by K. E. Drake
“I’ll have to clean your cut,” Lyall informed her. He drew water from the well and then set it down. He knelt down by her again, picking up the hem of her skirt and cutting a part of the garment with the dagger before she had a chance to protest.
Melody’s eyes widened as Lyall set the knife on the ground and ripped off a long strip of her hem. He took the strip of cloth, soaked it in the water, and wrung it out. He set the rag aside and gestured for her to hold her arm out to him.
She eyed him with a hint of a frown, and he only waited. “I need to take care of that cut until we can get the proper supplies.”
She nodded reluctantly and held her arm out as instructed. “All right.”
Lyall carefully grabbed her torn sleeve and ripped it open further. He then picked the cloth back up and cleaned her arm with a gentle touch.
Melody grimaced at the sound of tearing fabric and then the sting of the cool rag against her open wound. “If I can’t go back to the castle, where will I go?”
“We can go to my estate. It isn’t too far from here, only a few miles. You’ll be safe there. No one will know where you’ve gone.” Lyall dipped the cloth in the bucket and cleaned more blood off of her arm. He then took her hand in his and started to wipe her blood from it.
She stared at the hand he held and then looked into his downturned face. “Thank you. For saving my life. I’m glad you were here.”
Lyall lifted his gaze from Melody’s hand and met her midnight-blue gaze with a smile. “You’re very brave, you know,” he told her, smiling a bit as she turned away from him and looked down at her hand as he finished cleaning it.
He set the rag aside again and retrieved his dagger to cut another piece of her skirt. He set the dagger down and tore off another strip of cloth. He reached for Melody’s arm and wrapped the clean cloth around the wound, securing it in place with a knot.
Lyall then got to his feet and extended a hand to Melody. “Come on, we shouldn’t linger here.”
She took her eyes from his face and stared at his offered hand. Slowly, she placed her hand in his and he pulled her to her feet.
Melody came up so quickly that she stumbled and pitched forward into Lyall’s chest. He caught her and supported her until she was steady standing on her own.
She brought her face up and her breath caught when she saw how close they were. He looked into her eyes and then his gaze traveled to her lips. She briefly wondered if he might kiss her again, but Lyall released her and stepped back. “We need to leave before someone notices us.”
Melody’s heart sank a bit, but she joined Lyall and followed him as he lead her through the forest to the Monroe estate.
Chapter Nine
Found
Lyall and Melody trekked through the forest for what had seemed like hours to her before the estate came into view. The building was three stories high and the outside was made of dark-brown wood and roofing of the same color.
A young boy with dark-golden hair stood off to the side of the estate as he threw a ball to a small, brown and white dog that pranced around him.
The boy saw them and watched them with his head tilted as his dog bounced about his feet.
Melody looked to Lyall, but he didn’t seem to notice. She gave the young boy a small wave and followed Lyall the rest of the way as he strode straight to the double doors of the estate.
She looked up to the sky as they went and her stomach growled as she smelled the aroma of roasted meat and freshly baked bread on the air. The sun was beginning to set and it was almost time they usually gathered in the dining hall for dinner. Has that much time really passed?
Lyall flung open the doors and marched inside the estate. Melody came in just after and came into a foyer with dark-blue walls. A large dark-blue rug covered most of the polished dark-brown floors and single staircase to the right of the room led to an overlooking upper floor. Heavy curtains of dark-blue were pulled open to let the evening sun shine into the room and candles flickered from candelabras placed around the foyer, giving the darkly colored estate a homey feel.
Lyall stopped in the middle of the room, but Melody lingered closer to the open doorway.
“Gabrielle! James!” he called out.
A moment passed and a thin, older woman came in through one of the doorways that opened to a kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. “What are you yelling about now?”
The woman saw Lyall and then Melody. She slowed to a stop as she stared at her, and Melody realized for the first time about how terrible she must have looked. Her skirt was torn and coated in dirt, the long sleeve of her gown was ripped almost completely off, her arm was bandaged with a bloody strip of cloth, and her hair fell free from the confines of its pins.
“What’s going on here?” The woman looked from Melody and back to Lyall. “Who is this?”
“Gabrielle. I’ll explain everything later,” he assured the woman. “Right now she needs help. She’s been injured.”
“Oh, my,” the woman, Gabrielle, gasped. She went to Melody and her eyes swept over the young girl with the care and concern of a mother hen. “Are you all right, dear? What’s your name?”
Melody opened her mouth to answer when a voice spoke behind Gabrielle.
“Melody?”
She looked past the woman and stilled. At the top of the stairs stood her father.
Her heart felt like it had ceased beating. Am I imagining things?
The kind eyes from her memories now watched her with a disbelief that mirrored her own. He was exactly as she remembered him, although now faint lines had appeared around his mouth and on his brow, and his light-brown hair had grayed at the temples.
James came slowly down the stairs, his eyes not straying from Melody for a moment. He came to a stop in front of her.
“Papa?” Melody held as still as she could, fearing that if she moved he would disappear. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she shook her head. “I thought you were dead.”
