by Donna Grant
Suddenly, it didn’t matter that she wasn’t innocent. All he knew was that his heart ached knowing she was gone. His heart felt dead, which made it even worse because he hadn’t known it had begun to live again.
“It was a brave thing she did,” Cole agreed.
Gabriel sighed. “I’m not looking forward to telling the baron.”
Hugh jerked as if he had been shot and buried his face in his hands. “How could we have been so dense?”
“What?”
He raised his head and looked at Gabriel and Cole. “Have either of you seen Bernard since we returned this afternoon?”
They shook their heads.
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“He isn’t in the dungeon,” Gabriel said.
“Nor is he with his knights,” Cole added.
Hugh leaned his head back against the castle wall and laughed dryly. “Mina, forgive me,” he murmured.
“Hugh,” Gabriel growled.
“Did either of you search Bernard’s chamber?” he asked.
Gabriel and Cole looked at each other before they shook their heads again.
“’Tis as I thought.” Hugh sighed. “I’ve been wrong. I was deceived again, but it wasn’t by a woman this time.”
“The baron?” Cole asked in surprise.
All three raced into the castle to Bernard’s chamber, but no matter how hard they searched they didn’t find the blue stone.
“Nothing,” Gabriel hissed and kicked the trunk he had been searching in.
“He’s smart,” Hugh said. “He knew we would search the castle.”
Cole slapped his hands on his thighs in exasperation. “If not the castle then where?”
“That I’m not sure. I do have a feeling we’ll see him by dawn.”
“We’ll question him then.”
“Nay,” Hugh said louder than he intended. He motioned them out of the chamber and didn’t speak again until they were in the bailey. “We follow him.”
“We cannot all follow him,” Gabriel said.
“That’s right,” Hugh said and narrowed his gaze as his mind began to form a plan.
“Cole, you’re as quiet as a shadow. I want you to trail him and find anything you can.”
Cole
nodded.
Hugh turned to Gabriel. “You and I need to set up a diversion to make Bernard think he is safe so that he will go and find the stone.”
It wasn’t until Hugh was alone that his thoughts turned back to Mina. He couldn’t believe she was dead. It just didn’t seem possible. How he regretted the words they had last spoken, and he hated the thought of her thinking he and Theresa were together.
He watched the knights through his window as they gathered the dead. The creature had killed more this night than it had since before he and the Shields had arrived.
The creature was so hungry for blood that he couldn’t wait to sink his talons into anyone that got near him.
Hugh’s gut contorted painfully. He squeezed his eyes shut as realization dawned on him. It had been in front of him the entire time.
Mina wasn’t dead. If the creature had wanted to kill her it would have done so in the bailey the first time. The creature had taken her because she controlled it.
Relief surged through him to recognize that she was indeed living, and though it hurt him to know she was part of the evil, it didn’t stop him from wanting to shout to the heavens at having her alive.
“Nay,” he whispered. His heart squeezed agonizingly. “It couldn’t have happened after all these years. Not like this.”
But it had.
His heart had been given to a woman who controlled evil.
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“I love her.”
The words spoken aloud only confirmed it. And he would do everything in his power to get her away from the evil, even if it cost him his life.
* * * *
Mina shook from her panic and wrapped her arms around herself. She wasn’t sure where she was exactly. Somewhere deep in the bowls of the monastery, somewhere she and Gabriel and Hugh had not found.
Her instincts had been right to have her look at the monastery. It was too bad she hadn’t found the evidence she had needed, though.
Bernard.
Anger surged through her like lightening. Her brother. How could he? She had felt for sure that it was Theresa controlling the creature. How could she have been so wrong about it all?
And how could Hugh have missed it?
If he had never been wrong then he had really been duped, but that didn’t make her feel any better. She desperately wanted to speak to Hugh, to feel his strong arms go around her and keep her safe.
Did he think she was dead? If he did, then he wouldn’t come looking for her, which was exactly what Bernard wanted she realized.
Her brother hadn’t said anything to her as he brought her into her cage, no matter how much she begged and pleaded with him. But what had disturbed her the most was the kiss on the lips he had given her.
It had shaken her to her core for it hadn’t been a brotherly kiss. It had been one a lover would give.
She had screamed for him to let her out, but he had quickly bolted and locked the door, leaving her in complete darkness. She wished for a window or something so she could have some light. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but it didn’t keep her fear at bay.
