Angel's Assassin (23 page)

“Are you so sure it was not Helen doing the
kissing? From what I’ve seen, Damien wants nothing to do with her.
He has eyes only for you.”

Her words only brought Aurora more pain. They
were not true. They could not be true. “You must be mistaken.”

“Why? Why can’t a man like Damien love
you?”

Aurora looked at her and she couldn’t hide
the doubt and the pain festering in her soul. “Because if he did,
he would not have kissed Helen.”

Jennifer tilted her head as if in
understanding and placed a gentle hand against her cheek.

“She loves him now. And she is my cousin. I
cannot stand in her way.”

“Aurora,” Jennifer began. “Helen loves a new
man every week. She doesn’t know how to love.”

She shook her head firmly, casting a glance
at Damien. “He doesn’t believe in love anyway. He told me so.”

Jennifer sighed softly. “I think you are
mistaken.”

A shrill scream echoed through the hallway
and a servant girl name Elizabeth appeared from one of the rooms
down the hall.

Damien immediately went to Aurora’s side, his
sword drawn as the servant ran toward them.

The young girl was visibly trembling, her
brown eyes as wide as a frightened deer. “M’lady!” she screamed and
stopped before Aurora.

“What is it?” Aurora asked, gripping her
upper arms.

“He’s dead,” Elizabeth said, looking back at
the room. “Killed.”

“Who is it?” Aurora asked.

Elizabeth shook her head, pressing her
fingers to her lips.

Aurora’s breath seized in her throat.
“My—“

Elizabeth quickly stopped her. “It’s not your
father.”

Aurora’s gaze snapped back to the room, then
to Elizabeth. She finally took a breath. “Go get him. Go find my
father,” she said to the servant girl and picked up her skirts to
move down the hall.

Elizabeth raced down the hallway.

Damien halted Aurora with a firm grip on her
arm. “I’ll go. Stay here with Lady Jennifer.”

Aurora opened her mouth to reply, but closed
it and nodded.

Damien moved forward.

“Who is it? What do you think happened?”
Jennifer asked.

Aurora took a step down the hall as Damien
paused to remove a torch from the wall and disappeared into the
room. Aurora’s heart pounded as she waited for him to emerge. She
took an anxious step forward. Jennifer was speaking, but Aurora
wasn’t listening. All she knew was that Damien was taking far too
long to come out. She took another step forward. And then
another.

She had almost reached the door when Damien
emerged, blocking her path. “Where’s your father?”

The relief that swept over her at the sight
of Damien’s safety evaporated. She did not like the grim look on
Damien’s face. “What happened?”

“Another assassin was here.”

Aurora moved forward.

Damien put his arms on her arms. “You don’t
want to go in.”

Aurora looked at him. His sword was sheathed,
so there was no longer an immediate threat. His brow was furrowed
in concern. Urgency filled her. “Who is it?”

“No,” he answered, his grip tightening as she
tried to step into the room.

Despite his hold, she surged forward into the
room, stopping in the doorway.

Alexander lay on the floor in a pool of
blood.

For a moment, Aurora couldn’t understand.
Alexander? She stood, uncertainly. In disbelief. It was Alexander.
But how could that be? He was strong. He could take care of
himself. She stepped forward. Everything seemed distant, fogged as
if in a dream. There was blood around his head, blood staining his
fingers, blood pooled on the floor. His eyes were open. She shook
her head. Why wasn’t he getting up?

She stepped on something and looked down. A
pile of clothing lay on the floor. Possibly where Elizabeth had
dropped it when she discovered… Alexander’s dead body.

“Aurora,” Damien called.

She looked back at Damien, numb. He was just
behind her. He lifted his hands toward her, but she turned back to
Alexander.

Her chest constricted in a powerful spasm of
agony. Tears rushed into her eyes as she fought to understand.
Calm, she told herself. Stay calm. Jennifer is in the hallway.

There was a reason. Of course, there was a
reason. Aurora stood over her friend, staring down at him. But this
made no sense.

She saw the cut in his throat. A thin slice
smothered in blood. The wound was just like the one she remembered
on her mother’s throat. Just like her mother’s.

