Falling Hard (Veronica's Secret) (5 page)

Veronica woke to the sound of a teakettle whistling on the stove. She scrambled out of the bed and out into the main room of the little home.

Marissa and Clarissa were in
a corner set aside as a kitchen. Each of the women scurried about cooking up some breakfast.

Veronica slid into the wooden chair and watched the two move about silently. A moment later breakfast was done, and she was scarfing down the most delicious batch of spiced bread and fried eggs that she’d ever tasted.

Still, neither of the women spoke to her. After they cleaned up, they sat back down on the bench seat together and dived back into the book.

Veronica sat watching them for a time, wondering what she was supposed to do. Finally she got brave enou
gh to interrupt their whispers.

“Will you tell me what happened to me yesterday?”

Clarissa looked up to her with a glare, but Marissa smiled sweetly at her. “We don’t really know, child. Give us some more time to figure that out, will you?”

Veronica spent that day
dreaming about her last night with Aaron. She found she could pull up the details in her mind quite easily and found herself missing the touch of his fingers on her skin. She tried to imagine what Benard’s fingers would feel like, but quickly shoved the idea out of her head.

She couldn’t replace Aaron so quickly.

She went to bed early that night, both thankful and regretting the peace the women had given her for the day. It was nice to get time away to think about where her life was headed, but it also gave her time to grieve over Aaron.

Veronica woke the following morning to being slapped in the face by a lumpy pillow. The impact made her jump in terror. “Get up, child. It’s time to go.” Marissa scurried out of the room without another word.

The sky was dark and dreary, as though it would rain at any minute. Veronica pulled herself up out of the bed, and straightened her green dress. She couldn’t wait to get home and change out of it.

“Come, child. We don’t want to be stuck out in the storm.”

Marissa rushed the two of them back to the upper city and into the front gate of the castle. Soon after, the rain began to pour out of the sky.

Marissa abandoned Veronica in the entry hall without any answers.
She made her way up to her room to take a bath. Then she would find her husband-to-be and figure out what her life sentence would be.

Then
she would hunt down that slithery healer and force her to talk.

In spite of the rest she had gotten
, Veronica felt drained. The past several days had taken their toll on her, and all she wanted was to go back to the time when it was all simple.

The tub of steaming water helped to ease some of her anxiety. She slid her hands over her body to get clean. As they slipped over her breasts, the tingling she felt made her think of Aaron.

She imagined his hands were cupping her breasts. They fit perfectly into his palms as he massaged them gently. His fingertips flicked across her nipples.

“
Mmm,” she moaned.

In spite of the cooling water, Veronica felt the temperature rising.

She moved one hand down between her legs and spread her lips apart. Veronica whimpered as her finger caressed the swollen nub of her clit. She could almost feel Aaron’s hot breath against her neck. She wanted him to be kneeling over her with his mouth on her neck and his hands roaming over every inch of her body.

Then she imagined him kissing down her body until his tongue found her clit. She fingered herself faster. It felt good, but not as good as having Aaron there for real. She imagined her finger was his tongue as she massaged herself faster and faster.

Her hips rocked up and down to the motion of her fingers, splashing water over the sides of the tub. She gasped as the intensity of heat grew to new heights. Moans slipped from her mouth as she neared the point of orgasm. Her back arched up out of the water. She pinched her nipple. The sharp pain sent her ecstasy over the top and she gasped as her orgasm erupted through her body. Little quivers ran up and down her legs.

Then she relaxed back into the w
ater to let her breathing slow.

“Oh, Aaron. I miss you so much,” she whispered.

Veronica walked toward the conference room with silent determination. No one dared get in her way
, with the look on her face. She needed to know what the kings had decided to do about her upcoming marriage. She needed to know how much time she had left to be free of the responsibilities of being a Queen to a man she didn’t love, and suspected she never would.

It wasn’t
that she thought Benard would be a bad husband, she just knew that he wasn’t the man that made her entire body ache to be caressed.

Just before she reached the conference room, she saw the small healer slip between the guards that stood outside the towering wooden doors. The old woman tried to slip down a side hall, but Veronica charged up to catch her by the arm.

“Marissa? What are you doing here?”

Marissa looked agitated. “I hardly think that’s any of your business, child.” She snatched her arm out of Veronica’s grip and started back down the hallway.

Veronica chased her. “I need answers, Marissa. What happened to me the other day?”

Marissa stopped for a moment and stared at her. Veronica could see in her eyes that she didn’t want to tell her the truth.

For the first time ever, Veronica decided to try intentionally to hear the old woman’s thoughts. At first she heard nothing, so she pushed harder, trying to remember what it felt like those times it had happened while she was tired or drunk.

