holding out his arm for her and throwing her a wicked grin.
Like a dream, she placed her hand on his arm, allowing him to lead her out onto the floor. She could not look away from him. He was warm. The same scent of citrus wafted from his skin, reminding and confirming it really was Rowan at her side.
He swung her into the dance, merging into the waltz and other couples seamlessly. "I did not think I would see you again," he stated, his hand warm on her back, his thumb stroking her skin and leaving her breathless.
Alessa shivered. "Thank you for saving me, Rowan. I owe you my life and so much more than that. I wish I had been able to tell you in England. To see you and not be able to thank you for that day, well, it broke my heart."
He shook his head, dismissing her words. "You owe me nothing. It is I who begs for forgiveness. I hate that I ever agreed to do what Delenzo wanted. I shall never forgive myself for putting you in danger, of betraying your trust as I did. I do not deserve your forgiveness or love."