Page 38 of Come the Morning

“Rape?”

“Aye.”

“Yes, I had dozens of opportunities. But rape the king’s ward?” he taunted softly with mock horror.

“Seducing her would be better? You said that risking my person was treason. Wouldn’t such a bargain make you guilty of treason against your beloved king as well?”

“I’m not the one desperate to barter here, m’lady. My motives are my own. You are the one attempting to negotiate, so my sins need not concern you. You’re the one who needs to ask herself the soul-searching questions. How far are you willing to go to escape this marriage?”

“To hell and beyond,” she murmured softly, eyes lowered.

“Ah, really?”

“What are your terms?”

“You, here and now.”

“Never. What a foolish negotiation. You could betray me.”

“Then?”

“I’ll meet you anywhere—once you’ve let me free to reach the Vikings.”

“How would I know that you’d meet me as agreed?”

“You’d have to accept my word.”

“What if you were captured again by the king’s men? You’d still owe me a tremendous debt. I’d be out the reward of having brought you back here.”

“But I thought you weren’t interested in gold and riches.”

“We were making a different bargain.”

“I’d keep the bargain. No matter what, if you let me free now, I swear I’ll find a way to pay my debt.”

“Are you lying?” he inquired. She shivered fiercely, forcing herself not to wrench away as he lifted her chin to study her eyes.

“No,” she told him. She swallowed hard. Of course she was lying. But if she escaped and found Daro, and this knight came after her again, he would die. She would warn him that that was the way things were. And that would keep her from paying any debt.

“Where and when do you intend to pay this debt?” he asked her.

She hesitated, knowing that she had to take great care. He seemed serious, he might really let her go. He’d mocked her, and laughed at her, but now he seemed to want her, and she had to use whatever weapons were available, be those weapons wiles, lies, and deceit. Yet she had to take care that her every lie had a grain of truth, else this enemy might too easily see through her.

“There’s a forest northwest of the fortress, no more than an hour’s ride, where a high crag just begins to shoot up from a valley. It’s the king’s land, do you know it?” she inquired.

“Aye.”

“There’s an old hermit’s cottage deep in one of the copses; the king uses it when he’s hunting, so it’s kept in good repair.”

He arched a brow slowly, studying her in a way that unnerved her once again. “I am familiar, I do know the cottage,” he said. “Go on.”

“If you let me go now,” she whispered, “I’ll meet you there on the night of the next full moon.”

“The night of the next full moon?”

“Aye.”

“That’s two weeks from now.”