He reached out a hand and cupped the side of her face, his thumb brushing tears from her cheek. “Melody. My Melody.”
“Papa.” She gave a wet laugh and threw her arms around James’ neck, holding him tightly as she cried into his shoulder.
“My sweet song.” James wrapped his arms around his daughter and kissed her head. “I thought I’d lost you.”
Lyall stood back from the pair and watched in silence. James... is Melody’s father?
It was two years ago that James had come to the estate. He had said that he had a daughter named Melody. And Melody told him that her father had died two years ago.
Lyall rubbed a hand over his clenched jaw. How could I have not realized?
Melody would never forgive him when she found out what really happened to James two years ago when he didn’t return to her and her mother.
He blew out a heavy breath and looked to Gabrielle, who didn’t possess the information necessary to make proper sense of the current situation. “Would you bring a tray of tea up to the study? I have a feeling this is going to be a long and unpleasant conversation.”
“Of course, sir,” she agreed. “Just know that you’re going to have to tell me just what all this is about later.” She pointed a finger sternly at him before turning and going back into the kitchen to prepare the tea.
Melody pulled back from James and sniffled to keep more tears from coming. “What happened to you? How are you here?”
“That’s a long story to tell,” James said sadly as he took in the sight of his daughter. His gaze moved from her unkempt hair to the torn maid’s gown, and finally landed on her wounded arm. He frowned as he raised his hand to gently touch the filthy cloth around her arm. “What happened to you?”
Melody smiled at him through the tears brimming in her eyes, feeling happier than she had since before her mother died. “That’s a long story as well.”
Lyall came to stand in front of them, his expression grim. “It would seem that we all have a story to tell.”
&nbs
p; James studied Lyall, his brow furrowed.
The younger man only gave a single nod and raised his hand to gesture to the stairs.
Melody looked from one man to the other, frowning as she witnessed the wordless exchange.
James took her hand and guided her up the stairs to the second level of the estate, Lyall following behind them. James opened the first door on the right side of the hall and they entered a study.
Melody’s father stopped in front of one of four overstuffed chairs in the center of the room and indicated that she should sit down in the seat closest to where she stood. She took the seat and James sat in the chair next to it.
Lyall stood a few steps from them with his feet spread apart and arms crossed as he drummed his fingers on his elbow.
Melody’s brow puckered as she noticed Lyall’s rigid posture and she looked from him to her father.
A few tense moments passed and no one said a word. The only sound in the room was the low, steady ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner.
Finally, James broke the silence. “Where should I start?”
“What happened after you left for Glendower?” Melody asked in answer.
James nodded thoughtfully and cleared his throat. “Very well. I went to the palace of Glendower to make a request to King Cassius to let us keep our home and start over. He immediately denied the request and sent me on my way. The next morning, I didn’t know what else to do, so I started off on my journey back home. I took a familiar path through the forest and rode for hours before realizing that I had gotten myself lost. After awhile, I came to a crossroad and a sign that directed me to this estate.” He raised a hand in gestured to the study where they sat.
“I had hoped only to find food and shelter for the night. I started down the path here when an enchanted wolf stopped me and told me that I was not welcome. I appealed to the beast and he directed me to this place.”
Melody’s heart nearly burst as she waited for her father to continue. Could the enchanted wolf have been Devon? Or could it have been a different enchanted wolf? Devon did say that there were others beasts like him.
She suddenly stopped. I won’t be in the gardens this evening when Devon comes. He won’t know why I’m not there.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked to Lyall. His brilliant eyes watched her, and what she saw in them pained her heart. He seems so hopeless. What is he afraid of?
Their connection was broken when the door opened and Gabrielle entered the study.
Melody snapped back into reality and tore her gaze away, trying to settle her racing thoughts.
Gabrielle carried a tray of tea, her echoing footsteps the only noise as she came further into the room.
She set the tray on the coffee table in the center of the chairs. She cast a curious glance at James and then to Lyall before she shook her head with a quiet tsk of her tongue. She turned and left the room without a word, shutting the door quietly behind herself.
“What happened next?” Melody asked her father, studying the two men. “How did you and Lyall meet?”
James took a deep breath and went on with his story...
It was the morning after James had gotten lost in the forest. The merchant stood in the yard at the back of the estate, securing a buckle on his horse’s saddle. He patted the animal’s neck and turned back to Gabrielle.
“Thank you so much for everything that you’ve done for me.” He clasped her hand and kissed the back of her fingers in farewell.
“It was no trouble at all,” she assured him with a gentle smile. “Do you have everything you need for the remainder of your journey?”
James patted the packs fastened to his horse’s saddle. “I have more than enough for the rest of the way back home. I only wish that I could have met the lord of this fine home.”
Gabrielle swatted a hand through the air. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about the master. Sometimes when he leaves, he doesn’t come back until hours after we expect him.”
James frowned but nodded. “I see. Well, I really must thank you for your help and your generous hospitality, but I must be on my way.” He mounted his horse and then urged the animal into a trot, giving a final wave back to Gabrielle. “Farewell.”