Why would Alexander have been killed?
Why?

The cut was thin. Precise. Professional.

A cold realization washed over her.

Alexander had discovered who the assassin was
and the assassin knew it.

And that meant the assassin was still here,
lurking inside the walls of Castle Acquitaine.

D
amien moved
up beside Aurora as she stood looking out over the dark waters. He
had accompanied her as she retreated from the grisly sight of her
slain friend to the comfortable confines of the tower.

She stared out at the ocean. Tendrils of her
golden hair whipped about her face like a cape. When lightning
speared the sky, it threw a turbulence of light and dark shadows
across her face. He saw the vulnerability in her eyes, saw the
rippling of unshed tears. And then the streak of lightning
disappeared, plunging her features again into blackness. Thunder
rumbled above them.

“Why did you kiss me?” she wondered.

The abrupt question seemed out of place, but
he knew she was trying to force her mind away from the gruesome
scene she had just witnessed.

Lightning flashed in the distance, growing
closer every second. The wind picked up around her, snapping her
hair behind her. Damien watched the strands fly about her face, the
face that sent his dark intentions soaring toward a bright light,
toward a radiance that offered a shimmering ray of hope. She had a
face that was simply mesmerizing to look at. The delicate, yet
strong and regal, line of her jaw. The cheekbones of a Greek
goddess. The lips that created the most sensual mouth any man could
ever imagine. A mouth that created a voice that would humble any
Siren.

“Was it to punish me? Was it to teach me
something?” she asked

“To tempt you.”

“Tempt me?” she echoed, confused.

“I wanted you to be like me,” he answered
truthfully. She deserved to know the truth in her last moments. “I
wanted you to be flawed, weak. I wanted you to be like everyone
else.”

She faced him and Damien was shocked to find
vulnerability in her large eyes, a deep sadness. “You are my
weakness.”

Shock speared through Damien. Me? he silently
questioned. Why on earth would I be her weakness? But her words
rang true. He remembered the look of concern in her eyes when she
realized the arrow had poisoned him. He recalled the way she lifted
her lips to his when he tempted her. Could it be? Could she truly
mean what she said? Damien lifted his hand to brush one of those
golden tendrils from her cheek. It encircled his hand. No. It
couldn’t be. It was her grief talking. She needed someone, anyone
to distract her from her pain. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to
him.

For a moment, she stiffened, but then she
relaxed against his body. The tight expression on her face melted
into one of anguish.

Damien’s heart twisted at her pain. He wanted
to relieve her agony, to reassure her. He bent his head to her
lips.

For a moment, she responded to his kiss, her
hands sliding up his back in encouragement, her lips parting for
his exploration. She suddenly broke the kiss. Her sad eyes lifted
to his. “This is not possible,” she said as thunder sounded above
her.

The wind whipped up, tossing their hair,
entwining it together above them, around them. The wind seemed to
push them tighter together, or maybe it was just Damien’s hold
pulling them nearer.

“I can’t,” she whimpered to the forces around
them, to Damien.

Damien couldn’t let her go. He could
not release her. His hands trembled.
She
means nothing to you, a voice inside mocked. Take her now. Have
her. Use her. Then, once you taste her, once you take her, she will
be as black as you. And you can forget her.

Damien recognized the voice, the shadowy
voice that had led him through the darkness all these years, the
beastly influence that kept him in shadow. Alone. He wanted to do
as the voice said. He wanted to take Aurora and use her body. He
knew he could easily seduce her. He could have her. It would be
child’s play. Because she wanted him. Because he was her
weakness.

He faltered as he stared into her tormented
eyes. It would be her destruction. Damien knew to take her would be
the wrong thing to do. The evil thing. She was so pure and
innocent. And naïve. But damn it, he wanted her. He wanted her more
than he ever wanted anything in his life. And he was far from
noble.

Large drops of rain began to fall, slowly at
first, peppering the stones around them.

Damien pulled her closer, almost
protectively. Aurora did not resist.

“Will you go to Helen if I stop you now?” she
asked.

Her question froze him. Was this a sacrifice?
His gaze swept her face. Trusting. Sincere. “No,” he whispered.
“Never.” He pressed his lips to hers, searing them across her skin.
His palm cupped her full, rounded breast.