Marissa grunted. “I told you already. I don’t know. If you keep harassing me, I will never find the answers.” She turned and scurried off down the hall.

Just as Marissa turned, Veronica was finally able to dip into her thoughts. It felt different this time than it had before. She felt an invisible tie from her own mind to Marissa’s.

“
I hope it isn’t true. I feel for that child if it is. No one keeps track of the old prophecies any more. I have to get in contact with Baraccus …”
Marissa’s thoughts trailed off as she rounded a corner.

Who is
Baraccus?
Veronica thought.
What prophecies?
She stared at the empty hallway.

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Veronica?”

It was
Benard. She spun around to see him standing just outside the conference room doors, as if he was about to enter.

“Hello,
Benard.” Veronica bowed ever-so-slightly to him, to show her respect for the future King. She did it partly out of spite, but also out of respect. Without some form of respect for a future king, she wouldn’t make it very far as a Queen.

“Where have you been?” His face showed only curiosity, but his voice hinted at worry.

“I went out into the city with Marissa, the healer. I wasn’t feeling well so she took me to see her sister.”

He stepped forward until he was within an arm’s length of her. His left hand came up to rest affectionately on her shoulder. “I was worried, but your father said not to worry about it.”

Veronica stared up into his dark brown eyes. They looked sincere. She tried to dive into his mind the way she had Marissa’s. The process was easier this time. Again she could sense a tiny invisible cord connecting them. It stretched directly from the center of her forehead to his.

She didn’t hear any of his thoughts, though. She could, however, sense his emotions. A tiny bit of worry mixed with a lar
ge amount of attraction to her.

A hint of annoyance floated around in there as well.

Veronica released the link before she became overwhelmed.
Why couldn’t I hear his thoughts? Maybe he wasn’t thinking anything specific at that moment?
She didn’t understand how she could have sensed his emotions but not his thoughts. Not even in her drunken nights had she felt another person’s emotion instead of—or with—their personal thoughts. The only other time that had happened was just a few days before, when Marissa had healed her hangover.

She didn’t understand all the changes
inside her.

“Are you all right?”
Benard asked with a hint of worry.

She realized that she had been staring at him for too long without speaking. He probably thought she’d gone crazy. “Yes. Sorry. I was just thinking. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” His hand moved up toward her face and caressed her cheek.

“
Uhh … no. I’d rather not.” She took a deep breath to focus herself. “I actually came here looking for you. I need to ask you something.”

“Okay. How can I help you?”

“I never got to hear the details of our engagement. How long will it be before we get married? Are there any stipulations between our two families that I should be aware of?”

“Oh.”
Benard’s hand dropped away from her face. “Actually the deliberations between our fathers went rather smoothly. Your father didn’t make any outrageous demands. I’ll give you the brief details. He only requested that we be married here before he gets too weak to enjoy the celebration of his only surviving child’s wedding. He requested that we not make any outside alliances, and agree to keep the Kingdom of Palinna as safe and protected as possible in these rough times.”

“I see. And, how long before we are to be married?” Veronica
couldn’t keep the fear from her voice.

“Well, it will be sooner than any of us expected. King
Doogan grows weaker by the day …”

“How long?”

“Five days. My family intends to stay until after the ceremony. The preparations for the grand hall will begin tomorrow, I believe.”

Veronica nearly choked.
FIVE days? That has to be the shortest engagement in the history of the world. I have only five days left of freedom?

Benard
seemed to notice her panic and stepped forward to embrace her. She let him, but didn’t return the embrace. She wondered if he took her anxiety as fear for her father’s health—or as fear of giving herself over to him.

Veronica spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon locked in her room. She sneaked a bottle of wine from the kitchen and stared out the window into the dark storm. Tears flowed from her eyes as she silently said goodbye to Aaron, over and over. She knew she had to let him go, and wondered if the only way to do that would be to give in to Benard’s attraction to her. She knew he wanted her.

Could she let herself be with another man? She didn’t know.

The more she drank the less she felt of her pain. Her head spun with increasing intensity. Once the bottle was empty, she tossed it out into the rain. She didn’t care if it hit someone far below. It would be their fault for being stupid enough to be out in the storm.

She considered going back to the kitchen
for another bottle, but decided she would rather not run into people. She didn’t want to be bombarded with their thoughts. She ate alone in her room.

Late in the afternoon, soon after dinner, she heard a knock on her door. She still felt the effects of the wine, but her high had come back down from the clouds quite a ways.

She sat on the edge of her bed. “What do you want?”

The door creaked open, and
Benard poked his head in. “I’m just checking on you. You ran out on me earlier, and you haven’t been to lunch or dinner with the rest of us. Can I come in?”

“Do whatever you want to do. Since when do I get consulted with decisions?”

