Legends of Medieval Romance: The Complete Angel's Assassin Trilogy

by Laurel O'Donnell

  She took a step toward him, holding her hand out. “Don’t go.”

  He did not even look at the gates. His gaze rested on her, only on her. Those black, black eyes, mistaken by many to be emotionless and cold. But she knew what rested in his soul; she had always known.

  “Damien,” she called, pleaded, begged.

  Something heavy rested on her head. Something pulled her away. She didn’t want to leave him.

  “Aurora.”

  She fought to remain asleep, fought against the tug of wakefulness. Someone shook her gently. She opened her eyes, afraid Damien would be gone, afraid she had lost him. She lifted her head, angry and fearful.

  His eyes were open, gazing at her with concern.

  Aurora gasped through a sudden onrush of tears. She dropped to her knees at his bedside, touched his face. “Damien,” she wept. “Damien.”

  “I could not leave you,” he admitted, stroking her cheek with the same anguished concern that rumbled through her.

  Aurora embraced him, kissing the warm skin of his neck, his jaw, his cheek. His lips.

  “Are you hurt?”

  His question startled her and she pulled back to look at him lying in the thick covers of her bed. The irony was not lost on her. He always protected her. Now, it was her turn to heal him. Her gaze fluttered over his face, touching every scratch and every cut. “No,” she answered sincerely.

  He looked around the room. “Where are we?” His body stiffened. “Where’s Roke?”

  Aurora soothed and calmed him with gentle touches of her fingertips over his strong shoulders. “He is dead.”

  Damien looked at her with an intense, direct stare. “You saw his body?”

  Aurora nodded. “Charred black by the fire. As black as his soul.”

  “You’re sure it was him?”

  Aurora looked into Damien’s concerned eyes and nodded. “I have no doubt. He still wore the ring with his heraldry on it.”

  Damien’s eyes slid over her face. “Did he hurt you?”

  Her heart ached with tenderness. “Hurt me?” All the years of his life he spent as Roke’s prisoner, all those years living under Roke’s rule and Damien was worried about the one day she spent with him.

  “Did he touch you?”

  Aurora shook her head. “He never laid a hand upon me.” Her fingers found the white scar from a whip on his upper arm. “What you must have endured…” She shook her head.

  Damien did not deny her words.

  Her heart lurched for him. It was time he was given what he deserved. She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “Sometimes, even good people must do bad things to overcome evil.”

  Damien’s hand dropped from her shoulders.

  It took Aurora a moment to realize he thought she was condemning him for his actions. “You are the bravest man I have ever known. And the most admirable. Forgive me for ever doubting you.”

  Damien did not move for a long moment. “No, Aurora,” he whispered. “Forgive me. Forgive me for all this evil I have brought to you.” His throat closed around his words. “From the very beginning, you believed in me, despite my warnings. You knew who I was from the beginning and you had faith in me.” He lifted both of her hands and pressed kisses against her knuckles. “It was your undying loyalty that made me this strong. You never doubted me. You called to me and guided me into the light. You are my salvation. You are… everything to me. Please forgive me for what I have done to you.”

  Aurora lifted her hands to frame his face. “I know now you were following orders when you killed my mother. But even then, you could not hurt me. It was you I have been searching for all these years. We were meant to be together. I love you.”

  Damien’s world erupted in joy. His fear washed away in the light of her forgiveness. He leaned forward and tasted her lips, relishing the feeling of her. She was his. Despite all that was between them, and maybe, just maybe, because of all that was between them, she loved him anyway. Damien smiled beneath her kiss. As the fact that this glorious woman had chosen him above all others sunk in, Damien leaned his head back and laughed in elation for the first time since his childhood. He pulled her close, holding her. Then slowly, a slight scowl crossed his brow. “There is one thing. How did we get back here?”

  Aurora stood up and walked to the door, opening it.