A soft gasp escaped her lips, almost a
sob.

He kneaded her and caressed her and squeezed
her until he could feel her nipple harden beneath the fabric. “I
want only you,” Damien whispered the heated oath against her lips.
“There can be no other.”

The rain began in earnest, a torrential
downpour.

He dipped a hand into her dress to feel the
fullness of her breast. Her flesh was hot against his fingers. The
cool rain was not enough to douse the burning flames roaring
through his entire body.

Aurora clung to him. “Please, Damien,” she
whispered. “Please don’t hurt me.”

Her plea shocked him and he pulled back to
look into her eyes. Hurt her? He had never meant to hurt her. “I’m
so sorry,” he proclaimed softly.

“As am I,” a voice said from behind them.

Damien’s head exploded in pain and his world
went black.

The fog slowly cleared from Damien’s mind and
he sluggishly opened his eyes. Helen bent over him, her brow
wrinkled in concern. She brushed the hair from his forehead.

Damien pulled away from her instinctively. A
sharp pain pierced the crown of his head and he reached up to feel
a large, tender bump on his skull. He winced as his fingers probed
it. Where had he gotten this? He froze.

Aurora!

He bolted upright only to have the room
become a swirling blur. He closed his eyes, rubbing his head.
“Where is Lady Aurora?” he demanded.

“We can’t find her.”

Damien’s eyes flew open. The pain in his head
flared and black spots swam before his eyes. He closed them,
rubbing them, willing himself to ignore the searing ache behind
them. “What do you mean you can’t find her? Who’s looking for
her?”

Helen put a hand on his arm, helping to
steady him. “Everyone. Lady Aurora’s been missing since we found
you yesterday in the northern tower.”

Yesterday? Damien swung his legs from the
bed.

“They looked all over the castle. She is
nowhere to be found,” Helen said and shook her head. “I feel
horrible about this.”

Damien frowned at her, instantly
suspicious.

Helen looked down at her clenched hands. “The
way I have been treating her was… less than respectful. I didn’t
think… You were with her. I didn’t think anyone would…” She lifted
her eyes to meet his. “I’m worried about her.”

Damien rose, swiping his tunic from a nearby
table. He donned it as he bent to retrieve his boots. He yanked
them on and thought about what Helen had said. Found him yesterday
in the northern tower. That’s where he and Aurora had last been. He
took his new sword from a nearby table and sheathed it. His head
still ached. He paused to run a hand across his brow. Where could
Aurora be? Whoever hit him must have taken her. Was she back at
Castle Roke?

“Lord Gabriel wants to speak to you. He’s in
the Great Hall,” Helen added softly as he stepped out into the
corridor.

Who hit me? And what have they done with
Aurora? Damien wondered, his heart pounding in dread. He turned a
corner and came to an abrupt stop.

Gawyn moved toward him, his clothing wet, his
black hair plastered to his scalp. A smile spread over his lips. “I
knew a blow to your head would never kill you.”

Damien rushed him, throwing a punch at his
chin. “Where is she, you son of a bitch?!”

Gawyn rocked back with the blow, falling to
his hands and knees.

Damien grabbed him, pulling him up by the
front of his tunic, and shoved him hard against the wall. “Where is
she?”

Gawyn clenched his jaw. “Nice way to greet
your own beloved brother.”

Damien threw a punch into his stomach. “Did
you hurt her?”

Gawyn doubled over with a grunt.

Damien pushed him back against the wall.
“Where is she?”

“I’ve been searching for her!”

“Liar!” Damien growled and threw him across
the hall into the opposite wall.

Gawyn hit the wall hard and fell to the
ground.

Damien placed a booted foot across his
brother’s throat. “I told you I would kill you—”

“I’ve been searching all night,” Gawyn
croaked, pushing at Damien’s foot.

“Why don’t we visit Lord Gabriel and you can
explain to him who you are and why his daughter is suddenly
missing,” Damien growled. “I’m certain he’ll find your story rather
amusing. Just give him your friendly, knowing smile and everything
will be fine.”