Page 75 of The Champion

“What of my songs you despise so?” she asked him. “Will you tolerate them?”

“Grudgingly so, aye.”

She laughed at that. “At least you’re honest.”

“At the end of the day, honesty is all I can offer you, Rowena. I can’t give you what I don’t feel, but I can give you honesty and respect.”

Rowena sighed as she sat there contemplating his words. It would solve much to be married to Stryder. He could shelter her and, as this morning had shown, he was a kind and considerate lover. One who might not make her heart burn, but he did her body. Even now, his touch was seared into her memory.

“And if I one day find the great love that I seek?” she asked quietly. “Or you, for that matter. What then?”

He curled his lips in disgust. “You are a child questing for rainbows.”

His words set her anger off. “Am I? There is nothing childish in wanting to be loved.”

Stryder wanted to strangle her for her inability to see reason. Their marriage was the only sensible thing to do. They were compatible enough and he doubted if he would ever find a woman who appealed to him more. She would be a fine and sensible bride if she would give up this current madness that had her seeking the impossible.

Rowena placed her hand to his cheek. “I appreciate what you’re offering me, Stryder. Really, I do. But I want a dream and I won’t settle for anything less than that.”

“And if Henry forces you?”

Her eyes turned dark and sad. “I shall be miserable all the rest of my life. But until then, I will stand by my convictions and believe that there is something better for me than the shallow marriage my parents shared.”

He stamped down his impatience with her and admired her again for the fact that she wasn’t so easily swayed by anyone’s arguments. If he respected anything in life, it was someone who could stand behind their beliefs and defend them. “Then, I hope you find this great love you seek and that it comes to you before it’s too late.”

The door opened to show them a chancellor who stood there glaring at them. “Come, my lady,” he said sternly. “‘Tis unseemly for you to be here without chaperone.”

Rowena went stiff in his arms. “But the queen–“

”My orders are from the king himself. You must leave.”

Rowena bit her lip at the thought of leaving Stryder alone in his cell. She recalled the panic on his face when she’d first entered.

“Go, my lady.” Stryder urged her toward the chancellor.

“I can’t leave you here.”

His gaze softened as he traced the line of her jaw with his rough fingers. “I’m a man, full grown. I shall be fine alone. Believe me, I lived a nightmare for six years. This little cell is nothing.”

Even so, she saw the uncertainty in his crystal-blue eyes.

“I will return to you as soon as I speak to Henry.”

Stryder took her hand into his and placed a most gentle kiss on her knuckles. “Thank you, Rowena. For your comfort.”

She inclined her head to him and reluctantly withdrew her hand. Stryder gave her one lingering squeeze before he released her.

“I will be back, Stryder.”

Stryder nodded as the chancellor took her arm and escorted her out of his cell.

His heart was lodged in his throat as the door slammed shut, enclosing him in the small space alone again. Only the comfort of Rowena’s scent on his skin kept him sane and whole.

The image of her face gave him the strength and courage he needed to bear the terror of the four stone walls that imprisoned him. The strength he needed to fight the demons of the past that tried to tear him down.

Stryder looked up at the window far above his head. His men would find the assassin. He had faith in them.

Just as he had faith in Rowena. She would be back. And until then he would focus on her and not let the past defeat him.