  Gawyn stepped into the room, his usual mocking grin etched in the curve of his lips. “Hello, brother,” he greeted. “I knew the flames of Hell wouldn’t keep you from your angel.”

  Aurora sat on the bed beside Damien. She collected his hand into hers. “With the room in flames, it was Gawyn who came in. He saved you, Damien. He saved us.”

  Shocked, Damien’s brows rose.

  Gawyn smiled. “It was my one chance at redemption and I wasn’t going to pass it up. I was not going to leave you this time.”

  Damien’s stoic stare softened to acceptance and true gratitude. He held his hand out to his brother. “This time, I won’t miss my chance either.”

  Gawyn clasped Damien’s hand tightly.

  Epilogue

  “You worthless, contemptible dog,” the taskmaster screamed. He pulled his hand back to slap the young boy hard across his face.

  “All hail Lord of Acquitaine!” The proclamation filtered through the floorboards of the Redemption.

  Otis grumbled and shoved the boy back from him. What the devil was a lord doing aboard the Redemption? He had been taskmaster of the ship for twenty years. Not once did any lord come aboard this dirty ship.

  The footfalls from overhead headed toward the stairs. And they did not stop there. The Captain’s voice could be heard from above, calling to the Lord of Acquitaine. “You don’t want to go down there. It’s dirty and—”

  The top hatch whipped open, spilling sunlight into the hold. Otis shielded his eyes from its brightness.

  Suddenly, impeccably polished black boots appeared at the top stair and proceeded down. The Lord of Acquitaine was a tall man and had to duck beneath the hatch. He stopped at the bottom of the ladder, straightening, his gaze taking in the entire hold. Many young eyes stared back. Even the older men gazed in awe at the lord who dared dirty his boots by coming into the bowels of hell.

  Maybe he came for a reason. Otis stepped up to him. “Good day, m’lord,” he greeted. “We have tender young flesh here, if that be yer liking.”

  Fuming black eyes turned to meet his. Otis shrank back from the fury burning there. And yet, an inkling of familiarity tugged at the corners of his memory. Did he know this lord? Otis bowed apologetically. “M’lord—”

  “Damien,” the Lord of Acquitaine corrected.

  Damien. Otis replayed the name and a memory of a child came to mind. He knew him. Damien! The only boy who ever dared to fight him, the only boy who dared to defy him. But it couldn’t be the same child! The Damien he knew had been beaten, cowed, and sold into slavery.

  The whispered name echoed in awe from lips in the darkness like a soft breeze spreading through the room.

  There was such animosity shining from those black eyes that Otis stepped back.

  “Free them,” Damien ordered and turned, heading back up the stairs. “Free them all.”

  Damien had not remembered how foul the stench was below decks. Urine. Rotting decay. He had not remembered the sense of hopelessness permeating the air. But he remembered the fear.

  Captain Blackmoore raced up to him. “Damien… M’lord, you can’t—”

  “I will take all of them,” Damien announced.

  The captain began to smile.

  “And your ship.”

  “My ship?” the captain echoed, blandly.

  Damien strolled toward Rupert who awaited him at the starboard side. “Burn it,” he commanded. “Burn it all to hell.”

  “Aye,” Rupert nodded solemnly.

  Damien turned his back on the exclamations of shock and disbelief sputtering from Captain Blackmoore and the ogre. He scanned the dusty street where he told Aurora to wait.


  She headed up the gangplank. He grimaced and shook his head. She never listened to him. He quickly moved to her, blocking her way onto the ship. “I told you not to come here.”

  Aurora strained to see around him. “What is it, Damien? What don’t you want me to see?”

  A sudden coil of fear clamped down on his heart. He didn’t want her soiled by the slave ship. He didn’t want even a toe of her beautiful foot to land upon this ship of sin. “My past,” he said and put a hand to her back, urging her down the gangplank.

  She resisted for a moment as she stared deep into his eyes, searching.