Gabrielle waved in return as he disappeared around the corner and she turned back to the estate and went inside the kitchen.
James rode for only a few moments before he came to a small garden located at the side of the estate. The scent of flowers enveloped his senses and made him remember his promise to Melody that he would bring her a rose when he returned from his trip. He tugged on the reins and brought his horse to a stop. He dismounted and approached garden of flowers that was guarded by a fence of black iron.
The iron bars of the enclosure twisted and wrapped around themselves to create the shapes of roses in the fence that came up to James’ waist. He placed a hand on the latch of the gate and stepped onto the garden floor that was made entirely of smooth stones of dark-gray.
The size of the garden was only about twenty feet in length and width, but it was impeccably maintained and had to be one of the most beautiful gardens James had ever had the pleasure to witness.
Flowers of every size, shape, type, and color occupied this garden. Flowers and buds of white, pink, yellow, blue, black, and every other color and combination lined every inch of the inside of the fence and grew in various plots spotted throughout the garden.
Vining flowers crept up the black iron posts and flowers bloomed on the ends of the vines entwining throughout the black iron canopy above the area.
James went to the center of the garden where a cluster of blood-red roses grew. The velvety blossoms were in full bloom. Inhaling the sweet scent the roses emitted, he carefully wrapped his fingers around the stem of the largest rose and snapped it in two.
“So this is how you repay me,” a voice scoffed behind James.
He jumped and spun around to face a young man with dark hair and blue eyes. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude on your privacy,” James apologized, still clutching the rose in his grasp. He studied the other man’s fine clothes, his silver shirt, black trousers, and polished black boots. “You must be the lord of this manor.”
The man ignored James as if he hadn’t spoken. “I give you food and shelter for the night and this is how you repay me? By stealing from me?”
James looked at the rose and then back to Lord Monroe. “I’m truly sorry for taking one of your roses, but I promised my daughter I would bring her the gift that she asked for. I have some silver to cover the cost of what I took. I would be happy to repay you for it.”
Lord Monroe considered the stranger. “You have a daughter?”
James hesitated a moment but then nodded. “Yes. Her name is Melody. She asked only for a rose when I came back from my journey.”
Lord Monroe pondered this piece of information. “Is your daughter of age?”
James paused, trying to gauge the nobleman’s expression. “She is fifteen.”
Lord Monroe seemed to think about something. “All you’ve taken will be repaid if you send you daughter to work here at my home.”
James stared at the man and almost dropped the flower. “Give my daughter for a rose?” I can’t believe my ears. “Sir, I have silver to pay for the rose. I’m sure that it will be more than enough for you. But I refuse to send my daughter to work for you in payment.”
Lord Monroe folded his arms over his chest. “Go and bring your Melody back here to work until your debt is paid. If neither you nor your daughter returns, the wolf will find you and bring you back. I will take your daughter’s services as payment for the rose, nothing else.”
James’ shoulders caved and he breathed a heavy sigh. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out. Slowly, he shook his head. “Take me instead. I will take my daughter’s place and work here until my debt is paid.”
Lord Monroe uncrossed his arms, his brow furrowing. “You would take you
r daughter’s place?”
James lifted his hands in front of himself. “I have no other choice.”
The young lord studied James a moment and clenched a fist before his hand fell open. “Very well. You start right now.” He turned sharply on his heel and strode out of the garden.
James watched as Lord Monroe disappeared inside a doorway at the side of the estate. His gaze fell to the rose in his fingers and his heart sank. He slowly walked out of the garden and took his horse’s reins in his hand, leading the animal to the stables. I could get away now. There’s nothing to stop me, he thought to himself, but quickly dismissed the thought. A debt is a debt.
He would not see his Rose or Melody until he had repaid this debt, and he had no way of knowing how long that would be. At least Melody will be safe.
He came to the stables where four other horses were housed besides his own. He stabled his horse and then left the building to go to the kitchen and begin his work...
James bowed his head as he finished telling the story. He remained quiet, but Melody gave a slow shake of her head. Her lungs constricted and it suddenly felt hard to breathe.
“You?” She demanded, her vivid blue eyes snapping to Lyall, who held her unflinching gaze with pained eyes. She got to her feet and marched to him, her heart lodging in her throat. “You took my father from me?”
“Melody, let me explain.” Lyall pleaded softly.
“I’ve heard all I needed to!” She balled her hands into fists and tried to hit his chest, but he caught her wrists in a firm but gentle grip. She tried to pull away, but he clasped her hands to his chest and held them there, entwining his fingers through hers.
“Let me go.” She huffed and stared straight ahead at the collar of his shirt. She pulled on her arms again.
“Melody.”
She stopped at the soft command and looked into his eyes then. They were so sincere, so vulnerable. She bit her lip and didn’t even notice she cried until fresh tears ran down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” Lyall whispered. His gaze moved past her to look out the window behind her. The last rays of the sun shone into the study, casting the room in a golden light. His eyes fell back to Melody’s and he shook his head. “I’m sorry for everything.” He looked as if there was so much more he wanted to say, but he only released her hands and strode out of the study without another word.