Angel's Assassin (5 page)

Lord Gabriel stopped just before him,
commanding, “Tell me what happened. How did you save my daughter
when my trained men did not?”

Damien glanced at the group of men staring at
him near the table. They were finely dressed in garments of rich
silks and velvets befitting the lords of the upper class. Distrust
and dislike burned in their gazes. The words came to his lips to
tell Lord Gabriel exactly what he thought of his so-called trained
men. Then, his gaze caught Aurora’s. Admiration shone in her large
blue eyes. Acceptance. She relaxed him and sent warmth flooding
through his entire body. “The assassin came out of the shadows,” he
replied. Slowly, his restlessness faded and he offered more detail.
“The crowd was thick around your daughter. I happened to see the
assassin but your men did not.”

“It was lucky for her you were there.”

Damien looked at Lord Gabriel. There was a
keen, hawk-like glint in Gabriel’s eyes, as if he were sizing up
his prey.

“Father,” Aurora called.

Lord Gabriel did not take his gaze from
Damien, but reached back, searching with his long fingers for his
daughter’s hand.

Aurora moved forward and slipped her hand
into her father’s.

He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed
her knuckles. “My daughter means the world to me. I owe you a great
debt of gratitude. Is there something you want? Something in my
power to give you?”

Damien looked at Aurora. Her lips were moist
as if she had just taken a drink of ale. A kiss. The thought came
unbidden. No. A kiss would not accomplish his mission. What an
absurd notion. I would like my freedom, he thought. But that is not
something for you to give. He remained quiet.

“Perhaps a new sword and a horse,” Aurora
suggested.

Lord Gabriel nodded his head. “Of course.
That will be the least of your reward. You will be treated as a
very welcomed guest.”

Damien gave Lord Gabriel a slight bow. A
welcomed guest. He was not used to such a title. He felt a surge of
ready acceptance, until he caught a glimpse of the men at the
table. They cast one another dubious looks, bridling with envy.
Damien grit his teeth. Perhaps Lord Gabriel had welcomed him, but
that did not mean the rest of the castle would accept him with the
same exuberance.

“You may stay here at Castle Acquitaine for
as long as you like,” Gabriel told him.

Or until I find the right time to murder your
daughter, Damien thought.

A
urora allowed
her father to gently take her elbow and lead her away from the
others.

“Are you all right?” Lord Gabriel asked.

She smiled, trying to ease her father’s
concern. “Aye,” she replied.

His brow wrinkled in sympathy. “You don’t
always have to be so strong, Aurora,” he whispered. “I know how
terrified you must have been.”

At the mention of the attack, her shield of
perfection slipped for a moment and her smile wavered. Her gaze
dipped to the floor. She didn’t want to think about it. The
stirrings of fear lurked in the dark corners of her mind,
threatening to spread across all of her thoughts.

He leaned closer to her, placing a comforting
hand on her shoulder. “There must be some mistake,” he said
quietly. “Are you certain this killer was after you?”

Aurora nodded. “He was coming straight at me,
Father.” She was quiet for a moment. “His eyes… they were so full
of… hate…”

Lord Gabriel shook his head, still full of
disbelief. “Everyone is fond of you.”

“Apparently not everyone.” The weight of
failure settled on Aurora’s shoulders. For the last seven years she
tried to repent for her mother’s sins, atoning for her mother’s
cruelty with acts of kindness. When she was a young child, her
mother often brought her along into town. Her mother’s treatment of
the villagers, besides being condescending, had been ugly and
cruel. Aurora recalled a stay in the stocks for a villager who
simply got in her mother’s way. Once, her mother had a young boy
whipped for accidentally bumping into her. She knew to this day he
still bore the scars of her mother’s vicious attack. The villagers
hated her mother. And it was a hatred that apparently still
festered in some of them.