It made it worse since she knew the creature guarded her.
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Chapter Twenty-Nine
“She
what?”
Hugh watched Bernard carefully as they sat in the great hall as sunlight began to spill into the castle. “I’m sorry, baron. She died saving the lives of two lads.”
Bernard shook his head and gazed at the table. “I don’t believe it. Not Mina.
She was just beginning to live again.”
Hugh felt Cole kick him under the table.
“Where is her body?” Bernard asked as he lifted his gaze to Hugh. “Is it with the others?”
“Actually,” Gabriel said, “the creature carried her off.”
To give Bernard credit, he acted the grieving brother very well as he buried his head in his hands.
“We must find the stone,” Bernard said as he raised his head. “I want this creature dead.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll kill it,” Hugh said.
There was much grieving in the castle as family members mourned the loss of one of their own, as well as the loss of Mina. But there was one person who didn’t mourn.
In fact, Theresa looked anything but sad. The satisfied expression only confirmed how deep her hatred for Mina went, Hugh grasped. But why? They were sisters, and Mina had been nothing but civil to Theresa. It must be something much deeper.
And there was only one way to find out.
Hugh waited until Theresa left the great hall before he looked pointedly at Gabriel and Cole. He wasn’t worried about them. They each knew what they had to do.
He stood outside Theresa’s chamber and prepared himself mentally. So much was at stake here, and he couldn’t make a mistake. He raised his hand and knocked on the door before he changed his mind. The door swung open almost immediately, as if she had been expecting someone.
“Hugh,” she said breathlessly as she stood gawking at him.
“Lady Theresa. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
She gave him a dazzling smile and motioned him inside. “Not at all. Please, come in.”
He walked through the doorway and schooled his expression to look as though he wanted to be there. “You do not mourn your sister?”
“Pah,” she scorned and shut the door. “I would be lying if I said I did. She never belonged here.”
“Just where did she belong?”
She seemed to realize she had said more than she should and shrugged.
“Anywhere but here.”
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Hugh knew she lied, but he had more pressing things to see to. The time was at hand. He took a step toward her and twirled a lock of her blonde hair around his finger.
“You needn’t have hated her. Everyone knows you are the prettiest woman in the shire.”
She smiled and cocked her head to the side. “’Twas just last night that you pushed me away.”
“I’m not a man who shares, Theresa. I wanted to be sure you were mine alone.”
She sighed and moved closer to him. “Oh, I am definitely all yours.”
“Just what I wanted to hear,” he said and nuzzled her neck. He slowly ran his finger up her arm. “Is it ordinary for the creature to carry its prey off?
She pulled away from him. “What?”
“Didn’t you know? The creature didn’t kill Mina in the bailey. It carried her off.”
She turned away from him, but he saw the anger spark in her blue eyes.
“Normally the creature kills here, but it has taken others off.”
It was a lie.
He smiled as she fell neatly into his plan. His arms came up to touch her shoulders, but she deftly stepped away from him.
“We shouldn’t be up here,” she said as she turned to face him. “There is much I need to help my brother with.”
Hugh nodded slightly and walked from the chamber. It wouldn’t be long now.
When he reached the great hall he found Gabriel leaned back in his chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“The wheels are turning,” he said as he sat across from Gabriel.
“Cole is tracking the quarry.”
“Good,” Hugh said and drank deeply from his goblet. If everything went according to plan, they would find the stone, capture the ones who controlled the creature, and kill the creature all before nightfall.
He had sat where he could see every aspect of the hall without fully turning his head. He and Gabriel made it seem as though they were in deep conversation, but in reality they did nothing more than speak of their horses.
Hugh was about to give up when he saw Theresa walk from the shadows by the stairs toward the kitchens that would take her out of the castle.
“The bait has left,” he whispered.
Gabriel snorted. “About time. I was about to start speaking of my horse’s tail.”
Hugh smiled despite himself. His eyes rose to the top of the stairs where he saw Cole. Cole nodded at him before slipping back into the shadows.
“Are you ready?” Hugh asked.
“I’m always ready,” Gabriel said. “Has our quarry taken the bait?”
“He should. Any moment now.”
* * * *
Bernard downed his ale in one gulp and looked around his large chamber. He poured himself another goblet full and drank deeply. He sighed and smiled to himself as the ale filled his stomach.
