Page 3 of Trapped By Vengeance
That bitter taste entwined with the sweet startles me. I stiffen, unfolding my hands from my back. Then I place them on Valda’s shoulders and gently push her away from me, breaking the intoxicating connection between us.
Her bedroom door is closing behind us, and I kick one foot back to stop it before it seals me into her bedchambers.
Valda blinks up at me, her lashes fanning her face, but her eyes are strangely alert. “Is something the matter?”
“I, er—” I ease backward, not sure what to say. “This is hardly proper.” Whichshouldbe something a Baroness like herself would be concerned about, not the mercenary seeking vengeance against her father.
“That’s all right.” Valda steps toward me, her hands resting on my chest. “I can be quite improper when it pleases me.” Her nails bite into my shirt.
I slip my hand around the door I’m keeping ajar with my foot. “You’ve had a few sips of ale too many, methinks. I’ll leave you to sleep it off—”
Her face falls, and she releases her hold of me to wrap her arms around herself. A moment ago, she had seemed magnificently larger than life, drawing me toward whatever destiny she determined. Now, she looks once again like the damsel in distress I plucked from the bar.
I glance between the sliver of hall and her, not sure what the best course of action is just now in terms of either chivalry and my mission.
None of this is going according to plan.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, her bottom lip trembling innocently, like it wasn’t kissing me moments ago. “This is my first time on my own, and I’m frightened by the thought of being alone. Which is foolish, I know. I ran away to be alone because I wanted to be free, and now I’m terrified.” Her words become incomprehensible past her sniffling.
I almost reach out with my free hand to comfort her, but I realize it might have ulterior motives and stuff it into my breeches pocket instead. “You’re not foolish.” The lie slips from my lips so easily. She doesn’t even know how foolishshe is, inviting the man who’s been tracking her since she departed from her father’s baronage yesterday eve into her bedchambers.
“And now I’ve finally found a gentleman, but I’ve driven you away . . .”
“I’d hardly be gentlemanly if I didn’t step back. You don’t even know my name.” Hoping that will sober her, I open the door wider and step back into the hallway.
“I’m Valda,” she murmurs, glancing up demurely, her hair a curtain around her face.
“Konrad,” I offer before I can consider the consequences of honesty.
Valda smiles. “Would you mind staying with me tonight, Konrad? You can have the second cot— it wouldn’t be outrageous at all.”
I glance toward the cots in question, both far nicer than the ones in my room. Is it just the men downstairs that have her so alarmed? Or was it the sense of being followed by me that has her so on edge?
Either way, I shake my head. I did not come prepared for a late-night abduction.
That I even am thinking such things is unheard of. I adhere to the rules of the Mercenary Guild, which, in turn, obey the laws of the land. The only deviation from the rules I’m guilty of is being a werwölfe when my kind is sentenced to be killed on sight.
Even now, my vengeance follows the guideline of the kinsman avenger. Except for the part where the innocent aren’t supposed to be involved. “My room is just down the hall. I’ll hear if there is any trouble. But in the meantime, I have someone waiting for me in my own room . . .”
Valda’s eyes widen, and even in the candlelit dimness, the darkness of her gaze glitters. “Oh! I did not realize you already had . . . a companion.”
“Not like that,” I say quickly, before she can make any untoward connection between Eloise and me. “I, uh, just need to leave. But tomorrow?” Tomorrow, everything is laid out nicely. It will be even nicer if she walked into the trap beside me.
My bounty’s face brightens. “I have no plans tomorrow. We could see the city together?”
Trotzdem doesn’t offer much to see except the ocean, but the wharf is exactly where I need to take her. “It would be my honor to escort you.”
She closes the distance between us, a small smile on the lips I tasted just moments ago. “So, until dawn, then?”
I tip my head. “Until dawn.” Then I close the door between us.
“What was that?”
“Son of a werwölfe!” I hiss at the sweet voice. Then I wince again as I turn to the thin form standing in the hallway. “Um, don’t repeat that.”
Eloise stares at me with her large green eyes that are currently the same shade as the sea. “Why not? I’m adaughterof a werwölfe.”
I quickly glance around the hall to make sure we’re alone before ushering her into our room. “What are you doing?”