Aurora tried to behave exactly opposite of
the way her mother had acted. She went out of her way to help the
villagers. Where her mother had sown contempt, she tried to sow
respect and compassion. Where her mother’s tone had been sharp and
biting, her words were soft and pleasing. It had taken a very long
time to gain her people’s trust. Could it be she hadn’t quite
gained all of their trust? Did someone still hate her because she
was her mother’s daughter? Or was it something more personal? She
couldn’t please them all, all of the time. She knew some of the
judgments she had rendered in the past had made some villagers
unhappy. She had tried so hard to make the right decisions, so hard
to do the right thing. She lifted her gaze to her father. “I’m
sorry, Father.”

“Sorry,” he asked, his heavy brows furrowed
in confusion. “For what?”

She shook her head, looking down at her
tightly folded hands. “If I had tried harder… If I had made better
decisions –”

“Enough. This is not your fault. You’ve done
more for the people of Acquitaine than anyone. They look to you for
everything. They love you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“That is one of the few things I am sure of.
They tell me of their love for you every chance they get.”

Aurora looked away, bowing her head,
uncertain of her father’s declaration.

Her father cupped her chin, lifting her face
to meet his gaze. His look was grave for a moment. “There are many
reasons someone might try to harm you. It could be that someone is
angry with me and wants to hurt me by hurting you. Or it could be
that someone was harmed by your mother and is seeking revenge
against you for my inability to stop her cruelty while she was
alive. But I refuse to believe that anyone in this village has ill
feelings towards you for how you have treated them.”

Aurora smiled softly up at him.

“Don’t worry, Aurora.” Her father squeezed
her shoulder tightly. “You are safe here in the castle. And when
you leave the safety of these walls, I will have Sir Rupert
accompany you.”

Aurora stared at him for a long moment until
the deeper realization of what his words meant dawned on her. “A
bodyguard.” That could only mean her father felt she was still in
grave danger. Even though the thought of a man protecting her
should have allayed her fears, it only served to heighten her
apprehension.

“Aye, if you will,” Gabriel answered. “Until
we find out who sent this assassin, you will take Sir Rupert
wherever you go.”

Aurora looked away from her father, trying to
hide the doubt in her heart. Rupert had done his best to defend
her, as had Captain Trane, but it was Damien who had saved her. She
knew Rupert and Captain Trane would be ever more vigilant now, but
even so, she felt uneasy with Rupert as her bodyguard. He had not
stopped that assassin from nearly stabbing her. Rupert was not
Damien.

Instinctively, she scanned the Great Hall for
her savior. She spotted him just as he slipped out of the room.
“Excuse me, Father,” she said and hurried after Damien. She peered
around the doorway to find him strolling toward the outer door.

“Leaving so soon?” she called.

Damien stopped, straightening.

She walked toward him. “You have not received
your reward.”

He did not look at her, his gaze stoically on
the door. “I don’t belong here.”

She heard the longing in his voice and her
heart twisted. “You are here as my guest,” she answered. “You are
welcome in Castle Acquitaine for as long as you’d like to
stay.”

He looked at her with a harsh, dangerous
look.

She should have felt apprehension. Instead,
compassion welled up in her. Had others made him feel so unwelcome
that he had difficulty in accepting a true offer of kindness? “It
is all right, Damien,” she said softly, soothingly. But when that
did not appease him, she added, “Surely a man of your caliber is
not afraid to be here.”

The harsh look faded from his brow. A smile
touched his lips. “No,” he answered. “I am not afraid to be here,
m’lady.”

“Then you will stay?”

His gaze swept her face and tingles peppered
her arms. “For now,” he agreed.

Aurora nodded in acceptance. He was a private
man, shrouded in mystery, but there was something intangible about
him she liked. His confidence. The strength of the self assurance
she saw him display in the town square, perhaps. Beyond that, he
seemed to need friendship. She turned and together they walked down
the hallway, passing servants and knights. “Where do you hail
from?”

“I’ve been to many places,” he said. “But I
come from nowhere.”

“Nowhere?” she repeated. “Come now, Damien.
Surely, you have come from somewhere. We have all come from
somewhere.”

Damien shrugged.

Curious. Her gaze moved over him, studying
him. Even hidden beneath his black tunic, she could see the outline
of his strong arm muscles as he moved. She had seen first hand his
skill with a sword. Yet he had no spurs on his boots, so he was not
a knight. “You’re very good with a sword.”

