Page 45 of Retribution

She shrugged. “To be clear, I do not love my father,” she said. “He has never been particularly kind or good to me, but I do not wish to see him punished because of me.”

“And Cambridge knows this.”

“He does.”

“He uses your responsibility as a daughter against you.”

“Even if I do not love my father, he is still my father. I am not heartless.”

Aidric didn’t reply for a moment. He simply stood there, looking at her, mulling over everything. It was clear that he was wrestling with what she’d told him, and everything she’d told him, because he didn’t want to make a decision that would adversely affect him.

He didn’t want to be made a fool of.

“Very well,” he finally said. “I will help you, but God help you, you’d better be telling me the truth. If I ever suspect you are not, it is not Cambridge you have to fear, but me. Is that in any way unclear?”

She looked at him, studying him for a moment. “There is no need,” she said. “I will find a way to do this without you.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Kill the king?” he said. “Is that what you mean?”

She shook her head. “Nay,” she said. “Escape Cambridge. I will do it without you. One way or another, I will leave him, but I will not kill the king in order to accomplish it.”

He regarded her a moment. “What are you going to do?”

She shook her head. “I do not know,” she said. “But whatever I do, it will be without your help. Clearly, you do not trust me, otherwise you would not have felt the need to threaten me. I already serve a tyrant. I will not be beholden to another.”

He just looked at her. Then, he grinned. He actually started laughing. “Lady, if I had any doubt in you, that statement has just erased it,” he said. “I am not a tyrant, truly. But I will not be made a fool of.”

“As I said, I will do it without your assistance.”

He shook his head. “You have it whether or not you want it.”

“I do not want it.”

“And I do not care. Take it.”

“I will not.”

His laughter grew. “You stubborn little chick,” he said. “I will force my help on you whether you want it or not, and you will return to Adelie’s tomorrow and we will further this discussion. As it is, I am concerned that Cambridge’s knight might find us together, so I must depart.”

She walked over to the door, pushing past him to look up and down the corridor. As she did so, Aidric didn’t move over. She was brushed up against him and he let her, gazing down at that white-blonde head with more interest than he should have allowed.

“He does not normally come back here,” she said. “He stays to the front because Adelie will not let him back where the women are.”

“Then I had truly better leave,” Aidric said. “I do not want Adelie angry with me.”

She turned her face up to him and they both realized how close they were to one another. Cleodora tried to take a step back, but the open door was in her way. Aidric towered over her, his gaze intense, the size of his body overwhelming her.

“May I make a suggestion?” she asked, rather breathlessly.

“Of course.”

She tried to step sideways, to put proper space between them, but there was something about his magnetic heat that kept her from moving. She could feel the warmth radiating off him and it made her feel faint and giddy.

She rather liked the feeling.

“Since… since Cambridge wants me to seduce you,” she said, “mayhap we do not need to meet in secret? Mayhap we can simply meet out in the open and I will tell him it is because I am moving forward with the task he wishes for me to accomplish, but the truth will be much different.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “I am ashamed I did not think of that,” he said. “Where do you wish to meet?”