Everything had worked out just as he had planned. For awhile, he feared Hugh A DARK GUARDIAN
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would figure out Mina’s secret, but the dolt had been too blind. But Bernard planned to make him pay for touching Mina.
Too long he had acted the drunken lord to be overlooked. Despite the arrival of Hugh and the Shields, Bernard had been able to carry out his plans. And after tonight, nothing would matter any more. Not even Theresa could spoil this.
He walked toward his bed and happened to glance out his window. That’s when he saw her.
“Theresa,” he hissed.
She was headed toward the forest. Surely she hadn’t figured it out, he thought to himself. But he would have to make sure she left well enough alone.
* * * *
Mina’s stomach growled loudly with hunger, but her fear took precedence over her stomach. She kept telling herself to get up and walk around, but her legs wouldn’t obey her. So she sat huddled in the same corner she had fallen into when Bernard had pushed her into the little chamber.
Her thoughts drifted to Hugh. She had only to close her eyes to envision his dark gaze tilted upward with his smile. She grinned to herself at the memory. He was such a handsome man. She missed him terribly, but what she wanted was for him to be able to know she was innocent.
Despite knowing he preferred Theresa, she still wanted to have him know she wasn’t involved with the creature or the stone. She had her memories of their time together, and they would have to last a lifetime, because she knew there would be no other man for her.
Only
him.
Even now her body yearned for him to fulfill an ache only he knew how to quench.
A sound above her startled her. She held her breath as she heard the tell-tale sound of footsteps coming toward her. Would it be Bernard…or something else?
* * * *
“Let’s go,” Hugh whispered to Gabriel when Cole motioned to him.
He and Gabriel slipped out of the castle without anyone seeing them. Cole waited beside the postern door with their weapons.
“What happened?” he asked Cole.
“I’m not sure. I heard Bernard curse loudly before he threw open his door and came here.”
Hugh smiled. “Good. He will think nothing of anyone following him because he’ll be focused on Theresa.”
“How did you know she was in on it?” Cole asked.
“A hunch. I knew how much she hated Mina, and it seemed as though Mina’s death wasn’t a surprise.”
Gabriel moved past them. “Enough talk. Our quarry is getting away.”
Hugh picked up his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder while his left hand held the hilt of his sword in its scabbard. He waited for Cole to take the lead before he moved. Gabriel would follow behind and make sure no one pursued them.
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They made it to the forest without any mishap.
“Bernard hasn’t even looked behind him,” Cole said.
“He’s too confident,” Hugh said. “I was expecting that.”
They moved onward, keeping hidden behind trees and brush just in case Bernard did happen to turn around.
“Where is he headed?” Gabriel asked as they hunched down behind a fallen tree.
Hugh had an idea. “There are only two places in this forest that he would think of hiding the stone.”
He didn’t say more because Bernard chose that time to turn and stare directly at them. Thankfully, they had hidden well. Bernard continued to glance around the forest, as if he expected someone to come running at him.
Cole sighed and slid down next to them. “He would have turned around when I was standing next to the tree. He’s moved on.”
Hugh made to move when Gabriel’s hand landed on his arm. “You sure Mina is part of this?”
“Aye,” Hugh answered. “As much as I hate to admit it.”
“Usually ‘tis only one person who controls the creature,” Cole said. “You think all three of them are in on it?”
Hugh blew out a breath. “I wasn’t sure about Theresa until today. She had me fooled. Hell, Bernard had me completely mislead until last night.”
“What are you going to do about Mina?”
Gabriel asked the question Hugh hadn’t allowed himself to think about. He turned to his friends. “I’m not going to lie. I love her.”
Cole whistled softly. “We knew you had feelings for her, but we had no idea they went that deep.”
“Congratulations,” Gabriel said.
Hugh shook his head. “I might love her, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s involved deeply with great evil.”
“What’s your plan?”
“I’m going to convince her to let go of the evil.”
Cole rose up and looked over the tree before he glanced back at Hugh. “I wish you the best of luck, old friend. We’ll be there if you need us.”
* *
* *
The door opened slowly flooding light into the little chamber and blinding Mina.
She covered her eyes with her arm and waited.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Mina’s heart jumped into her throat at those words. She lowered her arm and looked into the hate-filled eyes of her sister. “Theresa?”