Benard stepped inside and shut the door. “It’s not my fault that your father is dying and wants to see you married before he dies. Don’t blame me for you disappearing when the conference to decide these things was being held. I don’t know who is really to blame for those things, but it certainly isn’t me. I’ve done nothing but try to get along with you since I arrived here.”

Veronica stared at him
, feeling a little foolish. He was forced into this mess just like she was.

“I’m sorry
,” she said. “I’m just having trouble accepting all of this.”

The anger flowed out of
Benard in an instant. He sat down beside her on the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I know it’s hard to accept. We just have to make the best of what we’ve got.”

“I understand that. Bear with me, please.” Veronica leaned over and kissed
Benard. It wasn’t a passion-filled kiss, not the kind she shared with Aaron. She held herself back more than she had with the kiss they’d shared the night of the engagement.

When she released it a moment later she sat there with her eyes closed, inches away from
Benard. She could tell he was letting her set the pace, and she was thankful for it.

Can I do this? Is it time?
A battle raged inside her head. She didn’t know what to do, so she pulled away from him to stand again by the window. The rain reminded her of how she felt. Dark. Cold. Lonely.

“I can go if you like.
” Benard spoke hesitantly from across the room. He hadn’t followed her.

“No. I’d like you to stay. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I’ve done too much of that lately.” She didn’t face him. She couldn’t. She’d decided she wanted him, but didn’t want to betray her love for Aaron. The problem was that she wanted him for the wrong reasons.
She needed a memory to replace the memory of her night with Aaron. She needed it to set him aside and focus on moving forward.

She thought about what Clarissa had said to her.
“You will make a choice. A big one. Soon.” Is this the decision I have to make?
She’d also said someone would die.
Is that why my father is pushing this wedding so fast? Is he the one that dies?
She wished she had the answers.

She turned to face
Benard. “I feel very lost right now.”

“Lost?” He looked sincerely curious.

“I’ve lost everyone that I love, and my father will die soon too.”

Benard
walked over and held his hands out to her. She placed her hands delicately into his warm palms.

“Maybe, in time, you will come to love me, and you won’t be alone anymore.” He pulled one of her hands up and kissed the back of it.

Veronica didn’t think that would ever happen, but she didn’t admit that to him. “Maybe.”

Still, the war raged on in her mind. When she glanced at the bed, all she could see was her night with Aaron.

She decided she needed a change of scenery.

“Will you go for a walk with me?”

“Sure. Where to?”

Still holding onto his hand, she ushered him out the door of her room. “It’s a surprise.”

She led him down to the main floor of the castle and toward a wing that had been all but deserted since her mother had died. It had been Queen Marianna’s special place, so her father left it undisturbed. Even the maids were kept away for the most part.

Veronica missed it, though, because hidden in the very back was her mother’s private garden. She knew that the gardeners still tended it. Her father would have wanted it to remain
as beautiful as his wife had left it.

She led
Benard there, feeling a little giddy from the aftereffects of the wine and her childhood memories of going to the garden to daydream.

She stopped before a dark stone door and pulled
Benard close to him. “I used to come here a lot when my mother was alive. It’s a magical place for me that holds nothing but wonderful memories.”

Benard
didn’t say anything, but he looked curious to see what lay beyond the stone door.

She pushed open the door
. A wave of floral scents drifted out. She pulled Benard onto a stone path, through beds of trees and flowers that stood taller than them both. Above them, the rain pattered against a glass ceiling that let in very little light. But Veronica knew that on a clear night, the moon and stars shone through.

“My mother was gifted, though not many knew that
,” Veronica said. “She could’ve been a great sorceress, but she loved my father too much. So she kept her gifts a secret, but when she was here, she would use it to grow the flowers and bring beautiful birds to life.”

Veronica stopped
before a globe perched on a pedestal. She touched the globe with her finger and it lit up with a soft glow, revealing a path that wound through the garden, filled with countless varieties of colorful flowers.

“This is beautiful.”
Benard sounded truly amazed.

She pulled him farther along the path and through an opening to the right
, lighting another globe along the way. Before them, a luscious island of soft green grass floated in the middle of a ring of water. Brightly colored fish darted about in the lamp’s glowing light.

She pulled him out onto the island over the little stone bridge that connected the
m. Then she turned to face him.

“I wanted to bring you here so that maybe we could start over fresh.”

He stepped forward until he was only a few inches away from her. His hand reached up and lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “I think that is a wonderful idea.”

Veronica wondered if she could get lost in his eyes. They seemed to be the
purest thing about him.

“Will you lay here and relax with me for a while?”

She expected him to look disappointed, but he didn’t. Instead he nodded and lay in the grass, gesturing for her to join him. She slid up beside him, facing him, with his arm wrapped around her back and her face resting on his chest.

He smelled good.