Damien did not acknowledge her comment.

Aurora dipped her head in greeting at a
passing knight. “What brings you to Acquitaine?” she inquired of
Damien.

Damien stared straight ahead. “I have a
mission to complete.”

“A mission? Is there anything I can do to
help you finish your mission?”

He stopped and slowly turned to her. The
darkness was back, dancing threateningly in his eyes. His lip
curled slightly. “No.”

“You need but ask,” she said softly.

“As repayment for saving you?”

“No,” she said instantly. “As a favor to a
friend.” She met his dark stare for a moment before starting
forward.

Damien stopped her with a stony grip on her
wrist. “I am not your friend.”

Aurora studied his face. His jaw was hard, as
if carved from granite. His eyes burned with determination. An
ominous determination. There was something else behind his hard
stare. She could not name it, but it felt as if he was trying to
warn her about something. “But you could be,” she responded.

Confusion marred his brow for a moment and
then he released her.

Aurora continued down the hallway, absently
rubbing the ghostly feel of his fingers on her wrist. “Have you
just arrived in Acquitaine?” she asking, glancing back at him.

“Are you always this trusting of strange
men?” he asked, joining her.

“You saved my life,” she answered simply.

His gaze narrowed slightly before he looked
away, following the path of a knight who had just moved down a side
hall. “I arrived two days ago,” he said.

“Have you been staying at the Boar’s
Inn?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“I will have your things brought to the
castle.”

“There’s no need for that.”

She hesitated, blinking in confusion.

“I won’t be staying long,” Damien added.

“You are welcome here for as long as you
like.” A momentary panic gripped her. She didn’t want him to leave.
“The rooms are large,” she encouraged, “and well heated. You will
be neither cold nor –”

“Large rooms and warmth hold no appeal for
me.”

“Will you stay?” she asked. There was more
pleading in her tone than she intended, but she felt safe with him
nearby and she didn’t want that feeling to fade.

“I don’t think –” Damien began, shaking his
head.

“Just until my father can find a permanent
bodyguard for me.”

Surprise lit Damien’s eyes, then smoldered
into a dark fire. He nodded and looked around. “Where are your
guards now?”

Aurora scowled slightly. A servant bowed
slightly as she passed. “I am in my castle.”

“There are men who would kill you. And those
men could be in your castle now as we speak. You should never be
alone.”

Aurora was astonished. “Surely they would not
dare to come into my home.”

Damien’s shadowed eyes grew even darker.
“Someone wants you dead, Aurora.” He purposely used her familiar
name to shock her into understanding, and it rolled eloquently off
of his tongue. “I don’t think that a code of chivalry will stand in
their way.”

She considered his words as a shiver snaked
through her body.

“Trust no one,” Damien warned. “No one.”

Gabriel held the sealed letter in his hands,
staring into the hearth in his solar, gazing into the glowing
fireplace. Flames snapped like whips over the burning logs. An
assassin had attacked Aurora. It was deplorable. It was
unthinkable. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, rubbing his
fingers over the letter.

Captain Trane entered the solar and bowed.
“My lord, you called for me?”

Lord Gabriel did not turn; his long fingers
curled over the letter. “This assassin who attacked my daughter.
Tell me who he was.”

“I know not, m’lord,” Trane answered.

“Have you seen him in the village
before?”

“No, but that means little since Lady Aurora
has encouraged all sorts of merchants and freemen to come to trade
in Acquitaine with her generous incentives. She has increased the
number of goods sold in the city twofold in two years.”

Gabriel held up a hand, waving him off. “I am
aware of the benefits Aurora has reaped on Acquitaine.” Gabriel
slowly turned to face his captain. “Was this assassin a peasant or
knight?”

“He was garbed as a peasant.”

Gabriel rubbed a trembling hand across his
beard. He knew. There could only be one person responsible for this
horror. He looked down at the letter in his hand. He would not lose
his daughter. He would not lose the only one in the world who
brought him joy. Could he condemn her to a life of misery? He
squeezed the letter tightly. Better to live a life of misery than
to fill a cold grave. “I want you to take this letter.”