  Damien would never let her be tarnished by his past. It was a part of him he wanted to put behind him, a part he wanted to put a permanent end to. It was over and his life began anew when he met Aurora. She turned, allowing him to escort her from the ship.

  A large garrison of soldiers waited for their lord and lady in the street. Damien paused before Imp. He lifted Aurora’s hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her soft knuckles. His fingers stroked her palm, fingering the new ring he had given her. The gold band encircled her finger, a beautiful glimmering angel on its front. A new family heirloom, he had told her.

  Aurora looked at the ship. “What is this ship?”

  “The Redemption,” he answered, not bothering to look at the cursed vessel.

  Aurora swiveled her head to him then.

  The slight furrow on her brow, the concern in her bright eyes and the way she gripped his hand protectively, were all indicators of her worry over his happiness.

  Damien wiped away the lingering doubt with a kiss to her brow. “You need not worry. Everything is as it should be.”

  She nodded and turned to mount Imp.

  “Aurora,” Damien called.

  She paused and looked at him.

  Damien could only stare at her. She was the loveliest woman in all creation. His light. His good. His redemption. He nuzzled her temple and whispered in her ear, “I love you.” The words came easily, effortlessly, earnestly.

  Aurora’s lovely brow lifted and then her chin shot up in imperial disbelief. “Now I know you are a liar, m’lord,” she teased. “You don’t believe in love.”

  He looked her deep in the eyes, his heart aching with gratitude. He was the luckiest man alive. He touched his lips to hers, never quite able to get enough of her. “You made me believe.”

  Thank You from Laurel O'Donnell

  I’d like to thank you for reading Damien and Aurora’s story. It has been a long time coming. I started writing it in 2006. When I thought it was worthy of readers, I shipped it out to some contests in the hopes of seeing what others thought of it, to see if others enjoyed the story as much as I did. In 2007, Angel’s Assassin took third place in the Marlene contest. Followed by third place in the Mary Reade Writers Choice Award, third place in the Winter Rose contest, third place in the Romance Through the Ages contest. Damien even garnered fourth place in the Legend award, a contest that judges the strength of a story’s hero. That was awesome! Finally, Angel’s Assassin won the Happily Ever After contest. Now, I am delighted to be able to bring this story to you myself. Angel’s Assassin truly is a work of love for me. The book of my heart.

  I hope you like Damien and Aurora’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’d like to read more about Damien and Aurora, I wrote a novella about their wedding entitled Cherished Protector of Her Heart. You can find that here - Cherished Protector of Her Heart on Amazon. Gawyn has his own story entitled Beloved in His Eyes. You can get that here - Beloved in His Eyes on Amazon.

  Again, thanks for reading.

  Laurel

  Cherished Protector of Her Heart

  Laurel O'Donnell

  Copyright

  Cherished Protector of Her Heart Copyright © 2014 by Laurel O'Donnell

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Author Note from Laurel O'Donnell:

  This novella is intended to be a supplement to my novel Angel's Assassin. It fits in between the last chapter and the epilogue.

  Chapter One

  Acquitaine - 1402

  Damien of Acquitaine looked out over the Great Hall of Castle Acquitaine. The arched ceiling stretched high, sheltering the lords, ladies and many peasants who clustered inside, waiting for their chance to speak with Lady Aurora. Along the wall, placed at regular intervals, knights were stationed below the large stained glass windows. The line of people to see Aurora stretched to the back of the room.

  Despite being in Acquitaine for almost a month now, Damien’s instincts to protect Aurora were as strong as ever. They were taking many precautions, not because Damien believed anyone would harm Aurora, but because she meant so much to him. And with their wedding approaching, he knew some people were not happy with Aurora’s choice for a husband, namely him. His gaze locked with Sir Rupert, who was now captain of the guard.

  Rupert stood at the bottom of one of the three stairs leading to the judgment chair upon which Aurora sat. Rupert’s gaze moved back to the merchant approaching the dais.

  Damien’s stare swung to Aurora. She sat in the judgment chair, her back straight, her long golden hair braided to perfection down her back. She was a beautiful woman and he cherished her with every breathing moment. So many people standing in such close proximity to her unsettled his stomach, but he forced himself to remain calm. These were her people and they loved her.

  The heavyset merchant stopped before the steps, bowing to Aurora. The man sniffled as he looked up from his bent over position. “M’lady,” he said softly, reverently. “I bring a gift for your wedding. For all you have done for Acquitaine and for the trade. My business has increased…” he sniffed again. He held out a box to her.

  Aurora stood.

  Damien immediately stepped past her and took the box from the merchant who flinched back from him with a whispered, “M’lord.”

  Damien opened the box and found a jeweled dagger inside. He inspected it, lifting it from the box and then presented it to Aurora.

  “You frightened him,” Aurora whispered.

  Damien lifted an eyebrow. “I told you not to accept gifts here. It could be dangerous.”

  The ends of her lips lifted. “According to you everything is dangerous.”

  Her smile was infectious and he couldn't help responding in kind. How could he ever be angry with her? His gaze swept her face. She was stunning. Her skin was flawless, her eyes large and trusting and translucent. Her lips full and kissable; he knew the last from experience. And he wanted to taste her lips again. But he nodded and stepped aside. He had to remember his duty. To her.

  She took the dagger. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

  A small boy rushed up to Damien and he handed the empty box to the small boy.

  The merchant wrung his hands and nodded. “I had it forged just for you. As a compliment to your beauty.”

  Damien stiffened, his jaw clenched. He would never get used to other men speaking about her beauty before him. But it was meant as a compliment, so he grit his teeth and allowed the comment.

  “Thank you,” Aurora said. “What is your name?”

  “Alfonso of Dartmoor.”

  “You've traveled a long way. You will attend the ceremony and celebration afterward, won’t you?”

  Damien grinned to himself. Who could resist a personal invitation from Aurora?

  “Of course!” the merchant agreed excitedly. “I wouldn’t miss it!”

  “Thank you so much for your kindness.”

  The merchant bowed and backed away, his pudgy face beaming
with excitement.

  Aurora held out the dagger to Damien. He eyed it with misgivings. “Don’t you want it?” she asked.

  “What would I do with a dagger like that?” Damien wondered.

  Aurora’s gaze shifted from his face to the beautiful dagger. “I suppose the same thing you would do with any other dagger.”

  A plain dagger was far less conspicuous. The perfect weapon for an assassin. But as he had to remind himself again, he was no longer an assassin. Once he married Aurora, he would be a lord. She watched him as if she knew what he was thinking. He lowered his chin and gave her that intense look that she knew, the look that said he wanted to grab her and kiss her lips. But that would be inappropriate before her people… people that were also soon to be his people. He took her hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles. She was beautiful, soft, and everything he could ever want.

  She rewarded him with a stunning smile. Perhaps for his reserve. Perhaps because out of all the men she could have chosen, she had chosen him. Perhaps for his love of her. He had not told her nearly enough that he loved her. He should tell her every day, every moment…

  He turned to see a cloaked man walking forward. The hood covered his face completely. Tingles shot across the nape of Damien's neck. The man approached. There was something in the way he walked that sent alarms off inside of Damien.

  Aurora followed his gaze to the hooded man.

  The man still moved toward them.

  Damien's eyes grew wide. God's blood! He knew the man! “Rupert!” he hollered.

  A swarm of guards rushed forward to surround the man as Damien stepped protectively before Aurora.

  The guards seized the cloaked man, preventing him from moving. His arms were wrenched behind his back.

  Rupert threw back the man's hood.

  Damien snarled. His face had aged, but Damien knew him immediately. Black eyes gazed at him through wrinkled lids. His jaw was grizzled. His black hair was speckled with gray.